SGO releases Madam Butterfly 3D case study

Sep 01, 2012 No Comments by admin

SGO, the company behind the Mistika stereoscopic editing and finishing suite, releases a Madam Butterfly 3D case study explaining how the stereo 3D symphony opera film was acheived.

London, UK, 31 August 2012 – SGO's Mistika was used at London's ONSIGHT for the stereoscopic 3D post production of RealD and the Royal Opera House’s co-production of one of the world's finest operas, Puccini’s Madam Butterfly in 3D for the first time ever. The sophisticated masterpiece entitled Madam Butterfly 3D was filmed last summer during live performances at the prestigious Covent Garden venue and released exclusively in RealD 3D-equipped theatres beginning spring 2012.

Madam Butterfly 3D is a highlight in the list of many exciting projects that Mistika has played a role in. Andy Shelley, COO of ONSIGHT adds, “Our continued work with Mistika and its regular upgrades, meant this system was the perfect choice for the project in terms of speed and importantly, quality.”

<<SIGN UP TO THE FREE WEEKLY 3D FOCUS E-LETTER VIA THE SIGN UP BOX ON THE RIGHT SIDE BAR>>

Madam Butterfly 3D is a co-production of RealD and the Royal Opera House, produced by Principal Large Format (PLF), and directed for cinema by Julian Napier. Supported by ONSIGHT’s Lab and Post department, the much loved story has been brought to the big screen for the first time to do it justice, in dramatic immersive 3D. The elegant new production adheres closely to Giacomo Puccini’s tragic love story of Madam Butterfly, conveying the passionate story of betrayal and sacrifice in a tasteful manner.

SGO's customer ONSIGHT, was responsible for the complete Stereo 3D service which included managing the project’s lab requirements right through to DI and cinema mastering. As the production was shot natively in 3D with convergence on background, the ONSIGHT Lab team backed up and processed the rushes with certain offsets to prepare the files for comfortable offline editing by the film’s director, Julian Napier and co-editor Stroo Olofsson. The 3D online of the project at ONSIGHT involved 3D offsets, alignment checks, colour matching and stereo fixes on multiple in-house Mistika systems.

Most of the material was recorded on ARRI ALEXA cameras, and therefore the grade allowed ONSIGHT’s Colourist to create the desired filmic look. Mistika provided real-time playback directly from the Log C data files, which included the addition of non-destructive creative grading. Mistika directly supports a vast array of file formats without the need to transcode, including those created by ARRI which is a distinct advantage in projects of this scale.

ONSIGHT graded the final film in P3 Colour Space, using their recently installed Barco projection and RealD 3D Cinema System, which offers a true representation of how the film will appear to cinema audiences. The Post team mastered the DCDMs for international distribution using Mistika, including reversioning in seven languages, where the final subtitles for the seven different languages were also finished on Mistika. Phil Streather, CEO of PLF and Producer of the film says, “The stereoscopic element compliments the powerful arrangement and intimate original stage direction, enhancing the live opera experience to a wider audience. Julian [Napier] did a brilliant job of creating a new art form out of an existing one.

ONSIGHT’s award-winning 3D credentials meant the team was a natural choice to provide the highend finishing we both needed.” Director of Madam Butterfly 3D and Carmen in 3D, Julian Napier adds, “I’ve been shooting native Stereo
3D for ten years and have traditionally had to spend far too much post production time finding workarounds to technical issues that no single platform had solutions to, that is until I used the Mistika system at ONSIGHT. In expert hands, it handles all Stereo 3D post production requirements elegantly and efficiently, affording more time for creative choices, thus helping to make Madam Butterfly 3D an unforgettable 3D experience. It is my system of choice.”

For more information about SGO visit the SGO website. For more information about ONSIGHT visit the ONSIGHT website.