FORESIGHT.

I’m pleased to announce that the final color on David Fincher’s [I]The Social Network[/I] is complete and on 35mm film.  To get a first look at what the final film looks like, the TV spots have started airing all with images straight from the DI.  You can also go online and see the TV spots on The Social Network website (]www.500millionfriends.com).

The final DI look can now be seen online in the TV Spot, which is on the TSN site beneath the frame-grab I included below.

Working with the entire TSN team and working at RED Studios Hollywood has been an a wonderful experience, and ultimately the MX performs beautifully on the big screen-both in digital and film exhibition.  The lab work performed by Technicolor to convert the Li DI into film was a 4 month process of targeting, testing, and perfecting, and the results are truly exceptional.  So impressive, in fact, that I encourage everyone to best evaluate the full properties of the first MX feature film on the print.

Though I have seen quite a few R3Ds over the past 3 years, I can honestly say that it required all of the RED experience of myself and my team to make this an accurate, smooth DI and delivery.  There are a lot of moving parts in any DI, but what we experienced and learned on TSN is a cultivation of the work from thousands of hours previously spent with RED files-likewise TSN experiences are already being implemented onto new RED projects to make those films better, and so on.

And that really should be the ultimate goal: to improve and thus to appropriately share the experience of new art and technological practices.  Studios, indies, shorts, and spots alike; experience can yield great opportunities to raise the bar.  RED is one of those companies that literally hates to settle for something in the middle.  -That is really why you are all still waiting for your Epic’s and Scarlet’s.  And more importantly, that is also why I try to steer away from tools that intentionally make compromises.

Consider this:

Continuing to raise the bar becomes more vital when the amount of distractions in the market increases.  While this isn’t an exclusive statement, I generally find that as the roots of digital cinema grow, so do the temptations to find its short-cuts.  But I believe that the future will be a world of increased fidelity across the board, not of maintained fidelity.  Just look at any 5 year old and you’ll quickly realize how much they actually respond to high quality images, TVs, and tools.  I believe the brain of today’s children and their evolved ability to suspend disbelief makes the effort of raising the bar worth it.

I find the best way to raise the bar for me is to make sure that I give every project the best I possibly can.  That means being both creatively technical and technically creative (can you guess the difference?).  I can whole-heartedly say that the team of people responsible for the ultimate look of The Social network absolutely did that.  And I hope it shows.  As for the rest of what makes a TSN a great film?  Well, I’ll just say in 3 weeks time you won’t be disappointed.

The Social Network DI Team

Colorist | Ian Vertovec

DI Producer | Katie Fellion

DI Editor | Matthew Blackshear

Calibration & DCDM Mastering | Chris Peariso

DI Supervisor | Michael Cioni