Displaying items by tag: Lily Wachowski

John Daro is a highly experienced Lead Digital Intermediate colorist with Warner Post Production Creative Services, someone I first met late last year while attending a Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) event on the Burbank lot on the latest developments in Filmmaker Mode.

It was clear to me then that John is extremely good at what he does, and it just so happens that he’s a great guy—someone who’s very enthusiastic about his work, and who ensures that the 4K HDR images we see on Ultra HD releases look as good as they possibly can.

As it also turns out, like me, he’s a huge fan of the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) and the original 1960s Speed Racer anime as well. So I was thrilled to have the chance recently to speak with John about his work on the new 4K remaster of the film. Here’s a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity…

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Bill Hunt (The Digital Bits): First of all, let me just say: I’ve had the Speed Racer disc for about a week now, and I love it. You guys absolutely nailed it. I first saw this film in the Ross Theatre on the Warner lot back in 2008, and I walked out of it thinking I’d just seen a masterpiece. But it seemed like I was the only person who felt that way.

John Daro (Warner Bros.): Well, you know, I’ll stand behind this. I think it was a little too… probably five years ahead of its time. I don’t think the world was ready for that kind of style.

BH: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And yet more recently, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Everything Everywhere All at Once… even Barbie… they all follow in its footsteps.

But back in 2008, when the film first came out on Blu-ray, it was only on a BD-25 disc. So the image was compressed and the film didn’t have lossless audio. Unless you saw Speed Racer in a theater, you really missed out on the best possible experience.

JD: Well, that’s the through line, right? It’s the technology of the time. In many ways, even just the visual effects of the film, that is what you could do at the time. Now, we get to breathe a little bit more life into it. And with the technology today, it’s gonna be as good as it can get. [Read on here...]