SCRATCH is RED-Hot in Mexico City for
Hotel Chelsea at ERU Digital
February 25, 2010
Source: Assimilate
The Japanese independent thriller Hotel
Chelsea is pure international intrigue: written by and produced
by Hiro Masuda of Japan with Masuda’s company Ichigo
Ichie Films LLC and Tender Pro for Ace Deuce Inc; starring
Japanese actors Nao Nagasawa and Sawa Suzuki along with local
New York actors; shot in New York City by Corey Eisenstein;
directed by Jorge Valdés-Iga of Mexico; and color graded
and finished by Erik Mariñelarena’s post-production
team at ERU Digital in Mexico City.
The feature came together
with the RED ONE Digital 4K Camera and ASSIMILATE’s
SCRATCH 4K Digital Workflow.
Hiro Masuda’s vision was to make a Japanese horror film
that also had international appeal, and the legendary Hotel
Chelsea in New York City was the ideal setting for his story.
He wanted a fresh look for the Japanese audience as well,
so he hired a Mexican director and an American crew.
Masuda also planned for the film to be a digital cinema production
due to budget constraints. Masuda notes, “The recent
advancements in digital cinema technology for RED 4K cameras
and the SCRATCH post workflow have brought about great benefits
for filmmakers. Along with a talented crew, they enabled this
international project to have high-production value on an
indie budget.”
Faced with a tight post-production budget, Masuda also required
tight turnaround as well. This meant searching out a post
house with colorists “fluent” in a 4K workflow.
Erik Mariñelarena, then chief operating officer at
ERU, notes, “The challenges for Hotel Chelsea were many.
Demanding criteria like best color grading, imagery, turnaround
times, performance, price, and deliverables are the norm.
But the nature of this full-length feature was complex: three
stories within a story, which meant three distinct timelines.
It was like color grading and finishing for three movies.
Using SCRATCH, we maintained the color hues and look and feel
throughout portions of the film, as well as created color
distinctions to define the three timelines.”
Hotel Chelsea is told in the present, with flashbacks to the
past, and the third story line is imaginary. The murder plot
also has a complicated twist that is out of chronological
order.
Masuda decided three colors would be used to establish the
three distinct timelines in order to lead the audience to
the astonishing climax and the murderer.
The feature thriller tells the story of a Japanese couple
on their honeymoon at the Hotel Chelsea in New York. That
night the wife finds her husband's dead body and a video tape
of the brutal murder. An NYPD detective attempts to get to
the bottom of the mystery of the murder within the locked
room by interrogating a devastated wife.
“The story line required numerous evening and dark shots,
which are the most challenging for color grading and finishing,”
says Mariñelarena. “The SCRATCH color tools are
so powerful that our colorist, Fernando González, was
able to enrich the depth of the shots and delete the ‘noise’
that can cloud the visuals of a film. The result was a rich
look of mystery that he carried throughout the feature.”
The film is now winning critical acclaim on the film festival
circuit, having been in Hamburg, New York, and several venues
in the United States. Hotel Chelsea was awarded Best Foreign
Film at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival, where
Jerry Dalton, director of the festival stated, “From
the onset of the film, you realize the genius of the visuals
that puts Hotel Chelsea in a class by itself for an independent
film.”
The theatrical premiere for Hotel Chelsea will be in Tokyo
this summer and plans are in the works for 2010 film festivals
around globe, including Paris, London, Barcelona. Canada,
Mexico, and South Korea.
Robust Post Features
“Another challenge came in the form of the H1N1 flu,”
says Mariñelarena, “We started the post last April,
and needed to be finished in June. However, the swine flu
intervened and the government stepped in with tough restrictions
for working hours. Each person on the post team could only
work five days a week, and only five people were allowed to
work in the facility at any given time. Additionally, we had
to make up for a lost month when the editing got off schedule.
We were fortunate to be well versed in the SCRATCH-RED 4K
Workflow. The efficiency and ease of use of SCRATCH for managing
data, color grading, and finishing enabled us to overcome
the time constraints we faced and we met our deadline.”
Mariñelarena adds, “We had numerous RED files
– approximately 12,000 for the three timelines –
and the data management tool kept track of it all. This level
of tracking and sorting of files at the price point of SCRATCH
is unheard of. We had the constructs stacked several layers
high with several versions of a shot, and could immediately
access and work on a shot on the fly.”
Mariñelarena adds, “Initially we were going to
work with RED files and those from another camera, but we
ran into some issues with the non-RED files and fixed the
gaps in Final Cut during editorial. Claudio Bautista used
After Effects for the compositing and then transferred DPX
sequences to SCRATCH for real-time 4K conform and color grading.
Fernando was able to do the color grading and finishing in
what was a streamlined process. He used the vector capability
within the finishing tools to create beautiful vignettes for
enhancing the imagery to perfection. Because the post tools
are so simplified and natural to use within a real-time workflow,
he was able to give his complete focus to the creativity needed
during this project. SCRATCH was truly the bright light during
all the challenges we faced.”
“Hiro Masuda was extremely pleased with the quality of
the final results and the deliverables,” says Mariñelarena.
“He was very thankful that we gave him the quality of
a high-end blockbuster within a tight budget and schedule.”
Next up for Mariñelarena
Mariñelarena has now moved on to Warner Brothers as
a producer, working on features and TV episodes. The SCRATCH
digital workflow has been a good friend to him and he’ll
be making use of it again in his new role.
Mariñelarena, who has 14 years in the entertainment
industry, notes, “Digital cinema is clearly the future
of filmmaking; that’s very clear. It’s advantageous
for indies of course, but it’s also a huge win for the
big studios. Everyone is concerned about timelines and budgets,
and getting the best quality possible. While the RED camera
produces superb imagery, we’re also seeing the growing
use of other digital formats like HD Full-HD, and AVCHD. For
the entertainment industry, SCRATCH is the break-through post-tool
suite that can work in any format in real time; one streamlined
workflow for almost any project – 3D, 4K, 2K, HD, and
film.”
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