The Look rocks Mistika with stunning Colour Grade of epic Queen Concert film: ‘Hungarian Rhapsody’

High-end post production facility, The Look along with its Mistika, was responsible for the stunning colour grading and finishing, of the epic Queen Concert film titled Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live In Budapest ‘86 for Eagle Rock Entertainment and Queen Productions. As part of the successful 1986 Magic Tour, which was Freddie Mercury’s last, Hungary was included on the tour schedule. With three years to go before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the landmark event marked the very first rock concert from the West to take place behind the Iron Curtain.

Leading award-winning Colourist Thomas Urbye and Junior Colourist Jason Wallis worked their creative magic using Mistika to deliver a high calibre masterpiece. Rosie Holley, Manager of Productions at Eagle Rock Entertainment says “As a first time client of The Look, I was very impressed with the creative skill that Thomas Urbye brought to the project, as a colourist with a background in drama, he identified the drama that Queen have as live performers and enhanced it on screen.”

The Look transformed the ungraded scanned negative from 35mm film footage, conformed and then graded it before handing it on to artist Simon Marbrook. Rosie Holley adds “Because of The Look’s bespoke approach to the project, we were able to move seamlessly between Simon and Thomas and were able to complement each other’s work beautifully. All was overseen by The Look’s Dan Marbrook who has a calm and open minded approach to production workflow which meant we were able to get the absolute best from the individuals involved.”

Colourist and MD of The Look, Thomas Urbye explains “I felt that there were two grading issues that had to be carefully handled in order to achieve excellent results. The first priority was that all of the original image detail had to be retained. Existing material had to be carefully balanced, with luminance carefully rolled-off in order not to lose anything from the original negative. I wanted to give the audience the impression that they were actually at the live concert, skin tones had to be very natural, and it had to look like it had been shot recently, I didn’t want the film to feel dated in any way. After the wonderful feedback, I believe we have managed to accomplish this.” 

Thomas enthused “We were delighted to read that Brian May and Roger Taylor were quoted in the press as saying that “the concert looked fantastic on the cinema screen in all its digitally re-mastered glory” Thomas concludes “We had to deliver to cinema and on to HDCamSR, and it is a testament of Mistika’s powerful grading capabilities and real-time immediacy which proved to be efficient and vital in this project.“

The Look has had a highly successful 2012 with major primetime dramas including ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ and ‘Accused’ as well as many other commercials and features. They are already geared up for a very busy 2013. Recent projects handled on the Mistika include feature film ‘The Seasoning House’, a number of music promos shot on Red Epic and cinema trailers for major distributors. 

The film was released in September on cinema screens in over 30 territories worldwide, and in December was transmitted on the BBC. It is now also available on Blu-ray and DVD.

About The Look

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