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postings MANHUNT FOR BIN LADEN S ANTA MONICA — Modern Videofilm's (www.mvf.com) Santa Monica facility provided online editing and color grading services for Manhunt: The Search for Osama bin Laden, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by journalist/filmmaker Greg Barker, Manhunt is a tale of espionage and the moral choices of war, as revealed by the insiders who led the CIA's war against Al Qaeda and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film will premiere on HBO in May. The feature made use of a variety of sources, including still photos, archival footage, and new interviews, which were all tied together by DI colorist Jill Bogdanowicz, who recently joined the studio from Technicolor. According to the film's co-producer, Diane Becker, the deadline to complete post for the Sundance screening was extremely tight. Bogdanowicz used DaVinci Resolve to perform the color grade. The final output was handled by Barry Goch, using Avid DS, allowing subtitles created with the Avid Title Tool and other effects to easily translate. TED AT THE OSCARS B ERKELEY, CA — Tippett Studio (www.tippett.com) brought the title character from Universal Pictures' Ted back to life for the 85th Annual Academy Awards telecast. The naughty teddy bear and co-star Mark Wahlberg presented the Oscars for "Best Sound Mixing" and "Best Sound Editing." The same VFX and character animation artists responsible for his creation in the 2012 comedy worked on this latest effort, inserting him into a live broadcast, including Tippett's Blair Clark. A duplicate of the Oscar's stage was built at CBS Studios, with lighting and cameras matched to the Dolby Theatre's. Exact camera positions were planned so the animation, rendered using Dell Precision boxes, would integrate seamlessly on Oscar night. With five nominees in each category, Tippett artists created 10 different outcomes. Tippett used Maya, RenderMan, Nuke, Mari, Photoshop and Houdini on the project. Shotgun was used for production tracking. Tippett proprietary tools were used for camera tracking, lighting, simulation, fur grooming and rendering. LAUNCHING THE NEW GOD OF WAR L OS ANGELES — Imaginary Forces' Karin Fong directed a new two-minute video that launches Sony's God of War: Ascension videogame. From Ashes was produced direct-to-client. Sony worked with the studio on the in-game cinematics and titles for the God of War III in 2010 and God of War: Ascension. Fong and her team were tasked with enticing fans through a revitalized eye on the iconic characters. Sony provided the creative concept, and Imaginary Forces produced the project in-house, handling casting, live-action production, editorial and VFX. Previs was created using Cinema 4D and Maya. DP Trent Opaloch (District 9) shot most footage onlocation using a Red Epic. VFX supervisor Jeremy Cox worked with Fong to choose lenses and camera angles to best create the illusion of a grand Spartan army, which was just 10 actors. The army in the final shot was animated in Maya and rendered in Mental Ray. For the disintegration effect, artist Allan McKay called on 3DS Max and Vray. CG assets were married together with practical smoke, ash and debris elements using Nuke and After Effects. FCP 7 was used to edit. The Mill's Damien Van Der Cruyssen color corrected the piece. Sound design/mixing was via Sound Lounge. BIRTHDAY SONG FOR LION KING N EW YORK — Sweet Sadie (http://sweetsadieinc.com) has produced a video for Disney Theatrical Productions commemorating the 15th anniversary of The Lion King's debut on Broadway. The video was shown at the end of a special 15th anniversary performance of the musical at the Minskoff Theater. Sweet Sadie was tasked with collecting thousands of images and video clips from over 1,900 cast members and creatives from the Broadway production, as well as 17 productions worldwide. The media was then used to create a compelling yet intimate video. The video featured the signature song "Circle of Life," sung in various languages by its diverse cast, and employed imagery of growing branches from the show's Banyon tree, which connected The Lion King with its global productions. According to Sweet Sadie founder Rachel Lederman, the team concepted, designed and edited the project in less than a month. Disney provided a massive trove of stills and videos tracing the history of the show from which to draw. Sweet Sadie used Adobe After Effects to bring the material to life by animating cast and crew images against new backgrounds, such as show set photography and crowd scenes with active flash bulbs. The video was accompanied by a live orchestra and singers, so the studio was given a piano track and vocals to use as a reference for the edit. Creative editorial was via Avid Symphony; motion design was After Effects; color, compositing and finish was in Smoke. 40 Post • March 2013 Post0313_040-postingsMLV4finalREAD.indd 40 www.postmagazine.com 2/27/13 8:06 PM