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September 2006

GRINDING GEARS CREATES THRILLS AND CHILLS: ENGINE ROOM VFX PRODUCES NEW ANIMATED LIONSGATE HORROR OPEN FOR DEVASTUDIOS

From the drama of a darkened theater comes a compelling project driven by the imagination of Devastudios and the creative execution of Engine Room VFX. A rusted set of gears and weathered gates set an eerie tone for the Lionsgate open that will precede the studios' horror genre theatrical and DVD releases. This collaboration is the second in a series of theatrical opens for Lionsgate Films, concepted by Devastudios ringleader John Berlin, and created in photorealistic CG detail by the team at Engine Room VFX. The multi-version project presented Engine Room with the opportunity to create a piece that would potentially be seen on every Lionsgate release for decades to come and this long-lasting impression inspired the team to explore leading creative and technical execution options for the package.

To craft the project, Engine Room's CG team, helmed by Andrew Honacker, pre-visualized the open for client Devastudios and then used a cadre of talent and technology including Maya, After Effects and Turtle to model, light, animate, render and comp the churning gears and gates. The result is an arresting and iconic branded open for Lionsgate that is sure to grab the attention of viewers everywhere.

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ZOIC STUDIOS HELPS TRANSFORM FRANKFURT INTO A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Think home re-design... then imagine it on an epic scale. Zoic Studios collaborated with Director Marcus Nispel to create a fanciful makeover for a German TCOM spot in which downtown Frankfurt is magically transformed into a welcoming living room complete with furniture, flooring, curtains and wallpaper. Why? Because TCOM offers a great telephone service that is both a home line and a mobile number for when you are out and about. The spot opens with workmen transcending on the city as dawn begins to break. Throughout the morning helicopters buzz in and out carrying large loads of material necessary for the transformation effort. On the ground, contractors and designers meticulously place each design element bringing all the comforts of home to the newly remolded metropolis. The spot climaxes as our hero strolls from his house and is awe-stuck to discover his living room now extends as far as his eyes can see.

Zoic Studios modeled and composited CG helicopters, curtains, flooring, furniture and lampshades to create the look of home throughout the city. In addition to the CG elements, 2D wallpaper was composited onto several of the buildings. Once all the furnishings were in place, final color balancing was done in Flame. Additionally, because the live action scenes were filmed throughout a cloudy day in non-sequential order, each scene needed sky replacement and heavy color correction in Flame to create an appropriate aesthetic for the passing time of day.

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SPY POST COMPLETES POST WORK ON VARIETY 100th ANNIVERSARY DOC "BOFFO! TINSELTOWN'S BOMBS AND BLOCKBUSTERS" FOR HBO

Leading postproduction company Spy Post recently completed work on the HBO documentary, "Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and aired on HBO in June and July. The documentary examines, with insight and wit, the DNA of Hollywood, the elemental building blocks of movies as illustrated through a collection of clips from such blockbusters as "The Godfather," "Jaws," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Titanic," as well as such mega-bombs as "Howard the Duck" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." The doc features interviews with a wide range of industry players, including executive types, actors, filmmakers and hyphenates.

For Spy Post, the technical challenge was figuring out how to organize and use the various film formats and make them look good in a sequence. This effort was spearheaded by VFX Supervisor Jon Wank who worked closely with Senior Colorist Chris Martin. Spy Post worked tapeless on this project, which Wank says will be the new model of working soon. "This is such a smart way to work on films and eventually, on commercials. People are going to embrace using files and drives versus tapes more and more. It saves time, money and potential problems that occur from going back to tape. This is a preview of what the world will look like in a few years."

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FANS STAR IN YEAH YEAH YEAHS "CHEATED HEARTS" VIDEO WITH HELP FROM FINAL CUT EDITOR STEPHEN BERGER

Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans make an appearance in the band's latest music video, "Cheated Hearts," courtesy of singer Karen O and Final Cut Editor Stephen Berger. In the video, the band reaches out to their fans by incorporating homemade videos in which the fans perform and lip sync along to the song. The entire music video contains clips of fans, dressed up as either their version of Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner or drummer Brian Chase. This is interspersed with footage from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs own video entry.

Berger had to work with 30 hours of material, which - with many fans having done multiple takes - included 370 different performances of the song. After four days of pulling selects alone and one day of working together on trying to figure out the structure Berger and Karen O were able to create the final cut during a six-hour session, which the editor says is indicative of their working relationship. "I love working with Karen," concludes Berger. "It's been my most satisfying creative relationship. She has a very strong creative vision and a huge heart. She knows what she wants to achieve and has a knack for stretching the possibilities. I'm never quite sure how things come together so smoothly, but we always seem to wind up with something people respond well to."

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