Atlab the Hero in Chinese Film

SYDNEY

From Director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern), Cinematographer Chris Doyle (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Quiet American) and Producer Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), Hero, which premieres in China on December 19, needed a postproduction company that could provide the complete package. Atlab was chosen over international competitors to provide the necessary film laboratory and digital film laboratory postproduction services.
Hero is a martial arts movie, based in the Wuxia style made famous by Ang Lee in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and is steeped in fantasy.
After the commercial success of Shanghai Triad, Yellow Earth, and Raise the Red Lantern, a loyal fan base will eagerly await Zhang Yimou’s new film both here and in his native country of China. Visually rich, beautiful and dramatic, Zhang’s films have helped bring the Chinese aesthetic to the West. Key to conveying this strong aesthetic is a powerful use of colour, relied upon to portray strong visual symbolism and also allowing the film’s message to cross cultures.
Atlab completed all lab postproduction and most of the digital lab services including, scanning and recording, wire removal, optical effects, digital colour grading and release printing. Given the particular challenges of this genre, Atlab’s reputation for quality was particularly attractive to the producers of Hero, and they were entrusted with the difficult task of bringing the Wuxia fantasy world into reality.
In fact, Atlab was put through their paces well before the cameras rolled, completing a number of creative digital grading, traditional grading and technical lab tests (such as anamorphic blow ups) in competition with rival tenders from around the world, before they were chosen for their high level of quality and technical expertise. Importantly, the film also cemented the relationship between Atlab and Hero’s Director of Photography (DOP), Chris Doyle, who worked with Atlab previously on films such as Rabbit Proof Fence and The Quiet American.
Atlab’s senior colourist Oliver Fontenay, made a number of on-set visits to China prior to and during principal photography to develop a creative colour palette with Doyle & Yimou. This provided the specific “looks” that expressed the vision that both the Director and the DOP were striving for.
“Both traditional and digital tools were used throughout the film to create a unique look,” says Fontenay. “The film used four colours consecutively; red, blue, white and green. Each colour in the film has its own meaning, drives the story and underpins the personality of each character. We had a lot of dialogue with Chris (Doyle) on location and we were able to refine these individual looks and develop new ones on the run. We’d already built up a great relationship with Chris during Rabbit Proof Fence and The Quiet American, it was very important for him to know we were creatively on the same page in Australia while he was shooting in China. Having the Digital Lab in-house enabled us quickly to make decisions on whether a digital or photochemical process was more suited for each look. It’s often the case that people automatically assume that the digital process is best, in our experience this is not always the case. The most challenging scene was the digital grading of the Green Palace and the richness of colour required.
“It involved rotoscoping the entire section and creating mattes for every frame before digital grading could start” explains Anthos Simon, General Manager NSW Operations, Atlab. “The narrative is heavily driven by colour and the director was very specific about this. A strong collaboration between Fontenay and Yimou was always going to be critical to ensure the Director’s colour-vision was relayed correctly on screen. This scene in particular is testament to the trust built up between Olivier and Chris, it’s quite an achievement; I think the beauty of the sequence will blow audiences away." Just as critical for Bill Kong was realising this strong aesthetic within the confines of his budget explains Simon.
“Because Olivier has the full range of photochemical and digital tools at his disposal under-the-one-roof, we’re not ‘tied’ to recommending one process over the other. On Hero we were able to mix and match creative technical processes to best utilize Bill’s Production Dollar without compromising the product."
Hero is not Atlab’s first foray into Asian cinema as Simon explains; “ We’ve always been well regarded throughout the Asia Pacific, over the years a large number of High Profile Asian productions have looked to us to provide the quality post production services Hollywood offers at a price more suited to their budgets. A good example is Korean blockbuster, ‘Warriors’ which was completely post produced at Atlab after the director saw a comparative quality test with other labs around Asia and in the U.S. Other recent high-profile Asian releases include ‘Blind Shaft’ (mainland China), Indonesian films, ‘Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?’ and ‘Ca Bau Kan,’ as well as Taiwanese feature ‘Legacy of KT’ and ‘Slow Boat to China’. Hero however, was without doubt the most challenging and will showcase the full range of creative digital and traditional tools on offer at Atlab. It will assist us in maintaining our strong position on a global stage and ensure we’re still first choice for high quality feature post in the region.”

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