FilmLight will demonstrate its creative and technical commitment to Japanese television broadcasting and postproduction with its own booth at Inter BEE 2018 (Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, November 14-16, #3311). This marks both the five-year anniversary of the FilmLight office in Tokyo, and provides the opportunity to showcase the latest version of FilmLight’s color grading and management platform, Baselight v5, for the Japanese market.
“Movies and premium television are hugely important in Japan, and it is vital that users of our cutting edge creative tools are well supported,” said Koichi Matsui, head of FilmLight KK, the company's Japanese branch. “Having a sales and support team in the heart of the Japanese industry is proving to be a great success among our valued customers, and I am very excited to further the direct relationship with our clients at Inter BEE this year.”
The latest release, Baselight v5, offers new features that help to streamline the most complex and time-consuming workflows both within the color grading suite and in collaboration with editing, VFX and 360Ëš VR. The same software toolkit has been implemented across the product range, from Prelight for on-set visualization, the Daylight dailies system and the expanding Baselight Editions range for editing and VFX, as well as the high-powered Baselight grading stations.
New features include intelligent branching, which means that different operators can now work on the same scene simultaneously with ease, either to perform specific tasks or to create multiple deliverables.
With HDR a hot topic, new Baselight functionality is also aimed at developing looks within the extended range and color gamut, which can then be faithfully retained across the multitude of delivery formats expected today. Boost Range, for example, is an automated tool to boost the dynamic range of an image from SDR to HDR using complex spatial processing to achieve a natural look, while Texture Highlight uses frequency analysis to avoid blocky highlights.
Toei Digital Lab in Tokyo recently purchased an additional Baselight TWO system targeted at TV productions such as those for Netflix, NHK and other 4K/UHD programs.
“Baselight v5 puts every creative nuance at the colorist’s fingertips for grading and VFX,” said Soichi Satake, sr. colorist at Toei Digital Lab. “With the new Base Grade, for instance, we can precisely reproduce the image that was achieved by adjusting camera exposure on set. The control of burnished highlights has become easier too, especially for deep shadows.”
“FilmLight’s 24/365 support is a tremendous help for us, especially the remote diagnostic ability,” he added. “Our workflow in Japan sometime differs from those in other countries but the FilmLight team understands our needs and improves the features to meet what we require. FilmLight aggressively works through all new request features, so that I find Baselight evolves rapidly to match the path of our constant evolving needs.”
Baselight v5 will be demonstrated on the Baselight TWO system and within Baselight Editions on booth 3311 in hall 3 at Inter BEE 2018.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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