Colorfront, one of the worlds most advanced digital intermediate (DI) and post production facilities, based in Budapest, Hungary, has announced that its software development team is to be honoured with a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Press Release from Colorfront
Budapest, Hungary, - Colorfront, one of the worlds most advanced digital intermediate (DI) and post production facilities, based in Budapest, Hungary, has announced that its software development team is to be honoured with a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. News of the prestigious award, for the development Autodesks Lustre grading system, comes as the team focuses on new challenges of streamlining camera-to-post workflows for motion picture and episodic TV production.
The Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards honour the people whose discoveries and innovations have contributed in significant, outstanding and lasting ways to motion pictures. The Scientific and Engineering Award is given for achievements that produce a definite influence on the advancement of the motion picture industry.
Colofronts Mark Jaszberenyi, along with software engineers Gyula Priskin and Tamas Perlaki, met in high school where they studied advanced mathematics and have worked together for a decade. They will receive the Academy Award for the design and development of the Lustre colour correction system at a formal awards ceremony on 20th February 2010 in Los Angeles. Lustre enables real-time digital manipulation of imagery during the DI process for motion pictures.
Brief history of Lustre:
When it was launched in 2003 the Lustre was the culmination of five years of pioneering research and development into DI. Its foundations date back to 1998, when Jaszberenyi and Priskin pioneered an end-to-end digital film pipeline offering scanning, compositing, VFX, restoration and titling services for Hungary's first digital film post production company, founded by Jaszberenyi.
DI did not exist at the time and Colofront was established in 2000 by brothers Aron and Mark Jaszberenyi, with Priskin as lead developer, to develop software that met industry demand for colour-calibrated tools to digitally grade and finish motion pictures. Perlaki joined Colorfront in 2001 as lead developer.
Colorfront made motion picture history in 2001 when it delivered SACC (Stand-Alone Colour Corrector) to colourist Peter Doyle to grade Peter Jacksons The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Shortly after, EFILM in Los Angeles became Colorfronts next customer, breaking new ground with the first end-to-end DI on We Were Soldiers.
During this period, British company 5D licensed Colorfronts colour correction technology and brought this to market as 5D Colossus. In 2003, Discreet (now Autodesk) licensed Colorfronts technology, and introduced the first Lustre DI system. Autodesk acquired Lustre from Colorfront in June 2005.
Jaszberenyi left Autodesk in 2007 and established DI and post-production company Colorfront in Budapest with his brother Aron. Priskin and Perlaki joined Colorfront shortly after. The company offers HD, 2K and 4K post-production services to international filmmakers, with credits including Terry Pratchetts Going Postal (The Mob/Sky), The Pillars Of The Earth (Tandem Communications/Muse Entertainment/Scott Free) and The Debt (Miramax-Disney).
Today Lustre enjoys an enviable reputation as the market-leading DI system, used around the world to grade an extensive list of motion pictures including Apocalypto, The Da Vinci Code, Pans Labyrinth and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl amongst many others.
The Academy Award award comes it implements new image-processing and visual communications technologies at its Budapest-based facility that streamline camera-to-post workflows for motion pictures and episodic TV productions.
Colorfronts managing director Aron Jaszberenyi commented, To receive this accolade for DI innovation work is a great honour for our team. Their work had a dramatic impact on motion picture post, but the industry moves on and new challenges lie ahead. We use Lustre in our own DI grading theatres, complemented by the new software tools that our award-winning team are developing in-house to assist every aspect of pre-production, cinematography, dailies, conform, visual effects, DI and deliverables. Colorfront relies on these proprietary new technologies for a fast and efficient high-resolution workflow to serve our international production clients.
About Colorfront:
Colorfront is one of Europe's leading DI and post production facilities, based in Budapest, Hungary. The company was founded by brothers Mark and Aron Jaszberenyi, who together played a pivotal role in the emergence of DI, and as the original authors of Lustre, Autodesk's best-selling DI grading system.
Combining this in-depth expertise, with a pedigree in the development of additional cutting-edge software for colour enhancement and dust-busting, Colorfront offers todays most advanced technologies for scanning and recording, DI grading, conforming, digital dailies, VFX, online and offline editing, cinema sound mixing, mastering and deliverables. For further information please visit www.colorfront.com.
