15-04-2009

NEW FILM DIGITALIZATION CENTER AT BARRANDOV STUDIOS

    Today saw the official opening of the new Film Digitalization and Postproduction Center at the Barrandov Studios Film Laboratories Division.

    The primary allure that it has for film and advertisement productions is its Spirit HD Telecine suite - the most modern of its kind in the Czech Republic. The new center, which offers round-the-clock service, was built in only one year and represents an investment of more than 50 million Czech crowns.

    "The new center is the finishing touch to the comprehensive approach Barrandov Studios offers for processing film materials. Thanks to our ‘everything under one roof' system, we are now a giant step ahead of the competition when it comes to the security, speed and comfort of the entire process for processing dailies," said Ing. Ales Bosticka, Vice-Chairman of the Barrandov Studios Board of Directors and the director of the Film Laboratories Division.

    Barrandov's Image Digitalization and Postproduction Center offers transfers from all standard film formats to a wide range of digital carriers - up to the highest HD quality. Transfers, noise reduction, image stabilization and color correction are all performed at one workplace under the strictest control possible. This provides the advantage of being able to clean film negatives prior to further processing, thus minimizing the risk that the original will be damaged during transport. In addition, materials for further processing are prepared faster, at a lower cost and without any loss of quality.

    The Film Digitalization and Postproduction Center is also equipped with an AVID cutting room and a refurbished screening room that offers leading-edge equipment for objective video and audio control. The services that are offered also include the option of archiving older materials and the ability to process high-quality masters for subsequent authoring on DVD and Blu-Ray disks.

    Barrandov Studios Film Laboratories offer a wide range of services to their customers - ranging from developing and processing black and white dailies in 16 and 35 millimeter formats; through film transfers to different formats and on different media, optical and copy effects, and editing negatives; up to the production of distribution copies. Additional activities tie onto these services, such as the creation of subtitles using laser technology and ensuring logistics services for film distributors, to name only a few. The laboratories also offer the regeneration of archival footage and damaged films.

    In addition to Czech films and commercials, over the past few years the Film Laboratories have also participated in numerous foreign projects (Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Wanted, Hostel II, Red Baron, DOOM, Oliver Twist, Alien vs. Predator, Van Helsing, Hellboy, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Blade II, and others).