SUNDANCE: THE CHIMNEY POT GRADES 'DOWNLOADING NANCY'
Downloading Nancy tells the
dark tale of an unhappy wife whose online search for someone to put her
out of her misery results in a torturous love affair. The film was shot
in Canada, but Renck took it to long-time post partner The Chimney Pot
in Sweden, where it was scanned, then conformed and graded on a Digital
Vision Film Master system by colorist Edward Negussie. After the grade
was complete, the digital master was output to 35mm film for its
Sundance debut.
Negussie has worked with Renck in the past, and while this project
didn’t have a set look, the two did work closely to establish a
consistent, cool and desaturated feel across the entire film. “We
stayed away from warmer reds and yellows,” says Negussie, ”and kept the
palette on the blue/green side.”
That overall look meant that often, the grade was a significant
departure from what was actually captured on film. Negussie used lots
of layers and keying to establish the color tones.
”Most shots had six or seven layers,” he notes, ”and I worked from
about ten basic settings. In Film Master a single layer has an enormous
amount of controls, so it’s easy to manage sophisticated looks and
execute them quickly.”