Meet the colourist - Julien von Schultzendorff posted: 04/01/2020
Julien von Schultzendorff is a colourist at nhb studios in Germany, which has Baselight grading facilities in Hamburg, Berlin, D sseldorf and Munich. Julien has now been with nhb for five years and is well established in the colour grading scene in Germany. At present most of his work is in high-end commercials, for clients like Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Rimowa, Lufthansa and more. His long-term goal is to work on feature films.
At the end of 2019 Julien will move to Berlin, where nhb is currently building a new Baselight suite, to work alongside Pana Argueta. In his free time Julien often goes to the woods, soaking in nature. He enjoys skydiving, playing the guitar and the piano and likes to travel. He also does Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting, although recently he had to take some time off due to an injury.
Berlin Baselight Studio
Can you tell us more about growing up in and around the film scene? Any highlights? Did you always want to be involved in the colour side?
My father Wedigo von Schultzendorff is a cinematographer, and I often visited him on set. I was used to being surrounded by cameras and film equipment, and hanging out with the crew. My highlight, though, was when I met Woody Allen.
Growing up, it was clear to me that I would become a cinematographer as well. But then around the age of 18 I discovered colour grading. It hit me right away - I knew this was what I wanted to do.
Did you learn a lot about the craft from your father as a DoP and your mother as a photographer?
I think the biggest gift I got from them is the awareness of the beauty of pictures and visual appeal. And of course, I got to learn the technical side of making a film. That helps a lot when you are sitting at the control panel in a grading suite. By showing me movies, photography, and the old and new masters of painting - such as Caravaggio, Goya, Vermeer, Munch and Hockney - my father also introduced me early to the world of light, colour and shadow dramaturgy.
How did you get the opportunity to train with colourist Phil Schmidt at Screencraft?
After school I started an apprenticeship for media design at the post-production house Screencraft, where Phil Schmidt works. I did everything possible to become his assistant.
And then when I finally reached this goal I was sitting at the Baselight system literally day and night: working during the day and practicing at night. In the mornings Phil would review my achievements and teach me new things.
For about three years this was basically my life. I loved it, and I'm immensely grateful for his patience and passion.
Munich Grading
What was your first experience of Baselight?
If you count the moment I stumbled into Phil's grading suite for the first time to see him doing magic with Baselight, then that was it.
The most memorable experience was watching Phil grade a feature film with the incredible cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. That's when I got to see all the possibilities in colour grading: how to bring creative visions into life.
The second memorable moment was colour grading my very first job all by myself: an Opel Astra campaign. That was in 2016 at nhb Hamburg, and of course with Baselight.
What are your favourite things about Baselight?
First, that it is a cohesive system. You get everything you need - the panel, the computer, the software - from one company. Whenever you need help with any of if you just need to make one call. FilmLight takes care of it.
That also means you get to work closely with the developers of Baselight, who are so fierce about their work. That makes it so special and so well-thought-out, and it is great to feel I'm contributing to that process.
I also love that the system is built for professionals. It is clearly created for the best possible performance on high-end projects. And that gives a freedom: everything is possible and there are no limits to what you can achieve.
What is it like being a young colourist in the industry?
Sometimes, people think that you can't be any good just because you are young. Some clients would come to the grading session and have low expectations when they enter my grading suite. But as soon as we start and spend time together, you can see the distrust disappear and they realise: all right, he knows what he's doing. I must say I enjoy the moment when it turns around and you can see they are blown away by your work.
I may not have 20 years of grading experience on my back, but I make up for it by having an untainted, progressive approach, by being up to date on new techniques and receptive to new ideas.
What advice would you give to aspiring young colourists hoping to get into the colourist's chair?
At first be sure this is really what you want to do, because the competition is hard and the working hours can be crazy.
Get into a post house that has a well-equipped Baselight suite with a great colourist. Start as an assistant, or get an internship.
Learn as much as you can, and if they need to work all night, stay until they leave too. The hardest hours at the job can be the ones where you learn the most crucial lessons.
Which artists inspire you the most and why?
There are many who have inspired me along the way, if only with a little side note or with their love for the job.
There was Phil Schmidt, my teacher from day one. He is a maniac when it comes to film. Whenever I thought this is it, I've outsmarted his techniques , he came right around the corner to show me something even better, something new, always blowing me away again and again.
Also Maxine Gervais is very inspirational for me. We met at the Baselight Colour Days in Amsterdam and were discussing Baselight techniques. We stayed in contact over email and she would always answer all of my questions
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Meet the colourist - Julien von Schultzendorff posted: 04/01/2020 
