American Cinematographer - January 2011 - 78

Post Focus
EFilm recently opened a DI suite within Universal Studios’ post facility, allowing filmmakers to digitally grade their projects under the same roof as Universal’s full sound services.

EFilm Opens DI Suite at Universal By Simon Wakelin

Digital lab EFilm has opened a digital-intermediate suite at Universal Studios’ postproduction facility. Thanks to the new suite, clients can now access uncompressed 2K 4:4:4 scans, dailies or trailers, and do digital grading while situated next to Universal’s soundmixing stages, sound editorial, picture-editing suites and other sound services. (Film scanning and filmouts will still be done at EFilm’s Hollywood facility.) “This will be far more efficient,” explains Kevin Dillon, executive vice president and general manager of EFilm. “With so many post services in one location, it will be easier for clients to finish products in a timely manner. It’s also a great opportunity for us to build our business model for remote services.” Universal also benefits from the new on-lot service, as directors and cinematographers alike have often lamented the time they spend traveling back and forth between DI facilities and Universal’s sound department. “Directors used to have to run around Los Angeles to perform their DIs,” says Chris Jenkins, senior vice president of Universal Studios Sound. “They often said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to simply walk out the door here and go into a DI suite?’ It’s just practical. It’s important for Universal to expand its capabilities this way.” Recent projects that were finished at EFilm’s Universal suite include Paul Weitz’s comedy Little Fockers, shot by Remi Adefarasin, BSC. Before the suite officially opened, the director of another feature popped into the grading suite to oversee the finessing of a visual-effects shot. “It was the kind of tweak that only takes five minutes to perform, and having the suite on the lot meant he didn’t
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American Cinematographer

EFilm photo by Gary Krueger, courtesy of Deluxe and Universal. HPA photos by Ryan Miller, courtesy of Capture Imaging.

have to drive across town to sign off on a simple task,” says Josh Haynie, EFilm’s vice president of operations. Interactive sessions with EFilm and Deluxe Laboratories’ other locations in New York and London are also possible, allowing real-time access to scans and media over a secure, private, dedicated fiberoptic connection that is fully encrypted. “We can transmit anywhere we need to go,” says Haynie. “We just had a session where we piped information over to a cinematographer in London. He worked on images, all with absolute accuracy, while we were watching at EFilm in Hollywood.” Interchangeable film-projection and digital-projection systems are in place at Universal’s Alfred Hitchcock Theatre. The DI suite offers white and silver screens available to accommodate both 2-D and 3-D XpanD and RealD systems. Haynie notes that involving EFilm early in production through the CinemaScan process in Hollywood always leads to the best results. “For Ron Howard’s movie The Dilemma, shot by Salvatore Totino, ASC, we understood what was going on very early in the production because we were providing CinemaScan dailies,” he says. “It’s only going to help the DI process if we come in early and are involved in camera tests and hair and makeup tests as well.” Although digitally captured features are becoming increasingly common, EFilm is still seeing many productions originate on film, says Haynie. “We’re seeing a lot of 3-perf and 4-perf coming through CinemaScan dailies,” he says. “Film has such a wonderful dynamic range. Plus, once it becomes a file, it’s as easy to work with in the digital domain as any digital-capture format.” As for the future, EFilm is considering 4K dailies, but not until scanning technology advances far enough to make for a quick turnaround. “Right now, turning around 4K scans at a fast enough rate for dailies deliverables isn’t possible,” says Haynie. “Of course, everyone’s goal is 4K dailies. From a data standpoint, we can do it, but we’re waiting for the scanning technology to catch up.” EFilm’s parent company, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Inc., recently entered into an exclusive multi-year filmprocessing and printing agreement with Universal. The print deal will see the studio utilizing Deluxe facilities in Hollywood, Toronto, London, Rome, Barcelona and Sydney.

American Cinematographer - January 2011

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