Super Bowl season brings its own kind of excitement to Mark Gethin.
An award- winning colorist, he performs color grading for commercials seen during the NFL championship game — the biggest day not only for America's favorite sport, but for its biggest national advertisers.
"[Advertising] agencies are super-hyped about it," Gethin observes. "Things are a little more intense."
For this year's broadcast, Gethin graded commercials for Chevy, Toyota Prius and Skittles.
The Nissan spot he worked on for last year's Super Bowl, "With Dad," was nominated for an Emmy Award as outstanding commercial. Set to the Harry Chapin song "Cat's in the Cradle," it tells of a father who neglects his son to become a racecar driver, but ultimately reunites with his boy in a Nissan.
Gethin is a key figure at the Moving Picture Company, the Oscar-winning visual effects, content production and color-grading firm that has been his home base for fifteen years. In 2008 he was a founding member of MPC’s studio in Los Angeles, and now oversees its color-grading division there, along with its studio in New York. He also works on London projects.
As a colorist, "My job is to set the tone or mood of the whole piece," says Gethin. "I usually work with a DP or a director. They'll come in with a reference, visuals about how they want the look to be. I have to match the look frame by frame — whatever times of day it's been shot — and make it feel as if there's a perfect flow and continuity throughout the piece."
His own style is shadowy and evocative, with punches of color. "I do things a little bit more moody," he allows. "I'm not known for bright saturation."
For the Emmy-nominated Nissan spot, directed by Lance Acord, "We experimented," he says. "Lance came in with an idea. I had a look at a few different shots and lighting." After the mood and color were selected, "I went through it shot by shot, tweaked it, then went through tweak by tweak till everyone was happy. Lance sat next to me the whole time. It took five or six hours to grade."
Gethin color-graded a Coca-Cola commercial for the 2014 Super Bowl for director John Hillcoat. Called "It's Beautiful," the spot featured a multicultural rendition of "America the Beautiful." Gethin also worked on Hillcoat's upcoming feature, Triple 9.
"He and I usually sit down for an hour and talk about film references," Gethin says. "There's no set formula — you start playing around with shots."
Gethin's series work includes the pilot for HBO's Togetherness and a dream sequence for NBC's Hannibal.
Some of his high-profile commercials have premiered during the Oscars and the Grammys. But even in Super Bowl season, Gethin keeps his cool. When temps are rising at the agencies, he says, "I try not to feel too much pressure."
