Persephone Vale

Fifteen questions, off-duty.

Role on the line

Post-production and colour. Every frame goes past my desk before it goes to a client. If the image breathes, I am usually the reason.

Where I grew up

Athens. Pangrati, then Exarcheia for a year, then back to Pangrati when my mother put her foot down.

Training

Painting at ASFA Athens, then a film MA at the Slade. Painting for the eye, film for the timing.

Years on the line

Seven. Three retouching at a Shoreditch advertising studio, four on architectural CGI.

The blade I bring

Light. I treat every CGI render like a Caravaggio underpainting and grade from there.

Architect I would ride out for

Dimitris Pikionis. The man who paved the path to the Acropolis as if it were a song.

Colours that read true on screen

Athenian afternoon ochre, London overcast cyan, the warm grey of Portland stone an hour before sunset.

Software I cannot lose

DaVinci Resolve for video, a heavily customised Photoshop colour panel for stills.

Earliest architectural memory

Walking up Filopappou Hill at six, the pine resin and the marble light arguing across the path.

The brief I am proudest of

A King's Cross marketing reel where the client said "make it feel like September" in July. We delivered September.

On the headphones while working

Nikos Xydakis on slow grading days, Lena Platonos when the deadline is close.

London view I never tire of

The Greenwich foot tunnel exit, looking back at the Maritime Museum. White stone, water, history.

Coffee or tea

Greek coffee, métrios, on a small tray with a glass of water.

Off the line

Long evenings at the Hellenic Centre on Paddington Street, occasionally a late film at the BFI.

The motto on my desk

"If it does not feel like a place at one o'clock, it will never feel like a place."