American Cinematographer - August 2016 - 78

New Products & Services
FilmLight Upgrades Baselight
FilmLight has introduced Baselight 5.0, the latest version of
its flagship color-finishing system. Baselight 5.0 introduces a host of
high-tech features and creative tools.
The most notable new concept is Base Grade. To give
colorists instinctual access to subtle grading, this creative tool moves
away from the traditional lift-gamma-gain approach in favor of
controls that accurately mimic the way the eye appreciates color: via
exposure, temperature and balance. Baselight 5.0 provides added
HDR capabilities through color-space "families" - which simplify
the deliverables process for distinct viewing environments such as
television, 4K projection and handheld devices - and gamut optimization to provide natural gamut-mapping deliverables and avoid
clipping when captured colors can't be displayed on a cinema or
television screen.
Baselight 5.0 boasts several tools that are tailored to give
colorists more creative control and reduce the time and energy spent
on back-and-forth with other effects and finishing systems. These

August 2016

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features include: perspective operator, perspective tracking, grid
warper, dedicated keyer, paint tool, relight tool and Matchbox
shader.
Baselight 5.0 further streamlines workflows by introducing a
new approach to remote grading, whereby Baselight workstations
in different locations can collaborate. Facilities and freelancers at
remote sites can now browse any scene on their own or be locked
to the master suite and follow a grading session live. The remote
colorist can take over and suggest changes, which will be instantly
reflected on the other systems.
FilmLight has also introduced Prelight, a freely licensed Mac
OS X application designed to help cinematographers and other
professionals to author and review looks in preproduction and on
set. Prelight's simple-to-operate interface makes it easy to check
how shots appear with looks or LUTs applied, and to import or add
grading decisions that can be passed downstream. Images can be
imported from almost any camera, and graded references can be
exported in almost any format.
The creative team can enhance the grade with simple but
familiar tools to create new reference stills as well as 3D LUTs or
Baselight Linked Grade files. With the render-free BLG workflow, the
grades are non-destructive; additional BLG metadata is created and
attached to the stills. The free license for Baselight for Avid or Nuke,
which makes it free to read and render BLG files, makes this workflow available to productions on any budget. An extended license
can be purchased so that when these files arrive in the Baselight
post house, or on a Daylight system for near-set dailies, the metadata is attached automatically and the BLG file becomes the basis of
the grade, which can then be refined right up to the moment the
deliverables are created. The additional license also includes
enhanced logging and monitoring capabilities.
Prelight complements the FilmLight products Flip and
Daylight, which already provide full on-set and near-set
grading capabilities. Prelight can also fit into any postproduction workflow because of the ability to export standard
ASC CDL lists and third-party formatted 3D LUTs. For realtime viewing, Prelight can interface with the majority of
professional LUT boxes or monitors.
Additionally, FilmLight has announced a new collaboration with Avid that will see both companies introduce a
new Professional Color bundle for editors. The Professional
Color bundle brings together Baselight for Avid with Avid
Media Composer in one single package, making it even
easier for editors to increase their finishing capabilities
directly within their NLE system.
For additional information, visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk.

American Cinematographer

http://www.filmlight.ltd.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 2016