Yes I’m a Colorist, No I Don’t Do Hair

A woman with short teal hair coloring and bright pink lipstick.
There's a lot of confusion out there about what exactly a colorist does. Do they color people's hair? No. Do they make videos look really awesome? Yes.

I’m a Colorist, I Get It

Seriously. When you hear I’m a Colorist and you see my cool hair, it’s easy to assume that I color hair for a living. But you know what everyone says about assumptions.

People who are not in the Film/Television/Advertising industry, I get it: what we do is magic. You can have a free pass. But recently someone in the industry (who shall remain nameless) made this very assumption. I was in shock. Usually if I tell someone who is in the industry that I am a Colorist they ask if I’m on Resolve, or if I also edit. Which of course brings about the, “Yes, I love Resolve” and, “No I don’t edit that much anymore, even though I did begin my career that way.”

But for someone who works in the industry to ask what color he should dye his hair? I was speechless. So, after the shock wore off, I did my best to explain that when you capture footage it doesn’t always come out the way the director intends. It’s my job to take it to the next level and make the piece feel right.

Still Confused?

For those of you still scratching your head, Hair Colorists do awesome things like this:

A woman with long purple hair who went to a colorist.

I Color Video

I take the original footage and, depending on the mood of the piece, change it so it has the right feel. If you want the warm fuzzies I can make a pretty golden glow. If you are looking for more of a creepy hallway, I can make it dark and dingy.

A farm tractor on a road with half of the image color graded and half not color graded.

The original image of a farm tractor before color grading.
The image of a farm tractor after having been color graded.

But hey, some people are visual learners, so here’s a link to our awesome new color reel.  Think about it next time you’re wondering what a Colorist really does.

If you want to learn more about what it’s like to work with me (since I’m a Colorist), read my blog post What to Expect When Working with a Colorist.  Thanks for reading!

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