The Look: full transition to DaVinci for all post-production projects

DaVinci Resolve Studio (Blackmagic Design) has become the film post production standard for UK-based The Look, which will begin using the solution for color grading, conform and finishing services.

Founded by colorist Thomas Urbye in 2007, The Look currently has a team of 23 people specializing in Dolby Vision (HDR) projects in 4K resolution for companies such as Netflix, Disney, Apple, Sky, Amazon Studios, BBC, Channel 4 and ITV Studios, among others. Some of his latest works are series as outstanding as Top Boy, The Sixth Commandment, Sex Education, The Gold or Renegade Nel.

Recently, Mark Maltby, its director of technology, has led the project of implementing new systems with DaVinci Resolve Studio combining physical and cloud-based workstations to complement the growth of the team. This investment allows them to expand on-premise resources as needed: “The recent rollout comprised twelve systems in all; six are physical HP Z8 workstations while the remainder operate under an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud model,” explains Maltby.

Blackmagic Design had already been present at The Look for several years in the form of remote color correction workstations. “However, there have been developments for the system, such as its tracking and collaboration capabilities that we felt we were missing out on by not fully moving over to it,” elaborates Maltby, who hopes that their latest implementation will allow them to further optimize their workflow: “Before, our capacity was restricted by how many workstations could connect to one server. We used to extend working hours to manage this. Now, we can add more IaaS workstations or purchase additional HP workstations as needed.”

The Look has also purchased four DaVinci Resolve Advanced Panel devices for its main rooms, as well as several DaVinci Resolve Mini Panels intended for technical operations, all supplied by Big Pic Media. The new setup is already in use, with a completed project for the BBC and a major film for Studio Canal in its habe: “We currently have two big series going through; one is quite a complex job with multiple camera formats and both have a huge number of visual effects shots to drop in and grade,” concludes Maltby.