The documentary Wild Ocean 3D, about the migration of endangered marine species, is the first 3D stereo long-form film finished in 4K.
The giant screen movie, Wild Ocean 3D documents the annual migration of millions of sardines along of the coasts of South Africa, than the audiences of the Imax cinemas everyone will soon have the opportunity to live as an amazing stereoscopic 3D experience in 70 mm.
Wild Ocean 3D, directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas (creators of the popular work Stomp), details the search for food by whales, sharks, birds marines and other creatures that accompany the migration of those tiny fish, as well as the effort of companies, governments and individuals to preserve this fragile resource. The film crews shot two migrations in two years, and for this they worked both on the surface and under water, capturing spectacular images to tell this incredible survival story. The film, recently released in London, at the Conference of the Association of Cinemas of Gigantes Screens will be released to the public this year.
Post-production work was completed at FotoKem, in Hollywood. The conformation and the final digital edition was carried out in a DI room equipped with a Pablo 4K from Quantel, with the stereoscopic 3D option. The entirety of the 40 minutes of film was finished in 4K to subsequently make the film out to 70 mm film, thus constituting the first film 3D edited and shaped in the super 4K format high-resolution.
Daniel Rapo, dDigital film services producer at FotoKem, oversaw the project. Rapo, who joined Fotokem last year to help with the growing number of 3D film projects, pointed out as factors that prevented other long-form films from ending up in 4K was the processing time and power required to work with those massive files. 4K files do not they are twice as large as those of 2K, they are 4 times larger, so potentially things have to move more slowly. But Pablo 4K proved to live up to this work. It was much faster than any other system in the that I have worked in the past.
One of the challenges faced by the teams of post-production was the fact that films were shot in media of various types and formats. Most material surface engraving was shot on 70 mm film, while that the underwater sequences were recorded with pairs of cameras HD housed in special housings for 3D. Some sequences difficult to shoot, on the other hand, were shot in film of 35 mm. In preparation for final post-production, the filmed elements were scanned at 8K, and then down-rez to 4K. From the HD material an up-rez was made and was digitally enhanced.
It would have been easier if everything had been shot in the same format, but using different formats allowed the production would obtain some drawings which would not otherwise be they would have succeeded. And it was actually worth it, as we were able to use the Pablo 4K to load all the plans and make the balance in a very fluid way, Rapo said.
Create that balanced, consistent look for the several sources of stockings, focused the effort of most of it of the five weeks dedicated to final post-production. The the edition was made by the colorist of Fotokem, Walter Volpatto. Cresswell and McNicholas, plus cinematographers surface and submarine, D. J. Roller and Reed Smoot, respectively, they attended most of the sessions. Using the Pablo 4K, Volpatto was able to edit scenes to 2K for the review by the production team, and project it in 3D on the cinema screen.
Rapo remembers that we were able to view files in our CINEMA DI almost instantly. If the producers they wanted to make adjustments to the editing or 3D offset, we could do it do on the fly in the cinema and see the results.
Considerable time was also devoted to perfecting the 3D effects and create dramatic visualizations for audiences captivated by the documentary. Rapo remembers the scene where he is formed an immense ball of sardines that tried, in unison, avoid a huge predator. The scene was shot by Roller from below. We pushed the ball of sardines from behind the screen to create the impression that it was right above our heads. Another setting, an opposite 3D, is used in a scene with dolphins jumping on water towards the camera. Rapo commented that we took them to the audience, as if we were sitting at the back of the cinema; herself thus has the impression that dolphins jump on the heads of the people sitting opposite.
How Pablo 4K has made it practical to finish 3D movies in 4K, audiences may have to wait in the future more works of this type, with spectacular views. I worked on long-form film for more than a decade, but it's the first time I've done it with Pablo 4K and it's been a Truly amazing experience, Rapo concluded.
