"Working with Juliette is like collaborating with someone who speaks the emotional language of your film before you’ve even finished writing the dictionary. From pre-production through final grade, she brought not only technical mastery, but also a deep sensitivity to the emotional evolution of Ice Cream Ice Queen. As the film shifted dramatically in post, Juliette used color to anchor and reinterpret scenes, creating coherence and emotional depth in a story that fully encapsulates the subtle underlying emotional intensity that seeps through the narrative. Her ability to adapt while still preserving the soul of the project made her not only an invaluable creative collaborator, but also a true friend throughout the process."
– Ice Cream Ice Queen, Dir. Jeremy Chi
Photo Credits: Hannah Minaya
Born and raised in Hong Kong and now based between New York and Hong Kong, Juliette started with photography, literature, and a deep curiosity about how visuals convey emotion. Over time, her intuitive eye for nuance naturally led her into color grading, and she found not just a craft, but an artistic language that brought together her eye for detail and emotional storytelling.
“Color is one of the most emotional tools in storytelling… it lives between the lines—it’s not just about how something looks, but how it feels.”
She graduated Summa Cum Laude from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2024 with a BFA in Film & Television Production and a minor in Anthropology—bringing academic rigor and cultural awareness to her creative vision.
Juliette Ho has contributed her colorist expertise to numerous acclaimed projects, including Ruse (2025), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and screened at Oberhausen and Vienna Shorts; Chien Sauvage (2023), an official selection at the Moscow International Film Festival; Meek (2024), featured at Montclair Film Festival and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth; and Ice Cream Ice Queen (2025), winner of Best Short Film at the International Queer & Migrant Film Festival Amsterdam. Her work in vertical drama series distributed via ReelShorts has garnered over 80 million views.
From Cinematographer to Colorist
With a background behind the camera, Juliette has a rigorous understanding of light and composition. When she was studying at Tisch, she initially set her sights on becoming a cinematographer but soon discovered her acute sense for color. The post-finishing process is often overlooked, she said, it’s like stitching all the fabric together to make a pretty dress. It’s important to have finely cut and well-crafted fabrics, but a dress won’t be complete without the final finishing process.
It was in post-production—where images take on emotional depth—that she discovered her true voice.
“I realized I could shape the psychological world of a story with color… like painting with intention—inside someone’s memory.”
Whether adjusting natural light into magical hues or using subtle tones to underscore emotional tension, Juliette collaborates from pre-production through final grade, ensuring every visual choice helps a film resonate deeply.
How Do You Adapt Your Color Work to a Story’s Evolution?
Stories often change and evolve throughout production, and that evolution can be one of the most exciting challenges for a colorist. For Juliette, color grading is not just about finalizing images; it’s about being flexible and helping the film find its truest emotional form, even if that means reshaping how the story feels.
When working on the short film Ice Cream Ice Queen (Best Short Film – 2025 International Queer & Migrant Film Festival Amsterdam), Juliette was involved from the very beginning —from the script stage through post-production—which gave her a unique perspective as the story shifted dramatically during editing. Her role was to adapt the color grading to these changes, using light, tone, and contrast to help reinterpret scenes and support the new emotional arc. Color became a bridge between the original vision and the film’s evolving identity.
This process taught Juliette how color can be an active collaborator in storytelling—not just a finishing touch, but a tool that helps the story transform and grow. It’s about staying attuned to the film’s journey and using color to bring clarity and cohesion, no matter how much the narrative shifts.
How Does Color Tell a Story?
As a colorist, Juliette believes that color is much more than a visual element—it’s a way to express what characters and stories can’t always say out loud. She often thinks of color as tuning the emotional frequency of a film, like finding the right tone that resonates beneath the surface.
During the process of grading short film Meek (Official Selection of Montclair Film Festival and Film Shortage), Juliette created a color palette that felt authentic and nuanced—vibrant yet subtle, seductive but honest. The story explores delicate, intimate emotions about early female sexual explorations that are rooted in the director’s personal experiences. Instead of overwhelming the story with bold looks, she focused on small shifts in warmth, contrast, and saturation that help guide the viewer’s feelings and understanding. It’s about crafting a mood that whispers rather than shouts, allowing the audience to connect deeply with the character’s inner journey.
Why Color Matters?
“When I grade, I’m tuning the emotional register,” Juliette says. “Color can whisper what a character doesn’t say.”
For Juliette, color is far more than cosmetic—it’s a language that reveals the unspoken layers of a story. Her female, cross-cultural perspective sharpens her sensitivity to nuance and subtext, allowing her to collaborate with empathy and depth. Whether grounding a character’s inner world or creating surreal atmospheres, Juliette’s goal is to make imagery that feels deeply real, even within fantasy.
Looking Ahead: What are the goals in the industry?
Juliette’s portfolio includes narrative films, music videos, documentaries, and commercials. Coming up, she will be working with award winning directors e.g. Tao Kio Qiu, Mengsheng Valen Zeng, and Stepahnie Cheng on their new projects. She is continuously seeking stories that challenge convention and resonate on a deep emotional level — always open to new collaborations and creative adventures. She would love to bring more female and Asian voices to the table and shed light on stories that may be underrepresented in mainstream US media.
