3D specialist Vision3 has installed an SGO Mistika system to offer clients an advanced 3D post production pipeline. It is one of several recent wins for SGO for 3D and 4K production.
Chris Parks, Vision3’s founding partner and stereo supervisor (pictured), explained: “Our reason for purchasing a Mistika is to improve our ability to supervise the stereo on the native, VFX and conversion 3D projects.”
Vision3 is currently supervising the stereo on Colossus Productions’ David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive alongside facility Onsight. The company also used Mistika on Inside the Mind of Leonardo, an IWC Media feature documentary for Sky.
Mistika was also used by stereographer Demetri Portelli at Paris’ Digimage to depth grade Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet.
“We performed a technical pass and then a depth grade on Mistika. We didn’t have to fix or throw out any shots,” said Portelli.
The film was shot entirely natively in 3D and was the first to lens using lightweight ARRI Alexa M cameras on a variety of Cameron Pace Group rigs, including a Steadicam rig.
“Native shooting is a lot cheaper than converting a film [from 2D into stereo],” claimed Portelli. “The problem is that stereographers and cinematographers are freelance artistic people and we can’t seem to win when a large corporation – such as a conversion company – gives a studio a package deal for five movies.
“I can see how, on a corporate level, conversion works for a large studio. After the film is shot they can make a decision on whether they want a 3D version. But it’s such a shame for directors and cinematographers who want to get hands on with stereo.
“There is no mathematical formula telling you where the 3D should be in a shot. The process is organic and has to be worked out on set. Before almost every shot we’d have a quick meeting to decide where the negative and the positive space should be to maintain proper 3D.”
4K on the Run
Berlin’s ARRI Mitte has bought a Mistika 4K DI system to service feature film and commercials.
ARRI Mitte completed the 4K feature Lauf Junge Lauf (Run Boy Run – pictured) for ARRI Film and TV Services Berlin. It was shot on 35mm by DP Daniel Gottschalk, scanned in 4K into DPX files and finished in 4K on Mistika.
Its Mistika suite is equipped with the HPZ800, two 2K Eizo graphic monitors, Sony OLED monitor, a 65-inch plasma TV for stereo monitoring and a 50TB SAN shared with the grading department.
“Mistika plays a key role at ARRI Mitte for all our feature film projects and S3D workflow of all the stereoscopic 3D work and is also fully capable of handling our 2D projects as well,” said Mistika online artist, Christian Troeger. “Mistika was put to work immediately from day one with successful cinema projects already under our belt and with many more in the pipeline, which is very exciting.”
By Adrian Pennington
