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Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that Fusion Studio was used by VFX house Doc & A Soc to construct some of the most complex visual effects (VFX) in Matthew Vaughn’s latest worldwide cinema release “Kingsman: The Secret Service”.

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton) lives in a South London housing estate and seems headed for a life behind bars. However, a suave Harry Hart (Colin Firth) recognizes potential in the youth and and recruits him to the ranks of a British secret spy organisation, known as Kingsman. Two time BAFTA nominated visual effects supervisor John Paul Docherty (“Skyfall”, “The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus” and “The Golden Compass”) worked as a vendor on the comic book adaptation, compositing more than a hundred shots in Fusion Studio.

Docherty worked closely with digital matte painter Jim Bowers to create stunning 360 degree environments for key sequences in the film, including a huge hangar filled with a myriad of aircraft and secret service staff, which is Eggsy’s first glimpse into the true scale of the Kingsman organisation.

“The whole shot was an environment created by matte painter Jim Bowers, and we added in various moving elements, including workmen, a plane being towed and a man arc welding at the back, which is a little throwback to Lost in Space,” reveals John. “There is about ten layers of environment in that shot, and then we ran it through Fusion Studio’s 3D environment. The shot went through an awful lot of changes within Fusion, including re-lighting the whole thing, without needing any additional elements from Jim and then the foregrounds shot was keyed on.”

Compositing for major explosion effects was also carried out in Fusion Studio, with Docherty creating glass shatter effects, together with mattes of building exteriors, which were overlayed on live pyrotechnic footage shot with high speed cameras. “In the explosion sequence we had to deal with four shots filmed with high speed cameras at Levesden on a cold, rainy day. I then had to render this in, together with the glass shattering effects I’d created. We had to deal with multiple image formats and lots of lens distortion, as well as some pretty dramatic color space and resolution differences before we could effectively comp in the office and taxi elements.”

Fusion’s Dimension Optical Flow toolset was also a key element in Docherty’s workflow, particularly when complex respeeding issues had to be overcome. “In one scene we move from the aftermath of an action sequence to a moving taxi with the Kingsman logo flashing on a back seat monitor. This looks like quite a simple shot but the speeds on both sides had been adjusted by the editor, which works really well, however he would throw in cut frames that made the respeeds very complex. Fusion’s Optical Flow did very well handling all of that.”

Conflicting schedules meant that overall visual effects supervisor Steve Begg had to move onto another production, so Docherty was asked to take over as additional visual effects supervisor, splitting the remaining VFX workload with industry legend John Bruno. In this capacity Docherty covered a broad spectrum of shots, ranging from full CG and environmental simulation to cosmetic retouches, fixes and pyro work. “There’s a very long shot where Valentine, played by Samuel L Jackson is revealing his evil plan to Michael Caine’s character, Arthur. The actors were shot on different days with different camera moves and no motion control. The complex workflow involved a load of tracked patches, respeeds and reanimated elements as well as heavy duty color matching. Fusion handled it with ease,” sums up John.

Press Photography

Product photos of Fusion are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Adobe Photoshop, the imaging software that continues to redefine creativity in the digital age, turns 25. Photoshop is one of the most recognized software brands in the world with tens of millions of users, and is the go-to application for digital image manipulation across all media: from print, to film, to the Web. How it all began? In 1987, Thomas Knoll developed a pixel imaging program called Display. It was a simple program to showcase grayscale images on a black-and-white monitor. However, after collaborating with his brother, John Knoll, the two began adding features that made it possible to process digital image files. The program eventually caught the attention of industry influencers, and in 1989, Adobe made the decision to license the software, naming it Photoshop and shipping the first version in 1990. “Adobe thought we’d sell about 500 copies of Photoshop a month,” said Thomas Knoll, Adobe Fellow and Photoshop co-creator. “Not in my wildest dreams did we think creatives would embrace the product in the numbers and ways they have.”

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced the immediate availability of Intensity Pro 4K, a new super fast PCIe card that allows capture and playback of extremely high quality SD, HD and Ultra HD video on Windows, Mac and Linux PCI Express computers.

Intensity Pro 4K is available now for 179 EUR ex. VAT.

This new Intensity Pro 4K includes all the features of the Intensity Pro model it replaces and now adds deep color support in HDMI, higher frame rate 1080p60 capture and playback and high resolution Ultra HD capture and playback up to 2160p30 via HDMI. This new model now allows customers to connect to an even wider range of video products and in higher quality.

The new Intensity Pro 4K is the only consumer video capture and playback card that’s built using the same broadcast quality video components that professionals in the film and television industry use. That means customers will always get the highest quality video capture possible. It features both HDMI and analog YUV, composite and S-video connections so it is compatible with the latest Ultra HD televisions and game consoles, as well as older equipment like VHS decks and DVD players.

Intensity Pro 4K is perfect for video editors that need a realtime preview on a big screen TV, hardcore gamers creating high frame rate walk throughs of their latest gameplay, customers delivering live streaming presentations, or even parents trying to save family videos from old VHS tapes.

Customers can capture NTSC, PAL, 720HD, 1080HD and Ultra HD, the newest broadcast video standard. Regular 1080HD can be captured at up to 60 frames per second. That means gamers can connect their consoles over HDMI and then capture every heart pounding moment of gameplay to create the most amazing, high frame rate walk through videos for posting online.

Intensity Pro 4K also includes DaVinci Resolve Lite for Mac and Windows, giving customers a complete video capture and post production solution in one box. That means customers get the same multi track video editing and advanced color correction system that professional editors and colorists use to make Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster films, television shows and commercials.

Video can be captured at full 10-bit quality and files can be saved in standard formats such as ProRes (Mac) and more, or as fully uncompressed video, the format used by professional television production studios. Files captured with Intensity Pro 4K can also be used with other popular Mac and Windows applications like Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, Media Composer, Fusion, After Effects, Flash and many more.

“The new Intensity Pro 4K is extremely exciting because now customers can capture the world’s highest quality, high frame rate video on their computers,” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. “Intensity Pro 4K has all of the same great features of the original Intensity Pro capture card but now includes Ultra HD and 1080p60 high frame rate support! That means consumers can now capture amazing looking video with incredibly sharp images, vivid color, and more clarity and detail than ever before!”

Availability and Price

Intensity Pro 4K is available now for 179 EUR ex. VAT.

Press Photography

Product photos of Intensity Pro 4K, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

When purchasing selected SONY camera models, the customer receives a FREE SONYAction Cam Mini AZ1VR withWi-Fi Remote Kit orShotgun Microphone ECM-MS2 or Wireless Audio ReceiverURX-P03. The choice is yours :)

The promotion is valid until March 31, 2015 with the purchase of the following SONY camera models:

NEX-EA50M, HXR-NX3, PXW-X160, PXW-X180, PXW-X200, PXW-X70, PXW-Z100, PMW-200, NEX-FS700R, NEX-FS700RH

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced the immediate availability of ATEM Switcher Update 6.3 which adds new advanced power macros that let customers operate dozens of switcher features instantly and in parallel with a single button press. The new power macros are unique because they are extremely easy to build and because they’re located in the switcher, they are available on every control panel for all users.

ATEM Switcher Update 6.3 is available for download now free of charge for all Blackmagic ATEM switcher customers. This includes the latest Ultra HD ATEM Production Studio 4K models, the ATEM Television Studio and the older discontinued ATEM Production Switcher models all get this update. In live production events can unfold in unpredictable ways, because it’s live. These new power macros allow complicated setups to be predefined so that dozens of settings can be selected with the push of a button, ensuring high production values and absolute error free live switching. Extremely complex scenes can be recalled or even animated in real time using the new built in power macros.

An example of the benefits of power macros is, if the director needs more keyers for a complex production than what the switcher has built in, a macro could be created for each camera, chroma key and background combination and then the switcher operator would cut between each by triggering the specific macro. The moment the macro is triggered the layers and the key would be set up and brought on line instantly. In some virtual set scenarios you can have over a dozen camera views and each view can be handled by a separate macro even though the switcher doesn’t have a dozen separate chroma keys built in.

Macros will always ensure automated sequences are precisely timed actions and can include transitions between video sources, graphics, media pool assets, key effects, audio mixer adjustments, camera control settings and even time delays, allowing macros to be used to create animations over time. That means customers can automate frequently used commands or create complex sequences for more sophisticated programs that would be impossible to do manually during a live production. Once created, macros can be recalled instantly with the touch of a button, from any of the control panels, ensuring repeatable and consistent results every time.

Custom macros can be built using the ATEM software control on Mac and Windows computers, or directly on the ATEM 1 M/E and 2 M/E hardware control panels. Power macros can also be copied between switchers so customers working on larger programs can use them across multiple panels at the same time, or save them to recall the settings at another location, or on another switcher. One of the reasons the new power macros are so flexible is because they can be saved as XML files when the customer saves the switcher state, which means these files can even be edited and reloaded into the switcher for customization.

Power macros can also include other macros when being created, so extremely complicated sequences can be designed that make it possible for simple changes and finessing of macros in the future.

“We are extremely excited to release this powerful update for our ATEM switcher customers,” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. “We can’t wait to see the unique program elements, like custom transitions and stingers, that customers will be able to create with power macros on their ATEM switchers! I’m especially pleased that macro recording and playback is available on every Blackmagic ATEM switcher, even including older discontinued models. With these powerful macros also being included in ATEM Television Studio, that retails for only US$995, no one will be denied the benefits of a high end broadcast grade macro system that provides the same creative capability as the most advanced switchers available today.”

Availability and Price

ATEM Switchers are available now starting from US$995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

Press Photography

Product photos of ATEM Switchers, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.