Reid Burns, COO of US Operations, will appear on a 3D-related panel at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Entitled “Stereoscopic 3D – Fixing it in Post”, the panel will feature four industry professionals discussing methods, challenges, and benefits to correcting 3D in post-production. The panel will take place Monday, September 12th at 11am.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday the achievements that will be considered for a 2011 Scientific and Technical Award. Reliance MediaWorks’ proprietary image processing capabilities were named to the shortlist, along with eight other entries from the film industry.
Reliance MediaWorks has applied its advanced image processing techniques to new productions like Avatar and The Social Network, as well as films like Star Wars, 20 James Bond films, and numerous Disney animated titles.
Read the complete Academy press release here.
Reliance MediaWorks Ltd, India’s fastest growing film and entertainment services company and a member of the Reliance group, has partnered with Los Angeles-based digital production studio Digital Domain Productions to create visual effects and 3D Stereo Production services studios in Mumbai, India and London, UK that will cater to motion pictures, television, commercial, and stereo 3D conversion for catalogue projects from August 2011 in phases.
Reliance MediaWorks offers a full array of visual effects and stereo 3D conversion services with an existing team of more than 500 artists. The company will set up a new studio at its Media BPO in Navi Mumbai and deploy there an additional team of up to 650 artists available for projects allied with Digital Domain. In London, Digital Domain will co-locate a visual effects team within Reliance MediaWorks’ UK facility.
Reliance MediaWorks studios in both Mumbai and London will connect to Digital Domain’s L.A. facility through Reliance MediaWorks’ fibre optic network that can support seamless high-speed exchange of data.
Digital Domain recently completed visual effects work on Transformers: Dark of the Moon and its feature film work currently in production includes Real Steel, Jack the Giant Killer and 47 Ronin. Building upon its parent company Digital Domain Media Group’s recent acquisition of 2D-to-3D conversion company In-Three, partnering with Reliance MediaWorks enables Digital Domain to expand its visual effects and stereo 3D conversion services to existing and new clients around the world.
“Filmmaking has become a global enterprise,” noted Cliff Plumer, CEO of Digital Domain Productions, “and a partnership with Reliance MediaWorks will allow our clients to realize the benefits of a digital production pipeline that makes efficient use of resources and talent located around the world. By expanding Digital Domain’s presence worldwide, we are able to further strengthen our business capabilities in California and abroad.”
Commenting on the development, Mr. Anil Arjun, CEO of Reliance MediaWorks, said, “We are very excited about visual effects and 3D entertainment opportunity. Reliance MediaWorks has the scale, technological expertise and highly trained artists which can be combined with Digital Domain’s pedigree, proprietary tools and ability to create visual effects that challenge imagination, to offer comprehensive and seamless VFX and stereo 3D conversion solutions to global clients.”
Reliance MediaWorks through its facilities in India, UK and USA is one of the leading global providers of creative post production services which includes cutting edge solutions for 3D Conversion, VFX and Animation.
After he showed 15 minutes of Titanic 3D this week to motion picture exhibitors at CineEurope in Amersterdam — the footage was greeted with cheers and applause — James Cameron explained that the eye-popping results weren’t just the result of upgrading to 3D.
Even before he could begin the conversion process to turn Titanic from a 2D into a 3D movie, he had to restore the original 1997 film. The goal was to create a new, cleaner version of the film in all formats — including 3D and 35 mm. “This is more about Titanic returning to the theaters than just 3D,” Cameron said.
In the process, the demanding director — who is expected to set a new standard for the conversions of library titles when Titanic 3D is released on April 2012 — is also raising the bar for restorations.
In the case of Titanic, he turned to Reliance MediaWorks’ Burbank facility in order to use Reliance’s propriety image processing software system — a secret weapon that has been used by some of Hollywood’s other elite filmmakers like David Fincher.
The Lowry process, as it was known before its acquisition by Reliance in 2008, is aimed at improving the resolution and dynamic range of motion picture imagery while also removing dirt and scratches while making other repairs.
As a restoration and remastering tool, it has touched some of Hollywood’s crown jewels such as All About Eve, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and the James Bond library.
The Reliance process is typically accomplished in 2K resolution–the most common resolution used today in digital cinema — but Cameron took it a step further on Titanic with a complete 4K pipeline, which involves four times more data. The restoration of Titanic was completed earlier this year in roughly 10 weeks.
It is also used for image and detail enhancement to new movies lensed with digital cameras, including 3D titles, explained Reid Burns, COO of Reliance’s US operations. System features include alignment tools, as well as noise and grain reduction.
Reliance’s image enhancement process involves complex computation accomplished on huge render farms. Representing extensive R&D, the system largely revolves around motion estimation, meaning the computer analyzes the motion of an image from frame to frame.
Fincher ran every frame of The Social Network through the Reliance process, Burns reported. Fincher also used the process on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Zodiac. He also restored Seven and Fight Club at Reliance.
Cameron used the process on live action in Avatar as well.
Reliance’s image processing tools have also been used to preserve history, including NASA’s TV footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
(Read the story on The Hollywood Reporter’s website here.)
The June issue of P3 Update magazine features an article on our restoration workflow, used to enhance classics like Citizen Kane, Star Wars, Sunset Boulevard, and Singin’ in the Rain.
Have a read: RMW article – P3 Update June
The Tree of Life – the latest film from director Terrence Malick – took top honors at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. RMW Burbank was happy to provide our custom image processing services for the production. In theaters July 8th.
