Nikola Stefanovic
"Both my parents were happy to see that I found a job that I like and that fulfills me, makes me learn new things every day and that I find fun doing. They knew I was interested in design and computers, and when after a certain period of time they realized that I have found my calling which I planned to follow professionally and devote myself long term to—I think they were very relived. At that time I was 23 years old. Looking back at that time now, I think they were a bit skeptical at the beginning, but with time they realized that my interest and will to learn new things enabled me to progress in my career with a certain dynamic."
"My mother is now retired, and has worked all her life in finance and accounting. Now she spends her days enjoying her time with her grandchildren. My father worked as a professional driver in an exporting company. To put things in perspective, my parents spent their working years in communist Yugoslavia, working in one company their whole life (30-40 years). So when I decided after two years to quit my job at ‘National Broadcasting Television’ and move to the private sector (which was mostly non-existent prior to ’95) as an editor, it was very difficult for them to comprehend."
"I finished primary and secondary school in my home town, a small city with 50,000 people, a great place for a comfortable life and a fun childhood. Indjija is located half way between the capital city of Serbia, Belgrade and the second biggest city in Serbia, Novi Sad and on the shores of the river ‘Danube’. I graduated Electro Technical School for High Voltage, even though I wanted to enrol into electronics but it was available a year later after my enrolment."
“When I enrolled into university I have already worked as a colorist for a while in Serbia. It was a logical step for me at that time, because my whole professional engagement came down to manipulation of picture, and hence I wanted to understand every segment, from lenses, esthetic and sensibility, to acquisition, film language and all up to post production, which at the time I already had a good grasp on."
"Unfortunately, I did not manage to finish my university studies, I completed my second year, but then we moved to Korea!"
"After 2.5 years in the national broadcasting television, I moved to a private company, 'Magic Box' in Novi Sad. I worked there on broadcast format and some smaller commercials."
"After two years, I got a job offer and moved to Media System, at the time the fastest growing production for commercials and TV identities in Belgrade. I started working as an editor on more high-end national TV commercials for the biggest domestic and foreign brands. In time, as the company grew, next to the CG department, we hired two editors and I started working less and less on offline and more and more on online editing. I did many other things as well, compositing, motion graphics, CG integration, cleanup and beauty work. At the time, all the high end commercials were shot on film, so the color grading was mostly done abroad because Serbia did not have a film lab at that time. As the first digital cameras started to be used, we started to experiment with color grading like many others. That was the beginning of the transition from film to digital acquisition. During that time, I got a job offer to join Cinebox - post production facility and film lab, which I found interesting as it was the newly opened film laboratory in Serbia."
"My first official strictly color grading job was on a Serbian feature film “Ivko’s Fest” – shot on HDCAM at the time and done in Final Touch. I was lucky to catch those last couple of years of film. From lab process and developing of negatives, to dailies on BTS Quadra and Da Vinci Renaissance 888, all the way to scanning, dust busting and film recording. Sometimes I look at people who reminisce about the old days of the film and think why! Honestly, I don’t miss any of it. I worked there for few years mostly on movie projects and a few commercials and music videos. After a while, as the movie laboratory was not a sustainable business anymore, I moved back into the world of commercials. I started working at Media Plus, which was the first high-end studio for color grading in Serbia."
"From there In 2012 I got an offer to join Eliot in Seoul, South Korea then in 2013 I joined Technicolor in Shanghai and finally in 2014 I joined 'BE Colour' Shanghai owned by award-winning colourist Ben Eagleton."
"My biggest influence would definitely be comic books, music and film. As a young boy I was crazy about comic books. And as many of my friends, I also wanted to draw comics. I remember spending days trying to draw some very complicated poses from Spiderman. I also remember that most of the comic books in Yugoslavia where black and white and every time I would come across a colored comic book it was such a special experience, because all the characters looked different, more alive and real. My favorite hero from my childhood was Judge Dredd."
"I was interested in playing music very early in my primary school years. I played guitar with various bands and later moved on to bass. Sometimes we had gigs for money, but mostly, it was a way to vent for me and my friends, a way to relax and unwind. As does music, film also has a very important place in both my childhood and my life today — professionally and personally. Since it has been quite a while that I have stopped watching TV programs, believe it or not, I can not stand to watch commercials! Films and tv shows are the only things that my family watches in our house. I admit I am fascinated by the world of cinema and movies, and its hard for me to pick out my biggest influences. But if I had to choose, it would definitely be Richard Kelly, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Nicolas Winding Refn."
"In the future I would love to live on a beach one day! I also have had an idea for a short film for some time now, so I hope to shoot that sometime soon."