Each year Film Independent partners with EFILM | Company 3 on a grant that provides a select group of Film Independent Fellows with color correction and digital intermediate services for their narrative or documentary feature films.

Earlier this year, the companies also provided these services to Film Independent’s Project Involve short films. We spoke with cinematographer and Film Independent Fellow Ed Wu, who shot two of those films, about the benefits of working with a state-of-the-art post-production facility.

How did you come to work with EFILM | Company 3?
I was selected as a cinematography fellow in Film Independent’s signature diversity program, Project Involve. During the program I shot two short films: Drowning and Fractured. EFILM | Company 3 was gracious enough to lend its skill and expertise to us and let us color at their facilities.

What was your collaboration with EFILM | Company 3 and how has it changed the way you work or shoot?
EFILM | Company 3 provided me with a different colorist for each of the films that I shot. It was a great experience collaborating with them. It was easy to communicate with each colorist to achieve the specific looks that I was going for. Both of them were extremely fast but skillful enough to pay attention to the minute details of each and every shot. On set, everything is so fast-paced. Every second is important. After working with EFILM | Company 3, I’m now confident that I can save a little time on set and give the director more options to play with in post-production. The technicians and artists at EFILM | Company 3 can easily finesse the shots later.

What’s your film about and what is the visual look and feel you were trying to achieve; what role did EFILM | Company 3 play in the execution?
Each of my Project Involve films were extremely different as far as the look that I was trying to achieve. Drowning is about an overweight high schooler that already deals with a lot. But when his dream girl is the target of the school bully, he must decide whether to remain in the shadows or finally stand up. We didn’t want a sad depressing visual look for the film. The director and I felt like it would be too cliché for the story. So we decided on a very vibrant and poppy feeling for the colors in the film. Every frame has some sort of saturated blue, red or yellow in it. Although the vibrancy of the world contrasts what Gabe is feeling, the overall tone and lightheartedness of the film really comes together in the end. EFILM | Company 3 was able to help us push the set design and cinematography further by isolating those pops of color and pushing them even more. In the film, I also shot on four different camera formats for different purposes (primary camera, underwater, second unit camera, etc.) EFILM | Company 3 was able to match the footage seamlessly.

Fractured is about a kimchi farmer who is fighting to save his farm from an unprecedented drought as his wife suffers from a mysterious illness. The director and I decided that the story called for a very muted color palette. The browns and tans of the drying, dead crop field played a major role in the film. We wanted to extend this [feeling of death] throughout the visual color palette, not only the on the exterior shots, but in the interiors as well. Just like the crops, the marriage between the characters, Andy and Charmee, has been slowly dying. EFILM | Company 3 was able to take my vision and improve it by maintaining the decrepitness throughout the film.

Would you recommend EFILM | Company 3 and why, what sets them apart from other post houses in your opinion?
I would definitely recommend EFILM | Company 3 to anyone that’s looking for a top-notch experience. The facilities are brand new with top-of-the-line equipment. The personnel are kind and knowledgeable and always have the intent of the story and your vision in their minds. They are there to serve you as a filmmaker and storyteller. I’m able to bring ideas to them and they make them better.

Applications for the EFILM | Company 3 Feature Film Grant are open now. The deadline to apply is September 8.

Angel Kristi Williams / Artist Development Associate

Grant sponsored by