Deluxe Media Creative Services company and a long-time innovator in digital intermediate technology, EFILM, which is based in Hollywood, has added to its toolset by installing a Baselight colour grading suite from FilmLight.
The Baselight TWO real-time grading system with Blackboard 2 control surface, and the Baselight Assist station for background rendering and processing are included in the installation.
Recently released action adventure film Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet, which grossed nearly $55m at the US box office in its opening weekend, was one of the first projects EFILM worked on with Baselight.
Directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless) and shot by director of photography Alwin Kuchler, BSC on ARRI ALEXA cameras, the feature film adaptation of Veronica Roth’s best-selling novel was released in theatres on 21 March by Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) company.
Tom Reiser, lead colourist at EFILM, was responsible for the film’s unique look. “Action adventure movies traditionally have a “cool’ look, but Neil Burger wanted this to start out colourful and warm. There were plenty of opportunities to use Baselight to create interesting looks,’ Reiser comments.
“There is also a plot device of going into people’s dreams, and I gave each a distinctive look with green and yellow washes. I also used the grain and degrain features within Baselight, which perform really well. Alwin Kuchler also featured a lot of bold lighting with big colour casts from LED lamps, which added to the tone,’ he continues.
A lead colourist at EFILM since 2009, Reiser commends the system for its auto tracking tool and its inclusion of printer light emulation, which he considers a significantly better approach to colour grading.
Reiser adds: “The auto-tracking in real time is pretty amazing. I can put a shape on and hit area tracking and it shows me precisely what the shape is going to do. Being able to create and store my own pre-sets is also a huge benefit, as well as having the option to use a different LUT for every shot if I want to – I used five or six in Divergent.’
“Baselight also gives me excellent secondaries with good logarithmic tracking. My overall sense is to make the images naturalistic, and Baselight allows me to achieve what I am looking for,” Reiser continues.
Adds Wolfgang Lempp, co-founder of FilmLight: “We are very excited by our first installation at EFILM. As a digital intermediate facility, EFILM is legendary in leading the way and we are delighted to be playing our part, working with top colourists like Tom and on major movies such as Divergent.’
For Reiser, the choice of Baselight as the grading platform in the modern world of digital acquisition and delivery comes naturally. “It’s the system of the future. It’s perfect,’ he concludes.
