ARRI and Colorfront have announced a partnership for a brand new digital dailies product that will provide filmmakers with new levels of productivity and cost-efficiency. The agreement sees the launch of Colorfront On-Set Dailies, a state-of the-art digital dailies tool optimised for use with ARRI's ALEXA and ARRIFLEX D-21 digital cameras and their workflows.
The new system, expected for release in Q4 2010, incorporates production-proven tools for dailies work ‘ playback and sync, QC, color grading, audio and metadata management, simultaneous faster-than-real time deliverables in all common file formats ‘ and combines the best of ARRI’s color and image science. Along with providing benefits for productions involving ARRI digital cameras, Colorfront’s system also integrates into any digital dailies workflow, providing a fast and efficient pipeline into subsequent postproduction processes.

Colorfront’s On-Set Dailies will be presented at ARRI’s dual booths at IBC 2010, located at Hall 7:G16 and Hall 11:F21. It was developed over the last two years and harnesses direct experience gained on TV series including The Pillars Of The Earth (Tandem Communications, Muse Entertainment & Scott Free Productions), The Borgias (CTV/Showtime), and feature films Monte Carlo (Fox 2000 Pictures) and The Debt (Miramax), all shot in Hungary, where Colorfront is based. The system was developed by the same team which this year won the prestigious Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for the development Autodesk’s Lustre grading system.

“Colorfront’s On-Set Dailies is the logical complement to the workflow behind ALEXA and the D-21, and beyond that to all digital dailies involving scanners such as the ARRISCAN, telecines, as well as other cameras,” says Markus Frees, ARRI’s director for DI sales, EMEA region. “It is the ideal solution for the demands of the digital dailies process and will help filmmakers enormously in terms of productivity and cost-savings. We look forward to announcing the first sales later in the year.”

Aron Jaszberenyi, Colorfront’s managing director, comments, “ARRI is breaking new ground in high-quality cinematography with ALEXA. Working closely with ARRI’s solid engineering team, we are bringing to market a system which provides filmmakers with a highly efficient process for digital dailies, that stacks up advantageously on the producer’s budget against traditional photochemical and current digital dailies workflows and processes.”

Colorfront’s On-Set Dailies has an easy, node-based operator interface, can load media files from film scans, tape capture, disk and solid state recorders, and synchronizes sound files with picture using automated and manual techniques. Its image-processing capabilities include primary and selective color correction, the application of 3D LUTs, printer-light and ASC CDL compatibility, image resizing tools, and a range of burn-in options. It works with 3D stereo media, allowing stereo adjustments of color and position, and assembles takes into rolls and tapes for deliverables, screeners and archival.

Input media formats include DPX, ARRI RAW files, ProRes 422 and 444 QTs, Avid DNxHD media, QT files with various codecs, and broadcast WAV audio files. Deliverable formats include: MPG4 H.264 for web delivery, iPhone and iPad; MPG2 for authored DVDs and chaptered Blu-rays; Avid DNxHD MXF and QT files; QT files with various codecs, including ProRes 422 and 444 for FCP editorial; as well as TIFF, JPG still formats, and WAV audio.

“Colorfront On-Set Dailies will provide the key departments on feature films and TV series ‘ directors, producers, cinematographers, editors and VFX ‘ with a fast, high-quality and economically attractive resource,” says Colorfront CEO Mark Jaszberenyi.