Oktobor, the award-winning visual effects and animation studio based in Auckland, New Zealand, has acquired a Baselight FOUR from FilmLight to serve as the centrepiece of its newly-built, non-linear colour grading suite. The company plans to use Baselight primarily for grading commercials and other short-form media—a new service for the company.
Oktobor’s Baselight FOUR was selected by Kenny Gibb, the company’s lead colourist, who also designed the new grading suite. Gibb joined Oktobor last fall from Moving Picture Company, London, and was formerly one of the UK’s top colourists with credits for such brands as Nike McDonald’s, Heinz and Nokia.
Gibb had previously used Baselight in London and said that its flexible toolset and ability to work with media at any resolution make it ideally suited to commercials grading. “Baselight is designed to be at its most productive for multiple workflows,” said Gibb. “Decisions are captured in a database allowing instant access to any image and the ability to work with all input and output resolutions as a conformed sequence within a single timeline. Every action can be modified via the Blackboard control surface until the last possible moment, then delivered via our fibre network to our finishing suites immediately, without the delay associated with traditional film transfers.”
Gibb has already used Baselight to grade commercials for McDonald’s, Fiji Tourism, Tower Insurance and New Zealand winery Montana.
Oktobor’s Baselight is connected by fibre to the company’s newly acquired smart SAN, which is capable of distributing graded 2K media in real-time to other points along the company’s network, which include 2D visual effects, 3D animation, motion graphics and design resources.
“These new systems allow Oktobor to employ much more efficient and safer workflows,” explained Oktobor general manager Bruce Everett. “It allows common and shared workflows between the Baselight system and our Flame suites, with Baselight acting as an integration between 2D and colour. We can now offer clients a much more sophisticated toolset and far greater colour depth in their final cut—and it’s 3D capable right here and now.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
About Oktobor
Oktobor is a world-class visual effects and animation studio who have provided creative and innovative content for TVCs, film and digital media since 1999. A winning combination of creative talent and in-house facilities is what sets Oktobor apart. Oktobor offers a comprehensive range of visual effects production services from animation to full colour grade and interactive digital media.
Visit www.oktobor.com for more info.
