Fremont, CA, USA - Blackmagic Design today announced that the alien abduction thriller “Descendent” was graded by Alastor Arnold of FotoKem using DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

“Descendent” was produced by David Lawson of Rustic Films and Caleb Ward, along with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Marvel’s “Daredevil,” “The Endless”), and was directed by Peter Cilella. The film was shot by cinematographer Alexander Chinnici. Set in present day Los Angeles, the film follows Sean Bruner, a school security guard who is haunted by childhood trauma while preparing for the birth of his first child with his wife, Andrea. After a beam of light appears in the sky during a late night shift, Sean wakes up in the hospital with an inexplicable talent for vivid, unsettling drawings of extraterrestrials and desert landscapes. As his visions blur the line between dreams and reality, Sean’s grip on sanity unravels. With time running out, he must confront his fears to escape his family’s tragic legacy.

Chinnici always shoots with the idea of creating the look of his films on set rather than in post, and the planning for “Descendent” was no different. “I prep thoroughly and do as much as possible in camera,” said Chinnici. “With that said, I am acutely aware of the post tools available in DaVinci Resolve Studio and will lean on them when it is intelligent to do so. They are all there for the taking, and it’s about utilizing them efficiently for the best results.”

Chinnici brought his preferred shooting LUT to longtime friend and collaborator Alastor Arnold at post production facility FotoKem. “Alex had a very clear vision for the look of the film from the very beginning,” said Arnold. “Most of our discussions were conceptual, focusing on mood and style. He already had a LUT he loved, I made some slight modifications for grading, and we were set. My job was not to mess things up, while still looking for opportunities to enhance and shape where appropriate.”

Though Chinnici leaned heavily on creating the look on set, he did appreciate having Arnold available to help enhance the project in post. “I would say that Alastor made it ‘classier,’” added Chinnici. “The saturation we got on set was too high and leaning too genre. There was always a very naturalistic look, but the key to this film was riding that line, and Al got us to where we needed to be with subtle but very impactful adjustments.”

A key area of the film that required the most attention was the pivotal alien abduction scenes. Chinnici used tilt shift lenses and hard light to create an unsettling image, but in post, Arnold was able to take the sequences to another level. “I layered many OFX plugins to bend and bow the image,” added Arnold. “Heavy zoom blurs and chromatic aberration elevated the feel further. One of the things I love about DaVinci Resolve is just how many OFX plugins there are. The toolset is so deep and fulfilling to use, especially the depth map which has quickly become indispensable!”

“With our limited budget, I felt that the impact of the imagery in these sequences wasn’t good enough,” said Chinnici. “Al really brought these sequences home. It was fun jamming with him and the two of us bringing idea after idea to take the images to the next level in Resolve. Utilizing zoom blur, vignetting and even an introduction of chromatic aberration, this sequence was brought to an entirely new level.”

“Descendent” is now available on demand.