Boutique Hollywood post facility Chainsaw announced the launch of a new division focused on postproduction services for feature films. The company has built an all-new 4K digital intermediate theater at its facility, and hired a colorist-editor-producer team with lengthy experience in preparing films for film, digital cinema, broadcast and home entertainment release. The new division will target both studio and independent features.
Founded by Emmy-winning editors Bill DeRonde and Mike Polito, Chainsaw is known for providing editorial and postproduction services for television including scripted and unscripted series, specials and other content.
“Many of our clients work in both television and features, and have been asking us to broaden the scope of our services to include features,” Chainsaw general manager Steve Purcell said. “With the way the business is evolving and the cross-over of talent between television and feature films, we see tremendous opportunities for growth by providing producers with efficient service and exceptional creative talent.”
Chainsaw has tapped veteran postproduction producer Annalise Kurinsky to head the new division as director of feature film services. It has also brought on veteran colorist Doug Delaney and finishing editor John Pehlke. All three arrive from Santa Monica post house New Hat, where their recent credits included the TriStar release The Call (starring Halle Berry), Open Road‘s A Haunted House (starring Marlon Wayons) and the Russian feature The Dyatlov Pass Incident. Kurinsky’s background includes posts with Prime Focus and Post Logic Studios. Delaney held staff posts also at Prime Focus and iO Films prior and Pehlke also held a staff post at Next Element. Delaney has graded more than 50 features since 2005.
The new DI theater includes a FilmLight Baselight color grading system, a Christie 4K digital projector and a 20-foot projection screen. The theater can natively accommodate all popular digital cinema camera formats, including raw formats and grade imagery at resolutions up to 4K. It is also directly linked to the main Chainsaw facility providing projects with access to editorial, compositing, visual effects and other related services.
Chainsaw’s feature division is set up to service productions beginning with pre-production and can accommodate a variety of on-set/near-set dailies systems. It also offers offline editorial facilities, post finishing services, titling, VFX and deliverable options through DCP packaging. “We’ve designed a beautiful theater that is ideal in size and has the ability to grade and finish films in 4K,” said Kurinsky.
“I’m excited to be part of such a successful organization here at Chainsaw,” said Delaney. “The feature DI suite is increasingly a finishing venue. And by harnessing my background in visual effects as well as Baselight’s powerful color correction platform, we are well positioned to meet head-on the needs and challenges of filmmakers in today’s quickly changing landscape.”
