Final postproduction work for Hotel Transylvania, the new animated comedy from Sony Pictures Animation, was recently completed at Colorworks, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s digital intermediate facility. The facility performed final color grading and stereoscopic 3D finishing for the film, released on Sept. 28.
The project involved close collaboration between Colorworks and Sony Pictures Imageworks, which created the film’s animation. Image files were exchanged between the two facilities, via direct fiber link.
Final grading was performed by colorist John Persichetti, whose previous credits include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Persichetti worked with director Genndy Tartakovsky, visual effects supervisor Daniel Kramer and stereographer Von Williams in finalizing the film’s color look and stereo 3D effects.
“Seeing the film on a big screen in our theater, certain nuances become apparent that, previously, were impossible to see,” Persichetti said. “The majority of our work involved fine adjustments, making a character appear lighter or darker relative to the background, or adjusting the color of a face.”
Persichetti performed a second color pass for the stereo 3D version of the film and applied color adjustments to compensate for 3D projection systems and the 3D glasses worn by audience members.
Persichetti’s main role was to ensure that the film’s dazzling art and animation style translated properly to the theatrical masters. “The film has a wonderful look,” Persichetti said. “The interiors of the castle have a lovely warm feel due to the torches that illuminate them. The exteriors are a deep, rich blue and the majority are night time scenes, because, after all, they’re vampires.”
