A COLOR STORY
“Tenants of Carver Hill”
[Actress, Maureen O’Flynn as Alice in the strawberry garden.]
“Tenants of Carver Hill” is truly a ghost story bathed in Spring. As our color grading sessions are coming to completion, warm greens and florals blooms fill the screen.
This unexpected palette for a haunting gives the film the feeling of a waking dream,
lush, luminous, and quietly unsettling.
While developing the script and expanding the world, I knew the idyllic setting had to be framed through the lens of a fantasy. Carver Hill would be charmed with flowers and endless greenery — a storybook backdrop that felt enticing, beautiful, and safe when our heroes arrive.
On set, we were quite literally chasing the blooms. We shifted our schedule to accommodate a flowering dogwood tree. Nature had her own timeline. If I wanted Bella standing beneath pink blossoms as she listened to ghostly voices, it had to be shot on Day One, not Day Ten. Three days later, the petals were gone. With Nick Pietroniro’s sweeping camera movement and soft natural light, you’ll understand why it is such a treasured shot in the film. We utilized both Pearlescent and Hollywood Black Magic filters when we wanted to dial up the dreamlike quality and create soft blooms that echo the magic in the storyline.
As the plot grows darker, so do our color and camera choices. A successful ghost story is layered. It’s as much about what you don’t see as what the entity chooses to reveal. Shaping the shadows and working with the practical lights in unexpected ways gave us so much to explore as filmmakers. Collaborating with Aurora in the color grade became an elegant way to embolden the uncanny and further bring my haunting vision into its next life.
-Hollis
[Above: Writer-Director Hollis Sherman-Pepe with Colourist Aurora Shannon. Blow: Aurora at the console.]
Aurora Shannon has worked in various capacities on colour for over 200 feature films, major episodic TV shows and short form projects. Her areas of expertise include digital and photochemical colour grading, and colour for VFX.
A native of London, Shannon started her career at Soho Film Lab after graduating from Ravensbourne College, University Arts London, in Broadcast Post-Production. She employs her deep understanding of the principles of the photochemical world to everything she has done since. She joined Company 3 in 2008 as a trainee in the scanning and recording department, where her role quickly expanded to colourist.
She subsequently joined Double Negative, Vancouver first as a colourist for VFX work, then expanding her oversight as their senior VFX colourist and later grading supervisor across their Montreal, London, LA, Chennai and Mumbai locations on a number of major projects including Marvel and DC projects and major award winning features including Dune, First Man and Blade Runner 2049. Before returning to Company 3 Vancouver as a final colourist in the fall of 2022 where her credits include Under the Bridge, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 and Valiant One.
In late 2025, Shannon joined Flow Post Partners (MTI Film) as senior colourist, bringing her extensive feature and episodic experience to bear on a growing slate of projects across Vancouver and Los Angeles.
In addition to mentoring and guest lecturing at universities and the British Film Institute, Shannon is an honorary trustee of a youth film education organization Silver Knight Entertainment and a keen photographer, painter and printmaker.
[Actress Shelby Hightower as Bella raises her suspicions.]
“Twenty Minute Exotic Getaway”
Ali Vela, host of Join the Scene Podcast interviews Writer-Director-Actress Hollis Sherman-Pepe about her lush sci-fi mid-length film. The filmmaker speaks about the myriad of landscapes and locations that ultimately landed the film a Best Set Design as well as Best Cinematography awards at NewArk Film Festival.
“Yes” - Official selection -
Our social justice short film YES rounds out its festival run at the Culver City Film Festival. Director Randi Barros was joined by cast members and an audience that deeply connected with her immigrant story of resilience and compassion.
In a time when Los Angeles feels tense and uncertain for many immigrant families, YES lands with quiet urgency. It reminds us that behind every headline is a mother, a child, a human being searching for safety and dignity. Whatever your politics, this is an era that calls for empathy and storytelling remains one of the most powerful ways to hold space for one another.
Thank you for supporting independent cinema.
If you feel moved to support the arts, your contribution makes a difference. Proceeds go directly to completion funds for “Tenants of Carver Hill.”
