By Elina Shatkin, September 12, 2003
Thomson announced the re-launch of Technicolor's Rome-based film laboratory and post-production facility. This initiative comes in response to the growth in the capacity needs of Technicolor's customers in Europe and other markets. Direct contributors to this growth include a 16 percent rise in wide releases for top-tier theatrical titles from 1999 to 2002, coupled with a 15 percent increase in total European print counts, and the continued expansion of Technicolor's customer base with the recent addition of a long-term Universal contract.
Following the opening of a new post-production facility in New-York one month ago, the expansion of Technicolor Rome is another step in Thomson's service development strategy to enable the content industry to seize new business opportunities as the shift to digital accelerates.
The facility's capacity has been more than doubled, involving the addition of 30,000 sq. ft. of new production and manufacturing space along with the installation of additional state-of-the-art printers and developers. The facility also boasts the most modern and environmentally friendly pollution control systems in use in any film laboratory in Europe today
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In addition, under Technicolor's Creative Services' umbrella, a new slate of post-production tools will be launched both at the lab's film department and within it Creative Services unit, which handles all traditional post-production services. As part of its new post-production offering, Technicolor Rome will also offer a full range of audio services, including:
-- "Sound Camera" allows filmmakers to transfer quad audio tracks from MOD or DA88 onto film.
-- A/B Quality Control provides quality comparison between the frequency response of analog or digital tracks of the print versus the original master - ensuring that print versions will maintain the audio integrity of the master.
-- ProTools/SonicSolutions audio-suite enables filmmakers and content owners to recondition and/or restore audio tracks derived from any source and output to both analog and digital formats.
-- Digital AIR provides capabilities available to restore optical motion picture soundtracks, and is available only through Technicolor Creative Services.
Within the next few months, the facility will also be linked into the Technicolor Private Network (TPN) via a high-speed shared private network, joining Technicolor's post operations worldwide through one common network. TPN allows for the rapid movement and collaborative use of electronic data and content between facilities on three continents, and provides a best-in-class data sharing capability.
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