Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1055354
BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 4 POST NOVEMBER 2018 DIRECTORS BOOCHECK & FEIN JOIN ALKEMY X NEW YORK CITY — Creative content company Alkemy X (www.alkemy-x.com) has expand- ed its directorial roster with the additions of Robert Boocheck (bottom, right) and Jordan Fein (top, right). At Alkemy X, Boocheck has already wrapped a campaign for event-driven messaging platform Solace via The Barbarian Group, while Fein recently shot a commercial for Penn State Health. The two will be based out of the company's New York office. 3BEEP EXPANDS CREATIVE SERVICES NEW YORK CITY — Boutique script writing and sound studio 3Beep (www.3beep.net) has an- nounced its association with Andy Yerkes (pic- tured, left), who will contribute to its creative services team as head of development. Yerkes is integral to 3Beep's initiative to help foreign pro- ducers create shows with broad appeal across the major global markets. Yerkes' collaboration with 3Beep expands on its client offerings, including project development, original script writing, music scoring and English voic- ing. His work has appeared on global media outlets, including Nickelodeon, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, HBO, PBS, BBC, ITV and Comedy Central. IMMERSIVE VR DOCUMENTARY INTO THE NOW FILMED WITH BLACKMAGIC MICRO STUDIO CAMERA 4K FREMONT, CA — Blackmagic Design (www.black magicdesign.com) has announced that director Michael Muller used 18 Micro Studio Camera 4Ks as part of two custom built virtual reality (VR) rigs to film Into the Now, an underwater VR documentary, which is the first in a series of films about marine life and the challenges facing our oceans today. Told through Muller's personal journey of over- coming his fear of sharks, the film touches on the pressing issues that our oceans face, such as climate change, pollution and overfishing, while also serving as an educational tool for viewers to experience the oceans firsthand through VR. Produced by RSA VR and Vanishing Oceans, LLC, the film premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was screened at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and the Sandbox Immersive Festival, part of the 2018 Qingdao International VR Week. The film is also part of an ongoing research project with Stanford University's Neurology department on the benefits of VR for people with PTSD, anxiety and other stress disorders. Muller and Andrew Huberman, head of neurology at Stanford University, along with a team of five scientists from Stanford, initially shot a sizzle piece, which made Muller realize the need for a better quality camera system to make the kind of film he wanted. "The challenge was that I only had two-and-a- half months to raise funding to travel the world, and I needed a camera system that didn't exist yet. Animals are migratory, so the clock was ticking," says Muller. "I needed 4K resolution in a compact form factor, genlock and an interchangeable lens mount, among other things. Luckily, I met Casey Sapp and Matt DeJohn from VRTUL, and they built a solution: the VRTUL 1 rig using Blackmagic Design's Micro Studio Camera 4Ks." San Diego-based VRTUL (www.VRTUL.co) is a live-action VR solutions provider and production company. Created and built in just eight weeks, each of the two VRTUL 1 rigs consisted of nine Micro Studio Camera 4Ks, along with a Mini Converter SDI Distribution, a Mini Converter Sync Generator and a Blackmagic 3G-SDI Shield for Arduino. The rigs were both used simultaneously and as primary and backup systems. "The Micro Studio Camera 4K was the best solution for a few reasons," explains Muller. "Genlock ensured that the cameras maintained perfect sync, especially since we arranged them in native stereoscopic 3D pairs. The form factor was also key, since the camera's small size allowed us to mimic the average human interpupillary distance for a realistic 3D effect, with cameras rotated 90 degrees. Also, the 4K resolution in combination with our lens choice gave us the desired pixel density, so we could achieve a final stitch of up to 6K resolu- tion. Finally, the 4:2:2 signal allowed us to capture a high-quality ProRes file via an external recorder, which provided better color flexibility in post as compared to other VR cameras, which rely on H.264 compression." Additionally, the Blackmagic 3G-SDI Shield for Arduino, Micro Studio Camera 4K's expansion port and Blackmagic SDI Control Protocol unified all the camera controls, so Muller and his team could control all cameras simultaneously from one cus- tom keypad. The Mini Converter SDI Distribution allowed the team to duplicate the Mini Converter Sync Generator signal, and the Mini Converter Sync Generator ensured shutter sync between all cameras. The shoot took place over the course of a year and took Muller and his team all around the world. "I obviously could have kept going, and plan to at some point, but for this first series of films I had to limit it to the nine expeditions that targeted some of the coolest things to see in the oceans. From Africa to the Galapagos, we really crisscrossed the planet, filming pretty much back to back to get it done in time for a 2018 release," he notes. "Creating content in VR with a brand new camera system was a fun challenge, since we were trying to discover new ways of storytelling in a medium that has no roadmaps for how to do anything yet," he concludes. "The Blackmagic Design components performed very well and shooting VR has allowed me to bring people along on these journeys, put them right in the center of the action and see our planet in a way they've never be able to until now."