Ace Upgrade Equipment To Hollywood Standards

A Belgian-based special effects facility has upgraded its equipment with the help of delivery systems provider, Quantel and claims incredible advantages with the ability to work to Hollywood standards.
ACE the film-effects facility has enhanced its Quantel iQ to full Pablo 2K specification with the Neo panel. It has also purchased Pablo PA, Quantel’s conform, preparation and workflow software.
"We were so impressed with the performance of V5 software that we decided to take our system one step further and go for the full Qunatel Pablo suite," said Stefan Rycken, ACE Managing Director.
According to a statement released by Ace upgrading their equipment has allowed more speed and accuracy and they claim that Quantel systems are "unequalled for color grading and conforming in different formats."
Mr Rycken said: "This great software enables us to do basic technical work 'off-line', such as preparing titles or conforming, freeing up the Pablo to do what it does best: color grading. It’s like having two integrated post systems."
He continued: "The Pablo PA’s soft-mount feature allows us to pre-grade content on a laptop during the shooting stage since the Pablo PA can read RAW formats such as Alexa, Red or Phantom files directly from the recording disk, without even downloading into the PC. The workflow advantages and the comfort for the director are incredible."
ACE staff, including its in-house color grader Tom Mulder, have just completed training with Quantel support and are now working on a short film to get accustomed to the Pablo and prepare for a full-length feature in November.
"We’ll be doing all the FX, color grading and conforming for The Loft, an American remake of a Belgian film directed by Erik van Looy. He did the original movie with us and is now doing the US version. It’s a fantastic first job for us on the Pablo, proving we can work to Hollywood standards," Rycken concludes.
(LB)