In an industry dominated by men behind the camera, female colorist and editor Jennifer Gaida is a rarity.
Gaida is currently a colorist at Chicago-based, The Colonie, a full-service post-production facility specializing in creative editorial, motion graphics, color grading, VFX and finishing. Founded in Chicago in October of 2008, the post-house was established to create and maintain a working environment that is inclusive and promotes collaboration and creativity within the advertising industry.
That company mantra has certainly paid off for Gaida as she has begun to make a name for herself around the city.
With 6 years under her belt in Chicago as an editor and two of them as a part of the color team at The Colonie, Gaida feels like she is just getting started in a city she truly loves. “I love this city and the post-production and advertising scene here that has been a great group of people to work with.”
While she’s described by Colonie editor and partner Brian Sepanik as “ the go-to colorist,” the native Chicagoan actually got her start in editing. She explains to Reel Chicago, “My first love was editing, when I saw the way the marriage of video and sound could be so powerful I fell in love.”
Jennifer’s eye for color and love for the beauty of cinema took her to a new career in color. She went on to work as a colorist on campaigns for the Children’s Hospital, La Mer, Toyota, Rare Beauty, Toyota and many music videos for Rhyan LaMarr. Here are samples of her work below:
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It was through working with Rhyan LaMarr that Jennifer has landed her first feature film credit in the upcoming movie North Of The 10 (starring Don Benjamin, Matt Rife, Destorm Power and other popular influencers.) This film is a comedy that is shooting in her local Chicago. With this continued creative partnership Gaida expressed that she loves working with LaMarr because, “in his work, everything has a deeper meaning and I love films infused with psychology and philosophy.”
Regarding her own work, Jennifer wants to, “make things that I would also consume and I want the things I work on to spread a certain message that reaches millions of people.”
Gaida is passionate about doing something of impact in the world specifically with mental health education. “A dream campaign for me would be something that spreads awareness on mental illness in a beautiful way, because what motivates me is larger issues in the world not just the medium.”
In the future Jennifer hopes to start her own foundation about awareness for mental health and make her own music videos.
“I feel so honored with the people I work with when a company or director gives me the reins to play and experiment because ultimately I want more creative control. In the future, I would love to make my own projects from scratch focusing on mental health.”
With big dreams on big world issues and a big heart, Gaida is making herself known as a woman in film who wants to make a difference.
Watch the work of The Colonie’s promising colorist Jennifer Gaida here.
Contributor Megan Penn has a passion for stories in which women are in the drivers seat, along with a bad case of retrophilia.
