January 19, 2017

Technicolor Reaches New Realms At This Year’s Sundance Film Festival

Technicolor services offer independent content creators the opportunity to explore the future of storytelling in Park City, Utah.

  • Technicolor provided creative services for five Sundance Film Festival selections.
  • Four immersive experiences will be exhibited at Sundance, two as official selections.

Like the Sundance Film Festival itself, Technicolor supports independent filmmakers and has a history of empowering storytellers. That synergy is apparent in this year’s Sundance selections, which include five films for which Technicolor provided creative services.  Technicolor is also representing the future of storytelling with four immersive experiences being demonstrated at Sundance, two as official selections.

Feature Films:

For the Sundance “Spotlight” selection Colossal – a mind-bending thriller by horror master Nacho Vigalondo starring Anne Hathaway – Technicolor Toronto provided a full range of support, starting with on-location services and dailies. In post production, the team included Senior Colorist Brett Trider and Sound Re-recording Mixers Paul Williamson and Mike Woroniuk.

In the Sundance “Premieres” category, Technicolor’s Nick Hasson was the DI Colorist on Fun Mom Dinner, the directorial debut from Alethea Jones about a harmless get-together that takes a mad turn for the unexpected – with Toni Collette, Molly Shannon, Adam Scott, and Adam Levine among the stars.

Supervising Sound Editor Julian Slater and fellow Sound Re-Recording mixer Marc Fishman teamed up for director Craig Johnson’s Wilson, which stars Woody Harrelson as a neurotic misanthrope. Another Technicolor team – Sound Re-recording Mixers Craig Mann and Laura Wiest – worked on Roxanne, Roxanne, a “U.S. Dramatic Competition” selection from director Michael Larnell that tells the story of hip-hop legend Roxanne Shanté.

Mr. X Gotham in New York handled all of the VFX, both 2D and CG., for director Dee Rees' Mudbound, an official selection premiering at the festival.

Immersive Experiences:

Sound services were also instrumental on the production of Tree, a Virtual Reality (VR) experience selected in the “New Frontier” category showcasing the future of storytelling at Sundance. The Sound Lab at Technicolor team included Supervising Sound Designer Scott Gershin, Sound Designer Adam Boyd, and Assistant Sound Designer Jessie Garcia. Gershin and Garcia provided location recording of foliage, trees, and vegetables for the immersive experience that transforms you into a tree growing in the rainforest.

Technicolor brand MPC VR collaborated with MAP Design Lab and Helios Dance Theater on Heroes, which features David Bowie’s classic song, set to a participatory dance duet in Mixed Reality, one of only three pieces at the festival incorporating Augmented Reality (AR).

The newly opened Technicolor Experience Center (TEC) already has two immersive projects being shown at Sundance. The TEC collaborated with the Entertainment Technology Center at USC on Wonder Buffalo. Under Director of Editorial Scott Gershin, The Sound Lab at Technicolor team provided on-set capture and sound mixing for VR and AR battles with monsters, superheroes, and school bullies. The TEC also worked with PBS Digital and their creative partners on My Brother’s Keeper, the first story-driven VR reenactment of the Civil War.

Enjoy the trailer for the dark comedy Wilson below.