US Facility house Outpost Digital is opening a purpose-built HD facility in Gresse Street, north of Oxford Street in London, so it can compete in both short-form and long-form markets.
US Facility house Outpost Digital is opening a purpose-built HD facility in Gresse Street, north of Oxford Street in London, so it can compete in both short-form and long-form markets.

The company, which already has major sites in California and New York, has moved its London operations from Notting Hill to a new 5,500sq ft site in Noho. Outpost has worked on feature films such as Laws of Attraction and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Outpost's managing director, Anthony Edel, said: 'This facility has been set up to break away from the standard model. Whether it's for high-end feature films and commercials or long-form broadcast projects, we're offering a total HD virtual environment.'

Four virtual suites will use a Quartz routing system to allow operators to switch between packages, including Avid Adrenaline, Final Cut Pro HD, Protools, Flame, Shake and Maya. All suites will feature 5.1 audio monitoring with HD capabilities. Forty-six hot desks will complement the virtual suites, which will be available to producers and compositors to access compositing programs such as After Effects and Combustion.

Outpost Digital has a strong working relationship with Apple; it is the only site in the UK believed to possess an Xsan server. Edel explained: 'Apple works closely with Outpost in the States and that is being continued here. It will get aggressively involved in training using our video conferencing in an attempt to open the market up to different options.'

Edel added: 'We're negotiating some top visual effects talent deals. We aim to break even in about 14 months.'

The site will open for business on 1 September.

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