Charbon Studio: moving to a new movie level

Charbon Studio is a Belgian film post-production company specialising in colour grading, image calibration, digital mastering, and finishing services for cinema and audio-visual projects. It was founded in 2010 by Michaël Cinquin, and remains privately held, with operations in Brussels and Wallonia.

The company initially began in the living room of its founder, gradually expanding to larger dedicated studio spaces by 2012 as its client base and project scale grew. Later Eric Pecher joined, now acting as a studio manager and post-production coordinator.

Big jobs call for big spaces

“The new studio was a much better space than what we had been used to before. We first started with small budget films, short movies, documentaries but we soon began working with ambitious young Belgian production companies. They became our historic clients and as they grew so did the size of our projects.”
Naturally, bigger jobs and larger clients and co-productions meant that more space and greater capacity were needed again. "Space is important because we basically work in a cinema room. We have to recreate an environment and experience similar to that of the audience" explains Eric Pecher.

State-of-the-art facilities

“Our previous studio was fitted with a 3 meter base screen, only 6-10 people could work round it. That was quite tight. So we decided to open a new studio in Liège at the Pôle Image. It is a hub for creative industries - the perfect environment for us.” For the purpose of this expansion, Charbon turned to Wallimage for an EU-backed loan backed by the EIF under the EU’s Investment Plan for Europe (EFSI).

They understand our business, the environment, the industry. They knew what we were doing. At a bank we’d have difficulty explaining why we need this and the opportunities it creates. ”

- Eric Pecher, Studio Manager

The financing allowed the company to acquire a state-of-the-art projector. “Now we have a real 20-50 person cinema room and a 7 meter base screen but for us the biggest impact is on the feel of our final product. The quality of our screening is now like the best cinemas in the world. The new facilities have now opened the door to working with larger co-productions from all over Europe.”

A telling name

“People often ask why Charbon,” says Eric. “The name actually defines us in so many ways: Charbon (coal in French) is rooted in Wallonia’s past and economic development, and it defines our industrial heritage. Charbon is also a shade of black - which is vital to the grading work in films because it is able to enhance images and highlight details. And it’s also the name of our founder Michaël's cat. If you look carefully, the cat appears on many of our communication visuals in one way or another.”