twofour54 enhances post-production facilities through Dolby Vision certification
November 11, 2019
twofour54 Abu Dhabi has announced that its award-winning post-production facilities are now certified with Dolby Vision technology and tools, meaning their staff is fully trained and the premises are fully equipped to meet the post-production needs for colour-grading and mastering Dolby Vision HDR content.
This industry-leading technology ensures that the content created in twofour54’s editing suite stays enhanced across the wide variety of mediums in use today – from TVs to mobiles and laptops. Dolby Vision brings extraordinary colour, contrast, and brightness to the screen, transforming the experience of watching TV shows and films on devices.
twofour54 is the first certified Dolby Vision facility in the UAE, in an endeavor to achieve highest global standard for the content created in Abu Dhabi’s media hub – in both Arabic and English.
Such high-quality content would be fit for release on digital streaming platforms, Netflix or Amazon Prime, opening up even more channels for content creators in Abu Dhabi.
Katrina Anderson, Director, Commercial Services, at twofour54: “Being the first production facility in the UAE to receive Dolby Vision certification demonstrates twofour54’s commitment to growing the creative industries in Abu Dhabi by ensuring media companies have access to the best in the business.
“The way we consume content has been transformed by connectivity and digitalization, with consumers able to choose not only what they watch but where, when and how. This means it is essential that content creators have access to industry-leading technology such as Dolby Vision in order to ensure their content reaches as wide an audience as possible around the world.”
As new players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime compete with existing broadcasters, the global production sector is experiencing unprecedented demand for high-quality production facilities.
Netflix’s expenditure on content creation soared from $4.6 billion in 2015 to $12 billion last year, while other platforms, such as Amazon Prime, Apple TV and YouTube, are also seeking to create more unique content. Consequently, the global demand for production facilities such as those offered by twofour54 is outstripping supply.
To capture a share in this prosperous market, Dolby Vision certification allows users of twofour54’s facilities to include more detail and depth, heightening the realism and enhancing the viewing experience. The transition from standard dynamic range to Dolby Vision HDR content is as revolutionary as the transition from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD).
“We have seen an increased interest for Dolby Vision in home entertainment due to growing popularity of digital streaming services in Middle East, and we are now able to support studios and content creators with leading-edge tools that are deployed at twofour54 world-class post facility,” said Pankaj Kedia, Managing Director – Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories. “Dolby Vision is the preferred HDR mastering workflow for leading studios and growing number of content creators, and hence this latest offering demonstrates twofour54 commitment to make Abu-Dhabi a preferred location for film and TV production”.
For colour grading of movies and episodic content, Dolby has created a workflow that generates shot by shot dynamic metadata that allows filmmakers to see how their content will look on consumer devices. The colourist can then add “trims” to adjust how the mapping looks and also deliver a better looking SDR version for content providers serving early Ultra HD (UHD) televisions that are capable only of SDR reproduction. Multiple ways of achieving backward compatibility are currently proposed, but only one solution is in market today.
Since its inception in 2011, twofour54’s post-production facility has created a vast amount of high-quality content for audiences across the world. Becoming a Dolby Vision certified facility strengthens twofour54’s position within the international media industry and will only enhance the quality of content produced at its world-class facilities.