Wizardly Talents Bring Color and Magic to Fantastic Beasts

• Technicolor provided director David Yates his first HDR grade for a feature film.
• Supervising Colorist Peter Doyle and team managed the full color pipeline, from dailies to DI.

It’s been five years since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows–Part 2, and now fans finally have a brand new fantasy-action drama to bring them racing back to the wizarding world. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first in a new series of five films, was written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut.

The film was shot at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in London, where Technicolor London’s Supervising Colorist Peter Doyle worked closely not only with David Yates (director of the last four Harry Potter films), but also with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot AFC, ASC, to establish the color pipeline. Dailies Lead Colorist Mel Kangleon graded each day’s shoot on-set using the mobile Technicolor Dailies system.

This was Yates’ first experience with HDR grade on one of his films, and he entrusted it to Doyle and his colleagues, having worked with him before on the Harry Potter films.

Reflecting on the strong collective vision he brought together on the team, Doyle said, “There is always a purposeful thought process and philosophical commitment to reproduce the grade across all deliverables. I built the grade in an ultra-wide color gamut…and the end result is certainly spellbinding.”

Watch the magic come alive in the exciting trailer for Fantastic Beasts!

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.