It’s been a hit in Europe, where there are 11 systems installed in London, France and Germany, but until now the Edifis Finaliser has not had a chance to strut its stuff across the big pond. Now, the DI grading system is installed at West Post Digital in Santa Monica, with DI artist/telecine colorist Terry Goins at the controls. Terry has worked with both da Vinci and Pogle color correction systems over the last 13 years, before landing in front of the Edifis Finaliser.
“The big difference is that it is nonlinear,” he says. “We digitize from the tape source, and Finaliser has its own integrated storage.” Internal storage is six hours at HD uncompressed resolution, and storage can be increased up to 24 via external devices. Goins also likes the Finaliser’s interface. “To do basic grading is very similar to da Vinci and Pogle,” he says.

“One of Finaliser’s attractions is that it’s nonlinear,” says West Post Digital president Kenny Fields. “This is an elegant solution for file-based projects.” Another advantage, he says, is that the Finaliser can resize and resposition digitally. Goins points out that nonlinear translates to speed. “I can sort the list by the original source timecode, so if you have a recurring interview, you’ll have it all together,” he explains. “That way you can color-correct the first clip and then lay it on the others.”

Real-time means real-time with Edifis, says Goins. “There is no rendering at all,” he stresses. “With Edifis, you can adjust the color while you’re looking at the picture. That’s been true for years in telecine. But in DI, you tend to adjust a still frame and then have to render before you can see it in context.”

“Color-correction requires real-time feedback,” adds Fields. “If you color a few frames, hit the render button and go get coffee, you’re not in the flow.”

Goins also likes the ability to add flaring, starbursts, ripple effects and track mattes. “It’s also easy to achieve bleach-bypass, which is the most requested look ever,” he adds.

Shortly after installing the Edifis Finaliser, Goins used it to grade indie director Anne Renton’s short, “Love is Love.” “There are fewer limitations with Edifis Finaliser than there are on lower-end systems,” concludes Fields. “People doing indie films don’t think they can do a color pass on a high-end system,” he concludes. “They should think again.”