Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Setting the Stage for the Supersession

30/03/2023

By Debra Kaufman

Avatar: The Way of Water was the focus of the HPA Tech Retreat Supersession; over 700 attendees enjoyed a deep dive into the challenges in making this technologically advanced movie. But, behind the scenes, another technological feat was achieved: turning the Westin Mission Hills ballroom into a state-of-the-art theater capable of screening 4K, 48 fps per eye, 3D, projected at a bright 14-foot lamberts. I don't know how many systems are capable of doing this, but it's in the handfuls, not hundreds, says Loren Nielsen, head of the Supersession committee with co-chair Leon Silverman.

Before Avatar content would be released for use in the Supersession, the theater needed to pass approval of Avatar producer Jon Landau and senior vice president production services and technology, Geoff Burdick of Lightstorm Entertainment as well as The Walt Disney Studio, which made the 1,065 digital masters. Getting approval for showing the content was key to the Supersession's success. We didn't just want to talk about Avatar, adds Nielsen, who was also the Supersession producer. We wanted to show it and that meant we had to create a purpose-built state-of-the-art theater inside the Westin. We immediately knew we needed professional theater building assistance.

Nielsen and Silverman knew exactly who they wanted to build the theater: Kevin KDR Rosenberger, who was director of projection services at Walt Disney Studios for 33 years and involved with Digital Cinema for its inception. Leon called me, and I said absolutely not, says Rosenberger. Then he talked me into it. Silverman did that in part by pointing out that the entire audience would be made up of digital cinema pioneers and experts or, as he put it, KDR's people.

Rosenberger's first step was to focus on all the boxes he needed to check: 4K, 3D, high frame rate. He also considered that the day after the Supersession, the same ballroom would be used for the HPA Tech Retreat presentations. We wanted to make sure we could dovetail into that, he explains. One of his challenges would be training the hotel's AV team, which previously handled events that usually take place in a ballroom venue. My job is to hold standards, says Rosenberger. I had to teach this group of people to do something more professional and creative than they had done for HPA before. The ballroom's bright, beautiful interior worked against the presentation goals the team needed to achieve, so the first step was hanging black curtains around the perimeter and bringing in power, cabling and all the safety signage necessary.

To accomplish a reasonable line-of-sight for 3D, the team determined that three screens were needed. Day one, we set up seats in a reverse fan facing the screens, says Rosenberger. Most of the seats were oriented to the left and right screens, and after the Supersession, the seats were reoriented to focus on the center screen and dais.

On the projector end, coordinating with Rosenberger, Nielsen tapped Christie Digital executive vice president Brian Claypool to provide the technology and the people who could run it. In addition to a Xenon system, Christie Digital provided two very high-end laser projection systems to achieve the 14-foot lambert brightness in 3D mode. Christie Digital senior technical manager Judson Cross describes the biggest technical challenge. We had to find a way to present two synchronized screens to cover a wide seating area with the highest possible frame rate and the highest possible brightness, he says. Christie worked closely with GDC Technology to ensure seamless - and perfectly synchronized - delivery of content via the company's playback servers. At Christie's Cypress, California office, Cross and Rosenberger staged the equipment to test it for the live event until he knew the system would be capable of presenting the content in the filmmakers' desired format and making unexpected changes in the presentations.

RealD, another digital cinema pioneer, was another important partner in the endeavor. It's hard to do 3D well, especially when it's bright, says Nielsen. Years of development went into RealD Ultimate Screen technology and the company very generously had screens manufactured for us in China to the exact size needed. They also provided the RealD XL 3D System optics designed for high brightness and 3D glasses.

Separate from installing the physical infrastructure for the event, from the beginning, Nielsen and Silverman worked closely with Lightstorm and Disney to get clearance for content and a remote interview with Landau. The Walt Disney Studio's Kim Beresford described the company's role in creating 1,065 different deliverables.

Also participating in the day's presentations were Sony (whose Venice cameras were used to lens Avatar), Deluxe, Eikon Group and Pixelogic. HPA board member Joachim JZ Zell helped wrangle the camera crew, which included cinematographers Russell Carpenter, ASC and Robin Charters. Also of note, panelist Tashi Trieu, Lightstorm colorist for the film, is a graduate of HPA's first YEP group.

On Monday, the day before the Supersession, the team spent the day rehearsing. On Tuesday, the Supersession went off without a hitch. People really responded to it, says Nielsen. Although it's a professional audience that lives in this world, very few of them had seen this content presented exactly the way the filmmakers wanted it to be seen.

Rosenberger was impressed with how it all came together. HPA was amazingly professional, he says. After all, it's their middle name and it was really interesting working with the committee, which always had the show in mind. He also praised the professionalism of the hotel's AV crew. On site, there were 30 to 40 people all handling the logistic
LINK: https://hpaonline.com/setting-the-stage-for-the-supersession/...
See more stories from hpa

More from Hollywood Post Alliance

31/08/2023

Navigating Crisis: HPA's Commitment to the Media Supply Chain

By Seth Hallen, HPA President In our recently issued open letter, HPA voiced profound concern for the survival of the media creation supply chain. Our post-pro...

31/08/2023

NAGRA Leads Industry to Navigate the Disruption' at IBC 2023

NAGRA, a KudelskiGroup (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, will sho...

31/08/2023

A Fresh Experience at HPA Tech Retreat 2024

When HPA Tech Retreat 2024 arrives in February, it comes back with all the remarkable features that always make it an unparalleled event. It's about profoun...

16/08/2023

HPA Award for Engineering Excellence Winners Announced

A trio of recipients have been honored with the 2023 HPA Award for Engineering Excellence, announced by the HPA Awards Committee today. The honors will be besto...

01/08/2023

HPA Tech Retreat 2024 Opens Call for Proposals for Main Program and Breakfast Roundtables

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has issued a call for proposals for...

28/07/2023

Blackmagic Cloud Powers Remote Post Production on Feature Film This Closeness

Blackmagic Design announced that post production for the independent film This Closeness relied on a remote, collaborative Blackmagic Cloud driven workflow. W...

28/07/2023

Backlight Introduces New Features and Workflow Integrations at SIGGRAPH

Global media and entertainment technology company Backlight has introduced several new features and workflow integrations across its creative-centric product li...

28/07/2023

Key Code Media Expands West Coast with New Bay Area and Portland Offices

Key Code Media, a leading provider of audiovisual integration and production equipment solutions, is pleased to announce the opening of two new offices on the W...

28/07/2023

AMIA to Present Copyright Symposium August 7

Archives and copyright remain inextricably linked. As technologies change, copyright continues to evolve through court rulings and legislative changes both nati...

28/07/2023

HPA Member Event Series: Virtual Production

HPA is proud to present two seminars focusing on virtual production, supported by member companies ROE Visual and Mo-Sys. Both events have limited capacity and ...

27/07/2023

Eluvio Provides Multimedia Web3 Movie Experience for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's The Flash

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, in partnership with content blockchain pioneer ...

27/07/2023

Panavision President and CEO Kim Snyder Set for Women in Post August Lunch

Kim Snyder, president and CEO of Panavision, will be the featured speaker during the HPA Women in Post summer lunch at Marino Ristorante in Hollywood on August ...

27/07/2023

The Industry Best Get Ready to Judge Awards 2023

By Christine Purse The HPA Awards have honored creatives and technologists since 2006, growing to become one of the most coveted and respected honors in post p...

12/07/2023

Hollywood Professional Association Names League Honors Recipients

The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that three respected industry leaders have been named as recipients of HPA League Honors. The League ...

15/06/2023

Original Syndicate Talks Color at the Cinegear 2023 LA Expo

On Friday, June 2nd, Original Syndicate CTO Marcus Bengtsson demonstrated his industry-leading expertise as the moderator of the Cinegear 2023 LA Expo ETC Cineg...

15/06/2023

The King's Academy Outfits Virtual Production Studio with URSA Mini Pro 12K

Blackmagic Design announced that The King's Academy's robust Digital Media Arts program is powering its new virtual production studio with Blackmagic UR...

15/06/2023

Mo-Sys Updates the G-30 Gyro-Stabilized Remote Head

Mo-Sys Engineering has updated its G30 heavy-duty gyro-stabilized remote head. Designed to provide silent operation and capture beautifully smooth cinematic sho...

15/06/2023

The Gift of Time Helps TRAFIK Colorist Mark Gethin Win His First HPA Award

By Christine Bunish Getting time to color grade a commercial, experiment with it, fine tune it and hone images to look their very best is a luxury these days. ...

15/06/2023

Composing with Sound: A Conversation with HPA Award Winners Mark Mangini and Ron Bartlett

Dune: Part One, the most recent big-screen incarnation of Frank Herbert's i...

15/06/2023

Sony Electronics Announces New Firmware Updates for the FX6 and VENICE 2

Sony Electronics announced the upcoming release of new firmware updates for the FX6 full-frame camera and the flagship VENICE 2 digital cinema camera. FX6 Versi...

01/06/2023

HPA AWARDS OPENS CALL FOR CREATIVE ENTRIES

The 2023 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards call for entries for creative categories opened today. Submissions will be accepted until July 28, 2023...

25/05/2023

The Adam Carolla Show Goes Live with End to End Blackmagic Design Workflow

Blackmagic Design announced that the world's top daily downloaded podcast, The Adam Carolla Show, is using a full Blackmagic Design workflow. The show, al...

25/05/2023

Shelly Johnson Elected to Lead American Society of Cinematographers

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Board of Governors has elected a new slate of officers, with Shelly Johnson being chosen to lead as the organizat...

25/05/2023

Adobe Premiere Pro Incorporates Text-Based Editing

Text-Based Editing was officially released in the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro. This new workflow makes editing video as simple as copying and pasting t...

25/05/2023

Like Minded Labs and Osprey Video Announce Strategic Partnership to Revolutionize Streaming and Collaboration in Media Production

Like Minded Labs, a groundbreaking technological subsidiary of Like Minded Media...

25/05/2023

Ateliere Appoints Ryan Kido as CTO to Execute Next Phase of Concept to Consumer Vision

Ateliere Creative Technologies, an innovative cloud-native content supply chain ...

25/05/2023

HPA NET Event Explores Trends in AI with Industry Experts

By Debra Kaufman Is ChatGPT taking over Hollywood? AI inroads into M&E was the focus of discussion at HPA NET's May 2 gathering at the Universal Sheraton. ...

25/05/2023

SMPTE Hollywood to Explore Remastering Classic Films for Immersive Sound

SMPTE Hollywood will delve into the intricacies of remastering classic films for modern theaters equipped with immersive sound systems at its May meeting. Sony ...

25/05/2023

Media & Entertainment Organizations Flock to the Cloud but Cite API Fee Challenges and Cybersecurity as Key Concerns

Wasabi Technologies has released the findings of its global cloud storage index,...

25/05/2023

Start your Engines! Creative Categories Open June 1

When the lights go down and the music comes up at the Hollywood Legion on November 9, the room will be full of the artists and companies that comprise the very ...

27/04/2023

Evercast Achieves the First TPN Gold Shield for Cloud Security with Convergent Risks

Convergent and Evercast jointly announced the completion of the first TPN Gold S...

27/04/2023

The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Open Call Is Open

The Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship is a year-long group mentorship program for documentary assistant, associate and emerging editors from historically un...

27/04/2023

Telstra Broadcast Services, Dalet, and Eluvio Unveil End-to-End Video Service and Web3 Content Distribution Solution

Strategic integration of Telstra Broadcast Services' Master Control, Dalet F...

27/04/2023

Convergent Completes First Round of Assessments Through New TPN+ Platform

Convergent has announced the completion of its first wave of vendor security assessments through the new TPN+ Platform (Trusted Partner Network). The TPN Platfo...

27/04/2023

SMPTE 2023 Call for Technical Papers is Now Open!

The SMPTE call for technical paper proposals is now open. This year's Media Technology Summit will take place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood from...

27/04/2023

Kari Grubin, Veteran Technology and Post-Production Executive, Joins TPN as Membership Services Director

The Trusted Partner Network (TPN), a global, industry-wide content security init...

27/04/2023

DI Colorist Tashi Trieu Scores a Career Milestone with James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water

Denver-born Tashi Trieu already had a boat-load of post-production credits, incl...

27/04/2023

Picture Shop Unveils Newly Renovated, Expanded Facilities in Hollywood

Picture Shop, Streamland Media's picture division, has expanded and extensively renovated its Sunset and Seward picture post production facilities, both loc...

27/04/2023

HPA Awards Committee Opens Call for Proposals for 2023 HPA Engineering Excellence Award

The HPA Awards Committee has announced the opening call for submissions for the ...

30/03/2023

Kindai University Employs ATEM Switcher Workflow for its Esports Facility

Kindai University, one of the largest universities in western Japan, has installed a number of Blackmagic Design products in its esports facility. The new setup...

30/03/2023

Motion Picture Sound Editors Present the 70th Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards

The Motion Picture Sound Editors presented the 70th Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards in a live ceremony held at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angele...

30/03/2023

Cinema Audio Society Announces New Board For 2023

The Cinema Audio Society has announced their newly elected CAS Board of Directors. Taking the helm as CAS President is Peter Kurland CAS. Re-elected to their ex...

30/03/2023

ICG Magazine on American Auto

Web exclusive: DP Jay Hunter and his Guild camera team customized a new visual language for season 2 of NBC's American Auto. Read about it here....

30/03/2023

Sohonet Acquires 5th Kind to Create Cloud Workflow Collaboration Hub for the Film and TV Industry

Sohonet announced it has acquired 5th Kind, a leading cloud-based video collabor...

30/03/2023

Latest HP Anyware Features Unlock Maximum Productivity and Collaboration Potential

HP announced new features for HP Anyware, the digital workspaces solution based ...

30/03/2023

Autodesk launches Moxion Rooms for cloud-based production reviews

Autodesk today introduced Moxion Rooms, a cloud tool that enables creative teams in production and post-production to share livestreams and review uploaded asse...

30/03/2023

Contend & Miss Excel launch Blockchain-based Education Platform

First immersive resource with Bing AI Guidebook offered by Miss Excel via NFT Miss Excel's new Web3 educational platform powered by Eluvio Content Blockc...

30/03/2023

Devoncroft Executive Summit April 15, 2023 12-6 NAB Show Main Stage LVCC

HPA is pleased to support the upcoming Devoncroft Executive Summit on April 15, 2023. All HPA members can use the promotion code DESML23 to receive a 20% discou...

30/03/2023

SMPTE President Renard T. Jenkins to Present Keynote Addresses for the Public Media Technology Summit and 2023 NAB BEIT Conference

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) announced that SM...

30/03/2023

HPA Tech Retreat 2023: The Technology Year in Review

Every year Mark Schubin's incisive commentary on the past year in technology puts the Tech Retreat presentations into a larger context....