OmniScope Featured Artist:
Blake Jones is a colorist and educator who has had a prolific career in the color industry for almost 35 years. Raised in Hollywood's bustling center, Blake comes from a family that was happily entrenched in the film industry. As a colorist Blake worked on Hollywood titles like “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Poltergeist”, and “Brainstorm”. As an educator, Blake has authored multiple books about color, as well as documentation for Pandora’s Pogle system and the original DaVinci Resolve operator manual. He is also an active instructor with the ICA (International Colorist Academy) and continues to work as a colorist, trainer, and consultant for film and television projects.
When we heard that Blake was a happy user of Nobe OmniScope, we knew that we had to interview him for our featured artist series!
Hi Blake, thanks so much for chatting with us. We’ve read that you had quite a unique childhood. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
“I was born and raised in Burbank, California. I was actually born in the hospital just across the street from Disney Studios. My mother was an assistant animator and worked on films such as “Lady and The Tramp”, “Cinderella”, “Peter Pan” and “Sleeping Beauty” to name only a few. My father was the personal publicist for Walt Disney. He worked on projects such as “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Mary Poppins”. During this era, Disney Studio was very much a family organization. I would frequently come to work with my Dad and could go to departments to learn how things worked in a studio. I grew up in an era before home video so we had our own screening room at home. We could run films in 16mm and 35mm. This allowed me to acquire a deep knowledge of film at an early age.”
How and when did your color career get started?
“I have always worked in film and first worked as a film projectionist. I then worked in private screening rooms where I would run films for various directors such as George Cukor who directed “My Fair Lady”. When it was identified that I had such an intense film background, I was offered a job as a telecine colorist. I did my first project for MGM and it was so well received that I immediately got my next project.
When starting out as a colorist, I first worked on the night shift in Hollywood grading the classic Technicolor films. I then moved to another company where I worked on television shows. The first company I worked for asked me to return and offered me a position on the day shift working on the A-title projects. So I returned and worked on films such as “Bring on The Night”, “2001”, and “Brainstorm” to name only a few of the over 130 titles I’ve worked on.”
Of all these titles, what was the most memorable or challenging?
“I would say the project that stands out the most is “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It was a challenging film to color grade, but it was so well photographed, it was a joy to work on. The Stargate scene in 2001 is probably my most memorable.
You mentioned iconic films like “2001” and “Poltergeist". Has your role as a colorist changed as the tools transitioned from hardware based platforms to software based applications? Or telecine to digital?
“I always say that the golden rule is to keep things as simple as possible. For the titles such as these, I essentially used mainly primary color correction controls and fixed qualifiers. Using these two tools together will allow you to do anything.
How did you get started as a Resolve instructor? And curious – what are some of your favorite new tools?
“I used to be a demo artist for the company daVinci and also was the author of the first versions of the Resolve operator manual. It was quickly identified when I used to demo the daVinci Renaissance and 2K color grading systems that I could instruct others.
My favorite tool in Resolve is of course Contrast Pop. I keep current with all the new tools and implement them in new projects. For example I used the Surface Tracker to do a face swap in a new project recently.”
What do you enjoy more, working as a colorist or as an educator?
“I would say they work hand in hand. I like equally well working as a colorist or as a trainer.”
Scopes you can trust in the grading suite are so important. Nobe OmniScope does a fantastic job.
What is your favorite equipment in your color suite?
“My favorite hardware equipment in my suite is my ASUS ProArt grading monitor. Regarding software, I would say Nobe OmniScope. I found out about OmniScope through the International Colorist Academy. I immediately saw what a sensational product it was.”
Thanks for your time Blake. Lastly, we heard that you also started a new endeavor, can you tell us about this?
Sure, my brother and I recently formed a company called CloudStudio SAS. We offer production and post services, sell equipment, and also offer training and support services.
Learn more about Blake Jones, visit his website OR YouTube channel.
