Jalal Jemison joins Bent Image Lab as Head of Compositing/Lead Colorist

Jalal Jemison joins Bent Image Lab as Head of Compositing/Lead Colorist

Bent Image Lab recently cemented Visual FX Artist Jalal Jemison as its new head of compositing and lead colorist. Jemison whose previous work includes numerous Hollywood projects such as Pineapple Express, Borat and most currently Get Him to the Greek and the documentary How to Die in Oregon brings his mastery of post production tools and techniques to the world of commercials, television programs, music videos and motion graphics.

Drawn to the desktop filmmaking movement of the 90’s, Jemison began learning about visual effects while attending UC Santa Cruz. “Before I got into film I was a chemistry major with a background in engineering, so the post side of film and video was something that was easy for me to embrace, because of its deeply technical nature,” says Jemison.

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film (1999), Jemison, inspired by Portland’s creative renaissance and do it yourself spirit, moved to the city in 2000 and created his own post production company Yard VFX. As an aspiring filmmaker Jemison started directing his own films including a short entitled Brother Boy in 2006 and most recently David’s Landing a sci-fi short film about a wrongly convicted man trying to reduce his prison sentence by agreeing to participate in tests in space. While growing his talents on his own projects and supporting other local filmmakers, Jemison landed effects work on Hollywood films as well such as Knocked Up, Paranoid Park, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Yes Man and the music video The Shins: Australia.
“Jalal ran his own company and designed his own systems. This makes him unusually deep in his technical understanding of the best compositing, post software and hardware currently available,” says Bent Partner David Daniels. “As a colorist, he has a great artistic resonance. It’s a great visual collaboration to work with him on projects.” Bent’s Executive Producer Tsui Ling Toomer agrees, “He has a great eye and sense of design.”
Jemison previously worked with Bent on the Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill” music video in 2006. “He has a history as a filmmaker so he understands the bigger picture and how all the pieces fit together,” says Bent Partner and “Harrowdown Hill” Director Chel White. “It’s something I respect about him.”
Since joining Bent full time in May, Jemison has had the opportunity to work on several projects including the stop motion animated special Jingle All the Way for the Hallmark Channel and commercial spots for Post’s Pebbles Boulders, Diet Dr. Pepper’s “Unbelievable” campaign, NBC’s Grimm and he will also contribute his colorist work to an upcoming David Lynch music video among other upcoming projects.

“I like Bent because they push the envelope of standard productions by integrating any and all forms of animation, from live action to stop motion to CG to post effects. It makes for an exciting atmosphere and pushes me in my career,” says Jemison. “It’s also wonderful working with a team of people who are passionate about what they do.”

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