Launch Of Colorfront In Budapest

Mark and Aron Jaszberenyi, the Hungarian brothers responsible for the invention of industry-leading DI colour manipulation systems as deployed on such Hollywood blockbusters as Peter Jackson’s 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy, the Harry Potter films and 'King Kong', has announced the launch of Colorfront, a brand new, multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art DI and VFX post production shop in Budapest, Hungary.
Colorfront is one of the best-equipped companies in Europe, and harnesses the Jaszberenyi’s pioneering experience and ten-year knowledge of DI, to offer a comprehensive range of HD, 2K and 4K post-production services to international filmmakers. The company is launching at a time when Hungary is becoming increasingly popular as a destination for prestigious motion picture and broadcast production, and will provide services these productions as well as offering its facilities to the global market.
“Central Europe, and Hungary in particular, has an amazing filmic history with many leading directors, producers, cinematographers and technicians coming from here,” said Colorfront Managing Director Aron Jaszberenyi. “Opening a state-of-the art facility in Budapest is very much in keeping with that tradition, as well as filling a gap in the market. We have worked with leaders in DI for over a decade and know a lot about high-performance, high-resolution post production. With skills and competitive pricing encouraging more and more production into Hungary, we believe Colorfront is perfectly placed to service the most demanding DI and VFX work.”
Colorfront’s end-to-end digital pipeline services include film scanning and recording, DI grading, conforming, digital dailies, online and offline editing, VFX, cinema sound mixing, mastering and deliverables. Its initial technology line-up features ARRI scanning and laser recording; 43Tb SAN disk storage; Autodesk Lustre, Flame and Smoke; Avid Adrenaline HD editing; 2K cinema-quality and 35mm film projection, in a theatre equipped with THX cinema sound; comprehensive sound mixing and post; and a wide range of HD tape and DVD deliverables.
The Jaszberenyi Brothers names are synonymous with the emergence of Digital Intermediate. They pioneered the first DI colour grading system as used on The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and invented and developed Lustre, the industry-leading DI grading system from Autodesk.
In 1998 they founded Frontfilm, Hungary’s first digital film post production company, building an end-to-end digital film pipeline offering scanning, compositing, effects, restoration and titling services. DI did not exist at the time, and the Jaszberenyi Brothers were acutely aware of the industry need for colour-calibrated tools to digitally grade and finish motion pictures. In 2000 they founded Colorfront, a software development company and brought to market a popular range of colour manipulation and dust-busting tools for digital film post production.
By 2001 Colorfront had created SACC (Stand-Alone Colour Corrector) and, working closely with colourist Peter Doyle, made motion picture history when this brand new DI technology was used to successfully grade Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Shortly after, EFILM in Los Angeles became Colorfront’s first customer, breaking new ground with the first end-to-end DI on We Were Soldiers.
During this period, British company 5D licensed Colorfront’s colour correction technology and brought this to market as 5D Colossus. In 2003, Discreet (now Autodesk) engaged Colorfront’s services, and introduced the first Lustre system. Lustre is now the market-leading DI system with over 200 systems in use around the world. Recent features graded on Lustre include Apocalypto, The da Vinci Code, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
The Colorfront team also advised many of the world’s leading facilities about DI workflow including EFILM/Deluxe, Technicolor, LaserPacific/Kodak and PacTitle in Los Angeles, Éclair in Paris, PrimeFocus in London and India, ARRI in Munich and Weta Digital in Wellington.
Autodesk acquired Colorfront’s intellectual properties in 2005 for $15m USD, and Lustre development continued in Budapest with Mark Jaszberenyi as director of development. In 2006, Aron Jaszberenyi began work to establish Colorfront as facility in Budapest, with Children of Glory the first project to get a DI grade. Mark Jaszberenyi left Autodesk in August 2007, ready for the official launch of Colorfront on September 21st 2007.
“We are perfectly equipped to support the everyday requirements of productions shooting here in Hungary, with a digital dailies’ service and a digital projection theatre,” commented Mark Jaszberenyi. “But we have a lot more firepower than that and will offer our services globally. Colorfront is optimised for fast and efficient high-resolution post on a par with any other facility around the world, and we are more than capable of handling the biggest DI and VFX projects and all of the deliverables.”
Recent productions to shoot in Hungary include Eragon (20th Century Fox), Einstein and Eddington (Company Pictures/HBO-BBC), Good (Good Films/Miromar Entertainment), The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (Buena Vista/Miramax), John Adams (HBO), Pain Killer Jane (The Sci-Fi Channel), The Nutcracker (Oddyssey Entertainment), Robin Hood Season 2 (BBC) and Hellboy 2:The Golden Army (Universal).
With low production costs, highly trained specialists, good infrastructure and attractive locations, Hungary is becoming one of the world’s most movie-friendly locations. The $127 million Korda Studio in Etyek outside of Budapest is Europe’s newest and most modern film production facility. A new corporate-tax-based incentive programme offers financial reimbursement of 20% of production costs, including post production.
(DS)