“No Compromise” Facility Selects Northlight, Baselight and Truelight Imaging Technologies
FilmLight’s entire DI range – scanning, colour grading and colour management technology – will form the backbone of a new full-service post production house launching in Toronto this month. Alter Ego, formed by a diversely experienced team of artists and post industry pros, promises a “no compromises” approach toward post work for commercials and feature films.
The company has established itself in a 5000 square foot facility and plans to offer scanning, colour grading, digital intermediate, visual effects, graphics and compositing services. Key components of its workflow include FilmLight’s Northlight 2 scanner, two Baselight FOUR high performance, non-linear colour graders and the Truelight colour management system.
The facility will include two colour grading suites, of which one will be dedicated to advertising work and set up for SD and HD grading. The other suite will be set up for dual-purpose advertising and DI film work and capable of grading to either a high resolution CRT monitor or to a digital projection screen.
According to Michael Lambermont, the company’s executive producer, Alter Ego aims to fill a need in Toronto for high quality post production services, “Toronto is the hub of the Canadian advertising and film industries, yet has relatively few post production resources, particularly in the area of colour correction,” Lambermont said.
Alter Ego’s key staff comprises a number of individuals well known in the Canadian advertising community. Along with Lambermont, who previously served as executive producer of the editorial house Stealing Time, they include colourist Andrew Exworth, formerly with Technicolor, Toronto, Flame artist Mike Morey, formerly with Stealing Time, and V.P. of sales Cathy MacMillan, formerly with the visual effects house DAVE. Additionally, the staff includes Eric Whipp, who arrives from Australian animation studio Animal Logic, where, among numerous projects, he performed DI colour grading for the Academy Award-winning film Happy Feet.
“A number of things came together to facilitate the launch of Alter Ego,” noted Lambermont. “The most important being the availability of a very talented group of people. An additional factor is the recent shift in technology and market acceptance for new scanning and software-based colour grading solutions. That enabled us to forego the traditional telecine route and introduce the new state-of-the-art to Toronto.”
The launch of Alter Ego required months of planning and included extensive reviews of relevant technology. “We researched everything that is available in the market for colour correction and quickly put together a short list,” Lambermont said. “The final decisions were made by Andrew and Eric.”
“We evaluated several colour grading systems and found that Baselight not only had the speed and performance but also the toolset required for commercial and film work,” Exworth recalled.
“What particularly impressed us about Baselight is its open architecture,” Whipp added. “It easily accommodates plugins. We found that Baselight has the capability of doing a lot of things today that other solutions are only promising for the future.”
The Baselight FOUR systems acquired by Alter Ego feature a multi-node architecture that accelerates all of the features of a standard Baselight system by a factor of four. The systems are resolution independent and capable of grading HD and 2K imagery in real-time, and include the specifically designed Blackboard control panel.
Similarly, Alter Ego tested five scanners before selecting Northlight. “We ran neg through each one and Northlight was the clear winner,” Whipp said. “Our choice was based solely on which system produced the best picture.” The Northlight 2 scanner is capable of scanning film at resolutions up to 4K with all the headroom required for 4K post production and digital projection.
The company’s selection of Truelight for colour management was easy as Whipp already had experience with the technology through his work on Happy Feet. “It is the best colour management system available,” he said.
Alter Ego’s aim is to be the premiere supplier of post production services in its market, and it feels that it has assembled the talent and the technology to attain that goal. “Money was not the deciding factor in our choice of scanning and colour grading systems,” insisted Lambermont. “Our choice was ultimately made from a creative point of view. We selected the systems that provide Eric and Andrew with the tools they need to turn out an aesthetically superior product.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
About Alter Ego
Alter Ego is a full service post production facility providing the highest level of talent and technology to the advertising and film industries in Canada and worldwide. Founded in 2007 by a group of highly accomplished post production professionals, the company offers film scanning, colour grading, digital intermediate, visual effects, graphics and compositing services. For more information, visit www.alteregopost.com.
