TOKYO — Imagica Lab. Inc. (www.imagicalab.co.jp) has assembled a new post production suite called ‘Seven’ that unifies the company’s editing, color grading and VFX work through Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio.
According to technical producer Kei Yuyama, many of the studio’s clients were requesting a grading room, but rather than create a suite strictly for grading, they opted to outfit the room for offline editing and VFX, as well as grading, all via Resolve.
”We are now able to do all the work with DaVinci Resolve, eliminating the need to load, export and convert projects that had occurred between traditional multiple software,” Yuyama explains. “Changes to the project do not have to be conformed, which leads to a significant time saving. Up to now, I had to keep the backup data for each work of editing, grading, VFX, but since I consistently work with DaVinci Resolve, I can manage it with project data. In terms of cost, no hard disk containing all the backup data is needed, and we were able to realize a simple and efficient workflow. In this workflow, we will do high resolution and high end class projects.”
“Working with people in other sections is an unprecedented work style,” adds editor Satoshi Watanabe. “Everyone can exchange information densely by working with one software in one room. More than ever, I can exchange ideas, and it has become an environment where we can create better works.”
“When replacing cuts occurred during online editing of VFX, in the conventional workflow there was only color graded data, so I had to locate the original material and color grade them,” notes VFX artist Takahiro Tsukamoto. “Searching for the original material and color grading from the first always took a very long time. However, in the new workflow with Fusion in DaVinci Resolve you can respond immediately to replacement of cuts.”
“Since it is possible to work on the timeline organized by offline editing, the time we used to spend on conforming can now can be spent on creativity and is an environment where I can focus on grading,” adds colorist Yumeto Kitayama. “Because instructions can be done with markers in software, it is very convenient to share information and easy. Until now, the offline editing and the online editing were working in different rooms, so customers had to check the work in different environments. Naturally, changing the environment may give different images to the work. However, since we can complete all the work in one room, I think that it has become a better environment for customers. Since I can cooperate seamlessly with DaVinci Resolve, I think that the opportunity for colorists to touch Fusion will increase in the future.”
In the future, Imagica plans to integrate Resolve’s audio functionality into their workflow, completing all services in the package. “We would like to increase the number of rooms like this and to effectively utilize the collaboration function of DaVinci Resolve,” says Watanabe. “DaVinci Resolve is truly amazing software. It is now able to offer the best performance I have never seen before.”