Windmill Lane Ltd, the largest post house in Ireland, has become the first facility in the country to purchase FilmLight’s Baselight colour grading system. The company plans to install the Baselight FOUR system in a newly-built DI theatre, where it will be used to grade features and commercials.
Windmill Lane has offered colour grading for many years and, with the addition of Baselight, the company can now compete more effectively in the features market. In particular, it aims to capture more post work for the increasing number of films produced in Ireland, work that currently often goes to London or continental Europe. The company has already established relationships with film laboratories in London as well as with London post house The Mill to support its needs for laboratory work and 2k and 4k scanning, services not available in Ireland.
“This is part of our commitment to the Irish film industry,” stated Tim Morris, director of facilities for Windmill Lane Pictures. “2k and 4k data grading via Baselight was the last link in the chain toward providing complete DI services to our clients.”
Windmill Lane has previously provided post services for several films from Irish director Jim Sheridan, including ‘In America’, ‘Get Rich and Die Tryin”, as well as American productions shot in Ireland, such as ‘King Arthur’ and ‘Veronica Guerin’. The company also handled post for the recent John Boorman film ‘The Tiger’s Tale’, graded on Baselight .
That experience influenced the company’s decision to acquire its own Baselight. “We got extremely good feedback on Baselight from both The Mill and Framestore CFC,” said Morris. “Baselight appealed to us because of its creative toolset; it can perform in-context grading, and is made by the same company that makes Truelight colour management. Our colourist, David Hughes, who has experience on many systems, made the final decision based on the creative potential the new system offered.”
In conjunction with the only Spirit HD suite in Ireland, Baselight will allow Windmill Lane to upgrade its service offering for commercials by enabling them to grade advertising media in 2k and high definition. “Commercials in Ireland are still primarily delivered in standard definition, but we feel it is only a matter of time before our clients want to finish in HD,” Morris observed. “We aim to set the trend.
“We work in a small market, but we punch above our weight and offer the calibre of service typically found only at the larger post houses in London,” Morris noted. “Baselight is an ideal solution for us. The technology and the speed arrived at the right time.”
