(CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - June 25, 2007) da Vinci Systems today announced that Sean McKee of Screen Time Images and Screen Time Classics in Schaumburg, Ill. has deployed the da Vinci Resolve® FX digital mastering suite for color enhancement and mastering of "5-25-77".
"5-25-77" is the true story of its director Patrick Read Johnson, his close attachment to "Stars Wars", and his life experiences with Hollywood notables like Steven Spielberg and Douglas Trumbull. Produced by Gary Kurtz ("American Graffiti", "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back") and Fred Roos ("The Godfather II", "Apocalypse Now", "Lost in Translation"), the movie was screened on May 25, 2007 at the Star Wars Celebration IV event, held in Los Angeles on the 30th anniversary of the release of the original "Star Wars."
The opportunity to screen "5-25-77" in Los Angeles arose only days before the actual event, even as the film was still being edited offline from DVCAM dailies, in a 4x3 letterbox format. The screening venue was a 900-seat theater in the Los Angeles Convention Center with a Christie CP2000 digital cinema projector. With only three days to color grade and size the entire project, there was no time for an online conform and re-render of effects. McKee was asked to color grade the film and to reformat the 4x3 offline for theatrical framing, up-converting the whole movie from 24P DV to HD D5.
To meet the tight deadline, McKee relied on the da Vinci Resolve digital mastering system. Quicktime files were delivered and then converted to 10-bit RGB DPX files for use in the Resolve. Project files were created for each reel, and the Resolve system enabled McKee to quickly reference and use looks created in other reels to assure consistency between similar scenes.
"The speed of the Resolve was critical in achieving a balance very quickly across the entire film, and it also provided the flexibility to dial in and create a unique feel for each scene in a short amount of time," McKee said.
The film was shot on several formats and aspect ratios, each selected to convey a feel for a different location. Super 16mm transferred to HD was used for scenes set in Illinois, while 35mm anamorphic scanned to 2K was used for the Hollywood scenes, with some 8mm for childhood flashbacks, and some HD footage for pickups. Johnson planned the framing such that the Super 16mm footage would sit in the center of the screen with pillar bars, but when the main character flies to Hollywood (via an homage to the ending of "2001:A Space Odyssey"), the image dramatically transforms to full size 2:35 Cinemascope.
McKee also chose to use the formatting features integrated in Resolve, made possible by its proprietary Transformer board, for upconversion from DV to HD 1080p.
"The qualities of the real-time format conversions integral to Resolve are unmatched in the industry," McKee said. "During the screening, when the aspect converted to fill the entire theater screen for the Hollywood sequences, the director looked at producer Gary Kurtz and me and smiled, and we all agreed it looked just amazing."
Post-production on "5-25-77" is scheduled for completion this summer, with an anticipated release in the fall.
Learn more about Resolve FX and da Vinci's complete range of image enhancement products at http://www.davsys.com
About da Vinci Systems®, LLC
da Vinci Systems, a JDSU company, is the leading provider of color enhancement and image restoration products used in post-production facilities worldwide. Incorporating the company's Emmy® Award-winning technology, da Vinci's products support SDTV, HDTV, data, and digital film. Since the introduction of the company's first color corrector in 1984, da Vinci has been a front-runner in the field of image enhancement, shaping color enhancement into the vital role it holds in post-production today. The company is headquartered in Coral Springs, Fla., with offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, France, Germany, and Singapore.
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