Creating a Pipeline for Color
October 22, 2014 Oct. 22, 2014This last summer, Company 3–a creative hub for services ranging from pre-pro consultation, through dailies, DI, and final output–handled the workflow for two technically challenging tent-pole features: Transformers 4, which shot in 11 different camera formats, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which was shot in native 3D. Company 3 provided a range of services including on-set dailies, color correction and, of course, the Digital Intermediates the company is so well known for.
Company 3 also helps filmmakers navigate their digital workflows. Company 3 Director Non-Linear Workflow Dylan Carter remembers when workflow became such an important topic. “In October 2007, RED burst on to the scene, and Company 3 got Gamer, completely shot in RED without any post workflow at all. They were bringing us files out of a beta RED camera, and the guys in post had to figure out what to do with it.” Among the solutions was working closely with Assimilate to come out with Scratch, a toolset that marries dailies, conform, editing, color grading and other tasks.
“For the next five years, every job was new,” Carter continues. “We were continually reinventing the wheel, finding a cheaper, faster way to do things. Or the way we were doing things was perfect, but a new camera entered the scene and broke the mold.” Of course, after RED came the ARRI Alexa, and new cameras from Sony, Canon and even GoPro, often used together in one feature film.