Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/221535
postings 4K Muse L Maria & The Dinosaur N EW YORK — Agency WiT Media teamed up with Wander recently to create Maria & The Dinosaur, a new :60 a commercial for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The spot was created both for broadcast and online presentation. In it, a young girl is inspired by her trip to the museum, which leads her to further her education and eventually land at the top of her field. According to WiT Media founder/president Clint White, the goal was to present the benefit of experiencing the American Museum of Natural History with a contemporary voice and a narrative that entertained. Wander, which is a creative collective, worked closely with WiT and the museum to develop the tonality and story. Portions were shot in the museum itself. Wander's Aaron Weber served as EP and CD, co-writing the project with Kranky, which also directed it. Weber says the project was shot on the Arri Alexa in Log C color. Pro Res (LT) files were then created for the offline edit. Richard Cooperman at Jump in LA cut the project in Final Cut Pro. It was then completed at Wander. The spot's two VFX shots were completed by Eric Reinfeld of Wander and Evan Schoonmaker of MPC. Josh Peck provided music and sound design. The spot was finished at MPC in New York, with Adrian Seery handling color, with assistance from Daniel Silverman. ONDON — Back in July, English rock band Muse performed a concert at Rome's Olympic stadium. Serpent Productions captured the gig in both HD and 4K simultaneously using Sony F55 cameras. The decision to post a 4K cinema version of the event rested on whether it was possible to get a high enough quality standards conversion at a low frame rate and in 4K. BTV Post (www.btvpost.com), here, successfully managed both using Snell's Alchemist OD file-based standards conversion platform. Alchemist OD was used for the entire conversion, which worked seamlessly with BTV's 4K Mistika post production pipeline. BTV Post CTO Jon Lee says the studio worked closely with Snell's engineering team to achieve a low frame rate conversion that is virtually indistinguishable from the original content. The Muse concert (http://film.muse.mu/gb) was released in UK cinemas in 4K on November 5. Angels Sing A USTIN, TX — Filmmaker Randall Dark recently completed work on Angels Sing (http://www.angelssingmovie.com), a new family film about a father who struggles to find joy in Christmas after a tragic accident 30 years ago. The films stars Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and Kris Kristofferson, and was shot in 2K using Red cameras. Dark was co-executive producer on the project, along with Scott Rankin and Sharon Rankin, and worked closely with producer Fred Miller from day one. He also shot behind-the-scenes footage – using a Canon 5D — for use in the film's electronic press kit. David Rosenblatt edited the film on an Avid NLE. FotoKem's mobile NextLab system was used to manage camera media on-site. Offline editorial was performed at DNx 36 and DNx 115 resolutions. Green Grass Studios in Dallas served as the visual effects vendor for the film, which hit theaters on November 1 and also saw on-demand distribution. Take On Blake L ONDON — Design/animation studio We Are Formation, here, recently turned to iPi Motion Capture for the creation of Take On Blake, a new Facebook game for automaker Kia that allows players to create their own animated avatar and compete in a slam dunk contest against NBA star Blake Griffin. Working with ad agency David & Goliath, El Segundo, CA, and London-based production company Unit9, We Are Formation (http://weareformation.com) used the markerless iPi Motion Capture solution in conjunction with the Unity3D game engine to create all of the character animations and capture the basketball moves. According to We Are Formation creative director, Louis du Mont, the team used iPi Soft with LightWave 3D and Maya. Main motions were captured with the six-camera PlayStation Eye setup. Microsoft's Kinect camera was also used for pick ups. Take On Blake features CG versions of Griffin at ages 8, 12, 17 and 23. Players can create their own personalized avatar, complete with a customized jersey from their favorite NBA team and 3D face mapping. European player Tayo Ogedengbe performed much of the basketball action. 42 Post • November 2013 www.postmagazine.com