EFILM Digital Laboratories, founded in 1989, is a company serving the motion picture and television industry. Their clients include film studios, independent filmmakers, advertisers, animators, visual effects companies and large format filmmakers. EFILM is part of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., a group of facilities which includes Beast, Company 3, Method Studios, and Rushes.
Services
Cinemascan
Colorstream
eVue
Digital Intermediate
Digital Lab Services
Image Processing
Laser Film Recording
Location Services
Security & Vaulting
Tape to Film Transfers
Video Services
16MM and 35MM Scanning
History
1989-1990 - Las Palmas Productions, Inc. develops a proprietary tape to film transfer process that creates high quality film recordings.
1993 - EFILM offers its film recording services to commercial, music video and movie trailer producers.
1994 - EFILM adds high resolution scanning to its list of services.
1995 - The company creates the world's first 2K digital intermediate color timing sequences for Batman Forever. The images are scanned, color timed and film recorded on the company's custom systems. The digital color timing system worked in real time via proxy images and allowed for interactive primary and secondary color corrections. The color settings were later applied to the 2K images. 25 minutes of special effects sequences were color timed this way under the creative direction of the film's visual effects designer, John Dykstra. This custom built system predated most, if not all, other high resolution color timing systems.
1996 - The company develops digital laboratory software that is used throughout EFILM for almost every step of the workflow including scanning, tape to film, film recording and video and digital cinema deliverables. Their Etron software performs all the image processing needs for most jobs.
1997 - EFILM introduces its EWorks digital color correction software designed with a proprietary viewing approach that allowed the timer to accurately match photographed and digital images at any resolution.
1988-1989 - EFILM expands its tape to film services. Refined format and color space translations provide a better workflow from standard definition tape to film gave EFILM the opportunity to participate in longer format productions. EFILM's first long format tape to film project is HBO's From The Earth To The Moon.
2000 - EFILM works with Panavision to transform digitally originated HDTV 24 frame progressive scan images to film.
2001 - Panavision Inc. acquires LPPI, as a digital laboratory that services the feature film, television, and commercial arenas.
2002 - EFILM signs an exclusive software agreement with Colorfront Software, Ltd., of Hungary, to develop proprietary software for EFILM's digital intermediate color timing process.
2003 - EFILM and Panavision develop proprietary optics for the digital projection systems EFILM uses in its digital intermediate process. The optical modifications are put on-line in June 2003.
2004 - Universal's Van Helsing is digitally assembled at 2K and EFILM creates digital cinema preview screening versions directly from the 2K files, which is an industry first. All previous digital previews came from the HD process. The EFILM approach ensures all the work that goes into the preview screenings ends up in the final movie.
2005 - EFILM introduces the EWorks digital color correction system in concert with Autodesk.
2006 - The Rank Group announces that it has agreed to sell Deluxe Film to MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. The sale includes all worldwide business units within the Deluxe Film group. EFILM is now wholly owned by Deluxe.
2007 - EFILM receives a technical achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their creation of the Digital Color Separation process for archival of motion pictures.
2011 - EFILM develops post production workflow for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the first U.S. Feature film to shoot using the ARRIRAW format on the Alexa. With an already long-established working relationship with ARRI and a virtual pipeline in place that could accommodate the project, EFILM was approached by the filmmakers to undertake this first-of-its-kind venture. It was veteran cinematographer Chris Menges' initial foray into digital cinematography and he wanted a very filmic look. Dailies were produced at Deluxe, New York and the look was set during the dailies process, per Menges's direction.
eFilm Workstation is also a software program developed in-house at EFILM. It uses a proprietary file formate that follows the DICOM standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. One of the major tags for differentiations is that of the Modality.
