Adobe Color Mode: Color After Dark LA event review

RedShark's Color After Dark event in Burbank drew 250 industry professionals for a live look at Adobe Color Mode, and the conversations it sparked were as compelling as the technology.

On a busy Friday evening in Burbank, while much of the media and entertainment industry was still making its way home from Cine Gear Expo, something interesting was happening a few miles away at Key Code Media.

Color After Dark, produced by RedShark and presented by Adobe as part of its Global Partner Open House Series, brought together editors, colorists, cinematographers, directors, post-production professionals, and technology partners for an event that felt refreshingly different from the traditional trade show formula. No keynotes, no lead scanners, and no sales pitches shouted across crowded aisles. Just great technology, good food, drinks, and the sort of conversations that spontaneously happen when passionate creative professionals gather in the same room.

The event sold out all 250 registrations in just a few days, with more than 50 people joining the waitlist before doors opened. Perhaps even more telling was the fact that 55% of attendees had not attended Cine Gear earlier that day. This was not simply an afterparty for an existing audience. It attracted an entirely additional group of professionals who wanted to engage with the latest developments in color and post-production workflows.

The room had some serious industry weight to it. Representatives from Paramount, Netflix, NBCUniversal, Disney, IATSE Local 600, SMPTE, the University of Southern California, and the City of Burbank were all present. Listening in on conversations, they seemed to move effortlessly between production, editorial, finishing, virtual production, and emerging AI-powered workflows. The result was an evening that delivered on the promise of the event's tagline and was a genuine mixer.

Adobe Color Mode front and center

At the heart of the evening was Adobe Color Mode, and we even had Alexis Van Hurkman, Principal Product Manager of Color at Adobe (above) who built the software over the past three years putting it through its paces.

Adobe scheduled two dedicated Color Mode sessions in a private conference room equipped with Key Code’s large LED display wall. Attendance was capped at around 30 people per session, creating an environment that felt intimate enough for discussion while still bringing together a diverse group of people from across the industry.

Seeing Adobe Color Mode demonstrated live in that setting was easily one of the highlights of the evening.

For years, color management has remained one of the most important but often misunderstood aspects of post-production. Modern productions routinely combine footage from multiple camera systems, HDR and SDR deliverables, social media versions, broadcast requirements, and increasingly complex color pipelines. Keeping everything consistent while preserving creative intent can quickly become challenging.

Adobe's approach with Color Mode feels like a genuine attempt to simplify that complexity.

Perhaps what stood out most was how naturally Color Mode integrates into the editing experience. Rather than requiring editors to become color scientists, Adobe is creating a workflow that helps creative teams maintain consistency across projects while preserving flexibility for finishing and delivery. The system provides a clearer framework for managing color throughout the editorial process, helping teams spend less time having to troubleshoot technical issues so that they can focus on storytelling.

That's the pitch, and it's a good one, but what made the sessions particularly engaging was the audience itself. Editors wanted to understand project portability; colorists were interested in maintaining creative intent across different stages of the pipeline; and cinematographers asked about camera formats and monitoring. The discussion remained practical throughout, which made the technology feel immediately relevant to day to day workflows and the challenges the industry faces when it comes to color in the here and now.

A widening ecosystem

Out on the main floor, a curated selection of technology partners filled in the rest of the picture.

RED was showcasing its latest camera technologies and discussing acquisition workflows that feed directly into Adobe-based editorial and finishing environments. Nearby, Atomos demonstrated monitoring and recording solutions that continue to play an important role in production and on-set color confidence alongside display technology from its recent acquisition, Flanders Scientific. This drew significant attention, showcasing the reference monitoring solutions trusted by many of the industry's leading colorists and finishing facilities.

AJA highlighted the infrastructure that powers so many professional workflows, including video I/O, signal conversion, and monitoring technologies that remain essential in both production and post environments. Meanwhile, AMD was demonstrating workstation-class computing platforms capable of handling increasingly demanding editing, grading, AI, and finishing workloads. As media projects continue to grow in complexity, the importance of reliable processing power was a recurring theme throughout the evening.

Storage and media management were also well represented. OWC showcased solutions designed to keep high-bandwidth creative workflows running smoothly, while iodyne demonstrated its innovative portable storage technology that attracted considerable interest from production teams looking for flexible, collaborative media workflows. Both companies highlighted how modern storage has become part of the workflow, not just a place to park files.

One of the busiest areas on the floor throughout the evening was the Colourlab.AI table. Their AI-powered color grading platform has already earned a strong reputation among colorists looking to accelerate creative decision-making without sacrificing quality, and seeing it demonstrated alongside Adobe's evolving color ecosystem felt particularly relevant. The workflow connection between Colourlab.AI and Adobe Color Mode generated a steady stream of conversations, with many attendees exploring how intelligent color balancing and look development can move more seamlessly between applications.

Helping bring those demonstrations to life was EIZO, which supplied a selection of its CG2700X 4K HDR color management displays for partners throughout the venue. The monitors quickly became a talking point. Accurate color is only as valuable as the display used to evaluate it, and the CG2700X panels provided a level of confidence that resonated with professional users.

At the Colourlab.AI station in particular, the combination of AI-assisted grading tools, Adobe Color Mode workflows, and EIZO's color-critical displays created one of the most compelling demonstrations of the evening. It offered a glimpse of a future where sophisticated color workflows become faster and more collaborative without compromising professional standards.

As host venue, Key Code Media provided the perfect environment for the event. The company's long-standing expertise in designing and supporting professional media workflows aligned naturally with the evening's focus on collaboration and innovation. Its team remained actively engaged throughout the event, helping connect visitors with technology partners and facilitating conversations around real-world workflow challenges. Huge shout out to Matt at Key Code for helping power such a great event!

Room to breathe

Beyond the technology itself, what made Color After Dark memorable was the atmosphere. Outside, attendees gathered around the Kogi BBQ taco truck while continuing conversations that had started on the exhibition floor. Drinks flowed throughout the evening. And the Color Passport activity encouraged visitors to engage with every partner table, collecting stamps for a chance to win prizes including two 12-month Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. More importantly, it created a natural reason for attendees to discover technologies they might otherwise have missed.

Adobe Color Mode was the star of the show, and seeing it demonstrated in front of a room full of working editors, colorists, cinematographers, and post-production professionals made it clear why so many people are paying attention to its development. It represents a huge step toward making sophisticated color workflows more accessible to a wider population, while at the same time not sacrificing the precision that professionals demand.

If the energy in Burbank is any indication, Color After Dark is on its way to becoming a valuable addition to the industry's calendar. The series continues internationally later this year, with São Paulo during SET Expo on August 18 and Amsterdam during IBC in September already confirmed. That means the conversation around color for the rest of the year is going to be a dynamic one.