Press release from Sony
The Post Op Group has taken delivery of the first Sony reference grade 25” Trimaster EL BVM-E250 OLED monitor to be supplied in Australia.
The flagship of Sony’s range of professional monitors, the BVM-E250 OLED has been installed in the Post Op Group’s high end digital colour grading suite in its facilities at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh, Sydney.
The Post Op Group works closely with television, documentary, film and TVC clients providing a range of services including editing, audio, graphics/design, facilities and camera hire. The company recently expanded its operations with the addition of a new Da Vinci Resolve colour grading suite managed and operated by Senior Producer Belinda Reynolds and Senior Colourist Danny Scotting.
“When we were setting up the Resolve I went in search of a reference monitor and saw a demo of the Sony OELD screen and it just blew me away,” says Scotting. “I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was, especially in the blacks and the saturation. I’ve always used CRTs and the tubes have been as good as you could get but I was surprised at the difference between them and the OLED. There aren’t many tubes left now so the people that have them are hanging on to them but in my opinion OLED supersedes them completely.
“It was very important for it to be a grade one reference monitor and I wanted the highest professional quality in as big a screen as possible. Sony also has the PVM series which are 10-bit rather than our 12-bit BVM and although the screen is the same, the electronics and the drivers behind it are slightly different. So the PVMs are really good for visual effects suites but for a colour reference the BVM is definitely the way to go.”
Scotting explains that Post Op Group clients can now see the full detail of images captured by the increasingly popular data cameras and they can leave his suite knowing the exact reference look of their finished projects. He believes that using a non-reference monitor results in guesswork and a result that varies considerably when played back on different equipment.
“Directors and DOPs sit with me and use the Sony OLED monitor as a reference for all their grading. The black and highlights levels can be easily assessed and you can see all the gradients in between which is really nice. Commercial clients traditionally don’t like to see too many crushed blacks unless the spot warrants it and they want to get as much information in the picture as possible – for example in car commercials they want to be able to see the detail in car tyres and under the wheel arches. They find the Sony OLED has the best picture with detail that they couldn’t see on LED and plasma screens.
“We are now able to push colours the way clients imagined them to be pushed and they know that what they see on screen is what is actually happening to the picture,” details Scotting. “They’re looking for the quality as well, the sharpness, making sure that nothing’s soft, because it’s much more noticeable for clients and viewers at home especially when they’re looking at it on large monitors today. They see everything down to the grain of the film or the digital noise.
“Clients also want to get their moneys worth, too. They are paying an hourly rate to get the best possible images and don’t want to lose 10 percent of their picture – the Sony OLED let them see the whole picture,” said Scotting.
The Post Op Group’s move to high end digital colour grading also aims to match the steady, industry-wide move away from standard definition shoots with drama and series work firmly in the company’s sights.
According to Scotting TVC crews are now comfortable with the new generation cameras but drama work involving multiple cameras often requires DOPs to consult with colourists and bring in test shots before principal shooting begins.
“They want to make sure that they’ve got the right camera and it’s handling the way they expect it to. A lot of DOPs will shoot a colour chart to make sure that their white balance is okay which is always a good thing to have at the start of a grade. The Resolve doesn’t have any built-in test patterns but they are all built into the Sony remote for the OLED monitor if I need them.”
Business Logic
For Jamie Ambrose, General Manager at Post Op Group, the business logic of the Sony OLED installation followed the philosophy behind the creation of the colour grading suite.
“We were looking at our grading capabilities as a door-opener to other opportunities into the TVC market and getting a premium product was very important for our clients. Their biggest priority is the quality of the shots onscreen so we wanted to make sure we had the right people, equipment and environment.
“It was a very simple decision for us to invest in the Sony OLED monitor – this was a serious venture for us and it didn’t take a lot of research to know Sony is right up there and it’s OLED product came with the best warranty behind it,” said Ambrose.
Recent projects
Two recent projects through the Post Op Group colour grading suite were the French Food Safari series for SBSTV, which was shot on a Sony HDW-F900 camcorder, and a Toyota Corolla commercial to run for Toyota during "The Block" series on Channel 9 shot on the RED MX.