BEAN is a unique facility dedicated purely to colour grading conceived by respected Sydney colourists Ben Eagleton and Andrew Clarkson. 

 

What makes BEAN unique is that from Rushes through to Final Grade the company uses data not film.  Built on the back of state of the art equipment from Bright system and daVinci, BEAN really does redefine the grading system that has remained unchanged for years, into a flexible high quality creative environment that allows directors to grade purely based on data.

 

RUSHES & SCANNING 

 

In conjunction with Atlab Australia, using the unrivalled Spirit 4K Datacine, BEAN offers a simultaneous, real-time Rushes and Scanning process. 

 

The Rushes component is straightforward. The film is transferred by experienced Telecine Colourists at Atlab using the  Spirit 4K Datacine

 

BEAN and Atlab shot and tested every film stock available in Australia and created a unique profile for each one. 

 

The scanning process is unique to BEAN and Atlab;  this propriety process is called BAKE. As the film passes through the Spirit4K (real-time, at high-resolution) the appropriate profile is applied, specific to stock type. This gives BEAN a copy of the negative that truly reflects the film. The negative never leaves Atlab, saving on dirt, scratches, spooling and film handling. 

 

The data is then transferred onto HD - SR tape as a calibrated 4:4:4 Log file, and then sent to BEAN. Once the data arrives it is loaded into the central Bright drive, which allows the two primary daVinci Resolve suites to share data and share projects.

 

A major advantage of the BAKE process is that BEAN has a scanned copy of the entire negative on file. Cost savings and technical quality flow down through the post process.  If a reframing or zoom is required, or a visual effects company requires high res versions of any shots,  these can be obtained directly from  the "rushes session".  BEAN can provide shots as data on CD, DVD, tape, firewire or the internet. as co-founder Andrew Clarkson points out,  “you never have to worry about different telecine's not matching, film weave, alignment issues, scratches or dirt."  

 

DATA GRADING AT BEAN 

 

Data Grading is an enormously flexible and productive way to work. It is a disk- based system that allows one to grade or combine images of any resolution.  BEAN conforms the edit and grades it in context. This is a huge change for  directors and creative teams. Previously shots were graded based on a neg-cut or Cmode-sort list - which means footage is graded in the order on the film spool. But at BEAN the BAKE system allows directors to see all the shots in context and in order. Creatives can instantly access any point of the edit. There is no film spooling and creativity is not constrained by hardware. The BEAN colourists can apply unlimited primary, secondary grades and layers. The system is realtime and that means "we can add as many windows, parallel or cascade plus tracking, multiple defocus, node mapping and more - and it just works" explains Eagleton. 

 

This non-linear environment is a real breakthrough. It has completely changed the way the industry works.

 

THE RESOLVE AND BRIGHT SYSTEMS

 

BEAN has two primary grading suites, both fully optioned and interchangeable, built around da Vinci Resolve systems coupled with Bright Servers.

"We spent months assessing all the available Data Grading systems and in the end choose the Resolve by da Vinci in combination with a Bright Server" explains Clarkson. Many other systems in the DI workspace approach colour grading from a feature film grading perspective. Resolve is built for high end commercial work. Resolve allows BEAN to work with Australia's top directors  in the high pressure of the local and international  commercials market. DaVinci’s unrivalled experience in this arena combined with their unique solutions to interfacing new workflows made them the only choice for BEAN, and the reliability and dedicated bandwidth of Bright Systems was the only system professional enough to form the backbone of the facility.  Bright Systems central server has allowed the company to meet its operational requirements and has also offered some unexpected advantages. Eagleton points to weekend's where he was able to utilize a second primary suite, running simultaneously via the Bright servers. "The Bright Servers are central to how we work, and clients love it - some want to understand exactly how it all works, others are just glad to finally have a new way of working", he remarks.