Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Motionflow 200Hz - bringing action sequences to life
This is it, the last post before the ad officially launches and lots more content heads your way. Before we move onto the next stage of the campaign though, here are five action-packed movies to see on the BRAVIA Z4500 for the ultimate sensory experience.
While standard TVs have a 50Hz frame refresh rate, meaning that high-speed action can look blurred and appear to flicker, Motionflow 200Hz quadruples the frame rate to produce a clear picture that’s judder-free. The end result is an intense, enhanced experience and action sequences that look as if they are happening right in front of you.
Casino Royale
Bond movies are pretty much all one amazing action sequence full of breathtaking stunts and explosions. The first Bond film with Daniel Craig is no exception.
The 6th Day
Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he does best in this movie about a sinister human cloning operation that is sweeping America. When Schwarzenegger finds he has been cloned, it’s a fight for survival to escape the assassins who will stop at nothing to kill him and single-handedly stop the cloning of humans.
Hancock
Will Smith plays Hancock, a superhero with a bad attitude, a bad reputation and a bad drink problem who costs the state a fortune in damage to public property. This is action adventure with a comedic angle is packed with explosions and awesome special effects.
Surf’s Up
A computer animated mockumentary, this movie follows Cody Maverick, a penguin who wants to become a famous surfer like his idol Big Z and win the annual Big Z Memorial Surf Contest. Full of lovable characters and brilliant surfing scenes this is a fantastic film for all the family.
Men in Black
In this hit from 1997 Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones star as agents from a top secret agency that monitors alien activity on Earth. Men in Black is a classic science fiction adventure flick with a comedy twist and one big Bug - which the heroes must find and exterminate in order to save the galaxy.
Watch the Men in Black trailer
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Inside the production process
With the BRAVIA-drome ad due to premiere in April, Jonathan Davies of the Motion Picture Company takes us through the production process.
MPC were involved early on with this project, is that unusual?
We do sometimes get involved with pre-production but this project was different because we were going to build something. Ben Scott took care of the BRAVIA-drome’s aesthetic, Artem did the engineering and we provided the technical information to make sure that it was built to the right size.
At the beginning everyone thought we could just spin the zoetrope and do any kind of animation. But you’re constrained by the physics, how big the image will be, the number of frames you need, how fast you have to spin it. There was about two months’ work upfront.
How did you work out what was needed for the moving image?
We used a 3D package called Maya to visualise the spin. There were certain considerations to take into account, like the size of the square in Venaria, the need to produce around three seconds of animation and to get the image of Kaká as large as possible. We ended up with 64 images, which is around 2.5 seconds of animation.
Then you filmed Kaka doing a series of football tricks?
Once the BRAVIA-drome was built we knew exactly the size and number of images we needed of Kaká. The problem was how to get them to the right dimensions, because film resolution only goes up to a certain size. So we took a technical approach, and turned the camera on its side. That way, we got the most information possible on to the 35mm negative. Joining the loop was tricky. The sequence had to be shot in a particular way so that when Kaká kicks the ball out of frame it can come back in at the same height.
Did you have any problems capturing the BRAVIA-drome on film?
There were issues when it was spinning. If you have people standing in front of the BRAVIA-drome making fast movements you’ll see a series of jagged lines, a bit like an optical illusion. We had to make sure people didn’t move too quickly.
How much footage did you shoot?
We shot about 13 hours’ worth of footage on Sony HD cameras, and the ad itself will be 60 seconds long. That’s a lot more footage than normal, but the editor was on set to deal with the camera rushes. Next step is to do an edit that everyone’s happy with, grade the selected shots, colourise them, then clean up the piece. Sound recording and mixing take place at the same time. The final part of the process is when sound and picture are put together.
Does the post-production team follow a script?
They’re following a storyboard and something called a previz, which we do before the shoot. It’s a basic 3D animation of what’s going to happen in the ad. We take every shot from the storyboard and from the brief and build them into an edit. It gives everyone a chance to see what the finished piece will look like.
What did you think when you saw the BRAVIA-drome in action?
It looked amazing and quite surreal because the image is so clear. Although I knew how it was made, with printed images, it really does look like one single moving image – a bit like a huge circular TV screen.
