Digital Vision has today announced that its Nucoda Film Master system has been used to grade and master the new 3D animated feature from Warner Bros “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” by Australian animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic. Released on September 24th in the US and October 15th in the UK, the film is expected to be a box office smash.
Directed by acclaimed American filmmaker Zack Snyder and produced by Zareh Nalbandian of Animal Logic, the feature is based on the well known <i<Guardians of Ga'Hoole books by Kathryn Lasky. The story centres on Soren, a young barn owl fascinated by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. The film features a number of famous voices including Geoffrey Rush, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Abbie Cornish and David Wenham.
The entire 3D grading and mastering was completed on Nucoda Film Master by Animal Logic’s award-winning Head Colorist Eric Whipp. He explains, "For this style of animated film we use compositing mattes to isolate all the characters and parts of the image to create specific looks in detail. In a similar way you might grade a live action film, we do the same except we have the luxury of perfectly cut out mattes for characters.
“We initially graded the film in 2D to get the look right. Once we got to a point where we were happy, we applied all the settings to the right eye and then switched into stereo mode for final tweaks. All windows and shapes had to be re-aligned for the right eye, and then we did other alterations such as light level adjustments. Once in stereo mode, layer by layer color adjustments can easily be made using the Nucoda Film Master. Another useful feature is the system’s Open EXR functionality. All the shots were composited in EXR format, which was great as it was like working with a film negative in the sense that there was range in the highlights that could be pulled back if required.”
He concludes, "The Nucoda Film Master really enhanced the creative process of this production. We literally added hundreds of lens flares in the grade using the system’s Sapphire plug-in tools to enhance the story and the look of the film, which really put the icing on the cake."
Opening in the US in theatres and IMAX on September 24, 2010, the film will be presented in 3D and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
About Digital Vision
Digital Vision provides innovative image restoration, enhancement, color correction and data conforming systems that major movie studios, television networks and post-production facilities use to master and deliver feature films, TV programs and commercials. The company’s Nucoda product line provides a strong suite of products for tapeless and non-linear grading for HD broadcast and 2k/4k digital intermediate productions. The company’s award-winning products are a standard of the media and entertainment industry and are deployed at top facilities and broadcasters around the world.
Digital Vision AB was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with three wholly owned subsidiaries, Digital Vision (US) in Los Angeles, California; Digital Vision UK in London, England; and Digital Vision in Hong Kong, China. The company maintains its global presence through a network of qualified distributors. Digital Vision is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. For further information, go to www.digitalvision.tv.
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