We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Vail a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

The learning process for my current position within the company was actually quite tumultuous because there was only a 2 week training period for a position that normally takes a month or more to learn. The position is pretty evenly split between technical software knowledge, and interpersonal relationships/client facing social aptitude. In those two weeks, I tried my best to take notes to reference even to this day, but in order to make it stick, I prioritized practicing using the software and asked some more specific questions regarding the different client relationships. To speed up my process, I wish I had taken the time to study Davinci Resolve a bit more on my free time during college, and knowing what I know now, I wish I went out of my way to take some of the color grading classes in college that weren’t included in my major. Right now some of the biggest obstacles of learning more (as this position is an ongoing learning process), is that working for multiple different colorists, I have to understand how they work. In general, that takes time and multiple projects together to master. Additionally, I am still actively learning WHY I do certain things within the software and the job to get the result that we get. So more of the inner workings of the position, software, and color in general. There’s so much more to learn but that’s what I love about the position because I don’t ever feel like I’m plateauing in my learning process!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hey y’all! My name is Emily and I’m currently working towards becoming a colorist at FotoKem. I’m originally from Atlanta, Georgia (hence the “hey yall”) and moved to LA for college at California State University, Northridge. I studied Film Production and was later admitted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Gold Rising program where I first interned with FotoKem. Fast forward to now, I’m currently working in a subset of FotoKem known as the Lodge, as a conform editor and digital intermediate producer. The Lodge is focused on helping new and upcoming filmmakers through the digital intermediate process as most of these filmmakers do not have the resources or knowledge of the process. Part of my job is to survey the films that come across my desk. when one does, I tend to prioritize films that seem to be related to a topic that I resonate or support. I’m currently learning from multiple different colorists that work in the Lodge and together, we have helped online, color, and deliver multiple films for multiple different forms of delivery. Right now something that we are very proud of is that we have two films that have made their way into Sundance this year which is what we’re always working towards in the Lodge!

In the future, i’d love to continue to learn more of the details of becoming a colorist and how that not only reaches into the technical knowledge, but also the interpersonal and curious.

In my personal life, this curiosity has led me to multiple different avenues of hobbies but to spotlight – I am an avid skier, frequent traveler, and food lover. Around LA, you can catch me at a Saturday morning workout class, fun dive bar, or at an AMC theater attempting to keep up with all the amazing films that have been released recently! (shoutout AMC A List!).

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

While my job is pretty traditional in terms of being a 9-5 with benefits and job security, there’s quite a bit of work being done outside of work to continue to launch my career in the right direction. In all jobs, networking is necessary, but in my creative journey I’m not only networking but also volunteering to work on my friends projects as a way to launch both of our creative journeys in the right direction. During college, I was taking positions that didn’t really coincide with where I wanted to go in my career but now, I make sure to almost exclusively work on passion projects as a colorist or a post production supervisor (or both!). Building my portfolio is so important to all jobs but especially those who are creatives because it’s a way for future clients to trust your eye. Additionally with color specifically, practice makes perfect and while there aren’t too many opportunities to color at my 9-5 YET, I’m very content learning on my own time surrounded by some of my other creative friends!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve always known that I wanted to work in post production in some capacity, but for most of my life it was to be an offline editor. While editing is still something that I enjoy, color has definitely taken my interest. I look at color as something that’s very fragile and can really make or break a film and I want to try my hand and show the world how I envision color as well. I also think the film industry needs more women in technical positions and while color is creative facing, it’s also extremely technical. I can’t wait to continue my creative journey and see the relationships that I build with directors and cinematographers alike and stories that I’m able to bring to life!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @emilyrvail
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyrvail
• Other: FotoKem Lodge Instagram – @fotokem_lodge

  Lodge Inquiries – [email protected]

Image Credits

Taylor Berberich