FilmLight will demonstrate its creative and technical commitment to Japanese television broadcasting and postproduction with its own booth at Inter BEE 2018 (Makuhari Messe, Tokyo, November 14-16, #3311). This marks both the five-year anniversary of the FilmLight office in Tokyo, and provides the opportunity to showcase the latest version of FilmLight’s color grading and management platform, Baselight v5, for the Japanese market.
“Movies and premium television are hugely important in Japan, and it is vital that users of our cutting edge creative tools are well supported,” said Koichi Matsui, head of FilmLight KK, the company's Japanese branch. “Having a sales and support team in the heart of the Japanese industry is proving to be a great success among our valued customers, and I am very excited to further the direct relationship with our clients at Inter BEE this year.”
The latest release, Baselight v5, offers new features that help to streamline the most complex and time-consuming workflows both within the color grading suite and in collaboration with editing, VFX and 360Ëš VR. The same software toolkit has been implemented across the product range, from Prelight for on-set visualization, the Daylight dailies system and the expanding Baselight Editions range for editing and VFX, as well as the high-powered Baselight grading stations.
New features include intelligent branching, which means that different operators can now work on the same scene simultaneously with ease, either to perform specific tasks or to create multiple deliverables.
With HDR a hot topic, new Baselight functionality is also aimed at developing looks within the extended range and color gamut, which can then be faithfully retained across the multitude of delivery formats expected today. Boost Range, for example, is an automated tool to boost the dynamic range of an image from SDR to HDR using complex spatial processing to achieve a natural look, while Texture Highlight uses frequency analysis to avoid blocky highlights.
Toei Digital Lab in Tokyo recently purchased an additional Baselight TWO system targeted at TV productions such as those for Netflix, NHK and other 4K/UHD programs.
“Baselight v5 puts every creative nuance at the colorist’s fingertips for grading and VFX,” said Soichi Satake, sr. colorist at Toei Digital Lab. “With the new Base Grade, for instance, we can precisely reproduce the image that was achieved by adjusting camera exposure on set. The control of burnished highlights has become easier too, especially for deep shadows.”
“FilmLight’s 24/365 support is a tremendous help for us, especially the remote diagnostic ability,” he added. “Our workflow in Japan sometime differs from those in other countries but the FilmLight team understands our needs and improves the features to meet what we require. FilmLight aggressively works through all new request features, so that I find Baselight evolves rapidly to match the path of our constant evolving needs.”
Baselight v5 will be demonstrated on the Baselight TWO system and within Baselight Editions on booth 3311 in hall 3 at Inter BEE 2018.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More