Blackmagic Design has announced that Company 3 in London used DaVinci Resolve for
colour grading Ron Howard’s F1 racing biographical action film, Rush. The film portrays
the exhilarating true story of two of the greatest rivals the sport has ever witnessed,
drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played by Chris Hemsworth and Niki Lauda
respectively.
Set against the sexy and glamorous golden age of F1 racing, Rush follows the two
drivers as they push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological
endurance, where there is no shortcut to victory and no margin for error. After a
catastrophic crash during the 1976 German GP at the Nurburgring, which could have
killed Lauda, he returns to face rival Hunt in their pursuit of the World Championship.
Anthony Dod Mantle was the film’s cinematographer and he presented Company 3’s
senior colourist Adam Glasman with an intriguing challenge.
“While Rush was shot using a variety of different digital formats, Ron and Anthony also
wanted to incorporate original race footage from 1976 shot on 16mm and 35mm film.
Ron and Anthony felt this would help to recreate the thrilling race sequences and give
Rush some real F1 production value says,’ says Patrick Malone of Company 3 London.
The overall goal during the grade was to create a look that would bind both digital and
archived film material together, giving Rush a seamless look throughout.
Malone continues: “Our brief was to give the film a 1970s period feel with a modern
slant. Inspiration for the colour palette came from a lot of the readily available archived
8mm, 16mm and 35mm footage of the 1976 World Championship.’
“While the traditional look associated with the period is one of desaturated, almost sepia
colours, Anthony wanted to push color into the cars so they looked more bold and
striking. In addition, he wanted each of the grand prix races to given their own unique
feel to reflect the drama and dynamics of the19’76 championship,’
Take for example the opening scene at the Nurburgring, which is a pivotal moment. This
had a very stormy, almost menacing feel to it as the film builds up to Lauda’s crash.
This is a very bold sequence, which Adam achieved by adding in more saturation while
being careful not to crush the information out of the image,’ says Malone.
Company 3 London also used DaVinci Resolve recently to complete the grading of Edgar
Wright’s science fiction comedy, The World’s End, Zombie epic, World War Z, and
British action comedy, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
