HOLLYWOOD – Cinelicious is excited to have contributed post services for three Sundance 2014 premiere films, Michael Tully’s Ping Pong Summer, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, and Jeff Preiss’ Low Down, all shot on 16mm and 35mm film.
“Film is alive and well even at the independent level, and we are excited to have worked three films included in this year’s Sundance line-up, including the US Dramatic Cinematography Award winner Low Down” says Cinelicious’ Paul Korver. “If you look at the award winning films each year, overwhelmingly they are shot on film. It’s a great validation of the enduring beauty of celluloid.”
A family vacation during the summer of 1985 changes everything for a teenage boy obsessed with Ping Pong in Ping Pong Summer starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, Lea Thompson, John Hanna and Judah Friedlander. Cinelicious provided S16mm dailies, DI film scanning, final color and mastering services to the film. Ping Pong Summer was written and directed by Michael Tully and DPed by Wyatt Garfield, and is part of the Next selection at Sundance.
Starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater and Ethan Hawke, Boyhood written & directed by Richard Linklater, enjoyed a special preview screening at Sundance. Although not in competition, Boyhood managed to top three of seven IndieWire’s Sundance Critic’s Poll categories including Best Narrative Feature, Best Ensemble, and Best Director. Since the film was shot intermittently over a 12-year period with dailies provided by various post companies throughout the years, the conform and final DI selects scan was complex and challenging. Cinelicious provided post workflow consulting and 2.5K oversampled DI scans for the ambitious film, which was shot on 35mm and tells the story of a divorced couple and examines their relationship with their son.
Told through the wise eyes of his young daughter, Amy, Low Down chronicles the torrid, true life of jazz pianist Joe Albany and stars Lena Headey, Taryn Manning, Peter Dinklage, Elle Fanning, Burn Gorman, Caleb Landry Jones, Glenn Close, Tim Daly and John Hawkes. Born into her beloved father’s unorthodox segment of society, Amy’s improvisational adolescence evolves in the shadow of Joe’s struggle between his musical genius and a suffocating heroin addiction. Cinelicious contributed early image consultation comparing camera test images from the Arri Alexa to Super 16mm for Director Jeff Preiss and DP Chris Blauvelt.
According to director Jeff Preiss, “It was immediately apparent that film had all the atmospheric advantages. The comparison showed an organic painterliness nested in the image that’s just not in digital’s vocabulary, and the anamorphic lenses we used gave the small gauge format a special gravitas not usually associated with 16.” Cinelicious provided a cost-saving 2k DI scan-once workflow including color-timed dailies for the film, part of the US Dramatic selection and winner for Best Cinematography.
This is Cinelicious’ 2nd year providing DI services and its 2nd year contributing to films featured at the Sundance festival. Last year, David Gordon Green’s Prince Avalanche, starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch, premiered at Sundance 2013 got picked up by Magnolia and is available in theaters and VOD.