Posted by BlackmagicDesign on Dec 16, 2024 | 2 comments

Teen comedy horror emulates a film look using digital tools.

Fremont, CA, USA – Wednesday, December 11, 2024 – Blackmagic Design today announced that A24’s comedy horror film “Y2K” was graded using DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

In “Y2K,” on the last night of 1999 two high school juniors crash a New Years Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives in this dial up disaster comedy. Directed by Kyle Mooney with cinematography by Bill Pope, the film was color graded by Senior Colorist Charles Bunnag of Light Iron, a Panavision company.

Bunnag, who had worked with Pope as an additional colorist on both “Men in Black 3” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” discussed with Pope the style the cinematographer was hoping for on “Y2K.” “It was important to Bill that this movie look as if it were shot in 1999,” said Bunnag. “He wanted to emulate the look and feel of the raunchy teenage comedies of that era. ‘I want this to look like ‘Superbad’’ was not something I expected to hear from Bill, but that was a particularly helpful reference point and a good excuse for me to watch that movie again.”

Movies in 1999 were all still shot on film, and the discussion of matching looks turned quickly to the perception of what film negative looked like, and how to create that style in DaVinci Resolve Studio. “Bill and I briefly discussed some specifics regarding film stock, but we quickly decided that our memory of what film looked like was more important than the technical details. With that in mind, I created a node tree in the timeline color track which acted like a film emulation LUT. This LUT/node tree gave the image a warmer white point and pushed the reds in the midtones and skin tones.”

Bunnag also used the Edge Detect tool across the entire movie to further create a film look. “The output of the tool was used as a matte to contain a very subtle blur on any super sharp edges and fine details. Since film is not made up of pixels, there are technically no true, sharp edges, no matter how sharp and in focus the image may be,” continued Bunnag. “Using the Edge Detect to control a slight blur took away some of the digital feel that can happen in ultra sharp parts of the image, like individual hair wisps or other areas with high frequency detail. Grain was added as the last step in the timeline color track. Halation was also used across the entire movie but in a Group Post Clip track to allow scene by scene adjustments.”

The film, a unique combination of comedy, fantasy and science fiction, employed a wide range of visual effects, including practical animatronics, models and computer generated imagery. Bunnag found at times he could help marry the elements in the color grade for a more cohesive look. “I’d say that my biggest contribution in terms of VFX was putting in some finishing touches on some comps: adjusting black levels, adding some pop to fire and explosions, and helping to integrate some monitor comps. There was one scene that was particularly challenging, which required a lot of tricky rotoscope and color to help the lighting feel connected to the VFX.”

The scene, in which the character Laura (played by Rachel Zegler) hacks into the evil AI, required some extra attention. “The practical lighting from the monitor did not match the final comp because of design changes that were made in post. Finding a way to make this mismatch in lighting look believable was a challenge, but I’m glad the tools in DaVinci Resolve helped enable me to find a solution that made the filmmakers happy.”

“Y2K” is now in theaters.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

About Light Iron

Light Iron, the post production creative services division of the Panavision group, is home to a renowned creative team of colorists, online editors, visual-effects artists, software engineers, technologists and more, all with a passion for empowering filmmakers through technical innovation and artistic collaboration. The company is recognized as an industry leader and pioneer in innovative, end-to-end file-based solutions that support the entire imaging chain. Filmmakers and studios rely on Light Iron’s expertise to deliver progressive digital workflows that meet the needs of features and series intended for any and all distribution platforms. Light Iron’s service offerings include in-facility and near-set dailies options; offline editorial rentals; VFX; 8K, 6K and 4K color grading, finishing and mastering for HDR and SDR; and cutting-edge cloud-based media archiving. The company’s internal software development is driving further workflow innovations with solutions such as the Galixy platform, which incorporates powerful automations to streamline post processes. With physical facilities across North America, Light Iron also offers remote services on a global scale, enabling content creators working anywhere in the world to collaborate seamlessly with the company’s talented roster of artists. For more information and locations, visit www.lightiron.com.