Hit Horror Film Buddy Created with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Hit Horror Film Buddy Created with DaVinci Resolve Studio

Brie Clayton October 23, 2026

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Colorist Sam Daley created authentic 90s kids'show and modern horror looks for new creature film.

Blackmagic Design today announced that the hit horror film Buddy was graded by Picture Shop Senior Colorist and ASC Associate Member Sam Daley using DaVinci Resolve Studio. The software helped create a modern day look as well as pay homage to the Technicolor three-strip process, while recreating the iconic look and feel of 1990s kids' shows like Barney.

Buddy is a film about a classic TV show hosted by an orange unicorn named Buddy. Once a beloved character, the film reveals Buddy as a dark and violent force of nature who terrorizes children.

Daley worked closely with Zach Kuperstein, the award winning DP of films such as Barbarian, The Eyes Of My Mother and Woman of the Hour, to move between the worlds of Buddy, while capturing the unique look and feel that people immediately recognize as a 90s kids' show.

Daley explained: There are three distinct worlds within the film that we called Park, Strange and Real. The look of the Park world emulates a 90s kids' TV show. The Strange world has a classic Technicolor three-striplook, and the Real world has a modern filmic look. Zach created the Park and Strange looks in DaVinci Resolve for the dailies, then we improved upon them when we got into the DI theater. We created the Real world look together in the theater.

For matching the 90s kids' show look, Daley and Kuperstein were tasked with taking footage shot on modern day cameras and making it appear like it was shot on CCD cameras.

Zach tested 90s era video cameras, but they were impractical to use for the production, so those tests became our references for the Park world look. Still, there is a feeling of nostalgia that goes with this look. We can emulate the look technically, but it has to feel like a 90s kids' TV show. Zach, director Casper Kelly and I took great care crafting this look.

Daley and Kuperstein relied on a variety of DaVinci Resolve Studio's features and OpenFX plug ins to perfect a 90s look. This included use of the software's Analog Damage filter to introduce signal noise and chroma misalignment, as well as a subtle scan line effect to mimic CRT televisions. DaVinci Resolve Studio's JPEG Damage OFX created blocky compression flaws, and the Sharpen Edges plug in added an analog video edge to the subjects.

The order of operations was key to creating our 90s TV show look. We knew the effects we needed, but we had to experiment with their order in the pipeline to get the best results, Daley explained.

DaVinci Resolve Studio's Film Look Creator effect was employed to shape the look for the Real world, while a complicated node structure of RGB and CYM channel isolation was used to simulate the Technicolor three-strip process for the Strange world.

It was important that these looks enhance the ride for the audience without overpowering the story, and I feel we hit the bullseye, Daley said. DaVinci Resolve provided all the tools we needed to create three unique looks for a truly unique film.

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