Oscar-Nominated KANDOR Graphics Maximises on Mistikas Colour Grading and Finishing Creativity in D CG Fantasy Feature Film Justin and the Knights of Valour

KANDOR Graphics, with Antonio Banderas as Company Partner, invested in SGOs technology to support its growing production demands, and chose Mistika for its stunning capabilities to colour grade and finish its very first 3D CG childrens feature film Justin and the Knights of Valour in 2D and stereoscopic 3D.

2013 KANDOR Graphics S.L. All rights reserved.

An Animation Film to get Animated About

Justin and the Knights of Valour is a heart-warming story about a young boy who becomes a man as he embarks on a quest to become a knight. Directed and written by KANDOR Graphics Chief Creative Officer, Manuel Sicilia, the animated adventure fantasy film boasts a famous cast of European voices including Freddie Highmore, Charles Dance, Rupert Everett, Barry Humphries, David Walliams, Julie Walters and Saoirse Ronan. Antonio Banderas is also the voice of character Sir Clorex, as well as producer of the film along with Marcelino Almansa, Kerry Fulton and Ralph Kamp. In his new role as a producer, Banderas is respected for supporting a new generation of Spanish film directors, having already produced four successful films and plays a prominent role in KANDOR Graphics ongoing success.

KANDOR Graphics uses Mistika to turn Fantasy into Reality

Juan Molina, Director of KANDOR Graphics affirms his belief in Mistikas role there, The fact that we have a Mistika system at our facility that can handle its own colour correction and Stereo 3D, conforming, finishing, DCP creation and even compositing, has made us choose Mistika to be at the centre of all our projects. Mistika is the backbone of KANDOR Graphics pipeline where we conform daily, regardless of the production status of each shot. Furthermore, SGOs immediate after sales support and the access we are given to the development team, are factors we truly appreciate.

Mistikas starring role in Justin and the Knights of Valour at KANDOR Graphics

In post production, KANDOR Graphics used cutting-edge equipment including SGOs complete Mistika post production system as a colour grading platform and to carry out final stereoscopic adjustments.

2013 KANDOR Graphics S.L. All rights reserved.

Mistika enabled the Creative Team to Achieve a Totally Uniform Film with Great Storytelling Potential

The technical resources during this stage have been very versatile. Having one single Mistika system in the company allowed us to complete the colour grading, stereoscopic 3D corrections, DCP creation and even the compositing, enabling to us to achieve a totally uniform film with great potential. states Javier Fern ndez, Director of Photography and Colourist at KANDOR Graphics. Javier adds As a studio, Mistikas capabilities have allowed us to reach unprecedented independence levels, opening a whole new world of creative possibilities.

Mistika offers Complete Control of the Process as a Total Post Production Solution

Javier expands further Also, I felt so fortunate to have Mistika for Justin and the Knights of Valour. With dual-roles as DoP and Colourist, I had complete control of the process, which made my job so much easier. The all in one system philosophy of Mistika resulted in us using its unrivalled toolsets and capabilities for many more tasks than we initially intended to from the start. We also utilised Mistika as a display tool as well as for checks , including DCP outputs as well as a compositing tool. The learning curve has been so fast that I was able to proceed from the first week of production. Furthermore, it's been a pleasure to work with the SGO team throughout the production and post production phases and they were always available to meet our needs.

Mistika Opens a New World of Creative Colour Grading Possibilities at KANDOR Graphics

With the colour grading phase of the project, KANDOR Graphics used Mistika to carry out colour, brightness and contrast corrections of the shots so that the appearance of each sequence corresponded to its dramatic intention.

Mistika makes the Grade

With his Colourist hat on, Javier Fern ndez, talks through Mistikas colour grading strengths in the project. The fact that we were able to grade in-house using Mistika, allowed us to maintain tight control over the final look of the movie and it enabled us to make creative decisions on the fly during the whole process, without having to wait right until the end which was highly efficient for us. At the same time, we also used Mistika's immense powerful Stereo 3D toolset to fine-tune the results to the maximum level. With Justin and the Knights of Valour being CG, we had already considered Stereo 3D from the start within our pipeline at KANDOR Graphics and owing to Mistikas remarkable flexibility and speed, we were able to change convergences and camera distances after the film was finished until we were 100% comfortable with the final results which was a real advantage. Mistika has also been at the core for conforming and mastering, which for an international release is a very complex task where we again benefited from Mistikas capabilities.

Behind the scenes - Storytelling in Stereo 3D

Justin and the Knights of Valour was conceived as a stereoscopic 3D film at the outset as it was not an option to adapt it to 3D later on. The team felt strongly that the storytelling should take advantage of the Stereo 3D qualities in order to support the story and not the other way around.

Stereoscopic 3D was perceived as a narrative resource during the process at KANDOR Graphics, We decided that stereoscopic 3D should be something that supported storytelling without distracting us from what we wanted to tell. It was just another element to help improve the film. says Antonio Montes, Stereoscopic Supervisor at KANDOR Graphics.

3D Shouldn't be the Focus in Itself - It had to be Justified in Both Worlds: 2D and 3D

KANDOR Graphics Pre-visualisation Co-Director Jaime

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