August 2, 2010

CINESITE LONDON PREPARES FOR NEW PIRATES, ADDS STEREO 3D VFX AND 2D TO 3D CONVERSIONS

“With the recent resurgence of stereo 3D films and our track record at the cutting edge of visual effects for high-end feature films, moving into stereo 3D is a natural progression for us,” said Antony Hunt, managing director, Cinesite. “We’re developing our services in response to growing client demand, and the high volume of work we’ve been awarded on Pirates of The Caribbean demonstrates the level of trust and confidence that major distributors have in our capabilities.”

Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is due for release in May 2011.

To accommodate its new stereo 3D services, Cinesite is expanding by growing its production staff by 40 percent and taking on a new floor in its building to accommodate 85 to 100 additional VFX artists - adding another 7,000 square feet to its 30,000 square feet of custom-designed post facilities. Having already added 250TB of storage from BlueArc, Cinesite anticipates that it will have added almost half a petabyte of disc space and around 1,000 cores by the end of 2010, with an additional 1,000 cores in 2011.

As well as investing in a site license of The Foundry’s Nuke compositing software, providing an additional 500 visual effects seats, Cinesite has purchased a Dolby stereoscopic projection system for its 36-seat screening room, a stereo 3D-capable Scratch viewing system and stereo 3D editing suites.
 
Cinesite is currently working on Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Warner Bros.), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Fox/Walden), John Carter of Mars (Disney/Pixar) and Battle: Los Angeles (Sony/Columbia).