Light Iron Adds Third Quantel Pablo 4K System

Hollywood-based DI facility Light Iron has purchased a third Quantel Pablo 4K color correction and finishing system together with a Pablo PA workflow assist station. These will be connected via their GenePool to Light Iron’s two other Pablos, creating a truly collaborative and highly efficient digital workflow. The systems are installed at Light Iron’s new 10,000 sq. ft. facility in Hollywood, which includes three DI theaters.

“With 4K content and significant client deliverables, compression of time is more important than compression of files,” explains Light Iron CEO Michael Cioni. “Having a project tied to a single system, when artists need to simul-task multiple deliverables, is a bottleneck for post production. In situations where facilities copy 4K media through a network or (in some cases) physically move it from one system to another, they not only risk losing something in translation, but they also spend time and increase the data footprint. With the Pablos on GenePool, Light Iron can work on a project in any suite — even the same project — with no copying, no media movement, no time constraints, no dropped frames, and no additional cost to the client.

“The Pablo PA also solves a massive problem in DI — relying on the hero system for tedious, time consuming work,” Cioni adds. “We can use the Pablo PA to do this work and then migrate it to the Pablo when necessary. Also, the PA provides us an easy way to introduce staff to Quantel products. While cultivating talent internally is a component of our success, we do not train staff in DI suites, as they are typically reserved for client sessions. The Pablo PA enables them to become familiar with Quantel in a phased approach. By implementing Pablo PA, we are building and training an army of talent, which is strengthening our DI department.”

The Light Iron team and its three theaters are currently working on David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sony), “The Muppet Movie” (Disney), and “Night of the Living Fred” (Lionsgate).  All three movies were shot with file-based cameras and posted in 2K and 4K.