<a href="http://www.imagesystems.tv.“>Image Systems, formerly Digital Vision, has today announced that its Nucoda Film Master DI grading and finishing solution and Nucoda Compose preparation and delivery station has been used by Dublin-based post facility Screen Scene to grade the first series of HBO’s hugely successful television fantasy drama “Game of Thrones.” The series received a top honour at the 27th annual Television Critics Association’s TCA Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month for Outstanding New Program.
“Game of Thrones” tells the story of seven noble families who fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Starring Sean Bean (Eddard Stark) the ten-part 60 minute drama was shot last summer in locations across Europe and in studios in Belfast. Screen Scene first became involved with the project when HBO producers began camera tests between ARRI ALEXA and 35mm.
Gary Curran Screen Scene Colourist explains, "The team did extensive tests comparing film with the ALEXA. They were keen to try digital capture but didn’t want to compromise the high quality that they are used to. Two of the DoPs, Alik Sakharov and Marco Pontecorvo, came into the facility for a couple of days to carry out grade and exposure tests to analyse how various set-up ranges would react. These were all graded on the Nucoda Film Master. The execs then came to Screen Scene to check the grading tests and decided to shoot with the ALEXA. The ease of integration between the Nucoda Film Master and the ARRI ALEXA was a defining factor in this final decision."
The workflow provided seamless delivery of the material. Screen Scene’s Rorke SAN was linked to an Avid DS system for online finishing via fibre. The Alexa 4:4:4 material was captured to SR tape and the team at Screen Scene received an EDL, loaded up the tapes and pulled the footage as DPX files to the Rorke. They then shot-checked on the Nucoda Compose and handed off the shot-checked EDL to Curran who would then re-link to the same media and pull that from the SAN for grading.
He adds, "It was a really exciting piece to grade. They wanted a rich filmic look across the numerous different countries and worlds that the story depicts. They created a palette for each of the different worlds in the production design and I gently embellished these palettes without being too heavy handed as they didn’t want it to look too stylized. This was a big budget series and the costumes, production and lighting were amazing so it didn’t need a heavy look. Once we’d achieved this the rest of the grade was to get the best out of each shot."
He continues, "There were extensive VFX shots, which took a bit longer than straight dialogue scenes. It was important that those scenes sat in to the piece. The Nucoda was really good at this, it could bring in versions of the VFX and I could work on the grade and easily update the latest version and bring in mattes. The Nucoda is a very easy system to work with and the results speak for themselves."
About <a href="http://www.imagesystems.tv.“>Image Systems
<a href="http://www.imagesystems.tv.“>Image Systems Media Unit, formerly Digital Vision, is a division of <a href="http://www.imagesystems.tv.“>Image Systems AB, which specializes in high-resolution image processing, film scanning and motion analysis solutions. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, <a href="http://www.imagesystems.tv.“>Image Systems has offices in Linköping, London and Los Angeles. The company has three business units: Media, Defense and Motion, managed via a global network of qualified distributors. Its Nucoda and Phoenix image grading and restoration software solutions and Golden Eye range of scanners provide innovative tools to create and master media in HD, 2K/4K and stereoscopic 3D. The TEMA software platform provides a range of user friendly, high-speed motion analysis solutions for the automotive industry and other industrial test and design applications. The TrackEye software and Golden Eye scanners provide image analysis solutions for the military reconnaissance and testing markets. For additional information, visit www.imagesystems.tv.
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