By Christine Bunish
Getting time to color grade a commercial, experiment with it, fine tune it and hone images to look their very best is a luxury these days. But Mark Gethin, creative partner and senior colorist at Santa Monica's TRAFIK, got the rare gift of time last year when he color graded the stunning, three-minute Qantas commercial, I Still Call Australia Home.
The latest spot in the airline's long-running campaign, having launched in 1987, the commercial features breathtaking locations from Western Australia to Tasmania intercut with celebrated Australians and children's choruses singing Peter Allen's eponymous anthem. The spot from The Monkeys, part of the Accenture Interactive creative agency, was directed by Kiku Ohe for Rabbit. It netted Gethin the 2022 HPA Award for Outstanding Color Grading in a Commercial.
I do a lot of commercials but don't always get a lot of time with them, and I don't often see the director and DP, says Gethin. The Qantas spot was a really enjoyable project to work on. We graded it over a few days but spread over a long period of time which allowed us to keep looking at the footage and tweaking it, giving it a lot of thought.
The process was director-led, with Kiku getting me involved early and having us do a lot of experimenting to see how far to push it, he recalls. But we came back at the end to something a bit more naturalistic. A lot of the landscapes [shot by DP Jeremy Rouse] have such beautiful light and colors, so we stayed true to their look.
Rouse captured the footage digitally then the raw images were filmed out and scanned back to achieve a film-like quality for postproduction. We had the luxury of doing quite a few grades: an initial grade, then a film grade, which we thought looked too heavy, then a digital grade using the film as a reference, Gethin explains. The agency allowed me to spend time on this. Kiku was always popping in and out with ideas about trying this and that; there was a lot of back and forth with Jeremy in Australia who sent references but let me do my thing. When I grade I always try to add something to the images.
Gethin is one of the world's most award-winning colorists with British Arrows, a UK MVA, AICP awards, Gold Cannes Lions and a Grand Prix among his honors. He originally wanted to be a musician, then got into photography and lighting bands and theater. He became a runner at Rushes in London and was interested in directing before he even knew color grading existed. I had no idea that colorist was a job, but when I first walked into a colorist's suite and saw someone loading up the film - this was in the early 90s - and start coloring I was pretty much hooked, he reports. It seemed a perfect fit for his talents.
He began grading at Rushes and rose rapidly through the ranks. For the first 10 years I graded solely music videos at Rushes, Gethin recalls. A move to MPC London got him into commercials, and by 2008 he was opening the MPC LA office. He became the creative director of MPC LA and MPC NY until the company's merger with The Mill last year. In August 2022 he and some former MPC colleagues opened TRAFIK, an independently owned creative studio, specializing in color, finish and beauty for short and long-form content.
We're built around a collective of great artists who have worked together for many years, Gethin says. The new company has grown rapidly and now boasts a staff of 40, including four senior colorists. There is a ton of crossover with DPs and directors across all forms of content these days, so we've set ourselves up to grade for our clients across all media. We've been both surprised and grateful by the outpouring of support and excitement from our clients since we opened. In addition to winning an HPA Award, TRAFIK was short-listed for eight AICP awards, the most of any grading company globally.
Since TRAFIK opened, Gethin has worked on several Super Bowl films, including one with director Kim Gehrig and Apple for Rihanna's half-time show. I've worked with Kim for years, so it's been great having her in the studio, he says. Gethin also recently graded Expedia's beautiful Made to Travel spot directed by Justyna Obasi, and is coloring an Apple TV+ show slated for fall.
I Still Call Australia Home was the first project that Gethin submitted to the HPA Awards. In the past, I was always working and other people sent things off to various awards, he says. When we opened TRAFIK we wanted to make sure to get our new brand out there, so I'm more involved in submissions now.
It was absolutely great to win - it was a recognition for everyone whose work went into the spot; the director and DP were super happy. You know, a colorist works in a dark room and goes from job to job, so it feels good to be recognized that you did a nice bit of work.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
By Christine Bunish
