Vantablack To Be Used for the First Time in a Digital Colour Grading Facility

Date: 25/08/2021

Vantablack coating technology’s creators, Surrey NanoSystem, announced that they will install the first Vantablack light absorbing ceiling at Uhørt AS’ digital colour grading facility in Oslo.

Surrey NanoSystems and Uhørt AS, one of Scandinavia’s leading post production companies, are teaming up to coat the company’s ceiling with Vantablack, known as the blackest black in the world, able to absorb up to 99.965% of visible light.

This installation, – a first for Vantablack, which was initially developed for the space industry to reduce stray light in sensors, and has been used in the sports, gaming and automotive industries so far – will significantly reduce reflected stray light from the screen, allowing for more accurate colour grading in TV and film post-production. In fact, the colour grading process requires the clear identification of the full range of colours on the screen and unwanted light reflecting from surfaces within the suite slows down the process.

Until now, the post-production industry has been using a standard cinema fit out on the ceilings and walls in their edit suites.

“Current best in class black materials used in a colour grading suite tend to reflect back significant amounts of light from the screen to the point where some colours that are technically available on the screen are being washed out. This new coating technology is a significant step forward in improving post-production colour processing”, said Uhørt’s CEO, William Schaad.

“Vantablack VBx coatings are a significant step forward in allowing post-production environments to have better control of stray light during the viewing and colour grading process. This partnership is important not only because it is the first one, but because it will demonstrate to the rest of the Film and TV industry that existing stray light issues can be simply resolved without major facility redesigns or large budgets”, added Aidan Metcalfe, Surrey NanoSystems VBx Business Development Director.