Adobe After Effects CS4
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17.05.09: "The North Cape" - Superduper panoramic movie
Every once in a while a ground-breaking project turns up.
The 14 minute movie, "The North Cape", is one of these.
With a production cost of 10 million NOK, it's probably one of the most expensive short movies ever made in Norway.
It will be show on a massive 19,5 x 3,8m(!) screen at the North Cape Hall,
situated at Norway's northenmost point, 71° north.
The movie was shot on a custom made rig that used 3 x Panasonic
AJ-HPX3000 HD
cameras mounted side-by-side. The cameras were fanned out at slightly different angles so when combined they covered a 16:3 frame.
The post production was done at 5760x1080 pixels, which is circa 6K.
Later on in the shoot, additional shots where done using a Red One at 4K.
High-resolution timelapse sequences where shot with 3 x Nikon SLRs.
Director Hallgrim Haug, and DOP Marius Johansen Hansen have created a cinematic piece with beautiful imagery,
wonderfully edited to an amazing soundtrack.
My main job in the online process was to stitch together the HD / SLR footage to create single 6K images.
This included removing
lens distortion / vignetting / color differences / unwanted objects from
each HD stream, which involved a fair share of tracking and roto-work.
A wide range of tools where used on the job:
Adobe After Effects, Mocha AE, Avid DS, Final Cut Pro, Monkey Extract,
Adobe Photoshop and Red Alert.
Additional VFX shots where handled flawlessly by Tor Øra.
Fredrik Harreschou graded and tweaked the final movie on his
Scratch grading system,
making the images even more stunning.
I'm really looking forward to see the final result in full scale.
It's going to be quite breathtaking.
An estimated 200.000 people will see the movie
every year. It will screen
for a minimum of 10 years,
making it one of the most see movies in Norway.
So if you're planning a trip to the North Cape, go and see the movie!
Relevant links:
TV2 Norway: Behind The Scenes (Norwegian)
Rushprint: Året gjennom Nordkapp (Norwegian)
Rica Hotels: Nordkapp Hallen (Norwegian)
Credit shortlist:
Director: Hallgrim Haug
DOP: Marius Johansen Hansen FNF
Producer: Odd Syse
Editor: Jo Eldøen
Online / VFX: Dylan R. Hopkin
Technical Supervisor / RED conform: Torulf Henriksen
VFX: Tor Øra
Colourist: Fredrik Harreschou
Composers: Atle Halstensen, Svein Schultz and Herman Rundberg
17.05.09: "When Castro seized the Hilton" - Documentary
Documentaries are interesting in many ways.
"When Castro seized the Hilton" offered the possibility to work with some lovely imagery shot in Havana and Miami, as well as learning the unknown story about the Havana Hilton hotel.
After barely been open a year,
the hotel became the head office and a symbol for a revolution led by Fidel Castro. It also tells the story about how the Norwegian-American hotel magnate, Conrad Hilton, came to lose his Caribbean headquarters.
The documentary includes
loads of interesting interviews and lots of rare archive footage. All the archive clips had to be restorated and rescaled to HD, this included a fair amount of frame rate conversions as well.
This process was done with a Teranex VC300.
I did the grading with Apple Color.
The program aired on NRKs prime documentary slot "Fakta på lørdag",
and has been sold to a number of other countries.
Credit shortlist:
Director: Bjarte Thoresen
DOP: Torstein Nodland
Producer: Bente Olav - Frameline Film
Editor: Jacob Risdal Otnes
Colourist / Online Editor: Dylan R. Hopkin
Sound design: Elisabeth Monge and Gisle Tveito
04.04.09: "Rottenetter" - Movie teaser
"Rottenetter" is a about the dark side of the financial
boom in the
Norwegian oil-capital,
Stavanger.
The film includes a great cast:
Christian Rubeck, Kristoffer Joner, Fridtjov Såheim and Silje Salomonsen,
backed up by punchy imagery.
It's all about money, drugs, extortion, lies, business and brotherhood.
The movie is one of the first norwegian feature films
to be shot 100% on Red.
I onlined and graded the 1 minute cinema teaser.
The master was output to 35mm film, and is shown
at Norwegian theatres before the Scandinavian blockbuster "Men Who Hate Women".
It was really cool working with DOP Trond Tønder, a great guy with an exceptional eye for detail. The feature hits the Norwegian theatres in August.
A teaser of things to come. Enjoy!
Credit shortlist:
Director: Arild Østin Ommundsen
DOP: Trond Tønder FNF
Producer: Stein B. Kvae & Finn Gjerdrum - Paradox
Colourist / Online Artist: Dylan R. Hopkin
04.04.09: "Håkon Bleken, maler" - Cinema Documentary
Håkon Bleken is an acclaimed norwegian contemporary artist.
Director / DOP Hallvard Bræin followed the now 80-year old artist for 3 years.
The documentary is an up-and-close, personal story, about this great artist.
I animated a bunch of Bleken's weird and wonderful art, giving a handheld camera look to
high-resolution digital still images.
Relevant links:
Håkon Bleken's Official Homepage (Norwegian)
Rushprint: Nærgående kunstnerportrett (Norwegian)
Credit shortlist:
Director / DOP: Hallvard Bræin
Cinemaphotographer: Kjell Wassdal
Editors: Gry Marhaug & Jon Endre Mørk
Online artist / Colorist: Torulf Henriksen
Colorist (35mm sequences): Camilla Holst Vea
VFX: Dylan R. Hopkin
11.02.09: "Harry's Gym" - Music video
Just before Christmas I had the pleasure to grade the first
music video for the upandcoming band Harry's Gym.
They have received a tremendous
reception for their debut album.
Harry's Gym are currently touring and have recently been
nominated for the prestigious StatoilHydro grant of 800.000 NOK.
The video is currently rotating on NRK's Svisj,
and rumor has it that MTV Norway might pick it up too.
Director, Vibeke Heide, chose to shoot the piece
with 8mm film, to give
it the poetic
feeling that suited the expression of this wonderful song.
Credit shortlist:
Director / Editor: Vibeke Heide
DOP: Morten Forsberg Halfstad
Colourist: Dylan R. Hopkin
11.02.09: Olsenbanden Jr and The Black Gold - Movie
The latest Olsenbanden Jr feature film had it's premiere January 30th.
This was my first feature film gig and was a lot of fun!
The movie was one of the first Norwegian movies to be shot
with both
35mm film and RED. It was quite an learning experience.
My role was to online the feature, in addition to this
I graded and onlined
the
cinema trailer and
3 x TV commercials.
Credit shortlist:
Director: Arne Lindtner Næs
DOP: Kjell Vassdal
FNF
Producer: Roy Anderson
Film editor:
Jan Toreg
11.02.09: Karl III - TV Series
A new sitcom featuring the popular norwegian actors
Nils Vogt and Bjørn Sundquist will start airing on
norwegian TV2
on the 23rd of
February.
This third(?) installment of Karl is now shot entirely on location.
The earlier shows where all studio based productions recorded in front
of a live audience.
Karl III was shot with the new Sony XDCAM HD camera.
I graded 12 x 22 minute episodes in HD with Apple Color.
Credit shortlist:
Director: Tore Ryen
DOP: Bjørn Sundquist
Colourist: Dylan R. Hopkin
Online: Knut Mikalsen
28.10.08: “Rødt, Hvitt og Skrått” - Tv series intro sequence and graphics
The last thing I did for my former employer, Fabelaktiv, was to grade the
intro sequence and design graphics for “Rødt, hvitt og skrått”.
The series covers the history of the norwegian gay community
for the last 30 years. The series will air on NRK the autumn 2009.
My girlfriend Anja drew the supporting graphical
elements
for the logo.
Then I took the illustration
into After Effects and added the neon sign look.
The director said: “Go wild!”, so we did just that. Enjoy!
Credit shortlist:
Director: Terje Nilsen
DOP: Svein Bjørtomt FNF
Editor: Bjørn Thomassen
Illustrator: Anja Dalbakk
Colorist / Online: Dylan R. Hopkin
26.10.08: “Energy Survival” - Motion graphics package
“Energy Survival” is an action-packed reality series where kids compete in different energy-related events in the norwegian wilderness.
The show is in it’s 7th season and has been sold to Sweden, Finland and
Holland. I designed and animated the new HD graphics.
Credit shortlist:
Design / animation: Dylan R. Hopkin
Illustrator: Anja Dalbakk
Logo icon: Gosu
Producer: Erik Fagereng
19.09.08: “Hutiheita” - Tv show intro sequence
“Hutiheita” is a TV-show for young children on NRK.
I wanted to do a 2,5D animation with an organic look.
All the illustrations where drawn by my girlfriend Anja.
I cut out the drawings with a pair of scissors, did retouching
in Photoshop, and animation in After Effects. It was a blast!
Credit shortlist:
Art Direction / Animation: Dylan R. Hopkin
Illustrator: Anja Dalbakk
Music: Børre Flyen
13.06.08: “Emilie Caroline” - Music video
Emilie Caroline is the winner of a national
singing-contest held by “Nettavisen”, one of Norway’s
largest internet newspapers.
“Make my day” is her
first professional performance as an artist.
I graded and onlined the video on Smoke 2009 HD.
Credit shortlist:
Director / Editor: Bjørn Thomassen
DOP: Svein Bjørtomt FNF
Colorist / Online: Dylan R. Hopkin
04.06.08: Norsk Tipping Commercial - "Extra Middelhav"
This production was my debut as a commercial director.
I also did the animation & online.
The TV-ad was for
Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian National Lottery.
It turned out to be a nice and colourful little piece.
All the post production was done in After Effects. Enjoy...
Credit shortlist:
Director / Online: Dylan R. Hopkin
DOP: Svein Bjørtomt FNF
Agency: Ferskvann Baluba