COLORFRONT LAUNCHES AS EUROPE'S MOST ADVANCED DI HOUSE
Budapest, September 7th 2007 -- Mark and Aron
Jaszberenyi, the Hungarian brothers whose names are synonymous Digital
Intermediate, and as the inventors of industry-leading DI grading
systems as deployed on such Hollywood blockbusters as Peter Jackson's
The Lord of The Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter films and King Kong,
today announced the launch of Colorfront (www.colorfront.com), a
state-of-the-art DI and VFX post production facility in Budapest,
Hungary.
The new company harnesses the Jaszberenyi's pioneering
experience and ten-year knowledge in DI, to offer a comprehensive range
of HD, 2K and 4K post-production services to international filmmakers.
Colorfront is one of the best-equipped companies in Europe, and is
launching at a time when Hungary is becoming increasingly popular as a
destination for prestigious motion picture and television production.
"Central Europe, and Hungary in particular, has an amazing
filmic history with many leading directors, producers, cinematographers
and technicians coming from here," said Colorfront managing director
Aron Jaszberenyi. "Opening a state-of-the art facility in Budapest is
very much in keeping with that tradition, as well as filling a gap in
the market. We have worked with leaders in DI for over a decade and
know a lot about high-performance, high-resolution post production.
With skills and competitive pricing encouraging more and more
production into Hungary, Colorfront is perfectly placed to service the
most demanding DI and VFX work."
Colorfront's end-to-end digital pipeline services include film
scanning and recording, DI grading, conforming, digital dailies, online
and offline editing, VFX, cinema sound mixing, mastering and
deliverables. Its initial technology line-up features ARRI scanning and
laser recording; 43Tb SAN disk storage; Autodesk Lustre, Flame and
Smoke; Avid Adrenaline HD editing; 2K cinema-quality and 35mm film
projection, in a theatre equipped with THX cinema sound; comprehensive
sound mixing and post; and a wide range of HD tape and DVD
deliverables.-- more --
The Jaszberenyi Brothers are intimately involved with the emergence
of Digital Intermediate, having pioneered the first DI grading system
as used to grade The Lord of The Rings, and having invented and
developed Lustre, the industry-leading DI grading system from Autodesk.
In 1998 they founded Frontfilm, Hungary's first digital film post
production company, building an end-to-end digital film pipeline
offering scanning, compositing, effects, restoration and titling
services. DI did not exist at the time, and the Jaszberenyi Brothers
were acutely aware of the industry need for colour-calibrated tools to
digitally grade and finish motion pictures. In 2000 they founded
Colorfront, a software development company and brought to market a
popular range of colour manipulation and dust-busting tools for digital
film post production.
By 2001 Colorfront had created SACC (Stand-Alone Colour
Corrector) and, working closely with colourist Peter Doyle, made motion
picture history when this brand new DI technology was used to
successfully grade Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings Fellow Ship of the Rings. Shortly after, EFILM in Los Angeles became Colorfront's first customer, breaking new ground with the first end-to-end DI on We Were Soldiers. During this period, British company 5D licensed Colorfront's
colour correction technology and brought this to market as 5D Colossus.
In 2003, Discreet (now Autodesk) engaged Colorfront's services, and
introduced the first Lustre system. Lustre is now the market-leading DI
system with over 200 systems in use around the world. Recent features
graded on Lustre include Apocalypto, The da Vinci Code, Pan's Labyrinth, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. The Colorfront team also advised many of the world's leading
facilities about DI workflow including EFILM/Deluxe, Technicolor,
LaserPacific/Kodak and PacTitle in Los Angeles, Eclair in Paris,
PrimeFocus in London and India, ARRI in Munich and Weta Digital in
Wellington.Autodesk acquired Colorfront's intellectual properties in 2005
for $15m USD, and Lustre development continued in Budapest with Mark
Jaszberenyi as director of development. In 2006, Aron Jaszberenyi began
work to establish Colorfront as facility in Budapest, with Children of Glory
the first project to get a DI grade. Mark Jaszberenyi left Autodesk in
August 2007, ready for the official launch of Colorfront this
September.-- more --
"We are perfectly equipped to support the everyday requirements of
productions shooting here in Hungary, with a digital dailies' service
and a digital projection theatre," commented Mark Jaszberenyi. "But we
have a lot more firepower than that and will offer our services
globally. Colorfront is optimised for fast and efficient
high-resolution post on a par with any other facility around the world,
and we are more than capable of handling the biggest DI and VFX
projects and all of the deliverables."Recent productions to shoot in Hungary include Eragon (20th Century Fox), Einstein and Eddington (Company Pictures/HBO-BBC), Good (Good Films/Miromar Entertainment), The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (Buena Vista/Miramax), John Adams (HBO), Pain Killer Jane (The Sci-Fi Channel), The Nutcracker (Oddyssey Entertainment), Robin Hood Season 2 (BBC) and Hellboy 2:The Golden Army (Universal).With low production costs, highly trained specialists, good
infrastructure and attractive locations, Hungary is becoming one of the
world's most movie-friendly locations. The $127 million Korda Studio in
Etyek outside of Budapest is Europe's newest and most modern film
production facility. A new corporate-tax-based incentive program offers
financial reimbursement 20% of production costs, including post
production.-- Ends --
About Colorfront:Colorfront is one of Europe's leading digital intermediate and
post production facilities, based in Budapest, Hungary. The company was
founded by brothers Mark and Aron Jaszberenyi, who together played a
pivotal role in the emergence DI, and as the original authors of
Lustre, Autodesk's best-selling DI grading system.Combining this in-depth expertise, with a pedigree in the
development of additional cutting-edge software for colour enhancement
and dust-busting, Colorfront offers today's most advanced technologies
for scanning and recording, DI grading, conforming, digital dailies,
VFX, online and offline editing, cinema sound mixing, mastering and
deliverables. For further information please visit www.colorfront.com. Contacts:For further information, please contact:Ron Prince Prince PR T: +44 1225 789 200 E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.