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March 2016

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www.postmagazine.com 25 POST MARCH 2016 "We're able to accurately translate all types of files through Mistika to any and all types of deliverables. We feel extremely confident in our workflow." "We are obligated to our clients and their domestic and international distributors to deliver any format and any type of deliverable," says Eaves. "With this process, we can deliver perfect matching files to any color space." COMPANY 3 Deluxe's Company 3 (www.company3.com) in Santa Monica offers DI services under the banner of one of the dominant players in the industry. Its Hollywood-based sibling, Efilm, is also part of the Deluxe infrastructure. "DI is a difficult business: Its technical requirements are large, costs are high, it requires a lot of bandwidth and redundan- cies to cover any emergencies. So doing high-end DI through the Deluxe infrastructure is a big advantage for clients," says Company 3 senior colorist Stephen Nakamura. Worldwide interconnectivity is also a plus for customers, he notes. "I do movies in London and New York every year, and I drive remote sessions internationally," Nakamura re- ports. "Sometimes it's more convenient for a client if I work in Hollywood at Efilm; Deluxe also has suites inside Fox, Sony and Universal to accommodate clients working at those studios." For Nakamura, a feature colorist, DI has a specifically the- atrical connotation. "It's digital color correction for a theatri- cal release — and for all the deliverables features need today, including home video, marketing pieces, even photographic stills," he says. That deliverable list has just gotten longer with the new trend for HDR mastering. "It's still in its infancy, although de- mand is snowballing: Now every movie I do asks for an HDR pass," says Nakamura. "HDR is a really exciting exhibition medium. I think the in- dustry and consumers will embrace it, whether in theaters or at home — there's a very aggressive push for it from the consum- er electronics market. HDR delivers a picture with extremely bright highlights and rich, deep blacks. It's a very different viewing experience." Currently, Company 3's theaters at its Santa Monica location are HDR capable, allowing Nakamura to view material with the expanded dynamic range for the additional pass after complet- ing his initial grade. He does both in Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve. "For the theatrical HDR version, our Christie laser projectors can display images after we've mapped them into HDR using the PQ tonal curve and white point correction," Nakamura says. "We translate the grade we do in the DCI-P3 color space to PQ and then a new creative process essentially begins. You have to look at HDR as an open canvas. It's not just about 'translating' how the movie looks in P3. You have to ask how can you achieve even more of the director and cinematogra- pher's intent using this format? What else can you take advan- tage of with the expanded dynamic range?" Nakamura gives three different examples to illustrate the range of HDR mastering from subtle to more overt. "David O. Russell's Joy is a straight drama, a very realistic story. Yes, it looks different in HDR, but there's a lot of consistency between the versions," he explains. "In The Martian, HDR let us make the color outside on Mars brighter while the increased luminance level inside the hub makes the lights stand out more and connect with the audio" in a particular plot point. That's "sort of a small thing, but it really helps tell the story." And for Tomorrowland, direc- tor Brad Bird "wanted the movie to look different in the scenes of Tomorrowland from the scenes of 'regular life,' so those are portrayed as brighter, more colorful and more robust. In HDR we could make that difference more pronounced." Since the current specs for HDR video and digital cinema are Nakamura (inset, top) is senior colorist at Company 3, which completed DI work for Tomorrowland (bottom left) and The Martian (bottom right).

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