Colorworks, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s digital intermediate facility, has opened a new facility focused on 4K television postproduction. Located in the Capra Building on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, Colorworks 4K Television will provide post services for original programming shot in 4K and re-mastering services for film-originated media. It will deliver both HD masters for current distribution and 4K masters for future use.
The recent arrival of 4K Ultra HD TVs new 4K camera systems, including Sony’s F65 and F55, has prompted more television productions to capture in 4K. That, in turn, is creating growing demand for 4K post-production services, according to Colorworks sr. VP Bob Bailey.
“Sony Pictures Entertainment and Colorworks are supporting the growth of 4K television by providing producers with a seamless solution for mastering their shows in the format of the future, 4K,” Bailey said. “Our new television facility has been designed and built to move and process 4K data as easily as HD.”
Colorworks 4K Television will work closely with other units on the Sony Pictures lot, including picture editorial, sound editorial, sound mixing and visual effects, to provide producers, shooting on the lot and elsewhere, with an efficient, one-stop solution. Special packaging is available for productions taking advantage of inclusive services.
“The ability to collaborate across all segments of post-production makes the solution that we offer unique,” said Ben Benedetti, Sony Pictures Entertainment executive director, Sound and Digital Services. “Additionally, our experience with Sony during the development of the F65 and F55 cameras makes our facilities uniquely well qualified to service 4K television.”
The new television facility features two 4K color grading suites and a 4K editorial finishing suite. The latest 4K imaging technology is employed throughout, including Baselight EIGHT color grading systems. Each room also includes 4K Sony projection systems, high resolution digital monitors and support gear required by high-level post production.
Grading and finishing suites are directly connected to Sony Pictures’ Television Backbone, providing colorists and editors with immediate access to original production media, metadata and other critical production and post data.
Yorick Le Saux Connects With Writer-Director Steve McQueen On “Blitz”
When opportunity knocked, cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, AFC couldn’t answer in the affirmative--though he desperately wanted to. Scheduling conflicts forced him to turn down overtures from director Steve McQueen on a couple of occasions--the first being for a commercial, followed several years later by a query as to the DP’s availability for what turned out to be the acclaimed Small Axe anthology. Thankfully, though, the third time proved to be the charm as McQueen once again reached out to Le Saux and the two wound up collaborating together on Blitz (Apple Original Films). McQueen, a Best Picture Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave, wrote and directed Blitz, which makes its streaming debut today (11/22) on Apple TV+ after a wide theatrical release. Blitz, short for the Germans’ blitzkrieg bombing of London during World War II, is told largely through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, George (portrayed by Elliott Heffernan), whose single mom, Rita (Saoirse Ronan), had made the heartaching decision to send him to the countryside with thousands of other schoolchildren to flee the devastating aerial attacks. The prospect of being separated from his mother and grandfather is traumatic for George who at his young age has also felt the sting of prejudice, having been ridiculed about his mixed-race heritage. Le Saux shared that going into Blitz, his only connection to World War II was what he heard about it from his parents and grandparents. But he was eager to work with McQueen and found that upon delving deeper into the subject matter he felt a profound bond to the story, which carries relevance to today. Le Saux said this gave him a sense of purpose to help realize the writer-director’s vision for the... Read More