Assimilate Press Release – May 20, 2010:

Vision On’s first color grading of a feature film – director/writer Alistair Banks Griffin’s “Two Gates of Sleep” — had its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Directors’ Fortnight on May 18. This speaks volumes about the caliber of work being done at Vision On, a New York-based digital imaging boutique specializing in Digital Cinema Production and Post. With the purchase of two RED Digital Cameras in 2007, the firm expanded its expertise from highly creative digital still capture and retouching to also include high-impact film and videos for the fashion industry, with a client list that reads like a who’s who in Women’s Wear Daily. Vision On began using ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH® Digital Finishing Solution in August 2009 for the real-time conform, color grading, and finishing of imagery projects.

Dustin Bowlin, Senior Editor at Vision On says, “We’ve used the SCRATCH tools to color grade and finish numerous client videos, including RED and other formats, and knew it had the power and output quality needed for Banks’ film. I’d worked with him before as a colorist on “Gauge” (2008 NYC Film Festival) and knew he would appreciate the hands-on manipulation and real-time creativity that SCRATCH enables.”

For the shoot of “Two Gates of Sleep,” DP Jody Lee Lipes used the RED ONE™ Digital Camera. The edit was done in Final Cut Pro and then the raw .r3d files were transferred over to the SCRATCH system for the complete DI.

“Banks was going for a very precise look and our colorist, Nick Metcalf, was able to translate that into SCRATCH and create versions that could then be quickly pared down to the kernel he wanted,” says Bowlin. “The DP and some of the producers were in the sessions as well, and were amazed at the quality and speed of the grading process and what Nick was able to achieve.”

Metcalf notes, “We did a lot of research to find the right DI tool set for high-end grading and finishing. SCRATCH met our criteria with a streamlined, real-time data workflow and the ability to easily deal with RED’s native R3D files. For this film, we had a tight deadline and an even tighter budget. I was able to push through the grade, experiment, and finish within 40+ hours. It’s exciting to see how far digital cinema has come today – we can be amazingly productive, do great work, and all while staying within budget.”

Metcalf adds, “Like any new software as powerful as this there’s a learning curve, but with SCRATCH, once we worked out a few back-end issues at our facility, we were up to speed and working very quickly through projects. The power and ease of use make SCRATCH a very attractive software.”

For “Two Gates of Sleep,” the final output was to 2K anamorphic DPX, converted to DCP for its premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival, which highlights new talent and screens a selection of original world cinema. Ultimately it will output to an anamorphic 239 print.

Abbreviated online version of the film “Kreemart NYC-11032009.”

Our latest work is a conceptual film, “Kreemart NYC-11032009.” It is now showing in the exhibition “Being in the World: Selections from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection” at the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation in Miami until March 7, 2010 and debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach 2009.

The film captures the night of an exclusive art happening called Kreemart in collaboration with American Patrons of Tate held at the New York gallery, Haunch of Venison, on November 3, 2009.  The concept behind the happening was for artists to use cake as a medium.  Featured artists included Marina Abramovic with the “Abramovic Experiment”, Leandro Erlich with his cake replica of a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona couch, Mickalene Thomas with her cake infused rendition of Toni Basil’s “Hey Mickey” and Rob Wynne with his cake shaped in the word “cake.”

Filmed by three camera teams and a video equipped RC blimp, “Kreemart NYC-11032009” presents a large variety of views, emotions, and experiences throughout the night.  Attendees also asked to participate in the filming of the event using an additional six digital handheld camcorders passed amongst the crowd.

Vision On creative director, Sandro Suppnig, found his inspiration for the film from the Allan Kaprow quote, “The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct as possible.”  Thus, the film becomes a happening itself infused by a variety of personalities and shaped by the feelings of the individuals who created it.  The line between audience, filmmaker, life, and actor blurs.

Check out Vision On and Flair Austria’s fashion film editorial, “La Demimondaine” starring Iris Strubegger, below.  The film brings the magazine’s December 2009 14-page print cover story to life available in stands this Friday, December 4.  Both the motion footage and photographic images were shot simultaneously using one state-of-the-art digital cinema camera.

The film was directed by Sharif Hamza and Sandro Suppnig.

A behind the scenes video gives a glimpse into how Vision On provided Flair with creative direction, production, and post production to make the film become a reality.

Shot at NYC’s legenday nightclub The Box and starring Austrian supermodel Iris Strubegger wending her way through a dark afterhours cabaret, the film draws inspiration from heroines like Marlene Dietrich and styles from the 1930-50’s.  Featured brands include Cartier, Chanel, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and Alexis Bittar.

Martha Stewart Living knows a thing or two about being a step ahead. How so? The magazine, in collaboration with Vision On, recently used the revolutionary digital cinema camera everyone’s talking about for the November 2009 issue.

© Giuseppina Caltagirone, New York Times

Check out NYTimes’ write up of last week’s event at Christie’s Haunch of Venison gallery commissioned by dessert-art fanatics Kreemart for the American Patrons of the Tate Museum. Dessert-inspired works included a chocolate cake shaped like a Mies van der Rohe couch placed next to a normal chocolate-colored leather chair. Careful where you sit!

Vision On was there to record the event for the Tate. A video piece shot on the RED Camera will debut later this month on the museum’s website, along with segments shot by guests with handheld camcorders.