October 24, 2015

Technicolor Delivers Front-end Dailies and DI Color-finishing for Pan

Technicolor takes a magical journey to Neverland.

Pan tells the prequel story to the timeless classic, Peter Pan.  Listed on Hollywood’s 2013 Blacklist and was later shot at the Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, Cardington in Bedfordshire in the UK, and on-location in Vietnam. Oscar-nominated Director of Photography, Seamus McGarvey, worked with Technicolor’s Head of Color, Peter Doyle, who delivered the film’s color grade.

Interviewed for British Cinematography, McGarvey explained, “I spent six weeks in the DI theatre with Peter Doyle, and it was a fantastic experience to see the live-action and VFX sequences come together to make the final movie in the suite. As I had lit and shot many daylight scenes in different enclosed studio environments, we worked really hard to open up shadows when there was an absence of fill and on the soft top light too, to give it that sense of realism. In the end I think the result is not quite what audiences might expect, quite outré – unusual and startling.”

Technicolor Supervising Digital Colourist on Pan, Peter Doyle commented that ‘working with Joe, Seamus and John was not only great fun, but creatively gratifying. The team are extraordinarily visually literate, and very colour aware. Grading the film became a question of design rather than a technical process with an atmosphere of discovering and “having a look” driving the DI.’

Audiences will follow the story of young, mischievous Peter (Levi Miller), as he’s whisked away from his orphanage in the middle of the night by pirates on the flying Jolly Roger. Peter finds himself in the magical world of Neverland, a land of pirates, fairies and warriors, where he seeks to uncover the truth about his mother and identity. Helped by new friend James Hook (Garrett Hedlund) and Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara), they team up to battle against the pirate Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) in order to save Neverland.

Pan is scheduled for release in cinemas on October 9th, 2015.