ACS Sponsor Stories featuring… Angela Cerasi
Angela Cerasi was interviewed for the ACS/ Australian Cinematographer’s Society QLD newsletter. Below is the fun, little interview they did with me.
ACS: Hi Angela, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for us on our Sponsor Stories. Let’s get into it.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Angela Cerasi and I am a senior colourist and the founder of Peachy Keen Colour. I colour graded full-time in a Dublin post house for 6 years, freelanced in Sydney for 6 years, and after moving home to Brisbane in late 2018 started my own colour grading company.
Creating my own company was a steep learning curve which I continue to find hugely creative, interesting and thrilling! I wanted to pioneer a delightfully simple, cost-effective and modern alternative to the traditional post production model of colour grading. Peachy offers something different to anything else out there, it has a unique 4-step “Peachy Process” (watch the promo here: https://
The idea for Peachy had been brewing in my head for such a long time that I can’t believe it’s actually out there now alive and breathing! We currently have a studio manager, post producer, 3 casual junior colourists (who I mentor) and the latest addition which I am beyond excited about, a very talented NZ-based senior colourist.
How did you get involved in the film industry?
You can actually hear all about it in Episode 1 of my podcast, “The Art of Colour Grading” (shameless plug here! Available on iTunes and Spotify). Episode 1 is: “Talking her way into a Film & TV degree, finding her way onto random film sets and camera assisting on multi-million dollar shoots is where it all began. Senior colourist Angela Cerasi
But in a nutshell, I did a film and TV degree at QCA, grew an obsession with cinematography, became a clapper loader, shot everyone’s 16mm shorts, went travelling, got a job in a post house, became a telecine operator, then a colourist, fell in love with a Irish boy, married him, moved back to Australia with a career in post production.
What’s your proudest moment so far supporting this industry in your current capacity?
One day when I was in Sydney commuting to a freelance job, I had an idea. There were a few things at play; I wanted to be grading more drama (like I had done in Dublin), I had some availability coming up, and gender parity in the film industry was having a huge moment in the zeitgeist. So I decided to create an initiative where I would offer free colour grading to 5 projects which had either a female director or female cinematographer attached. I shared this idea with an EP friend of mine and he told me I needed a press release. I didn’t even know what a press release was! Fast forward a couple of weeks and the initiative was all over IF magazine, I had over 200 applicants from all over Australia.
I ended up grading over 10 projects for free, everything from a feature film which premiered at Toronto Film Festival to a beautiful little animation which screened all over the world. With the disproportionately low number of female directors and cinematographers in our industry I was proud to be able to do my bit to support them getting their projects made. What surprised me is how much I got from the experience, it was a total value exchange and the filmmakers I had the opportunity to meet were passionate and inspiring. It also prompted my desire to do something bigger than be a freelancer sitting in a dark room everyday.
What’s a novel fact about yourself that not many people may know?
My first day on my first gig as an A-Camera 2nd AC on a TV-series remains the most challenging work day I have ever had. We were shooting in the bush and there was on-and-off torrential rain. Everything went wrong, from trying to always keep the camera sheltered from the rain – to trying to push the video split trolley through the mud – to my whiteboard marker not working on a wet slate. I was really unprepared and out of desperation even asked for a poncho from Wardrobe. At one particularly low point (pun intended) I was carrying a camera and I stepped into a muddy puddle which turned out to be waist-deep. The camera was spared but I spent the rest of the 12 hour day completely soaked. It was probably chaos for all departments given the weather, the speed of a TV-series and the teething issues of a new crew. But as far as first days go, that one definitely toughened me up for life and every other first day since then has been a dream!
Like this blog? Check out Angela Cerasi’s newest blogs for AC Mag, including this one on Brightness.