Every day, in cities around the world, talented experts at an array of outstanding laboratories help storytellers bring their images to life. In Camera checked in with just a few of these labs to see what's developing and on the horizon.
This year marks FotoKem’s 50th anniversary as a full-service post-production facility serving the creative community. With one of the most well-known labs in the world, the Burbank-based company offers a broad spectrum of services, including a palette of new digital workflows for 65mm, 35mm and 16mm film acquisition. Mike Brodersen, FotoKem’s VP of strategy, notes, “In recent months, both 65mm and 35mm 2-perf have seen a boost in popularity – filmmakers shooting 65mm as the gold standard in image quality and 2-perf 35mm as a cost-effective acquisition choice for ‘scope’ aspect ratios. Offering new digital tools in conjunction with film acquisition gives productions a wide array of finishing options for a variety of budget levels, with the added benefit of a built-in archive format for future proofing.” ()
ABC & TaunusFilm Kopierwerk GmbH in Wiesbaden, Germany has become the 51st member in the world wide KODAK Imagecare Program. Kodak began this quality program for film laboratories in 1996. It now covers 31 countries.
"Film has been our core business for over sixty years - and that will remain so in the future. The KODAK IMAGECARE Program with the certification for our color negative documents our requirement for quality and our commitment to our customers," comments Thomas Lang, Managing Director at ABC & TaunusFilm.
Philippines-based SQ Film Laboratories, Inc. has become the newest member of the KODAK IMAGECARE Program. Kodak began this quality program for film laboratories in 1996 and it is now active in 31 countries worldwide. SQ Laboratories, Inc. was recently accredited by the Program for Camera Negative Processing.
With over 40 years of industry experience, SQ Laboratories, Inc. continues to demonstrate its commitment to film and film quality. The lab employs 30 full-time individuals, including a number of highly-skilled technicians and artists who have many decades of expertise.
An often-used cliché when reporting football matches is that it was “a game of two halves.” Applying this metaphor to the televising of the event, the two halves could be said to be the actual filming and then the processing of that footage. Earlier this year, DP Anand Mondhe shot a series of football matches for Brands TV using KODAK 16mm film stocks. The results were processed at Kodak Cinelabs Mumbai.
The event was the Asian Cup 2011 which took place in Doha, Qatar which Brands TV decided to cover as a documentary. The purpose of the documentary was to promote Qatar as a sports nation in advance of it hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Film was preferred as the recording medium because of its acknowledged unrivalled archival qualities. Moreover, the Amir of Doha does not like the quality of video images and much prefers film quality images.
Formed from a combination of the best of the Cape Town divisions of The Video Lab, The Refinery and Condor, Waterfront Studios Group (WSG) is undergoing a renaissance. Recognized as one of the most technologically-advanced creative post-production teams in South Africa, WSG currently has a team of 68 staff members.
The expertise, passion and technical nous of WSG’s hard-working and committed teams is spread across several divisions including a data lab, studios, Condor Cape, Just Producers, Waterfront Post and The Film Lab.
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