Coloring Fallout with FotoKem Senior Colorist Kostas Theodosiou

 
 by Photo of author

Amazon Video’s new post-apocalyptic series Fallout features a dynamic cast of wild characters, far-flung future locations, and a tongue-in-cheek spirit that carries over from the videogame it’s based on. Produced by Kilter Films and shepherded by showrunners and executive producer Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy, the show did its color finishing at FotoKem, where FotoKem Senior Colorist Kostas Theodosiou worked closely with the showrunners, the directors, and the DPs to give this madcap original series its unique look. We at The Loop recently coaxed Theodosiou out of his “vault” and asked him a few questions about the final color process:

Q: What, if any, color inspirations did the filmmakers ask you to reference before starting your color work on Fallout?

THEODOSIOU: We tried to create a new look overall. Jonathan Nolan, the other directors, and the DPs shot in different locations but we came up with a look that would feel new and different while staying close to the look of the video game.

Q: What was Nolan’s vision for Fallout’s color?

Jonah likes his television programming to look theatrical. And as a matter of fact, on the first two episodes, although the show was going to television, he watched (the color progress) in the (FotoKem) theater. That’s why when we had the premiere, it was very easy for me to make it look exactly like how a feature film would look, because we started with that in mind. It was treated like a feature throughout the whole eight episodes.

Q: Does Fallout being shot 35mm film change your artistic process versus when you’re coloring digitally acquired footage?

Yes. For this show, we had three different Kodak stocks: 5203, 5207 and 5219, and every stock looks a little bit different. It was done like that because throughout the show they were shooting exteriors, interiors, the Vault on a stage, and visual effects. The color correction had to match between the three stocks because they were not using any digital cameras. So we went for the look of the show to have the three stocks blend seamlessly when edited together so when you color correct the sequence, it seems like it’s all the same stock. So it was a different stock for the different environments. And the show used two kinds of lenses: anamorphic and spherical.

Q: Were there any specific challenges to overcome when coloring Fallout?

Once we set the looks overall — what the desert sequences would look like, what it would look like in the vault, the look for The Ghoul, what the look would be for nighttime interiors, daylight exteriors and interiors — we pretty much kept those looks throughout the whole show for the whole season. I would make the looks and then we created lookup tables and created certain looks for the different geographical locations with the directors of photography. And then after we had the first sequence assembled, Jonathan came in and we created a particular look that would match throughout the whole series. Sometimes we’d have flashback sequence that he wanted a certain look for. The visual effects as well had to put their twist on it. So I had to go back and re-trim color based on the visual effects, because when I did the first pass, I didn’t have the final visual effects, so I was just color correcting plates.

Q: How was working with Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy and the Kilter Films team? What was the workflow like?

Jonah is very hands-on. He makes the decisions really quick: what he likes, what he doesn’t like, how he wants to approach the color, what kind of lens we’re going to use and how the look of the show is going to go. My relationship with Kilter Films goes back to the third season of Westworld, so I have a relationship with the VFX supervisor and the editors, and this is the third show we’ve done together. The workflow began with me coloring the episodes and then after I was done with the majority of my color correction and the first round of visual effects, the directors of photography would get to see an episode and give me notes for the trims that they wanted to do. And after that the show was pretty much locked. None of the directors of photography came here to color correct in the bay. Jonah was approving the episodes and every episode that I color corrected, I had a live remote session with the DPs on location.

Q: You mentioned visual effects. Were there any particular VFX shots in Fallout that were challenging to color?

One particular challenge was the Gulper — the mutant fish creature that comes out of the water. That was a little bit challenging due to how hard it was to match based on the light and the time of day. Also challenging was capturing all the detail when the creature’s mouth was opening and you had all of these fingers inside. It was different in HDR than standard dynamic range. So we created variations of different visual effects to see which one would fit with best the surroundings.

Also, some of the VFX had challenges because we wanted to accomplish a certain look and there’s little bit of a difference between when you do a visual effect on a computer monitor and in HDR because the show was designed to have three different outputs and a standard dynamic range, HD, HDR10 and a Dolby HDR. So when you have visual effects designed for one format, it doesn’t mean automatically it’s going to work on all the other formats. So sometimes it took a little bit more tweaking to bring it all in into that particular format. But we were able to make it work. If I needed something, I would call back the VFX supervisor and he would provide me with another version.

Q: How did you watch Fallout after it came out?

I watched the show in two different formats — in standard dynamic range and in HDR on two different televisions — just to make sure that it looked good throughout.

Q: Looking back, are there any shots or sequences that you would color differently now?

No, I’m very happy with the way that the show came out. I’m very happy.

Q: If you had to pick one shot or sequence that best represents your final color work on Fallout, what would it be?

For sure the vault in episode one — the massacre sequence — it was incredible. Also, the supermarket sequence when all the mutants come out of the refrigerators. Plus the desert sequence and even the the end of the show — the shootout at the observatory. It was a great sequence. So to have a favorite is really hard because it’s so unique that I love little bit of everything, you know?

Q: Finally, if you could pick one tv setting that most viewers would adjust when viewing your work at home, what would it be?

I can’t say which settings to use, but many people seem to like to watch tv very, very bright. So their tv’s black level is elevated because they want to see detail when no detail is intended to be there. So if I see that, I’ll grab the remote and the first thing I change is the brightness and then I try to fix their tv’s color as best as I can.