FilmLight today announces that The Mill, New York, has purchased a second Baselight FOUR colour grading system. The move is a response to the great success The Mill has enjoyed with its first Baselight FOUR, which has proven to be extremely popular both among the facility’s colourists and its advertising clients. The new Baselight will replace an existing linear colour grading system giving the company more flexibility in its workflow and greater access to Baselight’s powerful toolset.
“Everyone wants to use Baselight,” states Derek McCloud, Executive Producer/Telecine at The Mill, New York. “Clients who have experienced Baselight are now requesting it because they understand it gives them more creative freedom and flexibility. They prefer Baselight even for projects that aren’t complicated because they are used to it. It’s become the new norm.”
The Mill’s colourists have also developed a strong preference for Baselight, making scheduling time on the current system difficult. “Our Flame operators, too, want everything graded on Baselight because it allows them to ask for literally any output,” notes The Mill Senior Colourist Jamie Wilkinson. “If they want 2K output, Baselight can put it out almost immediately.”
Wilkinson added that Baselight’s toolset is particularly well suited to commercials work, The Mill’s primary business. He especially values tools that allow him to draw and track virtually any shape, something that simplifies the process of isolating moving objects for individualized colour treatment. Another big plus is the system’s ability to grade media of different resolution in the same timeline.
“You can give it any file system, any camera, any type of scan,” he says. “I did an ESPN job recently that had seven different video standards: HD 720, HD 1080, progressive, interlaced. The ability to mix and match, and see it all on the screen at the same time is massive for us.”
Baselight has made it easier for The Mill, New York, to collaborate on projects with its London office, which also has two Baselight systems. “We recently did a project for AT&T where we scanned in New York, sent the files via our server to London and one of our London colourists graded it. They then sent it back and we put it up on Baselight for the client,” McCloud recalls. “In the past, something like that might have meant putting a colourist on a plane or putting neg on a plane. Now we can do it with ease.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
About The Mill
The Mill is a premier Visual FX company and content developer, with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Mill NY has worked on high-profile projects such as Coca-Cola’s “It’s Mine,” a multi-award-winning Super Bowl spot and Adweek’s Spot of the Decade, and other commercials for brands including Barclaycard, Barclays, Budweiser, IBM, Cadillac, Mercedes, Nintendo and Dell. The Mill NY has also collaborated on promos for music artists’ OK Go and Department of Eagles, and this Summer’s upcoming feature film The Switch, starring Jennifer Aniston. Its staff is comprised of elite CG, Flame and Telecine artists, as well as esteemed designers and experienced producers. In content development, The Mill NY has worked on projects for Nintendo, PlayStation, Ford and City Harvest. www.the-mill.com
