Post Logic Studios Hollywood Uses Northlight, Baselight and Truelight for DI of Indie Drama
Colour plays a crucial role in Take, the new indie drama from writer/director Charles Oliver that recently made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Post Logic Studios’ DI colourist Doug Delaney used FilmLight’s Northlight film scanner, Baselight colour grading system and Truelight colour management for the film DI and to set a series of distinct looks that help to guide audiences through its many shifts in time and perspective.
Starring Minnie Driver and Jeremy Renner, Take is the story of a woman who travels across the desert to confront the man who murdered her young son on the eve of his execution. The film is told in non-linear order, moving back and forth between the present and the past and between the points of view of the main characters as they reflect on how their lives became tragically intertwined.
It was Oliver’s idea to help audiences keep pace with the film’s complex narrative by using different colour treatments to distinguish its four “worlds.” He and cinematographer Tristan Whitman incorporated their ideas for the four looks into a “colour bible” made up of stills shot on the set and manipulated in PhotoShop. The bible became the basis for the final colour grade performed by Delaney at Post Logic.
“The colour treatments let people know instantly where they are in time and viewpoint,” explained Delaney. “At the same time, we were careful not to do anything too stylized that would take you out of the story. We didn’t want to hit the audience too hard or call attention to the look per se… merely give an indication.”
Post Logic performed a number of tests on Whitman’s 35mm footage to determine how best to achieve the desired effect. Scanning tests were performed both with the Northlight and with another 4K film scanner. “We scanned several key scenes and brought them into Baselight,” Delaney recalled. “We graded a few of the scenes Tristan and Charles wanted to test, then filmed them out and felt that the Northlight scans were sharper and produced a cleaner image.”
The test was also used to verify the Truelight room calibration, ensuring a closed loop from Post Logic’s scanners/Barco projectors/film recorders and the client’s film lab of choice.
Delaney performed the final colour grade at 2K resolution on a Baselight FOUR system. Using a silver retention photo-chemical process look as a starting point, he worked with Oliver and Whitman in creating the four looks and was especially pleased by the creative freedom that Baselight lent to the process. “It’s a very fast, intuitive system that makes it easy to get where you want to go,” he said. “The colour grading experience is therefore more visceral because you are not waiting on renders or having to manage proxies. You can keep the focus of the room in a creative space, working quickly with various ideas to get the final result. The pace of the project was very fast, which helps with a lower budget project like this by making the process as efficient
as possible.”
“There is tremendous effort that goes into making a film, long before it reaches the DI suite. It’s my job as a colourist to be respectful of those efforts and ensure that the finishing process is an exciting, creative process used to crystallize the vision of the filmmakers,” Delaney added. “In this case, I think we succeeded.”
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
About Post Logic
With technologically advanced facilities in Los Angeles and New York, Post Logic Studios has distinguished itself as a leader in digital intermediate and feature film restoration, and continues to expand into new and emerging arenas within the postproduction realm. The company provides unmatched digital intermediate, digital mastering, editorial assembly, restoration, visual effects and audio postproduction services to feature film and television clients from its flagship Hollywood facility and Manhattan-based satellite, Post Logic Studios N.Y. Encompassing a team of the feature film and television community’s most talented digital artists and a 1,500-square-foot digital cinema-enabled theatre, Post Logic Studios continues to lead and innovate. For more information, please visit www.postlogic.com or call 323-461-7887.
