Molinare announces major expansion across all picture services

Leading UK post-production facility, Molinare, announces the expansion of its Picture Department. Following a year of exponential growth, the department has seen substantial investment and the appointment of key creative and operational talent to support the burgeoning roster of work. 

In the past year, Molinare’s Online Department has doubled the size of its Flame capacity from five to ten, making it the largest Flame department in post-production, outside of VFX. To increase performance across all ten Flames, Molinare has partnered with pixitmedia, installing the company’s award winning pixstore. The software defined storage solution will centralise all storage, drastically improving creatives’ experience and collaboration between artists and Flames. The solution will also streamline the connection to our grading and QC services, resulting in improvements across render, copy and delivery timelines and deliver the best in class service for our clients.

In addition to the department’s strengthened infrastructure, the team have welcomed three new Senior Editors to work across the company’s high-end roster of work in both unscripted and scripted.

Ben North joins from Lipsync Post, where he has spent the past eight years working on the likes of the BBC’s Ghosts and Steve McQueen’s Small Axe. With his meticulous eye and experience in Flame, North brings a wealth of knowledge to the department, complimenting his fellow Online Editors talents.

Joining North is fellow Senior Online Editor, Scott Hinchcliffe. Bringing over 30 years of experience to the role, Hinchcliffe has enjoyed long stints at Halo Post Production, Blue 2.0 and Pepper Post. Credits include British classics Sherlock and Spooks and more recently The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Rogue Agent.

The third Senior Editor to join the team is Dan Preston. Preston joins from Clear-Cut Pictures, where from 2013 he took the role of Head of Online and in his last year, Head of Picture. With Brit drama classics, Robin Hood, Misfits and Primeval to his name, Preston has focused on factual projects in recent years, working on 1000 Years a Slave, The Queen’s Guards: A Year in Service and New Elizabethans with Andrew Marr.

Further investment has been made to the company’s colour department, which has recently opened a new state of the art grading suite, with another in the pipeline, increasing capacity to seven rooms. In conjunction with the expansion, the department has had a complete overhaul of its Baselight systems, upgrading all grading suites to the latest edition, Baselight 5.3.

Joining the Colour team is Senior Colourist, Lee Clappison. Clappison brings impressive experience across feature films, factual documentaries and drama projects, further strengthening the team’s offering to its clients. Having spent time at a Lipsync Post, Goldcrest Films and Suite, Clappison’s credits include Kate & Koji, Two Doors Down, Toast of Tinsel Town and Blithe Spirit.  

With the added investment to both the Online and Colour departments, Molinare has hired Tom Emptage as Head of Picture Finishing. A new role at the company, Emptage will use his vast experience from working at the likes of Envy Post Production, The Mill and Channel 4 to implement and ensure streamlined and consistent HDR workflows between the company’s grade and online departments. Alongside this Tom will be working with the newly acquired hardware to deliver high framerate HDR content to global platforms and channels.

Working closely with Emptage, is the recently appointed Head of Picture Operations, Hannah Mason. Mason joins from Clear-Cut Pictures, where she held the position of Technical Services Manager. She brings an in-depth technical knowledge of the factual post process, having worked on the ground managing large multi-skilled teams in previous roles, and as part of her remit, will look after MCR, Data I/O and QC.

The final addition to the team is QC and Mastering Supervisor, Diogo Oliveira, who joins from Picture Shop Post. Reporting to Mason, Oliveira will oversee the QC team and be responsible for not only the mastering and QC on Molinare’s internal projects, but all external QC work as well.

Nigel Bennet, CEO, Molinare, comments on the expansion, “Whilst it is undeniable that the last couple of years have been tumultuous for the post-production industry, the positive changes I see in the Picture Department make me incredibly excited for the future. Molinare is in the strongest position we have ever been, all made possible with the knowledgeable teams and the cutting edge technology we continue to test and invest in. The team our Head of Picture, Tom Woodall, has assembled, will drive the company to its next stage in growth strategy. More importantly, they all show a passion and love for the craft that makes them the perfect fit for Molinare.”

Tom Woodall, Head of Picture, adds, “I am very proud of what we have achieved in the past year. When a company grows, so too does the pressure on infrastructure and people. As our roster of worked ramped up, it became apparent of the requirements needed for the Picture Department to excel. Now, with a great team supported by a strong tech backbone we can continue to deliver the high standard of work Molinare is synonymous with.”