Technicolor Checks Into Room 104 – Where No Story Looks the Same

• Technicolor Colorist Nick Hasson was involved early in production, creating with the DP many of the unique looks he would shoot.

“One room, infinite possibilities…every guest has a story.” That’s the enthralling premise behind Room 104, the new HBO series created by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, in which they endeavor to tell the stories of the random guests that stay in the same motel room over different periods of time.

Anthology series like Room 104 present a unique challenge in that each episode often calls for its own look and tone, especially when they are set in different eras. Besides using multiple directors to achieve this, the creators of Room 104 worked with Technicolor and especially Colorist Nick Hasson to create a unique look and feel for each episode. Cinematographer Doug Emmett had a clear vision of the looks needed to pull off this ambitious series, and he involved Hasson even before shooting began to help create many of the looks he would shoot.

Once in post, their goal was to make each episode stand out even further, with techniques such as varying the color pallet and varying the levels of grain from episode to episode. For authenticity, they limited the tools they used to those of the time period being shot.

“Doug’s work is fantastic,” said Hasson, “so once we get together in the color suite, it’s just a matter of making creative choices. For this show, there was ample opportunity to get creative with how we approached each episode – twelve episodes, twelve unique looks!”

In addition to Hasson’s collaborations with the DP and handling of the SDR HD grade on all episodes, Technicolor Los Angeles provided dailies and VFX services on the production, the latter with the team of VFX Artist Mark Intravartolo and VFX Producer Caprice Ridgeway.

Check into Room 104 and watch the intriguing official trailer from HBO.