IFFI-53 witnesses Masterclass on ‘Academy Colour Encoding System’

#IFFIWood, 27 November 2022

Academy Colour Encoding System (ACES) Vice-chair & Head of HDR Content Workflow Joachim Zell and Global ACES Adoption Lead Steve Tobenkin addressed a Masterclass on ‘Academy Colour Encoding System (ACES)’ at the 53^rd edition of International Film Festival of India on 26 November 2022 in Goa.

Joachim Zell speaking at Masterclass on ‘Academy Colour Encoding System’ at 53^rd IFFI, Goa

During the session Joachim Zell gave a presentation on ‘ACES Workflow Discussion’. He explained in detail how ACES Colour space defines a common colour space of wide colour range and dynamic range. He elaborated on the technicalities related to the ACES System such as Reference Rendering Transform (RRT), ACES Colour Encodings, ACES virtual production, Wall Calibration, Inter- cutting content etc.

The Academy Colour Encoding System (ACES) is the industry standard for managing colour throughout the life cycle of a motion picture or television production. From image capture through editing, VFX, mastering, public presentation, archiving and future remastering, ACES ensures a consistent Colour experience that preserves the filmmaker’s creative vision.  In addition to the creative benefits, ACES addresses and solves a number of significant production, post-production, delivery, and archiving problems that have arisen with the increasing variety of digital cameras and formats in use, as well as the surge in the number of productions that rely on worldwide collaboration using shared digital image files.

Steve Tobenkin addressing Masterclass on ‘Academy Colour Encoding System’ at 53rd IFFI, Goa

Steve Tobenkin while sharing his ideas on the ACES said that the Academy Colour Encoding System (ACES) is the global standard for interchanging digital image files, managing colour workflows and creating masters for delivery and archiving. He added that ACES is a combination of SMPTE standards, best practices, and sophisticated colour science developed by hundreds of professional filmmakers and Colour scientists under the auspices of the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Talking about the significance of ACES in cinematography, Steve said that it standardizes and simplifies colour management by maintaining the Colour fidelity of your production at the highest level throughout production, postproduction and archiving. It improves colour and workflow communication; adds reliability to the colour viewing pipeline, simplifies and “future proofs” the creation of outputs and can help create a ‘know quantity” master for the archive, he added.

Importantly, ACES is free and open source, so dozens of companies have built it into the tools and continually innovate on top of its standardized framework, said Steve Tobenkin during the session.

At the end the speakers addressed the queries of the film makers, cinematographers and others among audience.

The session was moderated by Oscar Academy Member and Chairman of SMPTE-India Ujwal Nirgudkar.

The Masterclasses and In-Conversation sessions at IFFI 53 are being jointly organized by Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), NFDC, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and ESG. A total of 23 sessions comprising masterclasses and in-conversations are being conducted this year to encourage the students and enthusiasts of cinema in every aspect of filmmaking.