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Queen Street West - filming location in Canada

SCENE 01 / LOOK DEVELOPMENT

Look Development

Creative visual style development and LUT creation for distinctive cinematic aesthetics that define your production's unique identity.

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Look development establishes the visual style and color aesthetic of a production before principal photography begins. Through testing with cameras, lenses, lighting, and LUTs, look development creates reference images and technical specifications that guide the entire production toward a unified visual identity.

We support look development by coordinating camera tests, LUT creation, and collaboration between your cinematographer and colorist. Our team arranges testing facilities and technical resources to ensure your production's visual look is defined, documented, and ready to guide consistent image capture from day one.

Capabilities

Visual Style Development Excellence

Create distinctive visual aesthetics through comprehensive look development, custom LUT design, and detailed style guides.

01

Creative Design

Unique visual aesthetics that define your production's identity and enhance storytelling.

Distinctive

02

LUT Creation

Custom look-up tables for on-set monitoring and post-production workflows.

Technical

03

Style Guides

Comprehensive documentation ensuring consistent implementation across all phases.

Consistent

04

Workflow Integration

Seamless look management from production through final delivery.

Seamless

Creative Services

Technical Deliverables

Our Look Development Process

We follow a collaborative creative process that ensures your visual vision is fully realized and documented for consistent implementation.

1

Creative Discovery

We discuss your vision, gather references, and analyze your footage to understand the aesthetic goals.

2

Look Exploration

We develop multiple look options on key scenes, presenting variations for your review and feedback.

3

Refinement

We refine the chosen direction, perfecting the look and creating all technical deliverables.

4

Implementation

We deliver LUTs, style guides, and documentation for seamless production and post integration.

Why Us

Why Choose Our Look Development

01.

Creative Vision

Innovative aesthetic design that elevates visual storytelling.

02.

Color Science

Advanced technical expertise in color workflow design.

03.

Collaborative Process

Close partnership with filmmakers throughout development.

04.

Complete Solutions

End-to-end look management from concept to delivery.

On Location

LUT and look design through Tattersall, DNEG, Pixomondo, and MELS Post

Here is how the work lines up. Look development for Canadian productions runs through the country's senior color suites — Tattersall Sound & Picture and Studio Post in Toronto, DNEG Vancouver / Toronto / Montreal, Pixomondo Toronto, Lakeside, Urban Post Production, and MELS Post in Montreal — most of them outfitted with FilmLight Daylight and Baselight rooms paired with DaVinci Resolve Studio for on-set LUT iteration and Sony BVM-HX310 reference monitoring.

We coordinate prep-week camera-and-lens tests on ARRI Alexa 35, Sony Venice 2, RED V-Raptor, and the Atlas Orion anamorphic series Denis Villeneuve has favored since the Dune films, with the colorist embedded from the first shoot day so the dailies LUT, monitoring LUT, and final-grade LUT remain a single referenced object across production and post.

Andrea Chlebak (Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Dune — the Villeneuve regular), Sergio Pasquariello at DNEG Vancouver (Dune: Part Two), Maxine Gervais in Montreal, Bill Ferwerda at Lakeside Toronto, and Ashley Brown at Pixomondo each bring a documented show LUT library we draw against for reference comparisons during the early discovery sessions.

Reference work is shaped by the Canadian cinematic vocabulary the production is most likely to live alongside: Cronenberg's clinical, desaturated palette for psychological-thriller projects; the Inuit natural-light camera work of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and Isuma Productions for projects shooting on Indigenous land; the saturated alien biome palette of Star Trek: Discovery (CBS Studios Toronto) for science-fiction series; Villeneuve's amber-and-shadow Sicario / Dune approach for elevated drama. Show LUTs are authored as 33x33x33 .cube files with paired CDL ASC values so DITs, edit, VFX vendors (DNEG, Pixomondo, Mr.

X / Wolfe). The final-grade colorist all share the same starting point, and a style guide ships with every test reel documenting print-film emulation choices, skin-tone targets, and Dolby Vision HDR trim intent. The deliverable pack covers monitoring LUTs for ARRI / Sony / RED HDR and SDR outputs, dailies LUTs for the post house, and the show LUT exported in formats every downstream vendor in the Canadian pipeline expects.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

When should we start look development?

Ideally during pre-production. Early look development allows you to use monitoring LUTs on set, ensure consistent dailies, and align all departments on the visual direction. However, we can also develop looks during post-production if needed.

What do you need to create a look?

We work best with sample footage from your camera tests or early production, visual references (films, photographs, artwork), mood boards, and a discussion of your creative goals. The more context we have about your story and vision, the better we can serve your project.

How do LUTs work in production?

We create monitoring LUTs that can be applied to camera feeds and dailies, giving everyone on set a preview of the intended look. These technical LUTs are optimized for different display types and viewing conditions while preserving full dynamic range in your RAW footage.

Can you match a specific film or reference look?

We can analyze and recreate aesthetic qualities from references, though we develop unique interpretations rather than exact copies. Our goal is to understand what you respond to in references and create a distinctive look that serves your specific story and footage.

Productions in Canada that need this often pair it with Color Correction Services, Color Grading Services, and Online Conform & QC Services for full coverage. Most projects also draw on Narrative & Documentary Editing and Foley Recording Services.

On Set

Ready to Define Your Visual Style?

Let's create distinctive looks that make your production unforgettable.