We work across the full spectrum, from digital film emulation built into your grade, through to a genuine DFD (Digital Film Digital) analogue intermediate process.

Film Emulation

Grain, halation, acutance, colour response: the photochemical characteristics of real film stocks, modelled digitally inside the grade. We work with the best tools available, depending on the project, the pipeline, and what the look actually needs.

What we love about emulation is the freedom it gives us. We can develop and evolve a look shot by shot or scene by scene, or emulate the full journey of a print being struck and digitised, all inside the grade. No two shots need to behave identically. That level of control is hard to replicate once you are committed to a photochemical process.

It is also the most cost effective route by a significant margin. Fast, flexible, and fully integrated into our colour workflow. For most budgets, this is where it starts and finishes.

DFD: Digital Film Digital

The full analogue intermediate process. Your digital grade goes to celluloid, through photochemical processing, and scanned back to digital. Format, stock, and processing all shape the result, and every variable is a creative decision.

When the budget allows for it, there is nothing quite like a real film print. It costs more. Considerably more. But the images are genuinely beautiful in a way that is almost impossible to articulate, and they look authentic because they are. No emulation, however good, can replicate what happens when light actually passes through celluloid and chemistry does its work.

If the film aesthetic is central to what you are making and budget allows, this is the way to be certain you have it.

Not sure which option is right?

We will tell you straight. Budget, timeline, delivery destination, and the look you are after all factor in. We have done all of it and we will point you in the right direction.