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POSTING INDIE FILMS www.postmagazine.com 25 POST SEPTEMBER 2016 ndependent films that shortcut post production in terms of time or funds — or both — do so at their peril, as successful producers and directors and skilled post professionals point out. INDIGNATION One of the surprise hits of the summer is a quiet drama set on a college campus in Ohio during the Korean War. Based on the Philip Roth novel of the same name, Indignation is the feature directorial debut of James Schamus. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January. Indignation tells the story of Marcus (Logan Lerman), a working-class, Jewish student from New Jersey, who meets the elegant and wealthy Olivia (Sarah Gadon) at a small college in Ohio. The sexual coming-of-age tale is marked by Marcus's confrontation with the school's dean over the role of religion in academic life. Alex Bickel, founder of New York City's Color Collective (www.colorcollective. com) and the colorist for Indignation, had previously collaborated with DP Christopher Blauvelt, who reached out to him for his latest feature. "Chris, James, the production designer, costume design- er and myself got together to establish the look of the film during preproduc- tion," says Bickel. "The film is set in the early 1950s, so the grade was going to be pretty significant, and Chris wanted to develop that as a team before principal photography began." The DP was "interested in emulat- ing some of the color processes of the era," Bickel says. "Something leaning towards, but not quite as impressionistic as, Autochrome (an early color process patented by the Lumiere brothers) and more of a match to the Kodachrome film stock, which had an alluring metallic vibe and allowed reds to pop. One of the ref- erences we looked at was the stoic color photos of Gordon Parks, whose pictures of a segregated America were shot on Kodachrome film." Color Collective created a LUT for Arri Alexa that gave the film a soft, pastel look with creamy highlights. Marcus had more of a high-contrast, somber look, and scenes with Olivia took on more subtle tones with the red in her costumes and makeup stealing viewers' attention. Indignation was shot in the New York metro area; dailies color was done by Adam Moore at Technicolor-PostWorks in New York City. Bickel worked with Moore on the first dailies to ensure that the look they designed in pre-pro was being cap- tured. "It was crucial for Chris to see what he was getting and how the film would look down the line," he says. "And it was important for editor Andrew Marcus to know that the film felt right early on." Bickel returned for the color grade at Technicolor-PostWorks using Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve V.11. Although Schamus has extensive feature experi- ence, "this was the first time he'd gone through a DI in the director's chair," notes Bickel. "It was a real honor to work with him and to explore the various tools at our disposal to shape the audience's emo- tional response to the visual content of the film. I think he enjoyed that part of the creative process, and we had ample time to explore the grade — you don't always get that for an independent film." Bickel gives Blauvelt and the pro- ducers credit for setting aside some 90 to 100 hours for the DI. "They knew this was a period piece and that Chris wanted time to explore the look of the era and finesse the details to bring the film to life. Chris gave us a starting point where we could basically do no wrong, though — we just had to take his beauti- ful negative and sweeten it." Some of the most fun, Bickel says, came in scenes where Olivia appeared. "They were a bit more magical — they allowed the audience to fall in love with her as Marcus did. We pushed lavenders in the shadows and added a buttery quality to the highlights. Any time you can help create an image where people might fall in love a little bit is a good day at the office!" Marcus's confrontational scene with the dean — "a riveting 13-minute dialogue scene" — needed a grade that "cut a bit deeper" with a more metallic twist in the highlights as daylight streams through the windows into a warm, mahogany office. "It was easy to draw a lot of color and life out of the rich academic tex- tures," says Bickel. "The film was a joy to grade," he reports. "Every department knocked it out of the park. My colleagues at Technicolor provided world-class support from preproduction through dailies, DI and delivery." Producer Peter Boychuk at Technicolor-PostWorks oversaw the finishing pipeline, which included online editor Zac Gobetz. THE FIRST FILM Sometimes documentaries involve a lot of detective work. It often happens off screen when the production has to source historical documents, track down archival footage and find elusive interview sub- jects. Less frequently, the documentary itself is a detective story. The First Film, directed by veteran filmmaker David Nicholas Wilkinson for Guerilla Films (www.guerilla-films.com), makes the case for Louis Le Prince, not Edison or the Lumiere Brothers, being the father of motion pictures. Born in France, Le Prince did much of his seminal work in Leeds, England, where he patented his first movie camera in 1888. Only a few seconds of footage he shot in Leeds remains; Le Prince disappeared in France two years later after visiting his brother Indignation (above and opposite page) was shot using Arri's Alexa. Alex Bickel (center) served as colorist.