Framestore CFC impress ‘Cold Mountain’ director Minghella

One of this year’s most widely anticipated releases, ‘Cold Mountain’, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, was digitally mastergraded by Framestore CFC.
Minghella decided to come to Framestore CFC following discussions with Director of Photography John Seale, and was delighted by the opportunities afforded by the new technology.
"It's wonderful that it is now possible to pay as much attention to the grade of a film as was hitherto only possible with the sound," Minghella said. "The scrutiny of each sound in a film was commonplace and in stark contrast to the more general method of creating an answer print, which was impressionistic, vague and often unsatisfactory. With digital grading it is possible to examine every shot with care and rigour."
It was Seale's first full digital mastergrade, and he is likewise a complete convert. He said: "Once you have a taste of a digital intermediate, there is no going back," he recently told Millimeter magazine.
Work began in the summer of 2003, with film being scanned on the company's Northlight film scanners. John Seale attended grading sessions over a three-week period in August and September. His schedule then took him on to another project, and work continued under Minghella's watchful eye throughout the following two months.
Cold Mountain is a fine example of a film where digital technology is used as a tool to enhance the look but not draw attention to itself. Throughout the film the grade is used to subtly affect the appearance and feel of individual scenes.
(GB)