Animal Logic Grades Happy Feet

on the Nucoda Film Master

Stockholm, Sweden – 11 December, 2006 – Digital Vision, a leading developer of advanced digital media applications specialising in film and video solutions, announced today that the highly anticipated Warner Bros. feature film Happy Feet was graded on the Nucoda Film Master at Animal Logic in Sydney.  The first fully animated feature produced in Australia was released on November 17th.

Happy Feet follows the trials and tribulations of Mumble the penguin – events which created a few trials of their own for the Animal Logic team as the film is set entirely on ice and snow. The team’s priority was to achieve a vibrant, colourful look by ensuring accurate, crisp detail in the whites and blacks of the penguins. Rather than approaching the film as a traditional animated project, Animal Logic instead treated it like live action, and the Nucoda Film Master played a major role in this process.

Eric Whipp, Animal Logic’s Head Colorist comments; “All the things you do in a live action film such as vignettes, and keys and little spots of light, were all used in the grade as well as other effects, like blurs, diffusion, sharpening etc.  George Miller, the director, was able to sit in real time and grade the film to get the required look.  Without the Film Master, that process may have taken longer, or have been put in the ‘too hard – not enough time’ basket at the compositing/lighting stage.”

Adding to the grading challenge on Happy Feet is that Mumble is grey, which made the basic balance of a shot very complicated.

“For this reason, we delved into the original compositing mattes for the grade,” Whipp notes. “In the end, we used over 2000 mattes in the grading process, right down to individual character mattes, eye iris mattes and eye white mattes.  Being able to separate and isolate elements of a shot was crucial to the grading process of this film and we were able to produce and correct in the grade in a matter of minutes and not weeks.”

Animal Logic has been a Digital Vision customer for two years and were originally going to use the company’s Data Conform product for handling daily reviews. However when the grading requirements of the feature were identified, it became a natural step up to purchase a full-featured Film Master system.

Xavier Desdoigts, Director of Technical Operations comments; “Film Master helps provide us with the creative and interactive solutions we need.  It is also helping us become more efficient in the finishing stages of our projects by giving us fast interactive options with Nucoda rather than spending more time in lighting/compositing. Also, Digital Vision has a very good understanding of our industry which meant that critical issues were treated with the utmost attention.”

One of the world's most highly respected digital production companies, Animal Logic produces award-winning design, animation and visual effects solutions for the film, television and advertising industries. The company has a studio in Sydney, Australia and a production office in Los Angeles. Information about Animal Logic is available at www.animallogic.com.

The Film Master system at Animal Logic was installed and will be supported by H-Digital.

About Digital Vision
Digital Vision provides innovative image restoration, enhancement, colour correction and data conforming systems that major movie studios, television networks and post-production facilities use to produce and enhance feature films, TV programs and commercials.  The company’s Nucoda product line provides a strong suite of products for the burgeoning digital intermediate 2K/4K market.  The company’s award-winning products are a standard of the media & entertainment industry and are deployed at top facilities around the world.

Digital Vision AB was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with two wholly owned subsidiaries, Digital Vision US in Los Angeles, California, and Digital Vision UK in London, England.  The company maintains its global presence through a network of qualified distributors.  Digital Vision is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange.  For further information, go to www.digitalvision.se.

All trademarks used herein, whether recognised or not, are the properties of their respective companies.

For more information, please contact:

Simon Cuff, E-mail: simon.cuff@digitalvision.se, Phone: +44 7712 650 104
Digital Vision AB (publ), Solna Strandväg 98, SE-171 54  Solna, Sweden
Web site: www.digitalvision.se

Media contacts: Europe & APAC - Sadie Paris, Bubble & Squeak, E-mail: sadie@bubblesqueak.co.uk,
Phone: +44 (0)20 7287 4262,  Mobile: 44 (0)771 542 2414
US - Julia Miller, Bubble & Squeak, E-mail: julia@bubblesqueak.com,
Phone +1 310 259 5834, Mobile: +1 310 259 5834

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