Breaking barriers: EFilm enlists storage area networks and low-cost disk storage in its quest to redefine the state of the art of digital mastering.(Special section: storage in the studio)

In Hollywood, pushing the envelope beyond what's been done before can bring high praise from critics and industry peers. According to EFilm, a leading digital intermediate film company and subsidiary owned by Panavision and Deluxe Laboratories, it can also bring you almost more business than you call handle.

That's the double-edged sword of success EFilm has had to deal with since it created the first 100 percent digitally mastered feature-length film in 2001--Paramount Pictures' When We Were Soldiers, directed by Mel Gibson. The film, mastered in standard definition, or 2K-resolution format, soon brought other filmmakers to EFilm's door for the same digital ...