Blackmagic Design has announced that Duplitech, an independent media service lab in L.A., is using a host of Blackmagic Design gear, including Cintel Scanner 2 for high dynamic range (HDR) film scanning. Duplitech found that Cintel Scanner 2 performs exceptionally well on 16mm film, having recently worked with the element while onboarding the “Blondie” television series from the 1950s.
Duplitech provides a full range of content delivery solutions from encoding, authoring and disc production, to in house film scanning, color grading and restoration, technical editing and asset conform, standards conversion and more. In addition to Cintel Scanner 2, Duplitech uses DaVinci Resolve Studio for editing and SDR/HDR color grading, DaVinci Resolve Micro Panels, Teranex 2D Processor standards converter, Videohub router and Mini Converters Audio to SDI, with UltraStudio and DeckLink capture and playback devices rounding out the workflow.
Cintel Scanner 2 has processed more than 500 reels of film, and as COO Steven Johnson noted, it allows them to quickly test different elements during curation, including release prints, IPs, original camera negatives (OCNs), interpositives and more.
“Cintel Scanner 2 has proven to be a versatile and cost effective performer in our film department. We’ve relied heavily on it to evaluate and process hundreds of film elements, from OCNs to release prints, while curating film collections for our customers. It allows us to quickly onboard and evaluate these elements, identifying which ones can be used to assemble a gold master for restoration,” he said.
“Scanning interpositives is a core business for us, and Cintel Scanner 2’s HDR capability has been a game changer,” said Film Department manager Blake Blasingame. “It makes virtually any element scannable and brings it to a usable level. Interpositives and release prints from 20 and 40 years ago are denser than the ones being made today, and HDR has opened the doors to scan and preserve those elements.”
“HDR captures much more of the element’s data, and Cintel Scanner 2’s improved latitude has been a major feature for us. It allows us to retain a wider range of color detail and a more accurate representation of the original film projection,” added Johnson. “We are an Ultra HD Blu-ray authoring house as well, and with Blu-ray, the output goes to physical media, which has a much higher quality demand than digital. Blu-ray is also a collector’s market, so the stakes are even higher. If it wasn’t for Cintel Scanner 2, we couldn’t cost effectively work in HDR and deliver this content.”
Steve McQueen Shows Wartime London Through A Child’s Eyes In “Blitz”
It was a single photograph that started Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen on the journey to make "Blitz." As a Londoner, the German bombing raids on the city during World War II are never all that far from his mind. Reminders of it are everywhere. But the spark of inspiration came from an image of a small boy on a train platform with a large suitcase. Stories inspired by the evacuation are not rare, but this child was Black. Who was he, McQueen wondered, and what was his story? The film, in theaters Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22, tells the tale of George, a 9-year-old biracial child in East London whose life with his mother, Rita ( Saoirse Ronan ), and grandfather is upended by the war. Like many children at the time, he's put on a train to the countryside for his safety. But he hops off and starts a long, dangerous journey back to his mom, encountering all sorts of people and situations that paint a revelatory and emotional picture of that moment. SEARCHING FOR GEORGE AND FINDING A STAR When McQueen finished the screenplay, he thought to himself: "Not bad." Then he started to worry: Does George exist? Is there a person out there who can play this role? Through an open casting call they found Elliott Heffernan, a 9-year-old living just outside of London whose only experience was a school play. He was the genie in "Aladdin." "There was a stillness about him, a real silent movie star quality," McQueen said. "You wanted to know what he was thinking, and you leant in. That's a movie star quality: A presence in his absence." Elliott is now 11. When he was cast, he'd not yet heard about the evacuation and imagined that a film set would be made up of "about 100 people." But he soon found his footing, cycling in and out of... Read More