How Three Decades As A Colourist Has Shaped Creative Outpost Head of Colour Mark Horrobin
After almost three decades shaping the look of some of advertising's most recognisable campaigns, Creative Outpost Head of Colour Mark Horrobin is one of the UK's most respected colourists.
He has collaborated with directors including Jonathan Glazer, Jake Scott and Anton Corbijn and worked on campaigns spanning from Jaguar and Land Rover to M&S and Lexus. Mark, who is inspired by landscapes and fine detail, also has a particular interest in car and food campaigns with an extensive portfolio spanning most major car models. His work has helped define the visual language of brands, filmmakers and cinematographers who understand that a quality grade is an essential part of quality storytelling.
His standout project, when asked, was the now banned Flake ad by Jonathan Glazer, saying: “I loved grading the Cadbury’s Flake ad. It was very brave (ultimately too much so). The process was an experimental collaboration with different prints (low contrast and bleach bypass) made of the film to test the desired characteristics. Ultimately we went with a low contrast print stock and used the negative to bring back any lost details.”
Growing up on a farm in the Australian Outback, the vast landscapes and dramatic natural light gave Mark an instinctive appreciation for atmosphere and scale that influenced his approach to all his work to this day. It is why he is drawn to projects where imagery becomes another character in the story, whether that is an expansive automotive campaign or a carefully crafted cinematic narrative.
His journey into post production was equally unconventional. Originally studying journalism before travelling to London, Mark entered the industry as a runner at MPC with no formal background in filmmaking. It was there that he discovered colour grading, later becoming assistant to legendary Colourist Jean Clément Soret, whose intuitive, craft led approach would shape Mark’s own philosophy for decades to come. He spent 14 years there, honing his craft and developing a reputation as a standout talent in his own right. This was also where he first met future Creative Outpost co-founders Danny Etherington and Quentin “Q” Olszewski.
He then went on to establish and lead the grading department at Smoke & Mirrors, now part of Gate+, where he spent a further 14 years. In 2023, he joined Creative Outpost to build the next chapter of its grading department, bringing decades of experience to one of Fitzrovia’s most ambitious independent post production studios.
Joining Creative Outpost as Head of Colour gave Mark the opportunity to shape a grading department around the principles that had defined his own career. Rather than building a team around a single visual style, his ambition was to bring together colourists with distinctly different creative voices, giving directors and cinematographers access to the right collaborator for every project rather than a recognisable house look.
Creative Outpost Head of Colour Mark Horrobin said:"Everything starts with the light. If you understand how the light is working and respect what was captured on set, the grade becomes about enhancing the story rather than imposing a style. That's been my approach since the beginning, and it's still how I work today."
Across three decades in the industry, Mark has watched the role of the colourist evolve from a largely technical discipline into one of the most collaborative creative stages in production. Today's colourists are involved much earlier in the filmmaking process, helping directors and cinematographers establish visual language before cameras even begin rolling. For Mark, the modern grade is no longer about correcting images, but about completing them.
Mark was also an early advocate of remote grading workflows, helping pioneer collaborative approaches long before they became commonplace. He was instrumental in the development of Creative Outpost’s cloud based remote grading platform, which aimed to bring filmmakers together without compromising the creative conversation. This reinforced a key element of his working mantra, that technology is a tool for better collaboration, but good communication is at the center.
Alongside fellow colourists Jack Caswell and Alexandre Nerzic, Creative Outpost’s colour department is not defined by a single visual style, but by complementary creative perspectives. Jack’s background as a cinematographer, Alexandre's emerging contemporary voice and Mark’s decades of experience give directors and cinematographers access to a breadth of creative thinking rarely found within an independent studio.
For Mark, leading the department isn't about creating consistency of style, it's about creating consistency in craft. Zoe Francis, Alexandre Nerzic & Jack Caswell all bring a different perspective. Whether that's Zoe Francis’ developing story based philosophy, Jack Caswell's photographic approach, Alexandre Nerzic's contemporary visual language or Mark's honed commercial and cinematic experience. The aim is to match every filmmaker with the colourist who best understands the story they're trying to tell.
For Mark, joining Creative Outpost was about more than a new role. It was an opportunity to return to an independent studio built around people, creativity and collaboration. Having started his career alongside the Creative Outpost co-founders Danny and Q at MPC, the move marked a return to familiar creative relationships and a shared ambition to build something which lasts.