Renowned VFX and Post Facility Boosts Capacity to Keep Pace with Skyrocketing Demand
FilmLight today announces the sale of a Baselight FOUR colour grading system to The Mill, the Academy Award-winning visual effects and post production facility based in London. The new 2K colour grader will be The Mill’s second Baselight. The studio purchased a Baselight EIGHT in 2005 and has used it to grade numerous commercial, television and feature film projects. The Mill is also the first facility worldwide to take delivery of FilmLight’s 10GigE upgrade for Baselight. The leading edge networking technology allows multiple Baselight systems to connect for high speed data transfers. The Mill’s new Baselight, like its existing system, will be installed in its London facility.
Although The Mill put Baselight through rigorous testing and comparative trials prior to its initial purchase, it undertook no such review on this occasion. “Baselight has been a tremendous success for The Mill,” said Robin Shenfield, the company’s CEO. “It has improved the efficiency of our workflow and provided our colourists with a powerful and flexible toolset. We have also been extremely impressed with the support provided by FilmLight. When we decided to add a new system, there was really no reason to look elsewhere. We are convinced that nothing beats it in terms of performance or support.”
The Mill chose to add a second Baselight due to the tremendous response its existing system has received from both its colourists and its clients. “The system is so popular that it is booked all the time,” explained senior colourist Mick Vincent. “A second Baselight will give more colourists an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the system.”
The Baselight FOUR will be integrated into the same workflow that currently services the Baselight EIGHT, and one that also includes a 2K real-time scanner and a SAN for data storage. The combination of real-time scanning, SAN storage and Baselight allows colourists to grade projects at up to 4K in real-time and in non-linear order.
The Baselight’s flexibility has been one of its most appealing features for The Mill. The system easily adapts to differing media formats and resolutions allowing the facility to meet the demands of its eclectic workload. The Baselight EIGHT is installed in a suite that includes both a high resolution monitor for grading broadcast work, and a projection screen for grading cinema spots and features.
The Mill senior colourist Adam Scott has been a frequent user of Baselight for commercial and television projects. They have included the controversial Channel 4 drama Longford, where he used the system to match period footage, including decades old newsreels, with newly-shot production footage.
Scott, who previously relied on conventional colouring systems, said that Baselight has been a boon to creativity. “It has changed the way I work,” he said. “It enabled me to create the desired look for the program. The system is flexible and revisions to the cut and VFX shots can be made easily during the grade. The ability to control specific skin tones using D key combined with the tracker has allowed me to seamlessly blend the original and new footage.”
Vincent has been especially impressed with the flexibility Baselight affords for grading visual effects intensive commercials. He noted that he recently used the system to grade a Ford commercial in which a truck appears to assemble itself. The spot first aired in the United States during this year’s Super Bowl broadcast. “Our CG artists put all of the data onto our server and I brought it into Baselight,” Vincent recalled. “I had mattes for all of the visual effects elements and the Baselight allowed me to grade them as separate elements or as comps.” Vincent has also recently used Baselight to grade commercials for such brands as Heineken, Levi’s and Barclaycard, as well as the award-winning British television series Dr. Who.
The Mill expects to have its new Baselight FOUR operational by summer.
Contact – Deepa Parbhoo ([email protected]) +44 20 7292 0400
About The Mill
The Mill is a world-leading visual effects company with bases in the globe’s three most important advertising centres—London and New York and now Los Angeles. We also have a network of in-house agency-based facilities, called Mini-Mill’s, which deliver Mill expertise with in-house convenience. The Mill compliments these services with BEAM.TV—an internationally acclaimed, high-bandwidth, digital asset management system for content storing and sharing of all advertising and production materials. All four elements work together to fulfill every possible post production requirement to the utmost standard. Information about The Mill is available at www.the-mill.com.
