WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA — DigitalFilm Tree (www.digitalfilmtree.com) has been providing color services for The CW’s post-apocalyptic, sci-fi drama, The 100, which recently debuted its sixth season. The show announced that it will return for a seventh season on the network.
DigitalFilm Tree’s senior colorist Dan Judy and VP of post production Chad Gunderson are part of the team that has helped the show achieve its success. Judy even gave a presentation on his approach to color correction using Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve at April’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. There, Blackmagic announced the latest version of the NLE software, DaVinci Resolve 16.
“I worked with the fourth DaVinci machine ever built, and hand-in-hand with the people down at the facility that invented DaVinci back in the day,” says Judy. During his talk, Judy referenced several advantages to DaVinci Resolve software that are particularly useful when working on show’s such as The 100. Open FX plug-ins, for example, are advanced tools that expand the colorists ability to treat a range of needs. Tools from Boris FX, such as Sapphire, help fix damaged images and perform beauty work, all within Resolve Color. There are also unlimited Power Windows with tracking abilities. And by working clip-based, the he has access to the client's camera original materials, which are maintained and managed via DFT's object storage SAN.
Judy also has the freedom to use a LUT from production, which shoots on Arri Alexa cameras. Alexa provides extra dynamic range when matching footage shot across different times of day. Resolve helps match the Alexa footage to other camera footage used during production, including models from GoPro, Red and Canon.
With The 100's color design constantly evolving over locations and seasons, Resolve’s evolving technology helps the DFT team meet these challenges. Resolve's last iteration - Version 15 - incorporated the Fusion platform, and allows for editing, color grading and VFX while providing the client realtime reviews, even remotely.
Co-executive producer and director, Tim Scanlan, Judy’s liaison on The 100, and his creative partner for more than two decades, can even monitor and provide feedback from the production offices for The 100 in Santa Monica, or from his home office in Newport Beach using DFT’s remote services. Judy, meanwhile, can be found on a dedicated Resolve workstation at DFT’s facilities in Hollywood. He has partnered with Scanlan for more than 20 years, and the duo’s lineage in color can be traced back to wildly popular shows in broadcast, including ABC’s Charlie’s Angels and the CW’s Smallville, the latter of which they collaborated on for more than a decade.
“Over the years, Tim has pushed me very hard to utilize my tools to their fullest,” Judy notes, adding thanks to Michael C. Blundell, director of photography. “Michael has been a real feather in our cap helping us out throughout the past five seasons. He’s really got an awful lot to do, and he accomplishes an awful lot with his crew.”
He also mentions his appreciation for associate producer, Emanuel "E" Fidalgo.
Gunderson thanks post supervisor Mark Knoob, who he communicates with on a daily basis, along with Thomas Galyon, senior online editor at DFT, who he describes as “a very important part of our team.”
“Dan Judy has a massive skill set, and can bend this software, somehow, to do magical things,” Gunderson adds. “I help facilitate everything that the production needs around here from the time it hits online to finish. As this show is being managed primarily in Resolve’s remote workflows, it’s imperative that you have a strong management team, strong editorial team, and a strong color team, all working simultaneously, to see all of this through.
“With new platforms and the new streaming services, there is a lot of binge delivery that DFT is doing. That also applies to The 100, to a degree, wherein there could be the majority of the episodes for the season, open simultaneously, and all being worked on, simultaneously. We work a lot of the time, until the day before air.
“Post services,” Gunderson continues, “are becoming more and more part of the creative process. A lot of decisions aren't being made until you're in house and we're in the 11th hour and preparing to deliver. Resolve has allowed colorists and creatives like Dan to achieve things that have only been available in the last handful of years.”