N. HOLLYWOOD -Digital film finishing company iO Film (www.iofilm.net) has entered into a new strategic and financial partnership with Matt Cooper, owner of duplication firm Lightning Media. The new partnership is a result of the on-going demand from the entertainment industry for digital intermediate mastering services, and will allow iO Film to package clients' film finishing and video deliverable services through its new association with Lightning.
As a result of this new strategic and financial alliance, iO Film will be relocating in early Summer 2005 to a new, 30,000 square foot facility in Hollywood on Cahuenga Blvd, just south of Sunset Blvd. The new site will triple the number of iO Film's current DI suites, and will allow the company to add a significant amount of new high-end hardware and software. iO Film will also operate a new, 49-seat digital and film projection screening room at the new location, with future hardware investments set to include multiple 2K/4K DI suites, additional Arrilaser film recorders, and increased storage for scanning.
"We are very excited about this new alliance with Matt Cooper, " iO Film CEO Howard Cohen says. ""He appreciates our company's vision as a one-stop finishing facility, and recognizes our potential for continued growth. We are now on course in designing our new facility to allow us to offer all of the tools and comfort that will assist filmmakers, as they create pretty images that dance off the screen." Cooper adds, "I can see the blending of DI and postproduction resources not just as an attractive proposition, but as an eventual necessity. I believe that within the next year, almost every medium to high budget filmmaker is going to want digital intermediates. This new venture with iO Film is a natural progression of our postproduction business."
iO president Tim Krubsack says, "Now, when a filmmaker brings us a film project, we can take that package all the way through to the deliverables utilizing the DI process. From the original 35mm negative and HD masters, we have the ability through our association with Lightning Media to bundle in all the other deliverables, from NTSC and Digi-Beta to DVD authoring and replication. The final packaging will be seamless to our clients."