Copyright © 2010 Jack Messitt - All rights reserved.

Dave Cole works exclusively with Laser Pacific. Besides Irreversi, he has also timed Clerks II and Crank as well as Southland Tales, Captivity and El Cantante, among others. Before that, he was one of the lead colorists for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Supervising Digital Colorist on King Kong. An early pioneer of DI in Australia, Dave has a deep understanding of Lustre and its capabilities. He collaborated with Autodesk in Lustre’s design and will often custom engineer to enhance the films he’s working on (e.g. adding functionality by writing custom plugins and standalone external utilities). He has toured the world training people, speaking at special events, and helping facilities develop DI pipelines – including leading the building of the DI facility at Weta Digital for King Kong.

 

DI Process:

1. Scan Negative - The negative is scanned at 4K resolution and downconverted to 2K. These images come in looking flat and seem to lack color and contrast. They are intended to preserve all possible detail from the negative.

2. First pass: Initial Color Grading - Lab type grading that brings the scan into a normal image. Overall mood, saturation, color & contrast are controlled at this stage.

3. Secondary Passes - Add windows to accentuate the mood, direct the eye, and to enhance the scene visually.