Apple TV+’s The Studio features Seth Rogen as Matt Remick, the newly-appointed head of Continental Studios — a position he’s pursued his entire life, but one that may also destroy him. Remick and his core team of executives battle their insecurities as they wrangle narcissistic artists and corporate overlords in the ever-elusive pursuit of making great films.
For Harbor senior colorist Damien Vandercruyssen, it was his frequent collaboration with director of photography Adam Newport-Berra that led to his work on The Studio. Newport-Berra was recently recognized with an Emmy for his work on the show in the “Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour)” category, one of 13 The Studio took home at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, which included Rogan being honored as a lead actor. Vandercruyssen recalls the DP reaching out to him slightly before production began back in 2024 to discuss the look he had in mind.
“We had this idea of like getting the vintage kind of browns, a lot of maroons and warm tones, so we did that through a few sessions during pre-pro basically,” says Vandercruyssen. “Like a film look, but [it] had to be gentle enough because of all the shooting conditions and the long takes. Adam wanted something a little softer than usual, but that palette was baked-in from the beginning.”
The show was shot using Arri’s Alexa 35, with Newport-Berra handling most of the series, and Drew Daniels lending support. Vandercruyssen was able to start developing the look by working with test footage that was shot on-set with actors in full hair & makeup, giving him a very accurate representation of what the show’s material would ultimately look like.
“They did lens tests before…because it was a single lens,” Vandercruyssen recalls of the shoot. “The goal was to use that single lens the whole time, so once he had that locked in, we could really develop the look and start saying, ‘Okay, this is going to work!’”
The team went for a slightly lower contrast that would leave ample room to over or under expose the footage. The film footage that appears within the show also received varying treatments.
“They didn’t shoot any tests for these,” says Vandercruyssen of the film footage that makes up part of the show’s storyline. “We recreated that look after, in the DI. That’s where we pushed the look. We had kind of an idea reference during dailies, but that ‘show within the show’ — all the movies — had their specific looks.”
Vandercruyssen graded The Studio at Harbor in New York using a FilmLight Baselight system. His suite also includes a Sony X310 monitor and a client display, though in the case of
The Studio, the client viewed his grades remotely.
The series’ oner sequence in Episode 2 (Oner) was one of the most challenging, with the long shot appearing to take place as the sun goes down.
“Adam really wanted to make sure we had that kind of sunset-to-dusk feel throughout the episode and that had to be kind of ramped during the grade,” Vandercruyssen explains. “That’s the one we started with and spent many sessions and revisions just to make sure we had it right. It’s a oner, but it’s also a fake oner, where they have a lot of stitches, so (there are) a lot a different takes to make it feel seamless. That’s why I had to start building the grade through that progression and with multiple edits that you don’t see. I think (it’s) probably 50 shots or something like that.”
Vandercruyssen relied on his Baselight system to push the halation in the footage, creating glowing highlights and fringing reminiscent of film.
“Adam wanted to emulate that, so I used that quite a lot,” he shares.
The shoot had a certain amount of grain baked-in, and additional grain was applied during the grade, helping to achieve the filmic look. The additional grain was also needed for the VFX sequences to match seamlessly with the live-action.
The grade for each episode spanned approximately 32 hours over four days, but Vandercruyssen found numerous episodes overlapping at times. He would be performing initial passes on some, while also addressing notes from show creators Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, as well as Newport-Berra, who paid close attention to the outdoor background of Remick’s office, which is shot in a studio with a backdrop.
“[Adam] wanted to make sure the exterior [of] the office felt real and natural…He wanted it to feel very hot, and kind of LA weather-like, so we had to push that brightness on the backdrop.”
The DP also had specific notes about the TV with the Continental logo.
“We had to track these TVs a lot,” Vandercruyssen explains. “That was very time consuming. But most of the notes were bringing down some practical lights that were in the field, and they were a little too bright, so I was just controlling (and) shaping the contrast that [they] couldn’t always do on-set. And because of the long takes, we usually have to build transitions from one location to another. Those were the challenges.”
Ultimately, he completed color grading the 10-episode series back in early January of this year. Since then, he’s worked on a number of theatrical features, including The Smashing Machine,
Good Fortune,
Hamnet and
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.