Miscellaneous Wisdom - The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction - page 464

to be shown. Johnny is really angry and feeling betrayed in this scene. It
is really just a question sometimes about experience and sometimes being
more social.
“I just think there are technicians who just are not somebody you
would want to spend time with sometimes. If a guy has no sense of style
or just looks like the guy out of the Hangover movie in terms of how they
dress. Do you want that guy? And if you do not gel with that, how are
you ever going to work with that person? If you cannot feel comfort-
able in the room speaking with that person, then how are you going to
collaborate together? A lot of it is social and a lot is understanding oth-
ers. Part of it also is cultural. I grew up in Europe and went to boarding
school and I have been all around the world, I used to speak another
language, and I am the first American-born in my family, so I also can
empathize and kind of relate to the European crowd. They tell me that
I am the first person that they have ever met who can understand what
they're thinking. I have traveled in Europe and around the world and
that is a huge part of learning. The other part is that I have been fortu-
nate to work with a lot of great people, and every time you work with
a person who is great, you are always learning. I have just a whole bag
of experience behind me that I have learned from others that I have
embellished myself.”
As an editor and colorist, I have always believed that the best edi-
tors and colorists are a balance of the technical, the social, and the cre-
ative. I pose this thought to Sonnenfeld. “There are some technically
inept colorists that I know who are pretty successful,” he asserts, “The
dirty secret of our business is that there are a lot of people who do not
really know some of the stuff that they should. From that point of view,
I think everybody should have a strong (technical) foundation—and
I do—because I worked my way up. I think experience is a huge part of
it. The creative collaborative is the majority of it. So, for me, it is really
coming to an understanding of what people want. I would say that is
the most important thing. Part of it is also trying something and pushing
yourself more than you would think. What happens is this inspires you
to do different things.”
I point out my sidebar from Chapter 1 on the similarities in terms
between colorists and musicians and ask for his feedback. “People realize
how much [color] impacts the movie, and it is the same way with music.
It brings out these emotions in people much more so than color. It is a vis-
ceral emotional appeal. It is much more obvious with music. You put on a
song and you start to experience all these different feelings, whereas color
is a little bit more hidden, but at the same time it does the same stuff. You
almost notice it more when it is wrong or not working then when it is
actually right and fantastic. Being able to evoke emotion and feeling from
people is what it is all about.”