FilmLight, in cooperation with an assortment of industry groups, is organizing the Colour Awards to celebrate the contributions of Colourists to the look of modern moving media.

FilmLight’s CEO Wolfgang Lempp explains:

…the role of the colourist is still perhaps less recognised than it should be. This role has moved far beyond the colour timer of the film era, responsible primarily for matching and balancing shots with the limited tools they had available.

Today the colourist has a powerful, creative role. When things go right, the colourist, the cinematographer and the director work together to create the look of the production. Subtly, subliminally, this look creates the atmosphere of every shot. Done well, the colour grading underlines the plot and positively contributes to the storytelling.

I mentioned collaboration, and that is a really important part of what we are trying to recognise through the Colour Awards. It is all too easy to create a mythical war between the DP and the colourist, with one fighting to undo the work of the other. Such situations rarely if ever exist, and every director, cinematographer and colourist will tell you that the happiest of projects and most successful outcomes are the result of everyone sharing ideas and vision.

This first year of the Colour Awards features four categories: colourist in a theatrical feature; colourist in a non-theatrical or television series production; colourist in commercials or music videos; and the most innovative use of Baselight technology to achieve a creative result. While the last is product-specific — Baselight is FilmLight’s high-end grading package — the others are entirely vendor-agnostic.*

Entries are now being accepted in each of the categories. Entry is free. Full details here.

The Awards will be presented at the 29th EnergaCAMERIMAGE in Torún, Poland in mid-November.

*One could conceivably win an award with a show graded entirely in FCPX, using only the Color Board and FCPX’s built-in masking tools, though no extra points will be awarded for such gratuitous masochism.**

**Not that I have an opinion, or anything.

Disclosure: There is no material relationship between me and FilmLight or EnergaCAMERIMAGE. I have used the Color Board in FCPX for grading and yes it is possible to do good work with it — but we’ll just say it’s not my first choice, and we’ll leave it at that.

“Color” is spelled “Colour” since the Colour Awards are being set up by Brits. But “Color Board” is still “Color Board” because that’s how FCPX presents it even with “English (UK)” set as my Mac’s primary language. Ç’est la vie…