ABOUT

Hi, I'm Ollie Kenchington, an award-winning cinematographer and colourist, as well as a highly experienced and respected educator.

Over my seventeen year career, I have found myself working on some truly incredible projects. Below is a summary of my achievements in each area of my work.

Cinematographer

Although I've been shooting films professionally since 2008, a big turning point in my filmmaking career came in 2015, when I got an email asking if I'd be interested in making a video podcast docu-series with Gary Barlow. Video podcasts were pretty much unheard of back then, and it was down to me to produce, direct and co-shoot this five-part series, in close collaboration with one of the biggest names in U.K. music history. When it released in 2016, 'Inside the Music with Gary Barlow' was number one in the U.K. podcast charts for three weeks. At the launch event (held at Apple's Covent Garden store), Gary pointed me out in the crowd and said, "our director's stood just over there...just give everyone a wave, Ollie. He's done a brilliant job, thank you. He's been a pleasure to work with as well." Gary and I have kept in touch ever since. Documentary film subsequently became my main field of interest and I've had the pleasure of filming with some incredibly talented individuals and organisations over the years since. In 2017, I worked with the University of the West of England (U.W.E) to produce a series of short brand documentaries to help promote their health profession degrees. My mental health nursing film, which was the fifth in this series, won me a coveted 'Brand Film Festival: London' award, in the 'Brand Documentary' category. My story-first approach to branded filmmaking has resulted in me working with huge British institutions, such as the Royal Horticultural Society, as well as international clients like Canon. My ability to direct, produce, shoot and edit means these clients trust me to handle all aspects of their productions, elevating my usefulness to them far beyond that of a simple camera operator. In 2022, I received a call from Academy award-winning director, Orlando Von Einseidel (The White Helmets, 2016), asking me to spend a few days shooting with him for his Netflix limited series, 'Heart of Invictus'. This was an observational documentary series, released in August 2023, which followed the progress of Invictus Games competitors around the globe. I didn't get to meet Prince Harry, but I did get to film an inspirational woman from the wheelchair rugby team, along with her coach who, upon meeting him for the first time, informed me he was dead only a few weeks before! Paul 'Jenks' Jenkins' remarkable near-death experience ended up being one of the key story threads in that series. It was great to work with a director with such incredible story-telling instincts and I was, of course, happy to see my work on Netflix.

Colourist

I have always been preoccupied with every element that goes in to the final presentation of my images. For me, that doesn't just mean the overall colours and contrast of my films, but the continuity across each shot and even how the human visual system, the viewing device and viewing environment can all affect how my work is perceived. Colour grading is the perfect blend of creativity and science, and crucial to the success of any good film. In 2016, a DoP friend of mine, who worked a lot with ITV at the time, recommended me to the producer of 'This Morning'. My friend had just shot the new opening titles for this seminal morning television show, and the producer agreed to get me on board. As well as grading Holly and Phil's opening montage, ITV also got me to grade a couple of commercials that their in-house studio produced, as well as the opening title sequence for, since axed, The Jeremy Kyle Show. When Covid hit the world, a lot of people scrambled to work remotely. However, in a remarkably prescient move, I had actually set up a separate company offering remote colour grading services, called 'Just Grade It', in 2019. I had hundreds of people sending me their projects to grade during that time, but the big one was when another DoP friend (and ex-student of mine) referred my services to the series producer of 'The Amelia Gething Complex', which had just wrapped on season two and was due to go out on BBC TWO in 2021. It was an eight-part series and each 30-minute episode was sent to me via DropBox by the post-production technician in Manchester. I had half a day to conform each episode in Resolve, then one full day to grade each one. It is a wonderfully whacky comedy show, with vivid sets and wardrobe, so was such a joy to grade. Each evening I'd go through amends with the DoP (my friend Ciaran O'Brien) and series producer, and then deliver the final episode for on-lining the next morning. Everyone involved was lovely and it was great to work on an entire series for the BBC, all remotely and with zero issues. For the past few years, I've worked closely with a drinks photographer called Rob Lawson. His studio in London has moved more and more in to motion and, with clients that include Stella Artois, Bacardi, Botanist Gin and many others, he needs people working with him that can make every single frame impeccable. I get a huge buzz from colour-grading his ads, not only because they occasionally end up on giant screens in Time Square (as his Stella Artois campaign did recently) but also because his team sweat the details like no other agency I know. I have been known to spend a whole day on a single shot - tweaking the bottle, light caustics, background, garnish, cork, label, even individual bubbles...and I love it! Colour grading is just one part of what I do, but it is something I get immense pleasure from. Another great thing about being a colourist, is it makes me a much better cinematographer, and vice versa. So all my clients, whatever they need from me, are benefitting from my devotion to creating the highest possible finished image, even if they don't realise the skills I'm employing behind the scenes to achieve that. I find this unique combination of skills is one of the main reasons I have landed such large clients over the years, as they get a lot of bang for their buck.

Educator

Alongside my main work, I have also been delivering film production and post-production training courses since 2006. Initially as an in-house trainer at Apple, then as a freelance Apple Certified Master Trainer and Adobe Certified Instructor for commercial training centres, before finally doing it as a Blackmagic Design Certified Training Partner under my own brand, Korro Academy. I got in to teaching through happenstance, but instantly fell in love with it and found I had a natural ability to clearly convey complex technical information, in an easily digestible manner. Over the years, I have taught editing, shooting, lighting and colour-grading to thousands of people across four main categories: Commercial Training I've worked with most of the big commercial training providers in the UK, delivering classroom/online certified Apple, Adobe and Blackmagic Design training. Over the past seventeen years, I have delivered courses for Soho Editors Training, Certitec, Academy Class, Media Training, Transmedia Training, QA Training, MZed, AT Computers, Western Computers and Amsys. Higher/Further Education I have also had the pleasure of teaching a large number of under-graduate and post-graduate students over the years, as well as their lecturers and technicians too. Between 2008 and today, I have delivered courses to staff and students at Bath Spa University, UWE, Ravensbourne University, Screenology, Salford University, Kings College London, Alchemea College, Birmingham University, Cherwell College Oxford, Weston College, City College Plymouth. Consultancy As my professional profile has grown over time, I’ve increasingly been approached directly by major international organisations to collaborate or consult for them. Sometimes, this involves roles as an ambassador or competition judge (Canon, X-Rite, Litepanels); at other times, it’s for closed-door product testing and evaluation (LEE Filters, Calibrite, Quasar Science); a significant portion is for their own staff’s ongoing professional development (Facebook, DJI, Lloyds Bank); or it can be to up-skill their present/future customers (Google’s YouTube Space: London, RED, CVP). Here’s the complete list of brands and companies that have sought my expertise in recent years: LEE Filters, EIZO, South West Screen, The Farm Group, Google (YouTube), FaceBook (Meta), DJI, Foster + Partners, Gary Barlow, Canon, RED, Atomos, Litepanels, Quasar Science, Blackmagic Design, CVP, Wex, ProAV, British Medical Association, Pearson Education, Hello Charlie, Visual Impact, Liverpool Victoria, Lloyds Bank, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Avon & Somerset Probationary Trust, Dreamtek, Quad Logic Systems, Higher Education Funding Council for England, Colour Confidence, X-Rite, Calibrite, Filmconvert, CineD, RØDE, Soho House, Ministry of Defence, B&Q, Royal Horticultural Society, Bristol Old Vic. Events I am always very flattered when big international names approach me to work with them, but it is especially humbling when they ask me to speak on their behalf at major events. To date, I have delivered keynote speeches and hosted workshops for industry peers at the British Society of Cinematographers Expo (BSC Expo), the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), the British Educational Training and Technology Show (BETT Show), the British Video Expo (BVE), The Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS), and The Photography & Video Show.