London-based post house Fifty Fifty has installed a new Baselight PLUS color grading suite, which features the FilmLight Baselight system, Slate compact control surface and Baselight for Avid Editions, giving the creative team a fast, render-free workflow.
The new system was put to the test recently finishing Gary Lineker on the Road to FA Cup Glory, a 60 minute documentary produced by Goalhanger Films for the BBC. Shot on Sony F5, RED and Canon 5D cameras, colorist Kenny Gibb had around 900 shots to match and develop, creating the rich and vibrant feel the producers wanted.
At the same time, Fifty Fifty’s Julian Nelson was finishing the online. The advantage of the Baselight for Avid plugin is that it accepts the Baselight Linked Grade (BLG) color metadata from the main grading suite and imposes the grade in real time. This meant Nelson was always looking at the latest version of the grade.
The plugin also provides access to the Baselight toolset, in this case using a Slate control surface. This came in useful on this project when the BBC requested a late re-edit, and it was also indispensable for applying grading functions in the edit.
“During the online, our client wanted to blur out some branding and personal data,” Nelson said. “We would not normally do that in Avid, but by launching the Baselight UI inside the software, we were able to build layers on top of the grade, using the area tracker, inside/outside mattes and variable feathering.”
Nelson sees the potential of collaboration between editorial and grading in the company’s long-form television and commercial work. “The round trip between Avid and Baselight is fast and efficient,” said Nelson. “It is not just for huge projects, but anything where you need the flexibility and control to manipulate the edit and tweak anything afterwards.”
