The lat1est movie written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, took the 2019 Cannes Film Festival by storm. The film visits late 60’s Los Angeles with colour and vitality realised by cinematographer Robert Richardson.
To create the distinctive vintage look of the period, Yvan Lucas, a veteran DI colourist with a unique international story, made the most of the rich functionality of the Baselight grading platform. Lucas, based in Los Angeles, is a pioneer of colour timing. He started at film lab Éclair in Paris before moving to DI grading and eventually to the US. His career spans over 30 years and ten different labs, and has included creative collaborations with a long list of iconic cinematographers, including Darius Khondji, Robert Richardson and Rodrigo Prieto.
Lucas credits the work he did with Khondji and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet – especially Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children – on launching his international career and leading him to Los Angeles.
With his incredible eye and memory for colour, Lucas has been credited with dailies and DI on over 60 features on both sides of the pond, including Se7en, Amelie, I am Legend, Argo, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Lost City of Z and the upcoming Martin Scorsese film The Irishman. He has become a key figure in the film industry, working with highly regarded directors such as Luc Besson, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. And, of course, Quentin Tarantino.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood marks his fourth collaboration with Tarantino – after The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds.
Because of his natural affinity with the way that Tarantino works, Lucas was tasked with overseeing the look from dailies right through to final colour. DoP Bob Richardson, with whom Yvan has worked on 11 films, collaborated with him and colour scientist Matt Tomlinson to create the show LUT, which was established quite early on.
In parallel, associate colourist Elodie Ichter would work on the digital version of the dailies, using FilmLight’s Daylight dailies platform. Lucas would then finesse the final colours.
The emphasis on excellence at the dailies stage, and the strong bond of tru
st between director, cinematographer and finishing colourist, ensured that what Lucas saw on his Baselight system replicated what had come out of the lab. Tarantino spent just a day discussing the final grade.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood went on general release in the USA in July 2019 and is due for general release in the UK in August 2019.
