Blazing Griffin opens cinema-standard grading theatre

Glasgow post house, Blazing Griffin, has opened its dedicated DCI-compliant theatrical film grading suite, “marking an important milestone for the company and for cinema-standard finishing outside of London.”

The new grading theatre is currently the only dedicated DCI-compliant theatrical film grading facility in Scotland.

The new grading theatre builds on Blazing Griffin’s November 2025 acquisition of boutique post-production facility Brick + Mortar, bringing Co-Founders Tom Cairns (Senior Colourist) and Jack Lang (Creative Director & Editor) into the team.

The build forms part of the company’s growing post-production offering, which spans editorial, grading, sound, VFX and finishing under one roof. The theatre will be used by Blazing Griffin’s in-house Picture Finishing team – Senior Colourist Gareth Bishop, Senior Colourist Tom Cairns, Colourist Taryn Calverey, Colourist & Online Editor Lewis Carmichael, and Online Editor Stephen Beavis.

In 2025, the team delivered colour grading and other post production services on a range of high-profile feature films, including California Schemin’ (James McAvoy’s directorial debut, which had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival), Glenrothan (Brian Cox’s directorial debut, which also premiered at TIFF), Grow (directed by John McPhail, premiering at Edinburgh International Film Festival), and Sundance Film Festival selections Extra Geography (directed by Molly Manners), and Lady (Olive Nwosu’s directorial debut).

Built to full DCI specifications and equipped with a 4K Christie CP4420-Xe cinema projector, a bespoke cinema screen, and a Baselight grading system, the space delivers a fully colour-managed theatrical pipeline allowing for accurate projection, final QC, and confident sign-off for cinema release.

Beyond grading, the theatre has been designed as a complete theatrical review environment, supporting DCP playback, final QC and client sign-off, with calibrated Genelec monitoring and Q-SYS control.

Charlotte Walsh, Head of Post Production at Blazing Griffin: “Post production carries the responsibility of bringing to life the vision and craft that has come before us on every project, and colour grading is a vital part of that journey. Investing in a theatrical grade suite was a natural next step for us, and to have elevated the creative service offering in Scotland for both our local and international clients is something we’re very proud of.”

Gareth Bishop, Senior Colourist at Blazing Griffin: “We’ve built a really exceptional team across both the creative and technical side. Our own dedicated theatrical grading suite is an exciting step for us and helps to grow Blazing Griffin’s reputation as a post production destination. Having great coffee in the room doesn’t hurt either.”

The development of the grading theatre was made possible in part through grant and investment funding from Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency. Funding contributed to key elements of the build enabling Blazing Griffin to deliver a facility that meets the full technical demands of cinema-standard finishing. This assistance aims to help Blazing Griffin achieve its ambition to strengthen Scotland’s screen infrastructure and ensure world-class post-production capability exists here.

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