SHORT CUTS
A52, Los Angeles, created the main title sequence for HBO’s Carnivàle, a new series which debuted Sept. 14. The sequence begins with a deck of Tarot cards falling into the sand. The camera moves in on a "The World" card, illustrated with a famous work of art. The camera delves into the picture, finding footage from several iconic moments in history, then moves back out of a different card ("Ace of Swords"). Repeating this approach in using Tarot themes and renowned artwork, scenes from some of history’s greatest triumphs and challenges are presented. At the end, the wind blows away the last two cards ("Moon" and "Sun") to reveal the Carnivàle title artwork. The pieces of artwork were identified using several key researchers, then ordered as transparencies from agencies that included Art Images and Corbis. Because of the HD finishing requirements, each transparency was scanned by Powerhouse Electronic Imaging, Los Angeles, at high resolution, producing a 300 MB file for each one. A52 lead designer Vonetta Taylor worked with designers Ryan Gibson and Jesse Monsour to cut out each of the images, and separate background from foreground elements in Photoshop. From there, A52’s CGI team of 3-D supervisor/animator Denis Gauthier, and 3-D animators Westley Sarokin and Jeff Willette assembled all the 2-D imagery into layers in Houdini to create the 2.5-D artwork exploration sequences. Those sequences were rendered using Renderman, and then exported to Discreet Inferno. Each of the piece’s stock footage clips was compiled by Inferno artist Patrick Murphy and Taylor in Inferno to match an introductory Houdini sequence. The end frame of each clip then segued into another Houdini sequence that traveled back through layers to reveal a different piece of artwork and its appropriate Tarot card. Numerous researchers and stock agencies also helped to secure motion stock after it had been identified at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Telecine sessions in Washington, Los Angeles and New York transferred the original film footage into two 24p D5 passes, one low and one high. The high passes were used in all the transitions to the Houdini artwork sequences. Murphy and Inferno artist Simon Brewster oversaw the piece’s final color grading and online assembly. Online editor Ben Looram conformed the finished project. The live action footage of the Carnivàle title artwork in the sand was done by Murphy and Taylor, and filmed by DP James Glennon on location in California’s Santa Clarita Valley. Absolutely Archives, Riverdale, Md., did much of the research, with Susan Nickerson of Nickerson Research, Los Angeles, providing additional stock footage research support. Stock imagery was provided by Amistad Research Center, New Orleans; Art Resource, New York; Corbis Motion, New York; Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and The Mary Evans Picture Library, London. Original imagery was also commissioned by illustrator Jimmy Yamasaki of Los Angeles’ 88phases. Motion stock footage was provided by CMG Worldwide, Los Angeles; Fast Images, New York; F.I.L.M. Archives, New York; Grinberg Images, New York; John E. Allen (JEA) Inc., Park Ridge, N.J.; Streamline (stock footage), New York; and the UCLA Film & Television Archives, Hollywood. Project colorists included Tim Masick of Company 3, New York; Dennis Cardamone of Ascent Media, Burbank, Calif.; and Tim Bono at Bono Film & Video, Arlington, Va. A52’s project team also included managing director Rick Hassen, creative director Angus Wall, executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons, and senior producer Scott Boyajan.
Crawford Post Production, Atlanta, a service area of Crawford Communications Inc., provided high-definition editing and other HD post production services for nine half-hour episodes of Great Museums, a documentary series featuring America’s museums. Great Museums, produced by Echo Pictures, Atlanta, is in its second season and currently airs on various public television stations. Each episode highlights a single museum, telling its story through interviews with the museum’s experts and high-definition videography of the museum’s collections. After completing each location HD video shoot, Echo Pictures brought its hi-def camera masters to Crawford, where the footage was down-converted to standard definition. Echo’s freelance editor Bobby Jones then performed the offline edit on an Avid Express DV. Crawford senior HD editor Ron Heidt used Crawford’s Hybrid suite for the online editing session. Heidt integrated the HD location footage, digital assets, titles, graphics, credits and a wide range of archival material to bring the project together.
Tony & Guy, the international hair salon/hair care products chain, recently turnkeyed several high-end training projects at Video Post & Transfer (VPT), Dallas. Under a tight five-day deadline turnaround, a 20-minute presentation video, two MTV-style training tapes and several commercials were completed in preparation for a major trade show in Las Vegas, where the company unveiled its latest TIGI products. VPT’s senior colorist was Steve Franko, offline editor was Russ Greg, and online Fire/Inferno artists were Martin Spirit, Mark Sullivan and Nick Mueth. VPT’s in-house music division, cuppa joe music, Dallas, worked on the sound design, mixing and vocal recording.
MUSIC NOTES
Hollywood-based Associated Production Music (APM), a provider of production music, has launched the Siren Cues music library, a new collection of original music for use in motion picture advertising. Siren Cues offers a music library of intro, transition and back-end cues, with each individual compact disc organized by movie genre instead of musical style. The "Back End" CD features third act trailer cues, with music rising in volume and intensity. To help advertisers target 15- to 25-year-old males, the Siren Cues music library includes the "Action Adventure Young Male," featuring musical styles that test well with that demographic. Additional titles available via the Siren Cues catalog include: "Action Adventure," themes with different styles to complement a variety of characters; "Romance/Romantic Comedy/Comedy," cues for lovers and comedic characters; "Drama," dramatic cues in a variety of musical styles; "Suspense/Horror," creepy themes with surprises to keep the audience guessing; "Music of Life," musical cues to heighten all kinds of dramatic life decisions; "Urban Drama," cues to accompany characters through urban settings worldwide; "Epic," a collection of cues to drive Valhalla out of the heavens; and "Contemporary Beats & Strings," cues to lend period pieces a bit of modern cool. Associated Production Music is a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing and BMG Music Publishing.
Bicoastal Agent Jackson composed the music for a Smirnoff Ice Triple Black ad called "Cell Phone." Created by J. Walter Thompson, New York, the :30 was directed by Jaume of bicoastal/international Partizan, and uses the tagline, "Intelligent Nightlife." Agent Jackson credits go to composers Mark Wilson and Chino Maurice, arranger Josh Brochhausen, executive producer Christopher Joannou, and producer Adam Weber.
IN GEAR
Panasonic, Secaucus, N.J., has announced continuing development of the D-5 HD format with an enhanced version of its industry-standard multi-format/multi-standard mastering VTR, the AJ-HD3700B, a universal international mastering recorder. The AJ-HD3700B VTR can record and play back both 625 PAL and 525 NTSC D-5 cassettes, as well as D-5 tapes from all previous versions of the production machine. The AJ-HD3700B provides full-bandwidth 4:2:2 digital 10-bit component recording with 74.25 MHz (Y) and 37.125 MHz (Pb/Pr) sampling in HD formats to ensure the picture quality demanded in high-end applications. The AJ-HD3700B meets HD studio standards for production, editing and broadcasting. Its picture quality is particularly well suited to repeated dubbing and editing, and for large-screen cinema playback. Eight channels of audio are standard in all formats. New time code and format conversion enhancements offered by the AJ-HD3700B include conversion from 24 frames to 30 frames progressive time code, and the ability to display the original 25 frame time code output when playing back footage in 24 frame mode. In addition, new filter sections have been added to improve image conversions. This significantly enhances the user’s ability to control the down-converted output quality for such applications as DVD mastering and standard-definition masters for TV distribution. The AJ-HD3700B can record and play back 1080/23.98p and 1080/24p HD formats. Its progressive image recording of 24 fps film sources without frame-rate conversion enhances artistic image expression and allows high-quality digital mastering of film content, such as movies and commercials, into formats suitable for broadcasting and DVD packaging. The AJ-HD3700B records up to 124 minutes in 1080/59.94i, 720/59.94p, and 480/59.94i. Recording times up to 149 minutes in 1080/50i, 1080/25p, and 112 minutes in 625/50i are possible, as well as 155 minutes in 24p. The AJ-HD3700B plays back existing 525-line and 625-line D-5 and D-5 HD cassettes, as well as offering true progressive scan (24p) input/output and segmented frame (24Psf) I/O for 1080p production environments. The SMPTE Standard 292M serial digital link for HD-SDI is supported at 1.5Gb/s. In standard definition, D-5 recording is non-compressed with full editing and pre-read features. Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a supplier of broadcast, professional video and presentation products and systems.
