Ahead of this years FilmLight Colour Awards, jury member Jax Harney, founder and senior colourist at X-LDN speaks to TVBEurope about the colourists role and what she hopes to see from the 2024 entries
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: July 23, 2024 Updated: July 24, 2024
Ahead of this year's FilmLight Colour Awards, jury member Jax Harney, founder and senior colourist at X-LDN speaks to TVBEurope about the colourist's role and what she hopes to see from the 2024 entries
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Ahead of this year's FilmLight Colour Awards, jury member Jax Harney, founder and senior colourist at X-LDN speaks to TVBEurope about the colourist's role and what she hopes to see from the 2024 entries
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/the-grade-should-flow-not-steal-the-show-colourist-jax-harney-reveals-her-hopes-for-the-filmlight-2024-awards title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Do you think it's important for colourists to be recognised in awards like these? Absolutely, these awards are essential for validating the skills and artistry that colourists bring to the table.
You've been working for over two decades as a colourist. What are you looking for in entries? I'll be looking for creative use of colour that enhances the story being presented. I want the grade to flow - not steal the show, but compliment what I'm watching. I'll be looking at texture and then the obvious clean keys, fine shape work and making sure my attention is being led to where it's required.
Jax Harney, founder and senior colourist, X-LDN As a colourist specialised in advertising, what are your thoughts on the new category for this year - Emerging Talent? I think this new category is an incredible way to recognise and celebrate the fresh faces in our industry who are bringing in new energy and ideas. This category not only highlights their hard work and potential, but also encourages them to keep honing their craft. I'm really excited to see this kind of recognition and support for the next generation of talent. It's definitely a step in the right direction towards a more innovative and inclusive industry.
Having worked for so many luxury brands, what is the most important part of the grade for this type of project? Is it skin tone, the discussion with the creative agency, etc.? Anyone who knows me, knows how much I bang on about collaboration being key. On every job, I try to work closely with the director, DoP and creatives to achieve the best results. With beauty work in particular, I have to be gentle with the skin tones and stay as real as the environment will allow. This can be difficult sometimes if the client wants their product singing out of the scene, but it's always a team discussion on how to walk this fine line of staying true to the scene while also delivering what the client wants.
You set up your own facility in 2020, can you tell us more about it? I did indeed and it is the best thing that came out of the pandemic for me. The model we've created is based on collaborations with different independent artists and post facilities. Colour is still my main focus and the core of the business at X, but over the years I've connected with some incredible talents in all areas of post, which has led to some amazing creative partnerships across the globe.
How do you prefer to work with the DoP on colour? For long form I always try to connect with the DoP early in the process. This gives us time to shoot ideas around, test looks and create a solid LUT. I find that consistent communication throughout the shoot, with tweaks to the look as we go, always yields the best creative outcomes. I much prefer having the DoP in the suite for the final grade, but in commercials that isn't often the case. In this instance, I will always endeavour to at least have a brief from set to try and carry as much of the creative intent across.
What are the key challenges of your role as colourist? Particularly in advertising, diminishing budgets mean less productions are factoring in the appropriate time for colour and finishing. Plus, some editors are now using AI tech for colour in their edit software, so we are finding that the colour grading is being axed to save money. A lot of the time this results in us having to pick up a project very late in the day - when the production hands it over to fix what hasn't been achieved in edit and what hasn't been accounted for at the beginning of the project.
What's your career highlight to date and why? I have quite a few career highlights for various reasons, so I will list a few.
Going to the BAFTAs with the short film, Kamali (2018), directed by Sasha Rainbow and shot by Jake Gabbay. This was super special.
Working with Nicole Ackermann, Adam Bentel and the amazing VFX team at The Mill NYC on the trailer for the Bethesda Game Studios' game, Starfield' was also pretty special. I'm a huge gamer and grading video game trailers is my happy place.
Setting up my own post facility - that's got to be up there.
Finally, watching the cast of Celebrity Gogglebox get all emotional while watching episode 6 of Big Boys (season 1).
The shortlist for the 2024 FilmLight Colour Awards will be released in autumn with winners announced at EnergaCAMERIMAGE in November. For more details, visit: www.filmlightcolourawards.com.
Elvis, JFK cinematographers among judges for FilmLight Colour Awards
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Ahead of this years FilmLight Colour Awards, jury member Jax Harney, founder and senior colourist at X-LDN speaks to TVBEurope about the colourists role and what she hopes to see from the 2024 entries
