LipSync Post has become the first company in London to install the new iQ Pablo – Quantel’s next generation colour correction system. Not only that, but it has chosen the top of the range 4k Pablo model.
The choice for the equipment was led by head of post Kevin Phelan and senior producer Alasdair MacCuish. “This was going to be up against the coal face; which is us and our clients chipping away doing a grade or a conform, using some of the excellent compositing tools as well, and also doing title sequences and end rollers,” said Phelan. “It means you can’t have a machine that is running on three wheels rather than four. Functionality, realtime and the video-friendly user interface are important to us. We are mad about film here but we are also heavily conversant with all types of video. Putting different resolutions on the same timeline is highly exciting and saves a lot of time and expense.”
With its one-stop-shop ethos, LipSync decided from the start that the work for film and HD clients would not end with the completion of conforming and grading. Recent projects include ‘Cashback’, directed by Sean Ellis, and ‘The Descent’, director Neil Marshall’s acclaimed follow up to ‘Dog Soldiers’.
Going one step further and producing the deliverables as well makes a lot of sense both technically and financially. Phelan added, “It works well for us. We’ve even made deliverables for other facilities.”
Phelan goes over the logic. “If you think about it, you’ve spent all that time doing a 2k or 4k grade and you have this fantastic piece of data that comes out as film and looking the same. If you then take that away to another facility, you go down a generation from the negative to an interpositive that’s then scanned, and re-graded! So why not avoid all that and do it while the project is still hot and the client is still around. Get the absolute best quality.”
