WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND — For The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Park Road Post Production (www.parkroad.co.nz) and Rohde & Schwarz DVS GmbH (www.dvs.de) worked together to integrate the new Dolby Atmos standard into the DCP process. The DVS Clipster supports a high frame rate DCI workflow with Dolby Atmos.
The film is a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), and premiered in theaters on December 12th. Dolby Atmos envelops the audience, allowing for precise sound positioning in the auditorium. The sound compliments the film’s High Frame Rate (HFR) 3D images. When shooting at a high frame rate, movement appears noticeably crisper and smoother to the viewer – especially with rapid action. 3D comfort is also maximized. Park Road Post Production was able to mastering both HFR-3D at 48 fps and immersive Dolby Atmos sound, all on the Clipster.
From a production standpoint, the film’s dialogue, music and effects were fed into the Dolby Rendering and Master Unit (RMU), which allows for flexible rendering for different configurations. The final package is then fed into the DCI mastering pipeline, which was headed by Clipster. The Clipster generates the final DCP or, to be more precise, the various versions of DCPs required by Park Road.
The solution’s feature set allows for the creation of a variety of versions within a very short timeframe. Clipster masters the material in high quality at 48fps in 3D, with the respective Atmos track.
Clipster was used by Park Road on the first The Hobbit film.
“Again, DVS has proven themselves to be the invaluable partner we have become accustomed to,” notes Ian Bidgood, technical director at Park Road Post. “We were extremely happy to continue our innovative partnership that was started on the first part of The Hobbit Trilogy. Once again, DVS’s significant advancements in the Clipster platform, along with their absolute willingness to innovate and push the technological boundaries, has not only helped to master a 3D HFR DCP with incredible speed, but has now bought Dolby Atmos mastering within the same platform."