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postings BLUE SKIES FOR THE DICTATOR N EW ORLEANS — Factory VFX (www.factoryvfx.com), which has locations here and in Santa Rosa, CA, completed work on over 140 visual effects shots for Paramount's The Dictator. They completed composites, plate reconstruc- tions and sky replacements for the film, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris and Megan Fox. One of the more notable shots is a sky replacement that involved replacing a drab, gray sky with a beautiful blue sky. Factory VFX adjusted all of the lighting and contrast levels to reflect the new sky. The studio worked on a whole sequence of shots that involved sky replacements, as well as on a number of split-screen sequences. Most of the work was accomplished using After Effects, but artists were allowed to use a preferred compositing tool if they desired. The New Orleans location, which opened in 2010, allowed for Paramount to receive a 30 percent tax rebate. PET PARTY L ONDON — Visual effects house Absolute (www. absolutepost.com) teamed up with BBH and Pretty Bird to deliver A Bottle of Togetherness, a new spot for Britvic J2O. The piece features a car-load of dogs (with human bodies) arriving at an all-cats party. At first the cats are puzzled, but the dogs offer SATCHURATED AND READY TO ROCK N EW YORK — DuArt (www.duart.com), here, provided authoring services for the 2D and 3D Blu-ray release of guitarist Joe Satri- ani's new live concert film. Shot in high definition by filmmakers Pierre and François Lamoureux of Cinemusica, Satchurated: Live in Montreal was captured at the Metropolis in Montreal during the guitarist's "Wormhole Tour." Cinemusica (www.cinemusica.tv) captured the show from 10 cam- era positions, recording Satriani in both 2D and 3D HD formats, as well as in 7.1 surround sound. Randy Hudson, director of digital media post production at DuArt, oversaw the 3D Blu-ray authoring process. The team used the Net- Blender encoding module and Panasonic multiscan displays to help Cinemusica prepare Satchurated for its 3D Blu-ray release. up a four-pack of Britvic J2O, which helps break the ice. A party ensues with dancing, drinking and even the cats and dogs hooking up. At the end of the spot, a mouse shows up with a pack of J2O and he is also welcomed. Absolute initially cast their office dogs Alfie and Larry to do test composites for combining the dog heads with human bodies. Flame artists Phil Oldham and Michael Smith attended the shoot in East London to assist and super- vise the shots for visual effects. The team initially intended to shoot the cat and dog heads as plates, but ultimately a greenscreen studio was constructed and they captured the heads using two cameras shooting simultaneously from different angles. Absolute used a mixture of compositing, live action and CG augmentation to create the scenes and charac- ters. Autodesk Flame, The Foundry Nuke and Apple Final Cut Pro were the main platforms used. WASP REPELLENT B URBANK — Rogue State (www.roguestate.com) has completed over 100 VFX shots for the TV movie Dragon Wasps, which is slated to air this summer on the Syfy network. The studio's work included creating the eight-foot tall, 3D wasps, along with massive wasp swarming shots, blood augmentation for bullet hits, muzzle flashes, CG avatars of lead char- acters for attack scenes, and various hive set extensions. Shot on location in Belize, the movie tells the story of a young scientist looking for her missing father, a man who is working on genetic mutations and DNA research. The film was produced by Little Dragon Productions via American World Pictures. Rogue State created 3D elements using Intel Core i7 PCs running Windows Vista Pro and using NewTek LightWave 3D V.11 software. The project's 2D elements were created using i7 iMacs running OS X Lion/Snow Leopard. Rogue also used Adobe After Effects CS5 and Pilgway 3D Coat. 38 Post • June 2012 www.postmagazine.com