Cinesite Launches Stereoscopic 3D Services

Cinesite, a leading film visual effects house, has announced the launch of stereoscopic 3D visual effects services catering for films shot in stereo, as well as conversion of 2D films into 3D. Cinesite's first stereo 3D project will be Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, for which it has been awarded a significant volume of stereoscopic visual effects work.
Antony Hunt, Managing Director, Cinesite, said: "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. 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 on May 20 2011 and is the fourth instalment in the highly successful Disney/Bruckheimer series.
To accommodate its new stereo 3D services, Cinesite is undergoing a major expansion which includes growing its production staff by 40% and taking on a new floor in its building to accommodate 85 - 100 additional visual effects artists - adding another 7,000 square feet to its 30,000 square feet of custom-designed post production facilities. Having already added 250 terabytes 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,
Kimberly Synder, President of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging division, said: "Cinesite, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kodak, is committed to motion picture innovation and new technology. Kodak's continued investment in Cinesite's digital infrastructure helps to position the company as one of the industry's leading providers of 3D workflow solutions. This significant investment represents Kodak's enthusiasm and confidence that Cinesite's new stereoscopic services will be extremely successful in meeting marketplace needs as 3D continues to grow and thrive."
As well as investing in a site licence 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.
(KMcA)