SGOs Mistika is Enterprising technology at Bad Robot providing unique film-based workflows in STAR TREK INTO DARKNE

Already lined up for a variety of projects at Bad Robot, SGO's Mistika was used in the post production finishing of the 2D and 3D movie STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS . Mistikas involvement also included unique workflow technologies for film and conform, in all dimensions for 2D, stereoscopic 3D and IMAX versions. Bad Robots Mistika systems were put to work in all of the the visual effects systems integration and 3D coordination throughout the film. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS , directed by J.J. Abrams, in co-production with Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, and Bad Robot Productions, represents the second feature in the brand which grossed more than $450 million at the worldwide box office.

Photo credit: ILM courtesy of Paramount Pictures The Enterprise in STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. 2013 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Mistika has opened up an entirely new world of workflow efficiency and quality control to us by bringing high-end finishing capabilities inside our facility.

Bad Robot Production Executive Ben Rosenblatt

I dont see how we could have been able to do what we did without Mistika and SGOs stellar support!

Juan Ignacio Cabrera, Digital Intermediate Supervisor on Star Trek Into Darkness

The Mistika at Bad Robot represents a shift in the business, it moves a lot of movie making to the production company and closer to the Director which could turn out to be an interesting trend...there will be post production technology creep towards the camera again and Mistika will be a significant part of that.

Colin Ritchie, CEO, AArmadillo Inc., L.A.

MISTIKAS UNIQUE TIMELINE AND ADVANCED CONFORMING TOOLS ENABLED BAD ROBOT TO WORK ON BOTH THE 2D AND STEREO 3D FEATURES TOGETHER

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams wanted to shoot on film to recreate the look of 2009's STAR TREK, and yet this new instalment was meant to be released in Stereo 3D. The motion picture was therefore shot in 2D on 35mm film and 65mm IMAX film and then converted to Stereo 3D in post production. The conversion process created a new set of image material for both the left and right eyes in order to provide the best quality 3D experience. This meant that throughout the post production process, both a 2D and 3D master was maintained from their own source files, in comparison to a native shot 3D workflow where one of the eyes of the 3D footage becomes the source for the 2D version.

Photo credit: ILM courtesy of Paramount Pictures The Enterprise in STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. 2013 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Mistikas unique timeline and advanced conforming tools allowed Bad Robots in-house post production division, Kelvin Optical to work on both the 2D and 3D features together, while Mistikas famous 3D tools were put to work on the 3D footage during the depth grade.

MISTIKA OPENS UP A NEW WORLD OF PIONEERING WORKFLOW EFFICIENCY AND FLEXIBILITY

Juan Ignacio Cabrera, Digital Intermediate Supervisor on STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS , who worked on the powerful workflow and script design in both 2D and Stereo 3D to optimise the pipeline infrastructure explains the innovative set-up at Bad Robot and why Mistika provided them with so much flexibility, At Bad Robot most of the post production happens under one roof. This is truly great for the project, but you cannot fully benefit from it unless your tools can talk fluently with each other. In our case, the interaction between Avid and Mistika was constant, so having Mistika being able to both read and write Avid compatible media, as well as being able to conform against AAF or EDLs, equipped us with what we required in order to make the process transparent.

Juan adds It didnt matter if we were conforming against DPXs for the final project, or using Avid media for a quick review, or doing a full round-trip from Avid to Mistika, and back to Avid for the Editors to have pre-graded versions of shots. It all worked flawlessly thanks to Mistikas open architecture.

MISTIKAS OPEN ARCHITECTURE OPTIMISES WORKFLOW INTEGRATION

Juan also provided technical supervision on the visual effects workflow regarding colour and LUTs as well as quality control and supervision of the exhibition copies, in all versions which included 2D, Stereo 3D and IMAX.

He discusses further how Mistikas open architecture helped with the workflow needed to post produce the film, A great advantage of Mistika is that almost every file it generates, from timelines to clips or render files are humanly readable as plain text. This provided impressive scripting capabilities and integration with our workflow, enabling us to optimise its functions. In the case of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS we had several scripts, from matching LUTs to specific shots (the film had a different LUT per shot to provide its unique visual style) to pulling only the used version of a shot on a conform from the server.

COMPLEX DELIVERABLES MASTERFULLY MANAGED AND CREATED IN THE TIMELINE

Mistikas advanced timeline and project management processes enabled Bad Robot to manage and create a complex set of final deliverables. There were in fact four different masters; which were scope versions in 2D and Stereo 3D with an aspect ratio of 2.4:1, plus IMAX versions in both the 3D Digital and 3D Film IMAX standards with aspect ratios of 1.9:1 and 1.66:1 respectively.

The IMAX versions were in fact made from both IMAX and scope shots and Juan explains Centering the conform around the Mistika allowed us to keep all versions together and change from one to another with ease during the output process.

DIRECT GENERATION OF DCPS FROM MISTIKAS TIMELINE ACCELERATED REVIEW PROCESS

Apart from mastering the films themselves, Mistika was also used to generate all the promotional footage and trailers. The ability to directly generate

LINK:	http://news.creativecow.net/story/872584...
	See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines