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May 2014

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14 Post • May 2014 www.postmagazine.com open house P LAYA VISTA, CA — After the birth of his son in 2008, Will Holman was looking for a way to be closer to home while continuing his post work and staying connected to the industry. He came up with the perfect solution: build a state-of- the-art 4K DI suite right in his home. Holman operates Super Star Power Productions out of his recently-purchased house in Playa Vista, an LA neighborhood that's close to the edi- tors, producers and directors he works with. The combination post facility, theater, screening room and three-bedroom house offers a work/living space for high-end 4K commercial and feature film finishing. It offers a seamless 4K pipeline, from review of uncompressed image files taken directly from 4K cameras, through color grading and edit- ing at 4K in a Quantel Pablo Rio with a Neo control panel, to a Qube Cinema server and integrated media block (IMB), before being projected via Barco's new digital projector. Hollywood producers and directors of fea- ture films will now be able to review 4K images, color grade at 4K in realtime and generate 4K DCPs for final QC, all in this comfor table setting. Holman, who began his multifaceted career in the film industry as an actor, before turning his hand to writing and directing, spent months researching what to install, including some pivotal meetings with Eric Bergez of Qube Cinema at NAB in 2013, before hiring Perception Technologies to handle most of the design and system integration. "This is the first 4K DI suite that has the flexibility in the equipment to deliver an excep- tional experience," says Jeff Battles, VP of sales at Perception Technologies. "In addition to the Qube 4K IMB and XP-I server, it has the indus- try's leading projector, a Barco post production 4K-P and the first RealD Ultimate Screen in a post facility. Super Star has everything in this one room that's needed to color grade and finish 2D and 3D movies." THE SPACE & GEAR Holman worked with Perception Technolo- gies to design the 4K DI suite. The space has a comfortable and elegant home-theater feel to it, with sound-proof paneling and four Acoustic Smart seats. It has a workstation where the Pablo Rio grading system and Neo panel sit, with a 4K monitor on the wall nearby. The Perception Technologies engineers designed the room as a turnkey solution for Holman. They started with the shell of the room, figured out where to situate the speak- ers that are part of the Klipsch 7.1 surround system, and how the room should look. Hol- man selected the seats and the color scheme, while Perception did the system integration, except for installing the color grading system. "I designed this 4K studio to be future- proof by choosing all the best gear," Holman explains. "When I met Eric and the Qube team at NAB 2013, they really understood my vision for a high-end coloring suite with 4K capability. As I was doing my research, I kept hearing good things about them. When you hear something several times, especially from an integration company with the reputa- tion of Perception Technologies, then you defi- nitely take heed." The DI suite is powered by a single Qube XP-I server, which is capable of streaming at bitrates up to 1Gbps, sufficient throughput to suppor t DCPs at frame rates of 30fps at 4K or up to 120fps at 2K. The post production version of the Qube Xi 4K IMB has a Quad 3G interface with four 3G-SDI cables that link to the Pablo Rio color grading and finish- ing system with 4K output, which then streams uncompressed 4K content directly to the Barco DP4K-P projector. The Quad 3G inputs of the Xi 4K IMB give Super Star Power Productions a simplified 4K workflow, allowing them to review and process master image files from 4K cameras and then switch seamlessly from uncompressed 4K color grading to 4K DCP playback without swap- ping input boards. "The Qube server and 4K IMB allow us to have immediate comparisons and precise quality control of all content," Holman explains. "We can be color grading at 4K one minute, and the next, we can review the 4K DCP that we mastered with QubeMaster Pro. There's no card to swap out, no cables to switch. It's seamless and simple." In addition to the projection equipment, the 4K DI suite has a Daily Dual screen sys- tem from Stewar t Filmscreen with two screens. One is a SnoMatte 100 non-perf screen for color grading. This motorized white screen can be rolled up to reveal the fixed silver screen, a 3D RealD Ultimate Screen, which increases light throughout the whole screen for a crisper, brighter image while viewing 2D and 3D films. THE WORK "Will is providing directors and producers with a less expensive solution to finish their movies," said Perception's Battles. "They now have access to the high-quality screens, projec- tor, color grading and server typically found at larger facilities, but at Super Star everything is provided in a more personal setting. People are going to find doing 4K here really impressive." Although he will continue to do some edit- ing and color grading, Holman's long-term vision is to rent out the whole space to stu- dios, including the living areas of the house. It will be a private space to stay at while com- pleting the color grading and editing of fea- ture films, and will cater to all needs, including an on-call colorist, assistant and even a chef. "I'm excited to get my hands on all this great equipment and will certainly continue to do some color grading," he says. "My goal is to create a picture from production through post, leveraging all the connections I've made in the industry over the years." "Having a full 4K workflow is a huge leap forward for post production studios and Super Star is leading the way with its 4K DI suite," adds Qube Cinema's Bergez. "Super Star is offering Hollywood creatives the best room possible to color grade and fin- ish their films." Super Star Power Productions 4K DI capabilities in the comfort of home. The studio offers many of the comforts of home, in addition to 4K post capabilities. Super Star Power's Will Holman.

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