HPA Virtual Member Event
A Brief History and Future of Color in Cinema: Session 3, The Digital Revolution and Beyond
This third session continues the journey through the evolution of color in cinema.
Colorist and colourlab.ai CEO Dado Valentic takes us through the period when physical film timing gave way to digital grading, tracing the shift from the color bench to the DI suite, through HDR and Dolby Vision, and into today’s AI-assisted color pipelines.
We will examine the shift from frame-by-frame grading to digitally orchestrating “color styles” across full episodic grades in a single pass, and explore how new technology enables creatives to emulate the analog look, where we first started our series.
This grounded, first-hand look at where color grading stands today will provoke discussion of what possibilities lie for the future.
Presented as a moderated discussion followed by audience Q&A.
- Wednesday, September 16, 2026
- noon – 1 pm PDT (3 – 4 pm EDT/8 – 9 pm BST/7 – 8 pm UTC)
- Hosted on Zoom
This is a free event for HPA Members & YEP Graduates
- RSVP today
- Not an HPA Member? Join Now!
Featured Speaker:
Dado Valentic, Colourlab
Dado Valentic is a color scientist and R&D technologist with over 20 years of experience supporting studio production pipelines. His work spans AI-driven color automation, perceptual color science, and imaging systems for feature film and episodic workflows. He collaborates with studios and engineering teams on scalable color pipelines and contributes to industry standards, including ACES and OpenTimelineIO.
Moderators:
Nikki Jee, The Walt Disney Studios
Nicholas Camardo, Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios