Timing really is everything. Consider: Freelance colorist Tom Rovak attended Foundation Post’s recent S3D event and met up with president Samantha Hart, who had been considering an expansion into color correction.
Payoff: Last week Rovak, one of the pioneers and experts in the field, officially joined Foundation as senior DI colorist and returned to the mainstream of local postproduction.
“We’re offering color correction as an additional client service because of an across-the-board sweep to increase our quality, regardless of the budget size,” says Hart.
Rovak and Foundation audio engineer, Ryan Pribylo, are redesigning a new 18×16-ft. room centered around the new high-end Da Vinci Resolve, which Rovak expects will be completed by the end of August.
Up to now, whatever color correction was required by Foundation clients was provided with Apple Color. “But the Resolve puts Foundation into another league altogether,” Rovak comments.
The Resolve, a software-based, open-architecture system, features toolsets that have evolved from the Da Vinci 2K Plus and includes integrated nonlinear color enhancement, conforming, in-context grading, real time 2K image processing and playback, and mastering.
“It also features the all-new, flat panel Impresario work surface, which is really meant for working quickly, with everything at the colorist’s fingertips, so searching for tools is kept to a minimum during sessions,” Rovak explains.
The standard room configuration also will change with clients being positioned behind the colorist.
Rovak has fairly deep knowledge of the system, having worked briefly with DaVinci in 2008 in Coral Springs, Florida, helping to test and evaluate the new system. He also traveled around the country with the company, especially to major exhibitions, such as NAB and the International Broadcasters Conference.
During his freelance years, he color corrected a feature, “The Mine,” starring Alexa Vega, for a post house Savage Pictures in Salt Lake City, a small post house founded by the editors of the long-running “Touched by an Angel” series.
“As we move along,” notes Hart, “I hope to get Tom involved in other technologies, especially S3D. He’s a great guy to have on our team.”
Fully-integrated Foundation, with a staff of 30, is located at 200 E. Ohio; phone, 312/951-8734. See
