With a project portfolio as rich as its history, Illuminate Hollywood has provided production, post, and technology services to major Hollywood studios, TV networks, digital platforms, and indie producers and distributors for nearly three decades. Since the boutique shop opened its doors in 1995, it has done scanning, editorial, color correction, digital intermediate, VFX, 2K/4K distribution, audio conform and layback work for episodic and feature film productions spanning Sons of Anarchy to Gone Girl. As production and post processes have grown more complex with growing adoption of high resolution, high dynamic range workflows, CEO Jim Hardy and President Sandy Crawford have evolved the studio's workflow to keep pace, adopting new technology like AJA Diskover Media Edition data curation and management software to manage an ever-increasing volume of data.
We re a small company competing against organizations with massive technological and staffing backbones, so we try to stand out for our innovation and top-notch service. That means we're continuously evaluating and adopting emerging technology like AJA Diskover Media Edition, while also developing proprietary tools, shared Crawford.
Hardy added, We re a technology-first company, which has led us to develop some cool in-house tech that gives us an edge over other vendors. All our work is also done in-house, which is key to maintaining quality control.
Building proprietary solutions to manage a heavy project load
Many clients come to Illuminate to remaster television shows from uncut negatives, which means the team must ensure they have all the correct physical film assets from the client. Using its proprietary technology iConform , Illuminate is able to take uncut dailies negatives and scan them in 4K 16-bit DPX files across multiple projects.
We have to replicate exactly what was done with the original broadcast master, so there s no cutting corners for us. It's part of the reason we're working with petabytes of data, explained Crawford. The volume of work that we go through on a weekly basis to meet the deadlines is astounding. A project passes through 12 different departments from film scanning to color correction and final creation of the master file that s going to be reused for all the platforms. Our tech is essential for enabling us to produce six 60-minute shows a week.
In addition to iConform, Illuminate has also developed SmartREzIT+ , a solution that combines proprietary software and techniques with other third-party software to upres SD masters to HD, 2K and 4K. It extracts more detail and resolution than traditional methods, which makes for superior image quality with little to no artifacts. The company envisioned the technology while working on older TV shows shot on uncut film negative.
We knew we might encounter missing film, which meant we needed a process to replicate the quality so that it didn't impact the viewing experience, Hardy explained. Our conversion solution isn't real-time, which helps us create an end-result that looks as if the image originated in HD, 2K, or 4K.
Keeping projects on track with smarter data management
Across projects, Illuminate manages a massive load of data stored across its Aberdeen and XStor storage systems, which requires well organized files and data, and an easy way to access them. To streamline this work across departments, it adopted AJA Diskover Media Edition. Data operators leverage the software to gauge how many files the facility has across all of its volumes and servers. They can type a keyword into the search and see all the information in the user interface. On the administrative side, Hardy and Crawford use Diskover to get a holistic view into Illuminate's data; if a client wants to know what they have in house for a file or title, they can pull it up, versus having to check with operations first. The technology has also reduced file clean up, as they can flag files for removal if the client no longer needs them.
AJA Diskover Media Edition has also enhanced the studio's quality control (QC) pipeline. Using the CineSys CineViewer Player Plug-in, the Illuminate team can review rejected or questionable files flagged by the QC operator, instead of having to visit a bay or separate facility to review. We can look at it ourselves, take a screenshot, and send it to each other, which saves us a lot of time, versus having to visit a QC or color bay, Crawford noted.
With direct and timely insight into any issues, the Illuminate team can share more information with clients. They re also able to easily put in work orders if they need the operator to work from a specific file because the file path is more accessible with Diskover. And, they can easily confirm the file and aspect ratios available, as long as they're properly identified, which Crawford said has saved the team hours. Without AJA Diskover Media Edition, our team would have to search through volumes of data and could easily get lost. The software makes our work so much easier and efficient, she noted.
Hardy added, It's great that we no longer have to ask and wait. We can search and find what we need. It helps for asset management and keeping track of files we may not need anymore.
AJA Diskover Media Edition also allows Illuminate to grant team members unique access permissions and see the file sizes on a moment's notice, ensuring they only see the files they need to see in a timely manner, without jeopardizing their integrity, which Hardy explained is paramount. It's so helpful, he explained. And, I love that we can see how many copies of the same files we have parked on different servers; we can better determine what needs to be purged. We've already seen such a boost to our workflow and we haven't even begun to explore the ful
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Marcelo Dai's Live Session Captured with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
Artist takes viewers on an immersive journe...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
With a project portfolio as rich as its history, Illuminate Hollywood has provided production, post, and technology services to major Hollywood studios, TV networks, digital platforms, and indie producers and distributors for nearly three decades. Since the boutique shop opened its doors in 1995, it has done scanning, editorial, color correction, digital intermediate, VFX, 2K/4K distribution, audio conform and layback work for episodic and feature film productions spanning Sons of Anarchy to Gone Girl. As production and post processes have grown more complex with growing adoption of high resolution, high dynamic range workflows, CEO Jim Hardy and President Sandy Crawford have evolved the studio's workflow to keep pace, adopting new technology like AJA Diskover Media Edition data curation and management software to manage an ever-increasing volume of data. 
