Pepper completes post work on Coogan film

Pepper, a leading broadcast television and film post-production facility, have completed all the digital post-production on the film '24-Hour Party People'.
Pepper were recommended for the project by post-production consultancy Steeple Post Production Services (SPPS) which had worked with Pepper previously on Mike Figgis' feature film 'Hotel' in a similar e-lab post-production route.
SPPS spokesman Steve Harrow said: "Due to the complexity of the mixed materials – Super8, 16mm, DV and 35mm, along with library footage and the style required by director Michael Winterbottom – I felt that Pepper had the expertise in-house to cover all the aspects of achieving this look."
Pepper's Senior Colourist Chris Beeton graded the film for theatrical release using Pogle Platinum. The grade involved seamlessly matching the many different film and tape stocks used throughout the film, making transitions smooth but subtly showing the chronological progression of different stocks used through the 1970s and 1980s.
Due to Beeton's expertise, when the 35mm went to Deluxe Laboratories in Denham to produce the first show print there were only 20 grading changes needed throughout the whole 98-minute feature.
Shane Warden, Director of Pepper and DS Artist, completed various digital effects in Avid|DS, which included a key scene in which archive footage of a Sex Pistols concert had to be matched and blended with contemporary shots of the film cast dancing in the audience at the gig.
The Pepper team also completed audio laybacks, conformed all the master reels and produced screening copies of the film. Neil Grimshaw of SPPS worked with the Pepper team and oversaw all aspects of post-production with them.
The final version Digibeta produced by Pepper was sent to Duboi in Paris to make the tape-to-film transfer, then sent to Deluxe Laboratories for printing.
'24-Hour Party People', starring Steve Coogan, records the music and dance heritage of Manchester from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. The film is due for release on April 5.
Pepper, www.pepperpost.tv
(GMcG)