Brick and Mortar, a high-tech boutique grading studio in Glasgow, was set up with the intention of providing filmmakers with a facility to rival the very best in London’s Soho - traditionally the locus of UK post-production expertise - both in terms of technology and talent. To establish Scotland’s first DCI-compliant grading studio, Brick and Mortar picked a Christie® CP4420-Xe cinema projector with a CDXL-20LB (low brightness) Xenon lamp and Premium High Contrast Zoom lens.
Bringing Soho's post-production prowess to Scotland was the brainchild of colorist Tom Cairns and creative director Jack Lang, who recognized that many filmmakers are not located near London and wanted to provide a high-tech alternative.
They teamed up with post-production facility Savalas Post, which not only has a superb audio team and a high-end Dolby Premier mix theatre but a fantastic location in Film City Glasgow. The result is a new partnership offering the first ever dual-purpose, theatrical projector-based mix and grade theatre of its kind north of London, with 4K projection, HDR capability, and Baselight color grading systems.
For the projector, Cairns turned to renowned post-production consultant Peter Sutton from Kaurus who recommended the Christie CP4420-Xe Xenon projector.
“We just felt good with the Xenon. Many of our clients are used to working with Xenon, too, and feel in safe and familiar hands, which is important. The facility gives them confidence along with comfort in a great space,” says Cairns. “Only Christie produces Xenon DCI-compliant projectors,” explains Sutton. “Christie has maintained the Xenon light source, which colorists globally have worked with for many years, trust, and are comfortable with.”
“Christie Xenon projectors are, by the very nature of the light source, able to natively achieve the DCI-P3 color space, making Xenon a tried and tested choice for film grading,” Sutton continues.
“Every post facility has slightly differing environments and design challenges,” says Sutton, “And with Christie’s comprehensive suite of zoom lenses to choose from, including the new Premium High Contrast Zoom lens, plus the 2.0KW LB Xenolite lamp option, we were able to achieve the light levels and contrast needed in Brick and Mortar’s color-grading environment.”
The Christie Xenolite® 20LB lamp is uniquely designed to provide a low-brightness option, specifically for very small screens combined with a larger 4K projector and post-production houses or studios where it will help reduce the brightness.
Sutton reports that the new Series 4 electronics and CineLife+™ UI make setting up the projector faster and even more intuitive: “The interface is easy to navigate with an excellent graphical approach,” he explains.
Christie CineLife+ Xe projectors are the only Xenon-based cinema projectors with Series 4 processing electronics available on the market. They deliver long-term brightness and excellent image performance with the lowest operating costs in their brightness class.
“Peter was fantastic on this project from the start,” says Cairns, also stressing that confidence is a key factor: “The client has to feel assured that when the director walks in, what they are shown is as good as they can get. What we are offering in terms of technology rivals anything in the county.”
Sutton adds, “The best of both worlds – and without compromise - has been achieved here by creating a superb grading theatre within an existing audio facility.”
“This collaboration offers far better pictures than a conventional audio facility and far better sound than a conventional grading suite. They also have the luxury of much more space than most places in London, and it is fitted with cinema seats creating a very comfortable and cinematic sound editing and grading environment in one. It’s very unusual and a great resource for film and TV post-production.”
