Avatar utilises innovative 3D

Every frame of the film, as well as all the trailers and promotions, has passed through the company's pipeline, which includes three Quantel Pablo Stereo3D systems. The work completed on the systems includes conforming and Stereo3D checking, adjustment and quality control. It has also handled all the Stereo3D English subtitling required for the Na'vi language used by some characters in the film.

Postproduction pipeline

To deal with the massive workload, Modern has set up a powerful postproduction pipeline using a wide range of equipment. All the shots are re-named to a common naming strategy as soon as they arrive at Modern and are distributed onto the company's SAN. From there they are pulled into the systems where they are first checked using its real-time Stereo3D toolset for stereo and technical quality, then conformed against multiple lists from editorial, requiring speed and accuracy. The pipeline continues with grading and finally, shots requiring subtitling for the Na'vi language are passed back to the systems.

“We've been running our three machines pretty much 24/7 for the last six months,” says Modern VideoFilm supervising editor, Roger Berger, who has worked on a number of Stereo3D projects including James Cameron's Ghosts of the Abyss.

Pre-film clips

“Such has been the interest in this movie that there has been a huge demand for finished movie footage for promotional events over the last few months, each typically 10 to 20 minutes in length - all before the shots are finalised and needing to be produced while we continued to finish the movie itself.

“We've also needed to produce different versions and run ‘bake offs' between them with James Cameron. One of the machines has an incredible 12 000 clips online and all three machines have been running pretty much full throughout. With a project of this complexity, it's a real benefit to be able to bounce anywhere in the entire movie at any time,” Berger adds. “Quantel has given us terrific support. They're there for us and spring into action when we need them.”

Subtitling 3D, complex

Subtitling the Stereo3D versions is a complex process, as the subtitles must sit at the right place in 3D space to avoid conflict with the 3D content. The systems real-time Stereo3D toolset enables the subtitles to be viewed instantly and repositioned in 3D space in real time. Berger is enjoying the luxury of being able to see the Stereo3D effects as he creates them. “I can't imagine doing this project without this system and the total flexibility it gives me,” Berger concludes.

Mark Smirnoff, president, studio services at Modern VideoFilm concludes, “At our company we pride ourselves on delivering total quality for our clients. This is about more than great equipment - it is about great people too; we are blessed with both. The systems are a key part of the pipeline and we could not have done this movie without them. ”

Questek Broadcast Technology is the local distributor for Quantel products in South Africa.