November 14, 2008

RON BURDETT TO HEAD LASERPACIFIC'S NEW 'MASTERING' UNIT

Ron Burdett has been appointed general manager of the mastering unit, and Lou Levinson will serve as the supervising colorist. Burdett recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Post Alliance, and is known for the leadership roles he's held in post production for more than 25 years. He was the founder and owner of Sunset Digital, where he helped to create the modern motion picture mastering and restoration industry infrastructure. He also led efforts to create digital authoring and encoding facilities for DVD and other new digital media, as well as built one of the industry's first digital cinema mastering environments.

Colorist Levinson has distinguished himself through his work with numerous top directors and cinematographers. His credits include digital masters for Apocalypse Now, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and many others. Levinson helped to create the Standard Test Evaluation Materials (SteM), which served as the definitive reference for the evaluation of digital cinema systems and standards. In addition, he chairs the Digital Intermediate Sub-Committee of the American Society of Cinematographers Technology Committee.

LaserPacific's president Leon Silverman says the studio "is fully engaged and ready to meet the coming challenge of helping to prepare motion picture libraries for the era of digital file-based deliveries and to create suitable masters for new digital distribution opportunities."

In addition to Burdett and Levinson, LaserPacific has brought in mastering colorist Tom Forletta, veteran quality assurance specialist Fred Johannsen, and David Houck, who will head mastering client services.