How Alex O’Brien Finds Beauty in the Subtleties of the Grade

Award winning colourist Alex O’Brien has worked on large commercial campaigns for Monzo, Mercedes and Uber, collaborating with artists such as Lu Xiao Wei, Fabio De Frel, Pip+Lib and Jake Gabbay.

Their diverse portfolio spans commercials, documentaries and music promos, with creative collaboration at the core of their work. Winning Best Colourist; Newcomer at the 2024 UKMVAs as well as industry recognition as a finalist at Berlin Commercial Awards, Creative Circle and The Young Arrows, Alex has carved a name for themself as one of the most exciting newcomers in colour grading.

LBB> Where did you hone your craft and did you have any particular mentors?

Alex> I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the most brilliant colourists over my 10 years in the industry. I worked alongside Alex Gregory and Megan Lee when we were at The Mill together, they were so supportive when I was starting out and gave me the confidence I needed to begin. During my time at Company 3 London I was mentored a lot by Stefan Perry and Simon Bourne. The way they both approach grading, albeit differently to each other, has really stuck with me and gave me the foundation to how I work now.

LBB> What was your first experience with the world of colour grading – and when did you decide that being a colourist was a role that you wanted to pursue?

Alex> I studied sound design and music composition at University and decided to join the Mill as a runner back in 2015. Although I knew they didn’t offer sound design, I was just so excited by the chance to join the industry that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I remember one day walking into James Bamford’s suite with drinks for his clients and I watched him bypass a grade on a few shots; it blew my mind, this sparked my interest into the world of colour grading and it's all followed from that day.

LBB> What was the project that you felt really changed your career?

Alex> Can Carreras directed by the lovely Irene Baque. It was a really special project to be a part of and feels like a significant turning point in my career. I feel as though it was a key film in the development of my style and realising the importance of the director and colourist relationship. Irene and I have continued to work together over the years and her projects are always a joy to grade.

LBB> Tell us more about your creative process - when you get a project, how do you go about developing a look?

Alex> Colourists are one of the final steps in a project that may have been going on for a month or a year and we can have a big impact in a short amount of time so being as collaborative as possible is important for me. Working with key visuals and references and discussing the vision is incredibly important and allows me to understand the creative vision and world.

I like to have time before the session to experiment with different looks and get a good feel for the project and where we can take things and talk with the creative team involved. Building an understanding of the creative vision from the get go is really important.

LBB> How do you ensure that each colourist-director partnership is a success?

Alex> Well, my Colour EP, Franky brings her gorgeous dog in daily who has a particular soft spot for my sofa which always gives instant talking points and we need to make sure there’s some good music playing with a few pastries from Dusty Knuckle on the table. But honestly,

I love to chat and get to know the director as much as possible on a personal level. I think for me understanding more of the person sitting with me allows me to get into their head to see the vision. It’s also one of my favourite parts of the job, meeting other like minded creatives!

LBB> From experience, we’ve found that colourists often love art and photography - when you’re out of the studio, what inspires you?

Alex> I have, probably like everyone else in this industry, an unhealthy amount of photography and art books at home. It’s nice to have a physical form of inspiration to get away from being on a screen all day. It’s also nice to literally go outside and touch some grass after 8 hours in a dark room.

LBB> Colour grading is largely a digital affair, but there’s also been a resurgence of film over the past few years in commercials and music videos. What are your thoughts about working on film versus digital formats like 4K? And what are your favourite techniques for capturing a vintage or tactile feel?

Alex> Grading film is always such a delight. So much of the texture and feeling is already there and it’s up to the colourist to bring out the nuances. As much as I do enjoy the ‘make it look like film’ brief for a digital project, I try to push the creative for more details about what nuances they like from a film stock and try to incorporate these into the grade instead of just slapping a grain overlay on.

LBB> What advice would you give to budding colourists?

Alex> Practice, practice, practice. Grade everything you can get your hands on. You’ll learn a lot from a job that is shot on seven different cameras. I also came up in the traditional route of runner - MCR - colour assistant - colourist and during that time I learnt so much from those around me. Not only colourists, but VFX artists, editors and producers. The skill of grading like many things takes a long time to hone but there are so many other skills that are required to be a successful colourist; managing a room of clients, ensuring the pipeline from colour to VFX works for the job etc, it's good to feel ready for that.

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LBB> In your opinion, what's the difference between a good grade and a great grade?

Alex> A good grade looks and feels good, it gets the job out of the door. But a great grade enhances through nuance and subtly, perfectly capturing the feel of the project.

LBB> What are your goals for the year ahead?

Alex> I have some really exciting projects coming up which will potentially involve some travel and we are in the early stages of a documentary project which will be weeks of work and is a really exciting new project that's already gathering interest.

This year has already brought brilliant and new opportunities with work, a super fun recent collaboration with Guy De La Palme for NYX and a gorgeous Migros job with director, Jan-Eric Mack and DOP, Jan Mettler which was a treat to grade to name a few. I’d love to see more of those projects this year, good work, good people, great outcome.