Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Lawrence Sher on the power of colour

03/08/2023

Lawrence Sher on the power of colour

Brie Clayton August 3, 2023

0 Comments

Lawrence Sher, ASC, is an American cinematographer and film director best known for his work on Joker , War Dogs and Garden State (2004).

Sher has just completed filming Joker: Folie a deux - the follow up to the 2019 film which comes out in 2024 - and has been appointed as the president of the 2023 FilmLight Colour Awards jury.

Can you say a few words about your role as president of the 2023 FilmLight Colour Awards? I'm very proud to be the president of this year's awards. I know it will be an immense challenge to help filter all the other jurors' opinions into consensus winners. Colour is complex and subjective so my main goal is to allow an open forum in which we can express unfiltered thoughts on the work of the artists.

What will you be looking for in entries this year? First and foremost, I will be looking for entries that show point of view and skillful execution of an idea. As with all film-making endeavors, the art needs to work seamlessly with the piece. If we notice the colour above the film then it's probably not going to make the cut.

Can you tell us about your relationship with colour and if/how this has changed over the years? As a film maker and cinematographer, I've always loved using colour as an equal tool in the palette alongside lighting, composition and movement. The films of Storaro and Menges and many others served as templates for me to see colour as an expression of emotion in the film. Early in my career, I started to assign emotions to what uncorrected fluorescents or bold red light made me feel when watching films, and translating those into my later work. I still start with lights, filters and gels, but the transformative power of the digital intermediate and LED lighting has expanded the ability to use colour even more precisely and creatively and in a more efficient and cost-effective way.

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as Vimeo framework uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

Describe the working relationship between colourist and cinematographer and how this has evolved across your work? Although the colourist has always been a critical part of the film-making process, their role has expanded in the last 20 years. For me, what started with notes about three printer lights to a Hazeltine dailies colourist, and early morning trips to the lab to watch workprints, has evolved into building bespoke LUTs during testing at the start of a project to help shape the look of the images on digital sensors, and hours precisely enhancing the image in digital intermediate suites. My colourist is part of the earliest prep and is there until the final deliverable frame gets shipped off to the screen.

July 25, 2023Editor Sarah Taylor on why Adobe Premiere Pro is her go-to editing tool for films like Tribeca's Hey Viktor! Hero image source: tribecafilm.com/Hey Viktor! Hey Viktor! pays homage to Smoke Signals , a

July 24, 2023A journey through grief at the Tribeca Festival: Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop bring The Secret Art of Human Flight to lifeHero image: Scene from The Secret Art of Human Flight , image source:

How do you think colour shapes the way an audience perceives TV/film? I think colour shapes the way an audience perceives TV/film in the same way all aspects of the visual language of film-making do - both subconsciously and consciously. The conscious ways are in the ways it allows the movie magic to be executed, like turning day into night. And while the skillful hand of the cinematographer and colourist can transform a scene and deliver the mood of the scene, it's the subconscious aspects that I find so critical.

Starting with simple colour matching to make the cuts between shots seamless is an aspect that most viewers never even notice, but their experience would suffer immensely without it. Shaping colour to further draw the eye of the viewer towards important places in the frame is also key, as well as adding warmth to convey emotions like heat or comfort. As a cinematographer and film-maker, we are constantly using visual languages to express emotion for the audience and colour is a critical component of this expression.

The awards, which are open to colourists on any grading platform, close on 7 August 2023. A shortlist will be announced in the autumn, with the winners unveiled in November at EnergaCAMERIMAGE.

Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industry news, forum highlights, jobs, inspirational tutorials, tips, burning questions, and more! Receive bulletins from the largest, longest-running community dedicated to supporting professionals working in film, video, and audio.

Enter your email address, and your first and last name below!

-- Sign up: * indicates required

Email Address *

Name

--
LINK: https://creativecow.net/lawrence-sher-on-the-power-of-colour/...
See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

27/03/2026

FCC Opposes Emergency Motion to Stay Nexstar/Tegna Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

NAB Pans Netflix's Coverage of MLB Opening Day

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Netgear

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature-Rich CV320 and CV520 IP and 3G-SDI POV Cameras at NAB 2026

Marshall Electronics Showcases New Feature-Rich CV320 and CV520 IP and 3G-SDI PO...

27/03/2026

Sony Electronics Inc. Elevates Professional Video Workflows with Powerful Updates to Monitor & Control and Catalyst Tools

Sony Electronics Inc. Elevates Professional Video Workflows with Powerful Update...

27/03/2026

GatesAir Extends AirWatch365 Managed Service with Edge Gateway Site Appliance

GatesAir Extends AirWatch365 Managed Service with Edge Gateway Site Appliance Brie Clayton March 27, 2026 0 Comments NAB marks global launch of servic...

27/03/2026

GatesAir Expands AirWatch365 Managed Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Dejero, Eutelsat, Others to Offer 'Field to Air' Demo at NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Global NextGen TV Takes Center Stage at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

USSI Global Opens Media Transport Solutions Lab

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/03/2026

Net Insight Elevates Nimbra Edge to Govern Live Media Sys...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight will showcase the next evolution of Nimbra Edge, its orchestration and control layer designed to manage live media services across...

27/03/2026

Harmonic Delivers Winning Live Sports Streaming Innovatio...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced powerful new innovations that further elevate the company's sports streaming solution. The advanced capabilities enh...

27/03/2026

Bitmovin s Player Web X Expands with Performance First Ad...

Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced significant new capabilities for Player Web X, its next-generation web video player...

27/03/2026

CS live Builds Future Ready OB Van With Riedel MediorNet...

Riedel Communications today announced that Czech-based production company CS live has equipped its newest outside broadcast (OB) van with an integrated Riedel i...

27/03/2026

MPTS 2026 Unveils First Wave of Speakers Featuring BBC Sk...

130 Industry Experts Confirmed as Show Celebrates its 10th Anniversary MPTS, the UK's largest and most influential event for the media, production and tech...

27/03/2026

Grass Valley and NVP Elevate LALIGA Broadcast Production...

Grass Valley today announced the successful completion of a major live production deployment with NVP, a leading European media company specializing in live spo...

27/03/2026

Appear Business Momentum Drives Leadership in Live Produc...

Showcases resilient solutions for satellite-to-IP migration, REMI and hybrid live production Appear ASA (Appear, OSE:APR), a global leader in live production t...

27/03/2026

Lightware MX2 delivers rock-solid 4K60 HDMI 10-bit signal...

San Francisco, California, March 2026 - Microsoft Ignite, a major annual conference hosted by Microsoft for developers, IT professionals, partners and business ...

27/03/2026

Clear-Coms EQUIP Wireless System Keeps Youth With A Missi...

Clear-Com is proud to highlight its support for worship teams through professional communication solutions, with the deployment of its EQUIP wireless system a...

27/03/2026

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo

Orban Collaborates with Sage on Virtualized EAS Technology Demo Brie Clayton March 26, 2026 0 Comments Sage Alerting Systems (SAS), in cooperation wit...

27/03/2026

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway

Berklee Alums Bring GIANT to Broadway Brian and Dayna Lee BM '13 met and fell in love at Berklee, and now their production companys first Broadway debut i...

27/03/2026

RT is Supporting 20 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this April

RT Supporting the Arts RT is Supporting 20 Arts and Cultural Events all over Ireland this April RT is proud to support an exciting month of arts and cul...

27/03/2026

Average of 1.37 million viewers watched Irish World Cup heartbreak on RT2

Average of 1.37 million viewers watched Irish World Cup heartbreak on RT 2 Over one million streams on RT Player Highest number of streams for any single eve...

27/03/2026

Dolby Unveils Dolby House Shanghai, its First Global Flagship Experience Center

March 27 2026, 01:30 (PDT) Dolby Unveils Dolby House Shanghai, its First Global Flagship Experience Center A New Global Platform Showcasing Dolbys Innovatio...

27/03/2026

Dolby and QQ Music Advance Streaming Music with Enhancements to Dolby AC-4

March 27 2026, 03:30 (PDT) Dolby and QQ Music Advance Streaming Music with Enhancements to Dolby AC-4 Delivering greater fidelity, clarity and detail to Dol...

26/03/2026

Audio-Technica and Extron Announce Microsoft Teams-Certified Enterprise Solutions

Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...

26/03/2026

SPORTEL Asia Returns to Singapore with 370 Participants from 35 Countries

SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: LTN to Showcase Satellite-to-IP Migration Solutions

LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100). The C-Ban...

26/03/2026

Seattle Mariners Upgrade Center Field Video Display at T-Mobile Park with Daktronics

The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...

26/03/2026

Esports Nations Cup 2026 Names National Team Partners Across 100+ Countries

The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Expands Vantage Integration with Adobe Premiere, Media Encoder, and Frame.io

Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...

26/03/2026

NAB 2026: FOR-A Brings Nippon TV's viztrick AiDi AI Production Tool to Market with NVIDIA

FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Reaches New Long-Term Multiplatform Rights Agreement with the WNBA

CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...

26/03/2026

Zac Brown Band to Perform Sunday Night Baseball Open on NBC and Peacock

Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...

26/03/2026

2026 MLB Season Opens With Full Slate of National Games

Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...

26/03/2026

DIRECTV Adds Nine MLB Team Channels for 2026 Season

DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...

26/03/2026

Nationals.TV Now Available on Charter, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, Verizon Fios and More

Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...

26/03/2026

MLB.TV Launches on the ESPN App Starting Opening Day

Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...

26/03/2026

What's Next for Spotify and NAVER in Korea After a Stockholm Summit

Spotify's partnership with NAVER, Korea's leading digital platform, is built around one simple goal: making it easier for listeners in Korea to discover...

26/03/2026

EastWest DrumX: Early access

Exclusive to ComposerCloud for first month Sample library and virtual instrument gurus EastWest have announced the upcoming release of a new virtual drum i...

26/03/2026

Dynamic Range Day 2026

Friday 27 March Friday 27 March will mark Dynamic Range Day 2026, the annual day of online activity that was started in 2010 by mastering engineer Ian Sheph...

26/03/2026

ASMR Choir from SRM Sounds

Includes four separate instruments Max Richter's SRM Sounds venture have just announced their fifth release, ASMR Choir. Captured at the main live room ...

26/03/2026

IMPORTANT FEEDBACK: PESP 6

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), has been tasked with administering the Sixth Presi...

26/03/2026

Why YEP Changed My Career (And Why It Might Change Yours)

By Matt Klein Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...

26/03/2026

CBS Sports Inks New WNBA Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...