Blackmagic Design announced that DaVinci Resolve Studio has been used throughout production and post roduction on 20th Century Fox’s “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” including SDR and HDR delivery. Joshua Callis-Smith was responsible for the onset dailies while the online edit and final DI were completed by Goldcrest Post.
“Building on our use of Resolve on the first ‘Kingsman’ film,” said Callis-Smith, “I ran all of the images into 25 inch OLED monitors which were calibrated to match the DI suite at Goldcrest, and used a Smart Videohub to route pictures to the video operator, who would in turn distribute those images to everyone else.”
The onset DIT cart also incorporated a Blackmagic UltraStudio 4K capture and playback device along with multiple SmartScope Duo 4K preview monitors. The first grading pass was subsequently completed in DaVinci Resolve with the help of look up tables (LUT) created ahead of time by the colorist, Rob Pizzey.
“‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ was a much bigger proposition than ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service,’ with more ambitious VFX shots as well as an HDR deliverable to consider,“ Pizzey explained. “Along with the fact that we were delivering multiple HDR versions including Dolby Vision for theatrical and HDR10 for domestic viewing, we also had a larger number of VFX set pieces, all of which Resolve handled smoothly.”
The second installment of the Kingsman comic book adaption saw cinematographer George Richmond reunite with DIT Callis-Smith and Goldcrest’s Pizzey following their work together on “Kingsman: The Secret Service” in 2014.
“Our goal with ‘The Golden Circle’ was to maintain the same slick, rich overall aesthetic as the first film, while also ensuring we gave the sequel its own unique look,” said Callis‑Smith.
The conform and online edit were also completed in Resolve Studio by Goldcrest’s Daniel Tomlinson, which allowed the in-house team to turn around any edit changes and visual effects updates that took place quickly and efficiently.
“Working from the RAW rushes gave us maximum flexibility. As for all our deliveries, the HDR grade would originate from the live DI timeline, so we could access any part of the original grade and finesse to achieve the best results in HDR,” added Pizzey. “Grading the HDR is not just about reproducing the REC 709 version on a HDR monitor. It all boils down to how the original material was shot in the first place. On ‘The Golden Circle’ we could justify sensitively opening up the contrast ratio as we had the dynamic range to work with. Used in a controlled approach, the results can be stunning.”
He concluded: “Our color pipeline has certainly evolved since the first ‘Kingsman,’ we all worked on together, but one piece of the puzzle has remained the same: DaVinci Resolve. Resolve was central to the successful delivery of postproduction on ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle.’ Using it ensured color management remained consistent throughout the entire editorial pipeline, from DIT through to the final results.”
Dueling Documentaries Delve Into The Promise and Perils Of AI
Artificial intelligence's dystopian specter has spawned a pair of documentaries dissecting a technology that's depicted in the films as a ravenous parasite devouring humanity's knowledge, creativity and empathy.
The films, "Deepfaking Sam Altman" and "The AI Doc," examine the issue through different lenses while similarly illuminating why the technology evokes both existential fears and utopian visions about how it might change the world.
Both documentaries coincide with an intensifying debate about whether AI will become a catalyst that helps enlighten and enrich people or a technological toxin that insidiously dulls human intelligence while wiping out millions of high-paying jobs that have traditionally required college educations.
Dealing with AI dread
The AI buildup during the past three years already that has resulted in a $12 trillion increase in the combined market values of Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Tesla, the Big Tech companies that have been leading the charge since the November 2022 release of the ChatGPT chatbot. The massive runup is now stoking worries about the investment bubble bursting.
"There is a lot of anxiety around AI, and the best way to get rid of that anxiety is to talk about it and confront it head-on," Adam Bhala Lough, the director of "Deepfaking Sam Altman," told The Associated Press.
Lough's documentary, which has already been shown in a few theaters around the United States, probes AI by relying on a virtual doppelganger of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose trailblazing role in the field has inspired comparisons to nuclear bomb inventor J. Robert Oppenheimer. It's Lough's first major project since his HBO documentary, "Telemarketers," garnered an... Read More