Louis Morin

Montreal: Jan. 27, 2012… When visual effects supervisor Louis Morin and VFX producer Annie Godin were nominated for a VES Award for their work on Duncan Jones’ Source Code, the Montreal-based facilities involved in the film had reason to celebrate as well. Under the guidance of Morin, the VFX facilities each took on different parts of the project, sharing assets and coordinating deliveries on the film. The result was both a visually stunning film and proof that the Montreal film industry can compete with the best on the world stage.

“Louis Morin is a very effective and creative VFX supervisor,” said director Duncan Jones. “He found really excellent boutique facilities that were able to craft individual, and very different kinds of effects that we needed in the movie.”

The four Montreal-area studios included Modus FX, who handled complex digital crowd shots, CG trains, environments and dramatic pyrotechnics; Rodeo FX, who crafted the crucial greenscreen windows for the train interiors; FLY Studio, who created the futuristic CG pod sequences and key transitions; and Oblique FX, who created the CG bomb, a virtual stuntman and a poetic slow-motion explosion sequence. Toronto-based Mr. X contributed to the greenscreen train window backgrounds and MPC Vancouver handled the exterior shots of explosions and a train crash sequence.

“In the grand scheme of things, this was not a big-budget film,” said Jones. “That meant we had to be fairly specific about the FX we wanted. We couldn’t play around with too many ideas. We really couldn’t afford to make mistakes.”

“We had 850 shots to manage and a budget of $3.5 million dollars,” said Morin, “and for most of the film you would have no idea that visual effects were even used. The train, the cabin interiors and the station all look like real. The goal was seamless visual effects where the audience is simply immersed in the story.”

The Source Code Story
Released in theaters on April 1, 2011, Source Code is a psychological sci-fi thriller that tells the story of a U.S. soldier, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who wakes up in the body of another man on a Chicago commuter train. Shortly after that, the train blows up. As part of an experimental military mission, Gyllenhaal’s character is forced to repeat those final eight minutes on the train, working out how it was blown up, and, ultimately, how to prevent the tragedy. In the process, he forms a bond with a fellow passenger [Michelle Monaghan], and begins to solve the larger mystery of how he got there in the first place. While the film makes extensive use of visual effects, the digital achievements never overwhelm the essentially human story of Source Code.

All of the interiors were shot on a set in Montreal. Equipped with greenscreen windows, the whole set was placed on a gimbal that replicated the rocking movements of a train in motion. Exteriors used second-unit photography shot in Chicago. Commuter trains were digitally resurfaced, and a fictional train station was created using extensive digital set extensions.

“Some of the most subtle VFX work they had to do, like the insets for the greenscreen windows in the train, could make or break a movie like this,” explained Jones. “Even a small mistake with the simplest detail, like defining where the line of the landscape is, would have made a scene immediately and noticeably unrealistic. The guys did a beautiful job matching the moving patterns of Don Burgess’s ingenious lighting schemes, so it doesn’t pull the audience out of the movie.”

Rodeo FX – Light and Windows
Along with delivering a variety of explosions, Rodeo FX took the lead on greenscreen windows, cleverly compositing in the moving backgrounds outside the train. In total the facility contributed over 360 shots to Source Code.

Sébastien Moreau, president and VFX supervisor at Rodeo FX, put particular focus on the use of interactive light. “Greenscreen windows are usually detectable,” Moreau said, “but we were able to create a seamless look using interactive light.”

According to Moreau, the most interesting part of the project was dealing with continuity between shots, both in terms of the quality of the VFX work, and with the illusion of the train’s speed. “Even though we had all the necessary footage from a real train, shot with a three-camera rig to cover a very wide view of the background, we worked hard to maintain the illusion of constant speed and the position of the horizon line from shot to shot.”

“Imagine yourself in the train next to the window and you go past trees and buildings and there’s light occlusion,” added Morin. “There are highlights, lowlights, and, with the movement, there is constant variation. The ‘imperfection’ of reality is really subtle, but it’s critical to capture that imperfection for the CG to be invisible. Rodeo achieved this by applying the difference in positive and negative highlights to blend the plates of the exterior shots with the interior lighting. This was painstaking postproduction work.”

Oblique FX – Explosion and Stunt Double
Oblique FX contributed 46 shots to the film including a complex CG bomb, a dramatic interior explosion shot in slow motion, and a digital stunt double of Jake Gyllenhaal’s character as he jumps off a moving train and rolls to a stop on the platform.

For the explosion sequences, the studio created two replicas of the train interior. A full-scale model with dummies matching the actors’ positions was used for interior train explosions. A second version was positioned vertically so that Morin and his team could capture explosions at 1000 fps moving upwards through the interior towards the camera. Oblique FX then artfully combined the live-action plates with CG to create a realistic look with a poetic feel.

“The digital double was an artistic challenge because we had to animate Jake rolling along the platform and bring everything together so it’s believable,” said Alexandre Lafortune, visual effects supervisor, Oblique FX. “The movement is violent and jarring. We’ve done crowds before and wider shots of CG people, but a single figure that needed to blend seamlessly with live-action shots of the actor at the beginning and end of the shot was a new challenge.”

The studio used Natural Motion’s Endorphin software. “It’s a mix of simulation and keyframe animations,” Lafortune explained. “Duncan wanted us to try simulating it and Endorphin lets you rig the character and throw him against a surface to see what happens. We started with that to get the physics for the motion and the speed of the train worked out.”

“Source Code was a special project for us and we really enjoyed the teamwork with our partners,” said Pierre-Simon Lebrun-Chaput, visual effects supervisor, Oblique FX. “It was a great example of how facilities can collaborate on a film, each bringing their individual strengths to the project.”

Fly Studio – Pod and Transitions
Fly Studio specializes in creative motion graphics as well as visual effects. For Source Code, the company was called on to create the transitional shots between the pod and the train, as well as more than 100 monitor replacements. The pod is the surreal space from which Gyllenhaal’s character interacts with his military controller, played by Vera Farmiga. Fly Studio created the transitions for those shots.

“The transitional shots from the pod to the train and back were pretty much open to our ideas,” explained FLY Studio’s VFX supervisor on the project Jean-Pierre Boies. “We tested lots of different ways of transitioning – different layering of graphics, 3D meshes and a lot of effects added on top of it to create the final result.”

FLY Studio also added condensation to the actor’s breath inside the pod – an example of a subtle effect that greatly enhances the verisimilitude of some scenes. “Lots of movies are doing it by creating particles and compositing them in, but we decided to shoot our own live elements for this,” explained Boies. “We brought a Canon 5D camera to shoot some tests inside in a meat freezer at -15 or -20 Celsius. The test shots worked out so well, we ended up using them.”

“We’ve worked with Louis a few times now and we really liked the dynamic of working with him and the other companies,” he added. “Louis knows we have a strong motion graphics team and he knew we would be able to contribute creatively on a project like Source Code.”

Modus FX – Train and Station

“Source Code is the most ambitious and the most challenging project that we’ve tackled so far,” said Yanick Wilisky, VP of production and VFX supervisor at Modus FX. The company was brought on board in pre-production. “We started doing the pre-vis for the main action scenes – how the train would explode, and where this would take place,” said Wilisky.

In total, Modus handled 150 shots for the film including creating the train in CG, involving thousands of individual elements. The train was often used in close-up shots, requiring extensive camera tracking work, especially for scenes where the train has pulled into the station and crowds of commuters enter and exit the train. “The train was seamless,” said Louis Morin. “It doesn’t look CG. It looks just like a real commuter train in Chicago.”

Artists at Modus FX also created the fictional “Glenbrook Station” in Chicago and its surroundings. The CG set extension included everything from the station itself, to digital trees, large crowds of people, and commuter traffic on a busy Chicago street.

Crowd shots were created using Massive Software’s 3D crowd behavioral simulation system. Massive was also used for aerial shots of cars. “We needed to craft some pretty big highway traffic scenes with about 6,000 cars. That’s a lot to render, when you count the number of polygons per car,” Wilisky explained.

Montreal Delivering Excellence in Visual Effects

Annie Godin

“All the vendors pushed really hard to make it the best show possible,” said Annie Godin, VFX producer on Source Code. “Duncan and the producers had a lot of trust in us and that was very motivating for everyone. Louis guided the work so well that the vendors got shots approved quickly and could move along to the next tasks very efficiently.”

“I was delighted by how effective those facilities were at dividing up the work like that. They were very professional, and I think they really enjoyed the process themselves,” said Jones.

Source Code was produced by the Mark Gordon Company and Vendome Pictures, and is a Summit Entertainment release. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga, and was directed by Duncan Jones.

The film has been nominated for a VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture. This is Louis Morin’s second VES Award nomination. His first nomination was for the visual effects on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The VES Awards will be announced Feb. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and will air on ReelzChannel.

About The Facilities

FLY Studio
Known for its resourcefulness and creativity, Fly Studio attracts clients in film, TV, and advertising who value creative input. Since 1996, it has made a name for itself as a creative and versatile postproduction facility. It specializes in show projections (e.g., many Cirque du Soleil shows), concerts (e.g., Justin Timberlake, Lenny Kravitz, Katy Perry, Pink, and Shakira), music videos (e.g., Beck) and advertising. Working mostly in advertising, its clients include Air Canada, Motorola, Pepsi, Budweiser, Molson, Chrysler, Ford, Walmart and General Electric. The four partners of Fly Studio, with backgrounds in fine arts, traditional animation, and design, complement each other and bring creativity to their many different projects. The partners remain “hands on” in productions, working alongside the 30 employees with diverse talents, to mix many different looks, styles, and genres. VFX projects for major motion pictures include Mr. Nobody, Source Code, Dark Horse and Towelhead. VFX for local films, including les 7 jours du talion (Seven Days), Un capitalisme sentimental, La Peur de l’eau and 1981. For more information, visit www.flystudio.com.

Modus FX
Since launching in 2007, Modus FX has become an industry leader in high-end feature film visual effects and animation, boasting an international clientele and a talented team of hand-picked artists from around the globe. Led by co-founders Marc Bourbonnais and Yanick Wilisky, Modus has developed a unique approach to creating digital content, combining a cutting-edge production pipeline with personalized on-going project coordination. The studio collaborates with each director through the artistic process, from editorial script and on-set supervision to final delivery. Based just outside Montreal, Modus offers a full scope of services in its modern 12,000-square-foot studio. For more information, visit www.modusfx.com.

Oblique FX
Oblique FX was founded in February 2008 when Benoît Brière, former 3D Director of Buzz Image Group, and partners purchased the Film Division of Buzz. Oblique offers high-end digital visual effects services for the film, television and commercial industries. It specializes in photoreal visual effects that integrate seamlessly into live-action plates and environments, including character and crowd animation, matte paintings and virtual environments, special effects and natural phenomena, CG integration and compositing. Projects completed by the team at Oblique FX include 300, Brokeback Mountain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Aviator and The Fountain. For more information, visit www.obliquefx.com.

Rodeo FX
Sébastien Moreau founded Rodeo FX in 2006. Since then the company has had a meteoric rise, responsible for seamless visual effects in some of the highest grossing blockbusters in the industry. Using all of the latest technology, while discovering new ones, this Montreal-based team of international artists, numbering 65 and growing, share a passion for and deliver only a high level of quality work that the major film studios expect, as seen in Source Code, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Red Tails, Underworld Awakening, Immortals, Gulliver’s Travels, Twilight Eclipse, Resident Evil 4, The Three Musketeers, Terminator Salvation, Repo Men, Amelia, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. For more information, visit: www.rodeofx.com

At the Digital Cinema Symposium, the Qube Cinema system played back an 800 Mbps DCP, more than three times the maximum DCI bit rate specification of 250. The data speeds of the Qube XP-I server make it possible, for the first time, for a single server with one DCP to drive two projectors, each with their own IMB.

“Seeing the film in 4K 3D was a startling experience,” said director Melissa Butts, speaking about her latest movie, Space Junk 3D, narrated by Academy Award® Nominee, Tom Wilkinson, which was shown at the Symposium on the Moody Garden’s Giant Screen. “All the hard work we put into shading, lighting and textures was that much more brilliant and remarkable. What Qube is offering is very exciting for filmmakers and audiences. With all the detail, everything just looks and feels more real.”

“With 4K 3D, and the high frame rate capabilities of the Qube XP-I server, the promise of digital cinema is now being realized,” said Rajesh Ramachandran, president and CTO of Qube Cinema. “Exhibitors can now offer a truly stunning theater experience for their patrons.”

Delivering High Frame Rate Content

At Moody Gardens, Qube Cinema also demonstrated the high frame rate (HFR) capabilities of the Qube XP-I server with 2K stereoscopic content on the Giant Screen. This demonstration compared 3D material at 24, 48 and 60 fps. At 60 fps, motion blur disappears and rich detail is clearly visible in the moving images. Accustomed to 24 fps playback, many people are not aware of the image compromises associated with this standard, especially for stereo 3D. The difference was immediately apparent during the Qube presentation, including side-by-side split-screen comparisons at the Digital Cinema Symposium.

“I was most impressed with the Qube XP-I’s ability to play back all our high bit rate 4K and high frame rate 2K content from a single server,” said Andy Wood, senior vice president, Business Development at D3D Cinema and Giant Screen Films.  “Before Qube’s innovation, at standard DCI specs, we could only achieve dual projector 4K 3D playback with a complicated double server configuration which included ancillary sync generators and a very restrictive setup.  Qube Cinema has made 4K 3D and high frame rate 2K a reality.”

“The ability to power multiple projectors through a single interface is both elegant and easy to operate for projectionists,” added Ramachandran.

As currently configured, the Qube XP-I server with the Qube Xi 4K IMB is capable of data rates of up to 1,000 Mbps – or 500 Mbps per projector, allowing for pristine 4K stereo 3D. The system can support frame rates of 30 fps for 4K projection, and frame rates of up to 120 fps for 2K content.

The Qube XP-I digital cinema server and the Qube Xi 4K IMB are available from Qube Cinema and its worldwide reseller network. For more information, visit www.qubecinema.com.

About Qube Cinema, Inc.

Qube Cinema, based in North Hollywood, CA, is an international manufacturer of digital cinema technology and mastering solutions. A subsidiary of Real Image Media Technologies, Qube Cinema draws on decades of experience in cinema and holds a leadership position in the transition from analog to digital technology. The company is committed to creating a seamless digital cinema environment for exhibitors, filmmakers and postproduction companies with DCI-compliant products that are flexible, reliable and highly cost-effective. Qube Cinema’s product lines include the Qube XP-D and Qube XP-E servers, QubeMaster software solutions, Qube Keysmith KDM generation, the Qube Xi Integrated Media Block, and the new QubeShare centralized cinema storage. For more information, visit Qube Cinema at www.qubecinema.com.

“There is nothing else in Toronto like Christmas by Lamplight,” said Chris Bagley, general manager of Black Creek Pioneer Village. “With the Village bathed in the warmth of natural light with treats and music everywhere, this is an opportunity for people to experience the charm and the simple joys of the holidays. ”

Visitors can start the evening off with a delicious Christmas dinner, or join the fun later, wandering through the Village at their own pace, enjoying homemade traditional treats, such as roasted chestnuts, mulled apple cider, mincemeat tarts and real sugarplums. Visitors can join in the dancing in the ballroom, place a wish on a 20’ Christmas tree in front of the Town Hall, and even meet Father Christmas.

Music has always been a big part of Christmas by Lamplight, and this year the event will feature two choirs, including the Ambiance Singers, a women’s chorus under the direction of Danny McErlain. “We love singing at Black Creek Pioneer Village. The acoustics in that little church are just fantastic,” said Valerie Gajda, who is vice president of the Ambiance Singers and sings second soprano with the group. ” Christmas by Lamplight is a lovely event and the sound in that space is really magical.”

Included in a repertoire of seasonal and gospel music, the Ambiance Singers will perform an original arrangement of “Christmastime is Here,” which many people will recognize from the famous Charlie Brown’s Christmas special. “It’s a beautiful song,” said Gajda. “We will also have lyric sheets for more familiar songs, like Silent Night, and Joy to the World, so that the audience can join in the music-making if they wish.”

Traditional music will also be showcased. Nollaig, meaning “Christmas” in Gaelic, is the name of a quartet of Toronto musicians whose instruments include flutes, whistles and fiddles, “I look forward to this event every year. The experience of trudging with my instruments across the snow seems quintessentially Canadian to me,” said British-born October Browne, who plays guitar and mandolin in the group. “People are just delighted by the experience. It’s so lovely to come out of the cold into one of the snug little homes and enjoy a warm fire and real music.”

The York Highlands Chorus, another of the region’s top choirs, directed by Martha DeClerq will kick-off Christmas by Lamplight on December 10. The Ambiance Singers are appearing on December 17 and 18. Nollaig is performing on all three evenings.

“December is the darkest month of the year, so lamps and candlelight were a very special part of Christmas in early Ontario,” explained Bagley. “We experience this same magic at the Village during Christmas by Lamplight. It’s like stepping into another world.”

Christmas by Lamplight runs from 6:00 to 9:30 pm on December 10, 17, and 18. Tickets are available each evening for $29.95 for adults or $24.95 for children under 12 with reduced prices available for members. Tickets for the Christmas by Lamplight dinners (including full access to the event) are $75.95 for adults and$50.25 for children under 12. Dinner reservations are required, by phone at 416-667-628, or online at http://www.christmasbylamplight.ca/price.shtml

Directions:
Black Creek Pioneer Village is one block east of Jane St., south off Steeles Avenue, right next to York University. The Village is south-east of Hwy 7 and Hwy 400. Parking is available on site.

Public Transportation:
Black Creek Pioneer Village can be reached from the Finch subway station using the Steeles 60 West route, or from the Jane Station using the Jane 35 route. Visit www.ttc.ca. York Region Transit has several options available. For more information visit www.yorkregiontransit.com

For more information about Black Creek Pioneer Village, visit http://www.blackcreek.ca, or call
416-736-1733.

About Black Creek Pioneer Village
Black Creek Pioneer Village is unique in Toronto: a place where visitors can step into another time and experience life as it was in early Ontario. Spanning more than 30 acres of pristine country landscapes, the Village is a living history experience. Here heritage buildings from communities across south-central Ontario have been faithfully outfitted with original furniture and artifacts to re-create a rural 1860s Ontario community. Historical interpreters in period dress bring the experience to life, answering visitors’ questions, and demonstrating how people lived, worked and played. The Village is located in north Toronto, close to the intersection of Highway 400 and Highway 7. Black Creek Pioneer Village is owned and operated by Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA). Funding for the Village comes from the TRCA’s provincial and municipal partners, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the City of Toronto, admissions and sales, and through donations to The Living City Foundation (formerly The Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto). For more information, visit www.blackcreek.ca.

“It’s a very artistic piece which aims to capture the iconic imagery of Greek mythology,” explained Martin Pelletier, CG supervisor at Modus. “Developing the sequence was a collaboration between our artists and director Tarsem Singh. For us it was an in-depth process of visualizing and clarifying the director’s imagination.”

The Sequence

The scene begins when the film’s hero Theseus touches Phaedra – a psychic oracle played by Freida Pinto. In that instant, the camera swoops into Phaedra’s mind for the vision sequence.

Red CG petals fall from the sky and we see King Hyperion and Theseus spinning around in combat on the boat. The scene cuts to a wider shot and various fighting poses are discernable in the whirling mass. The audience sees that the boat is sitting on a mass of warriors’ shields, like a Greek phalanx, with the water in the background.

For a moment, Hyperion and Theseus freeze and the camera pans down to show a mummy lying on the ground with the petals falling onto it: beauty, transience and death in a single image. As they begin to fight and spin again, the view pulls back to a wider shot. In the background the sea, created by Scanline VFX, swells up into a giant tsunami approaching the shore.

Capturing the Imagination as Moving Imagery

The imagery is ambitious. At the start of the project in September 2010, Modus FX had several meetings with director Tarsem Singh to map out the shots and the look of the scene. Singh wanted what he referred to as a “clay effect,” with the figures becoming malleable organic forms, blending together as they spin in combat.

After the initial meetings, the team at Modus spent four months developing the ideas in a process of exploration and refinement, gradually shaping the final look of the scene. Test shots were sent back to the director for review on a weekly basis.

Early on the team had decided the scene would be done in three shots: close up, wide and very wide. Then they began working on the spinning figures – how fast they should rotate and how many poses should appear. Testing was done with Softimage XSI combining textures, including skin, glossy black helmets, a gold mask, blue cloth and brown leather. The textures were tried at different speeds with different motion blurs and shutter speeds.

“It took a lot of experimentation, but as we progressed, we started to develop some really interesting ideas,” said Pelletier. “We liked the clay effect, but it still needed something more to look believable.”

He explained that the team at Modus then developed a “force field” effect to augment the scene, which had to fit in seamlessly with the overall aesthetic and the other surreal effects of the film. “It worked very well,” said Pelletier. “It shows how important it can be to keep the creative process going right to the end. The effort paid off.”

The Sea and the Sky

“We wanted the lighting to look magical or even supernatural,” said Pelletier. “We played around with sky colors until we had the right tones and then redid the lighting on the live plates to match the CG lighting. This was an interesting challenge because usually we do the opposite – match the CG to the lighting in the live shots.”

Remarkably, the sea was realized much more quickly. “We hit bull’s-eye on the first try with the CG ocean,” recalled Pelletier.

A Company That Solves Problems

“Relativity Media saw us as a company that solves problems,” said Yanick Wilisky, visual effects supervisor and co-founder of Modus FX. “It was a very complex sequence, artistically and technically, but we found the way. We solved it for them.”

Immortals is a 3D fantasy adventure film directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto and Mickey Rourke. It was released in 2D and 3D on Nov. 11 by Universal Pictures and Relativity Media.

About Modus FX
Since launching in 2007, Modus FX has become an industry leader in high-end feature film visual effects and animation, boasting an international clientele and a talented team of hand-picked artists from around the globe. Led by co-founders Marc Bourbonnais and Yanick Wilisky, Modus has developed a unique approach to creating digital content, combining a cutting-edge production pipeline with personalized on-going project coordination. The studio collaborates with each director through the artistic process, from editorial script and on-set supervision to final delivery. Based just outside Montreal, Modus offers a full scope of services in its modern 12,000-square-foot studio. For more information, visit www.modusfx.com.

Read press release: http://www.philpott.ca/news/black-creek-historic-brewery-and-the-quest-for-a-one-mile-beer/

See video about the making of the One-Mile Beer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2xS1qtEtuE

Ed Koren’s Tasting Notes:

I finally tasted the One-Mile Beer today. I am relieved that it actually turned out after all the hard work! The alcohol content comes in at a whopping 3.5 %.

The beer has a deep copper color with a malty, bready aroma, with caramel undertones.

It has a light malt flavor with a slightly tart finish, appropriate for an 1860s beer brewed in this style. The body is light, with almost no carbonation.

Overall the beer is an easy drinking one-dimensional English session Brown Ale that pioneers would have drank to quench their thirst, as it was a lot safer to drink than water. It’s different from what we drink today, but I believe it would have been a great beer by 19th century standards.

Availability

The beer is available now, while the supply lasts. Only one barrel of the One-Mile Beer was made this year – which translates to around 25 growlers with some left over for samples. Growlers are available as of today. Visitors can try a sample as part of the brewery’s popular beer tours (Weekends at 12:30 p.m. and weekdays at 2:00 p.m.)

While much of Valentic’s work is on independent feature films, such as Inbred – the latest work by director Alex Chandon – the facility also delivers commercials projects, music videos and television shows.

Traditionally colorists have not been involved in distribution, but Valentic takes a larger view. “I believe that it is our responsibility as colorists and post artists to push digital technologies forward. While camera manufacturers are creating better sensors and more refined tools, our mission is to learn how to process these images to ensure they look their very best once they reach the viewer.”

We spoke recently with Valentic at his facility in London.

Tell us about your most recent project, Inbred.

I think this is, so far, my best work. Things just came together really nicely for this project. I had just got an upgrade for my DaVinci Resolve system. It was shot in 4K, so I had these beautiful images to work with. I had an amazing director, Alex Chandon. This was his comeback project after 10 years away and he was so passionate about the film. We had a great time and everything just came together: my equipment was working great and the film was great, and when I look at it, I am very proud. I think it’s the nicest job I’ve done so far.

Did you do digital cinema mastering for Inbred?

Yes, because that is the way I work. I never just grade something and then hand over the hard drive. My job is make sure that when the film is out there in the cinema, it looks exactly the way we wanted it to look. I never take a project on without delivering it in the format that they require. I make a version for digital cinema, and then I make a one for DVD, and another for BluRay and for the internet as well.

What are some of the differences to watch for with different deliverable formats?

Cinema is different from watching a movie at home. A movie theater is much darker. The images are bigger, so my vignettes are a different size in a cinema than they are in a DVD. I make my blacks different for the cinema than for a DVD. The same thing applies for iPads. The iPad looks too dark if you put a normal cinema grade onto it, so you have to really embrace the medium you are delivering to get the best possible picture.

How much of your work is in production, or near the set?

I am getting more and more involved in set work. Postproduction is starting earlier and earlier now. I am often consulted on jobs when they are in the planning stage. My clients come to me with the script and talk about how they can make it happen best.

How did you get into digital cinema mastering?

When I was working for Sony I saw one of the very first prototypes of a DLP projector and the moment I saw those images, I knew that this is going to be the future – the images were so stunning. So even before digital cinema had become a standard, I had already started looking into ways to do it. I did a lot of research on how to get into digital cinema. That’s when I discovered this company called Qube.

I found that their approach was actually the best of all, in terms of the architecture. In 2006 I bought one of the very first mastering systems in the UK from Qube. And I became just the second or third facility in the UK to provide digital cinema mastering services. I’ve been making DCPs ever since.

What makes Qube’s DCP mastering architecture different?

The early specifications for how DCPs should be made were written by people who worked with films, so they basically took the 35mm processes of filmmaking and transferred those processes into the digital world. But digital is different. I never agreed entirely with the process that was being advocated. I felt that they were complicating things too much and that there were too many conversions. There had to be a better way to approach this process, especially when it comes to what source material to use, and how to manage color and the image size, etc. This is exactly what Qube had already figured out.

What is your approach to making DCPs?

Even today other companies force you to use specific image files as your source material for mastering DCPs, but it is much better if you can take your RAW master image, buffer it in the computer memory and do the conversions on the fly, reading the buffer and encoding into a JPEG 2000. This is what QubeMaster does. They wrote the software to be more flexible, and along with that, they introduced color management right in the beginning, which is actually the key.

You really can’t encode something without having total control over the image and color, especially if we are talking about a larger color space like P3.

You do a lot of work in stereo 3D. How is that different?

I’ve done four feature films and lots of commercials in stereo, but I still think that I have a lot to learn about stereo. We all do. It is so interesting what you can do with depth if you apply different amounts of brightness or saturation. It’s amazing how sensitive we are to even 2D clues about depth.

I’ve done a lot of 3D work in terms of brightness, which, as we all know, can be an issue with stereo projection. There is only so much light you can use in the projector, but what we can do is change the perception of brightness in the image.

How do you change the “perception of brightness?”

I found an incredible theory about light from Helmholtz, who describes the importance of local contrast for the perception of brightness. For example, if I put a black box next to white box, I would have a certain perception of brightness. If I put the same white box next to a gray box, the perception of the white will be different. Perception is subjective, but we can get so focused on the measurable aspects of light and color, we can overlook the importance of the subjective experience.

I’ve been working with a developer to write an algorithm, which we are deploying now, to apply a better perception of brightness in films. There are eight or nine color anomalies that humans have which we always need to consider during grading. We need to stop trying to measure the image and start just looking at it to see how we feel about it.

What are the challenges of mastering stereo 3D for digital cinema?

I did the very first stereo feature film in the UK called Streetdance 3D (released in 2010). Those were the early days and the biggest challenge we had then was the compatibility of servers. There are some servers out there that are so old that their hardware and software struggle with 3D content. Because you have double the frame rate in stereo, you need to reduce the bandwidth of the encoding without maxing out the server, or it starts dropping frames.

You have to be really clever with your compression to make sure you still get a good image without compression artifacts. I have seen some masters out there made by big facilities that suffer from the problem of artifacts, simply because they had to produce the DCPs quickly, or just because of carelessness. 3D mastering is tricky and it takes a lot of testing.

How does QubeMaster Pro help with stereo 3D?

QubeMaster allows you to really dig deep into your files and adjust them exactly. You can go as far as you want to distribute the bandwidth exactly the way you want to. You can actually tell the encoder what detail level you want. You can also tell it to ignore certain parts of the image because they are only noise. All these little things are important.

On the surface, all of the DCP mastering systems may look the same, but when you really need precision, when you really need access to specific parts, it is so important that you can get in there. And that’s what QubeMaster gives you.

What do your clients like best about your work?

I think they like my passion the best. I love what I do, and even if it’s just a short movie, I’m still going to try to get the best out of it. And that’s why people like to work with me, because I am totally engaged in a project.

Dado Valentic’s facility, MyTherapy is based in London. QubeMaster Pro is part of the QubeMaster family of digital cinema applications, which also include QubeMaster Xpress 2.0, (which offers easy DCP mastering on Windows); QubeMaster Xport, (a plugin for mastering DCP with Apple Compressor on Mac OSX), and QubeMaster Packager for creating new versions of DCPs without having to re-encode the entire file.

About Qube Cinema, Inc.

Qube Cinema, based in North Hollywood, CA, is an international manufacturer and provider of end-to-end Digital Cinema technology and mastering solutions. A subsidiary of Real Image Media Technologies, Qube Cinema draws on decades of experience in cinema and a leadership position in the transition from analog to digital technology. The company is committed to creating a seamless Digital Cinema environment for exhibitors, filmmakers and postproduction companies with DCI-compliant products that are flexible, reliable and highly cost-effective. Qube Cinema’s product lines include the Qube XP-D and Qube XP-E servers, QubeMaster software solutions, Qube Keysmith KDM generation, and the new Qube Xi Integrated Media Block. For more information, visit Qube Cinema at www.qubecinema.com.

“The great thing about All Hallows’ Eve is that everything here is real,” said Karell Pfeiffer, special events coordinator at Black Creek Pioneer Village. “The buildings, and everything in them – including their stories – are authentic, and come to us from an age when spiritualism had captured the popular imagination.”

“Death was then a part of daily life,” explained Pfeiffer, “and people developed methods of coping with loss that would seem macabre to us. Jewelry was created from hair snipped from the corpse of a family member or friend. A deceased child might be seated in a pose and photographed as if they were alive. Many people tried to contact the dead in séances.”

Real Ghost Stories
Visitors can explore haunted Village houses and hear (true) ghost stories, such as the tale of Michael Stong, who died of his wounds from a horrible hunting accident. The Stongs were the first family to settle on the banks of Black Creek in the early 1800s. Their original house still stands today. Six generations later, the Stong family has moved out into the world, but it is said that the spirit of Michael Stong lingers on in the old family home.

Wakes and Burial
Wakes, where family and friends would take turns sitting with the deceased for a few days, were also an important tradition from the era, held both to honour the deceased, and to make quite sure that they were really dead.

“Fear of being buried alive was very real,” said Pfeiffer. “That led to some bizarre inventions, such as a coffin with an iron spike, positioned to pierce the heart of the corpse.

Body Snatchers
Body snatchers really existed in the 1860s. Usually these were medical students or researchers who needed cadavers, or, disquietingly enough, just the heads of the dead for study. “Phrenologists” studied the shape of the skull believing that its features allowed them to predict, for example, the propensity towards criminality in children, or whether a person was inclined towards benevolence, or financial success. At All Hallows’ Eve visitors can have themselves examined by a phrenologist who will pronounce on their character. Visitors may even spot a body snatcher at work in the cemetery.

All Hallows’ Eve takes place at Black Creek Pioneer Village on Saturday, October 29th, 2011. The event runs from 7:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. All Hallows’ Eve is suitable for anyone over the age of 12 who is looking for a memorable Halloween experience. Admission is $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Parking is $7. Member prices are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. Parking is free for members. Information on membership is available at www.blackcreek.ca.

Black Creek Pioneer Village is located at 1000 Murray Ross Parkway, Toronto, (one block east of Jane Street, south off Steeles Avenue, right next to York University).

Tickets for All Hallows’ Eve are available online at http://allhallowseve.ca/tickets.html

About Black Creek Pioneer Village
Black Creek Pioneer Village is unique in Toronto: a place where visitors can step into another time and experience life as it was in early Ontario. Spanning more than 30 acres of pristine country landscapes, the Village is a living history experience featuring heritage buildings originating in communities across south central Ontario that has been faithfully furnished with original furniture and artifacts to re-create a rural 1860s Ontario community. Historic interpreters in period dress bring the experience to life, demonstrating how people lived, worked and played, and answering visitors’ questions. It is located in north Toronto, close to the intersection of Highway 400 and Highway 7. It is owned and operated by Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA). Funding for Black Creek comes from the TRCA’s provincial and municipal partners, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the City of Toronto, admissions and sales, and through donations to The Living City Foundation (formerly The Conservation Foundaton of Greater Toronto). For more information, visit www.blackcreek.ca

“Technicolor decided to cut the commercial/VFX division and go back to its roots in DI,” explained Cormier. “So we spoke with Boogie Studio and discovered we had a perfect fit. Everything was aligned – even the timing was perfect for all parties. They have an exceptional team at Boogie and we’re delighted to be able to join them.”

Patrice Cormier, Producer
Cormier comes to the new position with over 25 years of experience in the visual effects industry. Prior to joining Technicolor, where he served as operations manager and senior producer for the company’s commercial/VFX division, he worked both freelance and for numerous facilities, including MétéoMédia, RDS, Buzz, Autodesk and Technicolor. He was also an instructor at Autodesk and participated in the development of Smoke, the comprehensive postproduction system widely used in commercials work.

Cormier has played a key role in the world of film and advertising postproduction. He is recognized for his organizational skills, business acumen, artistic expertise and encyclopaedic knowledge of postproduction and visual effects.

Cormier explained that some former Technicolor advertising clients will be making the move to Boogie Studio as well. “We’re looking forward to filling the niche that Technicolor left for us. When the announcement was made, I’d already booked sessions for a national campaign for Nissan and we had several clients we’d been working with for years,” said Cormier.

Cadie Desmeules-Desbiens, Online Editor and Visual Effects Artist
A native of the Saguenay, Desmeules-Desbiens studied media arts and technology in Jonquière. After spending the next three years as a journalist for the Grand Journal TQS, she began co-producing live segments and editing reports while diving into postproduction technologies and online editing. She spent four years at Technicolor where she mastered compositing and visual effects on Smoke, Flame, After Effects and Modul8 and worked on the visual effects for films such as Incendie, Les amours imaginaires, Filière 13, Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme and Gerry pour l’amour de Dieu, as well as TV commercials for Nissan, Rogers, Danone, and many other brands. An artist in her own right, Desmeules-Desbiens is also known for her remarkable VJ performances!

Gary Chuntz, Senior Colorist

Gary Chuntz is one of the world’s top commercials colorists and has worked with many of the best facilities, directors and cinematographers in the business.

Chuntz began working in a film lab before starting his digital career in South Africa at Video Lab in 1982. He was senior colorist at The Moving Picture Company in London and at Command Post/Toybox in Toronto. He was a co-founder of Notch, one of Canada’s premiere boutique post houses.

Most recently, Chuntz served as a senior colorist at Technicolor Montreal where he became part of the core commercials team now making the transition to Boogie Studio. Chuntz’ client list is a virtual who’s who of international brands, including Ford, VW, Budweiser, Molson, Canon, Hyundai, Pepsi and countless others.

“Gary and Patrice and their group are a strong addition to our facility,” said Boogie Studios’ co-founder Benoit Martel. “We are delighted to have them join our team.”

About Boogie Studio
Founded by Benoit Martel, Andres Norambuena and Denis-Éric Pedneault in 2006 as an audio production facility, Boogie Studio expanded in 2010 to offer state-of-the-art visual effects. Boogie Studio’s mission is to provide comprehensive postproduction services for clients in the advertising, interactive and film industries. Along with three fully equipped audio mixing studios and video transfer services, Boogie Studio offers a high-end 2D compositing, 3D production, online editing, color grading and finishing. Boogie Studios has served hundreds of clients including LG2, Sidlee, Ubisoft, Y&R, Rethink Vancouver, KBS+P, DDB Anderson Toronto, Cirque du Soleil, Télé-Québec, TVA Accès and Nurun. Boogie Studio is a privately-held company based in Montreal, Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.boogiestudio.com.

Images to accompany this story available here : http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/625835/1/BoogieStudio?h=9b151b

Miami, Fla.: Oct. 12, 2011… Qube Cinema will introduce the new XP-I digital cinema server at ShowEast. Based on the Qube XP-D Series 2 server platform, the XP-I is designed to work in conjunction with the Qube Xi 4K Integrated Media Block (IMBs) installed in the projector. Along with support for a wide variety of formats, the Qube XP-I server and Qube Xi 4K IMB will play content at up to 4K resolution, and stereo 3D at high frame rates of 48 and 60 frames per second.

“The XP-I is the next step on our roadmap for digital cinema,” said Rajesh Ramachandran, CTO of Qube Cinema. “With the growing movement towards higher resolution and higher frame rates, theater owners need to know their equipment will be able to handle new content when it comes.”

Ramachandran also explained that since the Qube XP-I server and Xi media blocks connect via Dual Gigabit Ethernet rather than PCI Express, the server can be located anywhere in the facility, with no concerns about distance or shielding issues. By contrast, PCI Express signals degrade over a very short distance and are subject to interference, requiring servers to be located close to the projectors. With Qube’s solution, exhibitors are free to move their servers into a central room, or install them anywhere they wish, simplifying maintenance and freeing up valuable real-estate for more seating or other revenue-generating activities in the theater complex.

The Qube XP-I is a DCI-compliant server, designed to integrate seamlessly with major Theater Management Systems (TMS). This offers exhibitors flexibility in the way they manage content, schedule shows, control projectors and automate cinema operations.

The Qube XP-I offers up to four terabytes of storage with hot-swappable drive bays, and features an external RAID controller ensuring rock-solid playback performance. “Qube uses robust hardware in every part of the servers,” explained Eric Bergez, director of sales and marketing for Qube. “The system is designed to keep exhibitors up and running.”

Qube Xi 4K IMB
The Qube Xi 4K IMB works with any current digital projecter that supports an IMB, including all of the major DCI-compliant digital cinema projectors on the market. The Qube Xi 4K is a secure system that decrypts and decodes content in real time at the projector. It supports HD, 2K, 4K in all commonly used formats and compression standards, as well as stereoscopic 3D content at 24, 48 and 60 fps.

“The combination of the XP-I digital cinema server and the Xi IMB gives theatre owners tremendous flexibility,” said Ramachandran. “The system works out of the box for existing theatres and is perfect for exhibitors looking to upgrade or renovate their cineplex.”

Qube Cinema will demonstrate the XP-I server with the Xi IMBs at ShowEast 2011, Booth # 620 at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Miami, Oct. 24-27, 2011.

About Qube Cinema, Inc.
Qube Cinema, based in North Hollywood, CA, is an international manufacturer and provider of end-to-end Digital Cinema technology and mastering solutions. A subsidiary of Real Image Media Technologies, Qube Cinema draws on decades of experience in cinema and a leadership position in the transition from analog to digital technology. The company is committed to creating a seamless Digital Cinema environment for exhibitors, filmmakers and postproduction companies with DCI-compliant products that are flexible, reliable and highly cost-effective. Qube Cinema’s product lines include the Qube XP-D and Qube XP-E servers, QubeMaster software solutions, Qube Keysmith KDM generation, and the new Qube Xi Integrated Media Block. For more information, visit Qube Cinema at www.qubecinema.com.

Los Angeles: Oct 12, 2011… Modus FX, one of Canada’s emerging leaders in visual effects, announced today that it has signed with International Creative Management (“ICM”), one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies. Based in Montreal, Modus FX is the first Canadian postproduction house to be included in the prestigious entertainment agency’s roster. The partnership between ICM and Modus FX will provide Hollywood studios with easier access to Modus’ capabilities for project development, VFX supervision and postproduction.

Modus FX credits include the highly anticipated The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I, which is set to release in November and stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner; Tarsem Singh’s Greek mythology Immortals, starring Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff and Freida Pinto slated for release this fall; the sci-fi thriller Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Famiga; and the adaptation of the BBC Films Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.

“Audience expectations for visual effects keep rising, so every new production faces a new challenge, even if they don’t have a blockbuster budget,” said Valerie Delahaye, who heads Modus’ Los Angeles office. “Filmmakers and studios get a much better return on their postproduction dollars when they have a visual effects partner who can work with them during development. We help them to foresee technical issues before they happen, and guide them to elegant, artistic solutions.”

About ICM
International Creative Management (ICM) is one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. ICM represents creative and technical talent in the fields of motion picture, television, books, music, live performance, branded entertainment, and new media. ICM was formed in 1975 through the merger of Creative Management Associates and International Famous Agency. In 2005, the company raised equity financing from Rizvi Traverse and institutional investors to fund strategic growth, and in 2006, ICM acquired the literary agency Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann.

About Modus FX
Since launching in 2007, Modus FX has become an industry leader in high-end feature film visual effects and animation, boasting an international clientele and a talented team of hand-picked artists from around the globe. Led by co-founders Marc Bourbonnais and Yanick Wilisky, Modus has developed a unique approach to creating digital content, combining a cutting-edge production pipeline with personalized on-going project coordination. The studio collaborates with each director through the artistic process, from editorial script and on-set supervision to final delivery. Based just outside Montreal, Modus offers a full scope of services in its modern 12,000-square-foot studio. For more information, visit www.modusfx.com.