Film production company Istituto Luce Cinecittà selects Sony Review Room

CASE STUDYFilm production company

Istituto Luce Cinecittà selects

Sony Review Room

APPLICATIONCinema / Post-Production

CUSTOMERIstituto Luce Cinecittà in Rome

COUNTRY Italy

SONY SOLUTIONSSRX-R510P 4K cinema projector

with specific accessories, set-up

and calibration

The ChallengeInternationally acclaimed and one of the world’s leading film production companies, the Istituto Luce Cinecittà plays a key role in supporting Italian cinematography. To help maintain and develop their position at the forefront of contemporary film production, a high-quality 4K post-production and review room solution was required to upgrade their existing capabilities.

The OutcomeIn conjunction with specialist cinema integrator Prevost Srl, the Istituto has installed a Sony SRX-R510P 4K cinema projector and Review Room package. The projector and its related accessories have been installed, tested and calibrated to meet the extremely demanding standards for professional colour correction and grading in post-production.

The SolutionSony and Prevost formed a very effective combination in successfully installing, calibrating and testing the Review Room package. The Istituto is delighted with the installation service and also the extra dimension it now brings to their capabilities and service offerings. Their producers and technicians are already using the Review Room solution on movies for the next Venice Film Festival, and are confident that they now have the latest generation tools to enable them to increase their share of the post-production and colour grading market at both domestic and European level.

Cinecitta – for over 80 years, a name that has come to epitomise creativity, technical prowess and success in European and Global cinema film production. At these historic studios, often described as the ‘Hollywood on the Tiber’, over 3,000 movies have been made to date, 47 of which have also won a prestigious Academy Award – the famous ‘Oscar’. Overseeing the enormous 400,000 square metre production facility located 9km southwest of Rome, the Istituto Luce Cinecittà is responsible for the expansion and enhancement of the studios activities and plays a key role in supporting and promoting Italian cinematography.

To continue to build upon their reputation and position at the forefront of cinema film production, a high-quality 4K post-production and review room solution was required to improve upon their existing DLP capabilities and in particular to allow colour correction and grading at far higher contrast ratios. Following a review of available options in the industry, the Sony solution was chosen based on the Review Room package overall technical specifications, in particular the highest available contrast ratio. The benefits of the existing, succesful long-term relationship with Sony and Prevost was also an important factor.

The Review Room solution installed at the Istituto in July 2018 provides a range of technical enhancements to the SRX-R510P projector beyond its standard DCI theatrical tolerances to meet the exacting requirements for post-production, including optical enhancements and calibration tools. In addition to industry-leading 8,000:1 high contrast (four times the industry standard), 4K resolution and High Dynamic Range (HDR) are also key features, giving creatives and producers access to the best possible technology, refinement and control, both today and in the future.

“The Istituto Luce has recently returned to manage production activities of Cinecittà. As a result, we have implemented a complete technical and organisational restructuring of all the production activities of Cinecittà, with the goal of positioning Istituto Luce at the top of the national and international market. For post-production, it was important to choose the best possible technical solutions offered today.”

Fabio Filoni, Head of Post-Production Services

As the technology leader in 4K cinema since 2005, Sony SRX-R500 series projectors are the most widely installed HDR capable projectors in commercial use, with over 20,000 installations worldwide. The SRX-R500 series was first projection system to be certified by Éclair as EclairColor ready, and is available in a range of brightness levels from 6,600lm to 15,000 lm to suit any screen size or screen gain. Sony SXRD display technology, the first to deliver 4K (4096 x 2160) resolution images for cinema, also provides the high contrast and precise light control that is crucial for post-production use.

The installation has proved to be a great success, with engineers from both Sony and Prevost working closely together to deliver a package that is tailored to the customers specific requirements. Already in use for colour grading of movies due to be screened at the forthcoming Venice Film Festival, the Review Room package also provides future-proof technology and tools to enable the Istituto to increase their share of the colour grading market at both domestic and European level.

Fabio Filoni, Head of Post-Production Services said… “We chose Sony SRX-510 projectors for our colour grading theatres after careful evaluation of the general performance, the high contrast capabilities, the construction quality and last but not least, the reliability of the Sony brand. We use colour grading for both restoration work and in the field of post-production of new films and I must say that the results we are getting leave us fully satisfied. We particularly appreciate the special calibration work that was done by Sony specialists to optimize the use of the SRX projectors for post-production. Also of particular interest to us is the application of HDR in the field of cinema, and the performance of the Sony SRX solution fully supports us with this”

“We are thrilled that Istituto Luce – Cinecittà chose Sony 4K technology to update their grading room to state of the art in terms of resolution, highest available contrast ratio and reliability. This is a perfect way to cement our existing and successful long-term relationship”

Enrico Ferrari, Sony Theatre Solutions, Europe