Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/34797
bits & pieces draws on Scratch’s power ANTA CLARA, CA — Assimilate’s Scratch (www.assimilateinc.com) imaging tool was used in the post production of Marvel En- tertainment/Paramount Pictures’ Thor. base to assemble each day’s playlists of all the media connected with a particular shot.This enabled the VFX team, lead by supervisor Wesley Sewell, to con- stantly ingest and review shots-in-progress. Sewell then prepared daily afternoon shot re- views for key production staff and stu- dio execs. Each night, the VFX vendors sent Costa’s team between 3,000 and 5,000 files, including EXR, DPX, QT and JPEG formats. Toward the end of post, be- tween 200 and 300 shots per day, along with all the associated files, were re- viewed in Scratch. Since Thor was shot anamorphically, Scratch was able to automate the play- back of VFX shots in the correct aspect ratio, selectively applying LUTs to DPX frames while ignoring clips such as linear A variety of VFX vendors took advantage of a workflow and pipeline developed by Danielle Costa. Production manager for VFX Danielle Costa was involved in developing a workflow and pipeline be- tween the production team and various outside ven- dors, including Buf, Digital Domain, Whiskytree, Evil Eye Pictures, Fuel Visual Effects, and Luma Pictures, as well as the DI house EFilm and Stereo D, which han- dled the 2D-to-3D conversion. Scratch was integrated with a FileMakerPro data- QT and JPEG files. Scratch also automatically applied the correct frame-offsets, so that scanned VFX plates and on-going comps would line up accurately. The system also helped in the viewing of material that had been converted from 2D to 3D by Stereo D. Playlist stacks for left and right eye were created automatically, which could then be played back in dual mode for stereo review. In addition, Scratch was used to ingest, playback and prepare Red R3D footage for a teaser of the upcoming Marvel feature The Avengers that appears after the credits of Thor. Panasonic’s new pro SDHC media ECAUCUS, NJ — Panasonic’s (www.panasonic.com /broadcast) new line of SD High Capacity (SDHC) full Class 10 Ultra High Speed (UHS) memory cards offers trans- fer rates of 90MB/sec. — 4.5x as fast as previous generation SDHC media. With storage capacities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB, the RP-SDB series of cards has been optimized for pro use, notably with the AVCCAM line of HD camcorders. The UHS-1 media features offload speeds of 1:30 from the 8GB card, 3:00 for the 16GB card and 6:00 for the 32GB card when connected to a computer featuring USB 3.0 inputs and equipped with either a Panasonic UHS-1 USB adapter or with an SDHC card slot supporting the UHS-1 chip. The Super Intelligent Controller System (SICS) automati- cally refreshes data because repeated playback of the same data without refreshing can introduce errors.This functional- ity optimizes data playback performance and has the effect of boosting archival life by a factor of 10. The UHS-1 cards offer Proof 5 durability.Other features include QR code tracking for archival location tracking and management of content, and free, downloadable AVCCAM File Recovery Software. Pricing for the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SDB cards is $60, $129 and $245, respectively. 8 Post • June 2011 www.postmagazine.com LA production company Rabbit (www.rabbitcon- tent.com) and Black Swan and Trevor McMahan teamed up with Minneapolis agency Colle+McVoy to create a new PSA for Peoplefor- Bikes.org, which promotes bicy- cling as a fun and healthy, and calls for more bike- friendly lanes na- tionwide. shows a group of people, each of whom rides for a different reason. The action was captured with hand-held Red cameras. Sniper shots from the tops of buildings were captured with a Canon 5D. The character concepts were created by designer Brian Gossit and then animated by Black Swan. It was edited by Final Cut LA. tor/brand strategy Kendrick Reid on the pro- ject. In the past, the trio collaborated on a re- imaging campaign for Comedy Central The second phase of the BET redesign in- cluded producing full packages for each show, and working with in-house designers in New York and Washington, DC, to implement the pre-built elements. Interspectacular also created off-air ele- ments for BET, consulting on the network’s redesigned Website, and creating extensive print materials. The studio relied on MacPro towers run- ning Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects to complete phase two, along with Maxon’s Cinema 4D. Interspectacular redesigns BET EW YORK — Interspectacular (www.in- terspectacular.com) completed the sec- ond phase of a redesign for BET that returns the cable network to its roots, with a look steeped in bright, primary colors, along with a bolder logo and its signature star, which has been filled in, giving it more weight. Interspectacular creative directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman had a chance to work with BET SVP, executive creative direc- N Thor S Make Life Better Bikes S