Ron Howards Rush Graded on DaVinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design today announced that Company 3 in London has used DaVinci Resolve for color grading Ron Howards F1 racing biographical action film Rush.

RUSH portrays the exhilarating true story of two of the greatest rivals the sport has ever witnessed, drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Set against the sexy and glamorous golden age of F1 racing, Rush follows the two drivers as they push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological endurance, where there is no shortcut to victory and no margin for error.

After a catastrophic crash during the 1976 German GP at the Nrburgring, which could have killed Lauda, he returns to face rival Hunt in their pursuit of the World Championship. Anthony Dod Mantle was the films cinematographer and he presented Company 3s senior colorist Adam Glasman with an intriguing challenge.

While Rush was shot using a variety of different digital formats, Howard and Mantle also wanted to incorporate original race footage from 1976 shot on 16mm and 35mm film. Ron and Anthony felt this would help to recreate the thrilling race sequences and give Rush some real F1 production value says, says Patrick Malone of Company 3 London.

The overall goal during the grade was to create a look that would bind both digital and archived film material together, giving Rush a seamless look throughout. Our brief was to give the film a 70s period feel with a modern slant. Inspiration for the colour palette came from a lot of the readily available archived 8mm, 16mm and 35mm footage of the 1976 World Championship.

While the traditional look associated with the period is one of desaturated, almost sepia colours, Anthony wanted to push color into the cars so they looked more bold and striking. In addition, he wanted each of the grand prix races to given their own unique feel to reflect the drama and dynamics of the 76 championship,

Take for example the opening scene at the Nrburgring, which is a pivotal moment. This had a very stormy, almost menacing feel to it as the film builds up to Laudas crash. This is a very bold sequence, which Adam achieved by adding in more saturation while being careful not to crush the information out of the image, says Malone.

Company 3 London has also used DaVinci Resolve recently to complete the grading of Edgar Wrights science fiction comedy The Worlds End, Zombie epic World War Z and British action comedy Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

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