Grade
All content is graded and mastered using our premium 4K UHD monitor, which is Pantone & Calman Verified, and calibrated every 2 weeks to ensure colour critical consistency every time. Calibration is performed using the Datacolor Spyder X2 Ultra.
We use the latest version of DaVinci Resolve Studio for all grades, online sessions and content mastering.
For Grading: We have a pool of freelance colourists we collaborate with and commission to use our grading suite for the duration of the work.
Our grading monitor supports full coverage for the following colour spaces, including HDR.
Rec. 709 (SDR)
DCI-P3
HLG + HDR10 (HDR)
Adobe RGB
In addition to film and broadcast work, our grading suite is suitable for all photographic, graphic design & print-based work too.
Content Mastering
All content is handled and mastered using our custom-built Apple Mac Studio M1 Ultra (20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine, 128GB unified memory/RAM).
All camera originals / original media is stored on our custom Thunderbolt 4 NVMe SSD array which guarantees super-fast access, playback and copy speed to 4K and 8K rushes comfortably. We can even store media, master & output at 12K or 16K.
We advise our clients to supply a hard drive at the start of their project, with all the used media on it, and enough space for us to make & copy final deliverables to it at the end of the project.
QC - (Quality Control)
A QC is highly recommended for all DCPs to ensure the content reaches full technical compliance. We insist on doing these for any DCPs we master or are mastered by an external company/vendor.
We can provide Picture-Only DCP QCs or Full Service DCP QCs. Both services are available at resolutions up to and including DCI 4K Full Container.
Quality Control is the final stage of any finished work before it returns to the client and can be handled in-house or externally, dependent on the brief & client preference.
For Picture-Only DCP QCs - we can operate those QCs in-house although we do advise a Full Service QC as per below, due to being able to monitor audio in Stereo (2.0) only.
For Full Service DCP QCs - we book & run an attended session in partnership with our colleagues at Close-Up Cinema. These sessions are attended by Louis on-behalf-of/with the client who will assess the film for a range of technical parameters in accordance with the delivery specification.
We have also run test/live screenings at venues across London (such as BFI Southbank, BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, Curzon Bloomsbury, ICA) and The UK more widely. Enquire within for details.
In addition to the client's final deliverables drive, the client also needs to supply a separate drive for the DCP(s) delivered, as this will need to be specially-formatted (Linux extFS2 / NTFS) to be able to run in cinemas. We can advise on workflow.