Postworks’ iQ used on Oscar winner ‘Fog of War’

New York-based Postworks played a major role in the film ‘Fog of War – 11 Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara’, which won the Best Documentary category at this year’s 76th Annual Academy Awards. Postworks’ Senior Editor, Peter Heady, conformed the 106-minute winning documentary using the Quantel iQ.
“The iQ was critical for conforming the material as a prep for film-out because of Fog of War’s theatrical distribution,” commented Heady. “It is always challenging to make everything look good on any DI job, but the iQ’s speed and image quality made most of these challenges manageable. Being resolution independent and media agnostic, it has the ability to integrate and manipulate in-context a variety of film and video-based SD, HD and data elements to create a 23.98 HD master suitable for both film and video deliverables.”
After the iQ conform, Postworks’ Eric Alvarado completed the tape-to-tape colour work on a DaVinci 2K to set the look of the interviews, 35mm original footage and archival elements, as well as provide consistency in ‘feel’. Film recording to 35mm was also completed at Postworks on its Arri Laser Recorder.
The movie focuses on former US Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, sometimes dubbed the ‘architect’ of the Vietnam War, who worked for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. In the documentary, producer and director, Errol Morris, interviews McNamara, now 87, about his culpability in the war and intercuts that candid footage with historical material and some well-crafted collages.
“Much of the mixed media and archival material I worked with was on Beta,” concluded Heady. “The challenge, as always, was to make it look as good as possible. I also spent a good amount of time working to minimise artifacts and recompose the material to fit the aspect ratio for going out to film. The tools on the iQ were great for this project.”
(GB)