Filmlook, Inc.


Filmlook, Inc. is a post-production company based in Burbank, California. Established in 1989, it specializes in a form of image processing used on television programs, commonly known as film look. The company has won an Emmy Award for its technical achievements.

History

In 1987, company founder Robert Faber began developing the company's process. In 1989, the company was founded and introduced to the industry.

Details

The Filmlook process affects three main features to achieve the appearance of film: motion characteristics, gray scale/contrast, and grain pattern.
Invented in 1989, the Filmlook image processing was first used in a test run in a 1991 episode of the ABC sitcom Growing Pains titled "Not With My Carol You Don't". However, the first television series to regularly use Filmlook was Beakman's World, a kid-oriented science series which ran from 1992–1996 on CBS. In 1995, Filmlook was used on the LL Cool J sitcom In the House. However, when the series moved from NBC to UPN in 1996, the series began using unprocessed video.
In recent years, Filmlook has become known for its use on nearly all Disney Channel Original Series made from 2002 to 2008. That's So Raven, which at one point was the channel's most-watched series, was the first Disney Channel show to use the processing. Since then, four other original series on the channel have had their taped product processed by the company: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, That's So Raven spinoff Cory in the House, Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody spinoff The Suite Life on Deck. Filmlook processing has also been used on segments within the Nickelodeon series "The Amanda Show" for commercial parodies and the mock teen series "Moody's Point."

List of television productions that use/have used Filmlook

†Denotes series that were previously or otherwise broadcast with unprocessed video.