PostFactory, Berlin, has added digital intermediate colour grading for feature films to its service offering through the purchase of a Baselight HD system from FilmLight. They system will be installed in an all-new DI grading theatre, purpose built to DCI specifications. The grading theatre will also feature a Christie 2K digital projector, a 7.1 surround sound system and FilmLight’s new Truelight projector probe for colour calibration.
Seeking to capitalize both on the growth in German film production and on the increasing number of U.S.- and U.K.-based film productions shooting in Germany, PostFactory conducted exhaustive testing of top tier colour grading options before selecting Baselight. “Our clients want to do their grading work in a specialized grading suite and, as we have become more involved with film projects, we felt we needed to offer a serious grading solution,” explained PostFactory managing director Jens-Theo Muller.
“Baselight was the clear winner of our evaluation. It offers the most sophisticated grading surface—colourists love it—and it has a great reputation. It is the system our clients demand.” Post Factory’s recent film credits include Berlin am Meer for Warner Bros.
PostFactory takes delivery of Baselight this month and will also receive pending upgrades, including FilmLight’s newly-developed GPU upgrade that will boost system performance by several fold and a new version of Baselight software that will add functionality including the ability to grade 3D stereoscopic media—an important growth area in film production.
Additionally, PostFactory will take advantage of FilmLight’s recently developed Avid® integration to allow Baselight to share storage with the facility’s editorial and compositing systems. “Baselight is an open system, and that is extremely good,” said PostFactory head of post-production Gunter Puszkar. “Baselight will be integrated into our Avid workflow and share the Avid file structure. That will allow projects to move between compositing and grading seamlessly—a plus for creativity and efficiency, especially for versioning and producing down-cuts.”
PostFactory has set up its internal network so that output from any of its post-production systems can be directed to the DI theatre. The output from an editing system, for example, can be projected onto the cinema screen for side-by-side comparison with the output from Baselight. “It is very efficient for approvals,” Puszkar said. “You don’t have to go back to the editing room, you can review sequences in the grading theatre and make editorial changes interactively. We are no longer fixed to the route.”
Baselight will arrive just in time for PostFactory’s next feature DI project, a German-American production called Fire that was shot with Panasonic’s Varicam P2 digital cinema camera. Editorial work is slated to begin in two weeks. “With all of our new tools, we are excited to begin work on it,” said Puszkar. “It’s going to be fun.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
