Pentamagik takes eQ on location

Holland-based digital film house Pentamagik has purchased a Quantel eQ editing/effects/grading/versioning system to sit at the heart of its visionary integrated HD production workflow with worldwide patent pending.
The eQ includes the QColor in-context grading package and is configured to handle full 4:4:4 HD-RGB with 240 minutes of storage and the full bundle of plug-ins. Pentamagik has also purchased 5 QEffects software licences to handle offline compositing and effects work.
Pentamagik’s eQ is permanently housed in a bespoke Mercedes OB vehicle. All shooting is done with Thomson Viper FilmStream and other 4:4:4 cameras. The output is recorded directly into the eQ so that playback, shot selection and even editing can happen concurrently with shooting on location. When shooting is complete, the van is then ‘docked’ back at Pentamagik’s 30,000 sq ft home base in Breda, which includes state of the art audio and screening facilities alongside the eQ and QEffects suites.
Pentamagik’s CEO, John de Haas, said: “I just wanted to make movies and I ended up creating a company! Seriously, I am an artist primarily, rather than a technician, and so the machine has to make my work easy. The eQ does just that – it allows creativity to come first, while getting the job done fast and on budget.”
The movie that inspired de Haas to set up Pentamagik is ‘The Painting’, based on the story of a painting of his father. Shooting begins in October 2005. Pentamagik is also producing 13 shows of the hit Dutch programme ‘Legends’, and a series of documentaries. All are HD productions, in accordance with Pentamagik’s business vision.
“We don’t think Dutch, we think Worldwide,” added De Haas, “HD is a fact and eQ is by far the best HD system around. I can’t understand how people think you can do HD on a standard PC – it’s simply not going to work. It would be like using a kitchen knife to kill a dinosaur!”
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