We added nuances of grain, including 200T and 250D stocks and applied a finer 64D for the balloon sequences
8K NEGATIVE Steel elected to shoot in 8K largely to accommodate VFX. DIT Tom Gough managed colour workflow on-set through Pomfort Livegrade and converted the Raw files to EXR for export to Resolve. Company 3 received 4K EXRs from the VFX companies and conformed them in Resolve. “The team at Company 3 were downloading files as shots came in, which were colour traced and updated into the working timeline. We reviewed VFX one day, then were sent new VFX shots, which we refined again and fed back to VFX,” Grattarola says. “That process between VFX and colour grade built up over a few weeks and had everyone working to create something that felt very realistic.” Grattarola also oversaw creation of the P3 Master and Rec. 709 deliverable, as well as the Dolby Vision theatrical version and a HDR deliverable for Amazon. “We wanted to create a nice contrast ratio in the film and we found those solid blacks in the image when playing back on the laser projector at Dolby.” He adds: “I’ve worked on projects where you are delivered final VFX, you colour grade on top and there’s no room to finesse. Working with everyone on this project was very collaborative and I think that the process in itself was creative. THE AERONAUTS IS ON RELEASE IN THE UK, BUT HAS A LIMITEDUSA RELEASE INDECEMBER
and Rodeo FX, and Grattarola and the post team at Company 3. COMPANY 3 Grattarola is a partner at VFX and colour facility Time Based Arts, but on this occasion was working out of Company 3 in London. “I was included in a lot of the VFX reviews to give feedback on the overall look,” Grattarola says. “With a lot of shots of the basket against bluescreen, it was useful for Tom and George to have my eyes alongside theirs as the backgrounds were being created.” The most challenging and creatively gratifying aspect was rendering the scenes of the balloon’s journey believable. The flight not only passes through different altitudes – with light changes at different heights and times of day – but with weather conditions to contend with, too. Grattorola explains: “All these factors came into play and we needed to help the audience believe we’re entering clouds or a storm on the way up and descending. Our characters reach the top of the world, where they are looking up to the stars with clouds far below them and, as they descend, they are going through snow and the harsh daylight transitions to dusk.” He continues: “The dynamic between these different light and climatic conditions at different heights was a very refined process.”
the balloon are in 1.85, with the flashback scenes in 2.39. “When you see the film in IMAX, you are suddenly transported from flashbacks with the 2.39 crop into this big open vista, which is really impactful on the bigger screen,” Grattarola says. “We felt we could push the look of the flashbacks a little further to emphasise the dirt and grime of late 19th-century London,” he adds. “We added nuances of grain, including 200T and 250D grain stocks and applied a finer 64D for the balloon sequences. It’s all quite subtle and subjective to separate the two environments.” VFX-loaded films tend to necessitate a back and forth between the editorial and VFX departments, but the workflow for The Aeronauts was unusually collaborative. According to Grattarola, there was a genuinely iterative process for cutting in VFX shots and fine-tuning the colour at various stages between editor Mark Eckersley and supervising VFX editor Russell Pawson, the facilities Framestore
DECEMBER 20 1 9 | DEF I N I T ION 31
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