Michael Mann is never afraid to use cutting edge technologies and workflows to create compelling stories and Miami Vice was no exception. Michael Mann and co-producer Bryan Carroll again turned to Laser Pacific to create the post production support system which served as the digital motion picture laboratory for his digital production.

Laser Pacific’s introduction to Michael Mann and his intense passion for the creative, technical process began with an explosive 1990 mini-series – Drug Wars. Over the past 5 years, Laser Pacific collaborated with Mann on the 2001 film Ali, continuing through the television series Robbery Homicide Division, and expanded on Collateral. On Ali and on Collateral, Laser Pacific served as the front-end lab for both film and digitally captured images, sending files to the cutting room, providing dailies, and creating a quality-controlled screening room where Mann could see accurate images. On Collateral, Laser Pacific ushered the images through the preview process and the premiere screenings.

On, Miami Vice everything was kicked up a notch. After extensive testing of various cameras, Mann and cinematographer Dion Beebe, ASC, shot most of the film using the Thomson Grass Valley Viper camera. Laser Pacific again provided front-end lab services and high definition laboratory dailies services, helping to set up a traveling screening room for dailies that utilized an NEC 2K-iS8 digital projector. Laser Pacific’s expert staff served as technical consultants on dailies, preview screenings and premieres in London, Los Angeles, and Miami, tuning the projectors and theaters to Mann’s specifications.

Preproduction testing was extensive, and Laser Pacific was there at each step, helping to determine which workflow was most efficient. “Bryan Carroll is amazing at taking what has been perfected over the years in the film production and lab process and creating digital workflow systems that mimics it, so that people are familiar with each step,” says Andre Trejo, Laser Pacific Vice President, Account Services. “Our job was to smooth out the behind-the-curtain technology. Michael and Bryan have witnessed the evolution of this technology. Together, we came up with a straightforward, efficient, and understandable way of bringing their vision to fruition while not letting the technology become an obstacle.”

During the shoot, Laser took the 4:4:4 camera original tapes and used them to create 4:4:4 HDSR dailies and dubs for the cutting room and for studio viewing. Mann was able to see high definition dailies, projected with the same 2K Digital Cinema projection technology that would be used at previews, premiere screenings, and for the digital cinema release.

Laser Pacific was also chosen by the filmmakers and Universal Studios to create the DCI-compatible digital cinema package that was distributed to theaters for the theatrical release. Laser Pacific used the digital cinema content preparation and packaging technology it co-developed with Kodak Digital Cinema and perfected on the release of Mission: Impossible III. The system features a superior JPEG 2000 digital encoding system developed by Kodak.

“We know that Michael is going to work up until the last possible moment” says Leon Silverman, President of Laser Pacific. “His creative process is to put everything he has into the picture and he will use every second available,” says Silverman. “The goal at Laser Pacific is to utilize the technology, our creativity and our brain power to help create a transparent technically creative service to filmmakers. Michael Mann and co-producer Bryan Carroll understand that the technology must be seamlessly integrated into the workflow so that the creativity is unfettered. That’s where Kodak color science and Laser Pacific innovation work together, allowing creative filmmakers to concentrate on creating. As Michael’s experimentation with the digital tool set has grown, so have his expectations in terms of image quality, efficiency and workflow process.”

“The work that Michael Mann is doing is prescient,” says Silverman. “He sees digital technology as part of his creative palette of tools, which is something we’ve believed at Laser Pacific for a long time. We’re now putting this idea into practice, stretching ourselves to invent and adapt the necessary support services. Working with Michael and Bryan is an exhilarating ride. Michael Mann’s energy is legend and the legend is true. He consistently reaches to achieve. He is one of the hardest working filmmakers in our industry today. To be able to keep up, to be able to service his needs with the same intensity that he expects of himself makes me so proud of our team’s ability and commitment. With the delivery of Miami Vice, as at the end of all the Michael Mann projects we have been involved with, we take a break, catch our breath and rest up a bit, ready for the next opportunity to hopefully reach and excel.”

Laser Pacific is currently providing calibrated digital dailies and previews, for Michael Mann's new movie, Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and shot by Dante Spinotti, ASC with Sony's F-23 camera.