Phosphene Partners with Cinemax to Create Visual Effects for Director Steven Soderbergh s the Knick Starring Clive Owen
23/09/2014
Cinemax, owned and operated by HBO, has recently committed to a second season for the period drama, set in downtown New York in 1900, and centers on Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff, who push the boundaries of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. The original drama series premiered exclusively on Cinemax in August.
Among numerous other highly complex and creative effects, under the direction of Creative Director John Bair and VFX Executive Producer Vivian Connolly, Phosphene's talented team created an impressive CG face replacement for Abigail, a central character played by Jennifer Ferrin, substituting the actor's nose with a CG version to simulate a face disfigured by Syphilis.
Jennifer Ferrin as Abigail Alford. Photo by: Mary Cybulski/Cinemax
On her collaboration with Phosphene The Knick VFX Supervisor Lesley Robson-Foster said, We solved a tricky series of shots together using a combination of CGI, special effects prosthetic elements and compositing. Phosphene has a very talented group of artists and Abigails nose was a real challenge. I was very pleased with the result, as was Steven Soderbergh. VFX Producer Parker Chehak added, No one ever said cool' or nice work' when they saw those shots. They always said EW!' ' Mission Accomplished.'
Abigails missing nose had to be both visually striking and subtly personalized. Phosphene started with a special effects face cast provided to them by production. Phosphene's Lead Digital Artist Aaron Raff explained the process. First, we used PhotoScan to convert photos of the cast to a detailed 3D model. Lead CG Artist Vance Miller then proceeded to light and render a physically accurate version of Abigails nose-less face in V-Ray. CG Artist Kim Lee painstakingly animated all of the slight twitches and stretches of the nose cavity we see as Abigail moves her face and speaks to Dr. Thackery. Raff continued: Using NukeX, I integrated these renders of Abigails nose cavity onto the footage of the actress, maintaining photo-real lighting across shots that had Abigail moving her head from side to side and passing through light and shadow. The effect had to be seamless since Abigails altered face stayed at the center of the frame for an extended dialogue scene. In addition, the creative needs of the show sometimes called for interaction of the surgical instruments within the nose cavity. In those instances, Phosphene created CG extensions for the practical surgical instruments. Phosphene then animated the side flaps of the nose to match the interaction of the CG instrument tips.
Phosphene Visual Effects Producer/Compositing Supervisor Rebecca Dunn stated, The sequence in which Thackery inspects Abigail's wounded nose was one of the earliest we worked on and was the most demanding visual effects sequence completed for Season 1. Phosphene's VFX team met early with Lesley Robson-Foster and Parker Chehak to determine the best way to approach this effect which had to appear highly realistic, always maintaining a fine balance between showing Abigail's disfigurement whilst letting the natural beauty of her character shine through. Phosphene's previous collaboration with Lesley and Parker working on Richard Harrow's facial disfigurement in Seasons 3 and 4 of Boardwalk Empire' gave us some great experience in how to approach the visual effects for Abigail's nose.
In addition to Bair, Connolly, Dunn, Raff, Miller and Lee the Phosphene creative team included Digital Artists Luciano DiGeronimo, Kevin Jones, Christian Lowe, Thomas Panayiotou, Eddie Porter, Greg Radcliff, Tonya Smay, Tommy Smith, Jason Tsang, Tim Van Horn and Scott Winston.
An original 10-part series, The Knick was created and written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler ( Raising Helen, Big Miracle ), who also served as Executive Producers, along with Gregory Jacobs ( Behind the Candelabra ); Steven Soderbergh, Michael Sugar ( Rendition ), and Clive Owen. Supervising Producer Steven Katz ( Shadow of the Vampire ) wrote episodes 5 and 9; Producer is Michael Polaire; Associate Producer David Kirchner; Director of Photography Peter Andrews; Editor Mary Ann Bernard; Associate Editor Corey Bayes; and Post-production Supervisor Samara Levinstein.
Being the first 4K television series undertaken by Phosphene, major technology upgrades were implemented to ensure that they were able to handle the large amounts of data without a hitch, including setting up a state of the art 4K monitor and playback system to provide real-time previews. This enabled Phosphene to review VFX at full resolution in-house. In addition Phosphene utilized tools such as 3ds Max, V-Ray for 3ds Max, NukeX, and Agisoft PhotoScan.
The film-to-tape assignment was handled by Colorist Martin Zeichner at Deluxe (New York, NY) with Sam Uber as Conform Editor.
ABOUT PHOSPHENE
Phosphene is a New York-based independent design and visual effects house led by founders/co-owners John Bair and Vivian Connolly.
In 2010, Bair and Connolly launched Phosphene with visual effects for Barry Levinson's You Don't Know Jack, Phillip Noyce's Salt, George Nolfi's The Adjustment Bureau, Jodie Foster's The Beaver and Brad Anderson's Vanishing on 7th Street. Phosphene next designed and
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/05/2024
Aerojet Rocketdyne Expanding Huntsville Operations to Increase Solid Rocket Motor Deliveries
Aerojet Rocketdyne's Advanced Manufacturing Facility opened in 2019. The com...
28/05/2024
France Tlvisions Upgrades to Grass Valley Kaleido-IP Video Multiviewer to Support its Upcoming SMPTE-2110 Live UHD/3G Broadcast Transition
MONTREAL, CANADA -May 28, 2024 - Grass Valley , the leading innovator for live p...
28/05/2024
How Will Venu Sports Impact Pay-TV Subscriptions?
NEW ROCHELLE, NY Venu Sports, the new sports streaming bundle from Disney, Fox and WBD expected to launch later this year, could attract more than 4 in 10 sport...
28/05/2024
Tucson TV Stations Launch NextGen TV Service
TUSCON Six stations have launched NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0 broadcasts in the Tucson, Ariz., area....
28/05/2024
WSC Sports Unveils Trio Of AI-Driven Content Solutions
TEL AVIV, Israel WSC Sports has introduced three additions to its product portfolio for sports ecosystem companies that address content management, creation and...
28/05/2024
Pixotope Enables Remote Intercontinental Camera Tracking for NEP the Netherlands
Pixotope Enables Remote Intercontinental Camera Tracking for NEP the Netherlands Brie Clayton May 28, 2024 0 Comments Remote markerless through-the-le...
28/05/2024
Picture Shop's Mark Kueper Grades Billy the Kid With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Picture Shop's Mark Kueper Grades Billy the Kid With DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton May 28, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic Design today announced...
28/05/2024
Profoto enters the cinema market with L1600D
Profoto enters the cinema market with L1600D Brie Clayton May 28, 2024 0 Comments Profoto enters the cinema market with uncompromising speed of use an...
28/05/2024
After Effects cameras and Unreal Engine
After Effects cameras and Unreal Engine Graham Quince May 28, 2024 0 Comments Welcome to my series on learning Unreal Engine for video production, esp...
28/05/2024
Apple Motion: Understanding Fixed Resolution
Apple Motion: Understanding Fixed Resolution Simon Ubsdell May 28, 2024 0 Comments An overview of this tricky but important topic which can hit you wi...
28/05/2024
OBS Taps Alibaba Cloud for AI-Enhanced MultiCamera Replays at Paris 2024
LONDON Olympic Broadcasting Services recently tested AI-enhanced multcamera replay tech from Alibaba Cloud at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai in prepar...
28/05/2024
Dune Part 2 and Avatar colourists to take part in DaVinci Resolve Live Tour
The events are for filmmakers, editors, colourists, and visual effects artists, whether theyre beginners and experienced users By Jenny Priestley Published: ...
28/05/2024
Meet the head of sound
1185 Films Mark Hodgkin explains his journey from studying classic guitar and piano to working on the sound of TV adverts, films and documentaries By TVBEurope...
28/05/2024
Alfalite presents its LED displays at InfoComm 2024
Alfalite, the European LED display manufacturer, returns for the second consecutive year to InfoComm with its LED displays for the rental, fixed installation an...
28/05/2024
Leader Electronics Corporation Appoints AV Group Technolo...
Leader Electronics Corporation, globally active innovator of broadcast-quality test and measurement instrumentation, announces the appointment of Sydney-based A...
28/05/2024
Advanced 3D qualifier in DaVinci Resolve
Advanced 3D qualifier in DaVinci Resolve Kasia Jarco May 27, 2024 0 Comments In today's advanced tutorial, I want to show you how and why to use 3...
28/05/2024
Deadline Approaching for 2024 Emerging Leaders Intern Program
Applications for CBC & Leadership Triangle Due May 31 Only a few days remain for HBCU students in the Triangle to apply for the 2024 Emerging Leadership Intern...
28/05/2024
Micro LED Panels and AlfaArt Combine the Best Digital Art with the Latest LED Display Technology in Easy-to-Use Solution
FOR-A Highlights Turnkey LED Video Wall System from Strategic Partner Alfalite a...
28/05/2024
2024-05-28
The Apple Hearing Study is sharing new insights on tinnitus in one of the largest surveys to date....
28/05/2024
Apantac Best of Show 2024 at NAB
Apantac Best of Show 2024 at NABApantac Best of Show 2024 at NAB Beaverton, Oregon, USA - May 22, 2024, - We are pleased to announce that our product OG-HDR-UDX...
28/05/2024
Thales' FlytEDGE digitally remasters the inflight entertainment experience
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Live personalization for a journey filled with unique experiences Instantly stream favorites and never miss a beat, continue wa...
28/05/2024
AI-backbone for FCAS operational
AI-backbone for FCAS operational The HIS consortium and partners provide BAAINBw and industry with a cross-sectional AI development platform for FCAS (AI-back...
27/05/2024
Experience inspiration. Master challenges. With SIGRAFLEX and SIGRAFINE at ACHEMA 2024
It will soon be that time again: ACHEMA, the worlds most important trade show fo...
27/05/2024
How L3Harris Evolved into Canada's Trusted Tanker Aircraft In-Service Support Provider
L3Harris has been maintaining Canada's CC-150 Polaris fleet for over a decad...
27/05/2024
Tech Lifestyle Influencer Shelby Church Uses Blackmagic Cloud Storage with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Tech Lifestyle Influencer Shelby Church Uses Blackmagic Cloud Storage with DaVin...
27/05/2024
Bridge Technologies Introduce StreamOverview to the VB330
Bridge Technologies Introduce StreamOverview to the VB330 Brie Clayton May 27, 2024 0 Comments Single page diagnostics overview gives first-line engin...
27/05/2024
Intelligent Video Effects from Film Impact
Intelligent Video Effects from Film Impact Colin Smith May 27, 2024 0 Comments Take an incredible trip though the many unbelievable transitions from F...
27/05/2024
Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic Announces Agenda
The Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic (MRBC) announced its agenda for the clinic being held Tuesday, Sept. 10, and Wednesday, Sept. 11, in Middleton, Wis....
27/05/2024
NVIDIA Scoops Up Wins at COMPUTEX Best Choice Awards
Building on more than a dozen years of stacking wins at the COMPUTEX trade show's annual Best Choice Awards, NVIDIA was today honored with BCAs for its late...
27/05/2024
Live From NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship: ESPN Travels Down I-95 to Familiar Lincoln Financial Field
Live From NCAA Men's Lacrosse National Championship: ESPN Travels Down I-95 ...
27/05/2024
Rohde & Schwarz presents its solutions for next generation wide bandgap device test and debug at PCIM Europe
Rohde & Schwarz presents its solutions for next generation wide bandgap device t...
27/05/2024
Hierarchy' Trailer Teases a Dark Scandal and Social Upheaval at Jooshin High School
Back to All News Hierarchy' Trailer Teases a Dark Scandal and Social Uphea...
27/05/2024
SKY Perfect JSAT selects Thales Alenia Space to build a new cutting-edge software-defined satellite JSAT-31
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tokyo / Cannes, May 27th 2024 - Asia's large...
26/05/2024
Vizrt to showcase state-of-the-art proAV solutions at Inf...
Vizrt, the leader in real-time graphics and live production solutions for content creators, will be present at InfoComm for the first time since unifying with N...
26/05/2024
Alfredo Valdes Named Noticiero Telemundo Arizona' Meteorologist
Alfredo Valdes has been named meteorologist for Noticiero Telemundo Arizona weekday morning newscasts, which run on KTAZ Phoenix and KHRR Tucson. Both stations ...
26/05/2024
Paramount, Charter Reach Carriage Deal That Includes Linear Networks, TV Stations and Streaming Services
Paramount Global and Charter Communications said they reached a new carriage agr...
26/05/2024
Daytime Emmys To Again Be Hosted by ET's Kevin Frazier, Nischelle Turner
Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner are returning to host the 51st annual Daytime Emmys, CBS and the National Academy of Television A...
25/05/2024
Get to Know This Summer's Filmmakers Through These 12 Sundance Films
(L-R) Writer-director Hannah Pearl Utt and co-writer Jen Tullock star as sisters in Before You Know It, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival....
25/05/2024
Study: Digital Media Ad Spend Grew 18% in Q1 24
NEW YORK A new study from Guideline indicates that In Q1 2024, large US advertisers expanded their overall ad spend by 7% compared to the year prior and that di...
25/05/2024
Accedo Helps ITV Expand ITVX to Sony PlayStation 4 and 5
STOCKHOLM Global video solutions provider, Accedo has announced that it worked with ITV in the U.S. to expand the reach of the broadcasters streaming service, I...
25/05/2024
Broadband Forum Celebrates 20th Anniversary of TR-069 Standard
Broadband Forum has announced that it is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of its groundbreaking TR-069 standard that has paved the way for the open standards...
25/05/2024
TV Tech Weekly Tech Wrap-Up
Missed any of our coverage of new products, services and deployments during your busy week? The TV Tech weekly wrap-up provides links to all of our product cove...
25/05/2024
HBO Original Series 30 Coins Season Two Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
HBO Original Series 30 Coins Season Two Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton May 24, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic Design announced today th...
25/05/2024
VideoProc Converter AI: Your Answer to Video Format Challenges and Quality Enhancement
VideoProc Converter AI: Your Answer to Video Format Challenges and Quality Enhan...
24/05/2024
The Hives Celebrate 50 Years of Sweden's Global Music Success With Spotify Singles Cover
On April 6, 1974, the Swedish pop quartet ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest w...
24/05/2024
The U.K. Holds Firm in the Fight for Fair Competition With the DMCC Act, But It's Not Over Yet
For more than a year, the U.K. government has been working to redefine how the i...
24/05/2024
Alone Australia continues to build as it moves towards finale
Alone Australia continues to build as it moves towards finale 23 May, 2024 Media releases The program continues to deliver for SBS with significant uplifts...
24/05/2024
EditShare Introduces Expanded Product Line-Up at BroadcastAsia
EditShare Introduces Expanded Product Line-Up at BroadcastAsia Transforming innovations in workflow, server and delivery from storyboard to screen Boston, MA...