Lucasfilm, one of the world's leading film and entertainment companies, and Prime Focus, the global visual entertainment services company, are proud to announce their collaboration on the 3D conversion of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace for theatrical release, heralding an exciting new era in Star Wars entertainment. Prime Focus was selected by Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) following an exhaustive testing process.
Utilizing Prime Focus' proprietary View-D™ process, the cutting-edge conversion is scheduled to hit 3D theater screens on February 10, 2012. Involving meticulous crafting and attention to detail by Prime Focus' global team of artists, the 3D release promises a wonderfully immersive experience for fans of the original, and a big screen introduction for a whole new generation.
"It was incredibly important to me that we have the technology, the resources and the time to do this right," said Star Wars creator George Lucas. "I'm very happy with the results I've been seeing on Episode I."
Prime Focus founder and CEO Namit Malhotra said: "Wherever you are in the world, the Star Wars films have become part of the very fabric of film-making - the epitome of the big cinema experience. To be chosen by Lucasfilm as a trusted partner, and to be given the time and opportunity to re-present this series as a new experience to both old and new audiences alike, is an incredible honor. For a project of this importance and magnitude, Lucasfilm and ILM would only have chosen a company with the best talent in the industry, leading proprietary technology and infrastructure, a production-proven pipeline and unmatched scale. I am hugely proud that Prime Focus is that company."
At this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, George Lucas – along with James Cameron and Jeffery Katzenberg – attended a panel to discuss “The Digital World of Filmmaking: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond.” In an illuminating discussion, covering topics ranging from shooting at faster frame rates and the difference this makes to the movie-going experience (Cameron) to scalable multi-core processing and the effect that this will have on the render-times of animators and the way they work (Katzenberg), the trio gave the audience a fascinating glimpse into what is coming next for the movie industry. The conversation naturally also encompassed conversion, and George Lucas took the opportunity to discuss the conversion of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which is currently being undertaken by Prime Focus. You can see the conversation below.
The extensive conversion process is being completed under the close supervision of John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor for ILM.
"Getting really good results from stereo conversion requires a lot of attention to detail and it is imperative that you take the time to get it right – and that's just what we're doing," said Knoll. "We're taking a different approach than you might expect. George's vision has been to add dimension to the film in subtle ways. This isn't a novelty conversion, with things jumping out at the audience; our goal has been to enhance the classic Star Wars theatrical experience, utilizing the latest cinematic tools and techniques."
Prime Focus is a global leader in 3D conversion and VFX, and has delivered work on films such as Avatar, Shrek, Tron: Legacy, Narnia: Dawn Treader and most recently Sucker Punch. Deploying its global View-D™ conversion team on the Star Wars project, led out of the Prime Focus Hollywood office, artists in Los Angeles, London and Mumbai are delivering shots via Prime Focus' Global Digital Pipeline. In collaboration with ILM, the meticulous conversion is being completed with the utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.
Credits.
Project: Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
Production Company: Lucasfilm
Executive Producer : George Lucas
Writer / Director: George Lucas
Producer: Rick McCallum
Visual Effects Supervisor for ILM: John Knoll
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd
Director of Photography: David Tattersall
Editors: Ben Burtt, Paul Martin Smith
Original Music: John Williams
Prime Focus.
Stereo 3D Conversion: Prime Focus
Senior Stereoscopic Supervisor - Jeremy Nicolaides
STEREOSCOPIC SUPERVISORS
Justin Jones
John Pierce
Jimmy Philip
Ben Murray
View-D™ Producer - S. Scott Farrar
Head of View-D™ - Merzin Tavaria
Head of Production - Stephen Mascarenhas
Digital Producer - Chris McClintock
Production Manager - Franklin Mascarenhas
ADDITIONAL STEREOSCOPIC SUPERVISORS
Dave Franks
Richard Baker
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Marcus Alexander - Producer, London
Sarah Maloney - Production Manager, Los Angeles
Priyanka Balasubramanian - Production Manager, London
Savio Cruz - Assistant Production Manager, India
Toby Langley - Assistant Production Manager, London
Caprice Ridgeway - Resource Manager, Los Angeles
LEAD ARTISTS
Ankur Sachdev
Anthony Davis
Barry O'Brien
Ben Perkins
Binoy T. Joseph
Brian Lee
Carlos Miras Sepulveda
Colin Feist
Cory Lee
Dong Guo
Eoin Greenham
James Rees
Jamie Schumacher
Jon Sadonsky
Lindsay Hoppe
Luke Gray
Martin Ofori
Mauricio Monroy
Michael Pecchia
Oliver Allen-Wielebnowski
Rajat Roy
Ranjit H Gosavi
Ritesh (Ricky) Aggarwal
Sandeep Gamre
Swapnil Kulkarni
Swapnil Shelar
Tim Fescoe
Tom Castellani
Toma Bowen
Tricia Barrett
VIEW-D™ ARTISTS
Abhishek Warang
Adam Benson
Adam Gottard
Aditya Bachav
Alessandro Salis
Alfred Urrutia
Ambikesh Patel
Amey Sindkar
Andrew Emerson
Aniket Parab
Anita Clipston
Ankit Jobanputra
Ann Monn
Annie Jan
Anthony Mariya
Anthony Barcelo
Anthony Mabin
Anuj Singh
Aoife Greenham
Arturs Vaitilavics
Ashish Kamble
Ashish Shekhar Parulekar
Ashjad Baig
Athmi Rai
Atul Malve
Atyeb Muneer
Avirup Ghosh
B Harshavardhan
Beverly Bernacki
Birendra Patel
Brian Peluso
Bruce Mann
Cameron Coombs
Chelsea Goodchild
Chetan Kumar Dhande
Chris Dawson
Chris Hopkins
Chris Manabe
Chris Simmons
Christi Kugler
Christopher Cortese
Dan Churchill
Dan Trezise
Daniel Malig
Daniel Raffel
Darshan D. Rane
Dartayous Hunter
Dave Takayama
Davey Atkinson
David Elices
David Hochstadter
David Lieberman
Dean Giuliotis
Debapriya Senanayak
Debarghya Dutta
Deepak Nayak
Devendra Vishnu Medhekar
Dhanesh Alai
Dhawal Soni
Dhiraj Sukheja
Dilip Prakash Jain
Dinar Dorlekar
Dineshraj Govindakatte
Dixa Hemant Desai
Dominic Ricci
Elliot Contreras
Ephraim Mwakandu
Eric Almeras
Eric Deinzer
Esme Coleman
Fabian Jimenez
Fathima Femino
Felix Serwir
Florin Boieriu
Francesco Capone
Gaurav Sharma
Gaurav Verma
Gautam Bhardwaj
Gautam Ghadge
Genevieve Yee
George Douglas
Geronimo Moralez
Glenn Snyder
Gopinath Kotalwar
Gordan Derbogosijan
Gourav Gupta
Haresh P Sutar
Harihar Manojkumar Thaker
Harshad Masurkar
Hernan Barros
Himanshu Ajmera
Iva Trajkovic
Jadan Duffin
Jainam Shah
Jaivardhan Sawariya
James Morrison
James Vogel
Jamie Eichstaedt
Janis Vaitilavics
Jason Dougherty
Jason Dourgarian
Jason Gottlieb
Jason Heinze
Jason Piccioni
Jason Tsai
Jaya Vardhan Kutchillapati
Jeannie BenHain
Jeff Kim
Jeremy Meltzer
Jerrell Reddick
Jessica Grimshaw
Jignesh Pandya
Jignesh Vinodbhai Solanki
Joe Laude
John Cornejo
Jon Greenhalgh
Jonathan McFall
Jordan Mendenhall
Joshua Gengler
Justin Greiner
Justin Pascal
Juvenal Vique
Karan Vimal Kapoor
Karen Elliott
Karen Ruggero
Kasy Stein
Kat Kelly
Kate Burgess
Khursheed Alam
Kiran Parmar
Kishor Nikam
Kishor V Tauro
Krushna Udawant
Laxman Gogale
Linda Henry
Lola Edun
Luke Kane
M. Ramakrishna
Mahesh Patil
Mali Amol Eknath
Manan Dixit
Manoj Kumar
Manu Jain
Maqshood Khan
Mark Toscano
Maryam Sharifi
Matt Cordero
Mattaniah Yip
Matthew Donnan
Matthew Lutes
Mauricio Monroy
Mayank Mishra
Mayank Pandit
Md Manzoor Alam
Michael Brumit
Michael Glasco
Michael Kaelin
Michael Sharck
Michelle Hall
Mike Newcomer
Mitchell Marciales
Mobin Mathew
Mohit Varde
Moises Cabrera
Monika Verdu
Mrudul Bhimrao Bidger
Naresh Rawat
Neil Martin
Nemi Sharan
Nick Sinnott
Nilesh Vilas Kashid
Nina Harlan
Nitin Chavan
Noel Rolando
Oded Raz
Pan Vafeiadis
Patel Divyesh Uttambhai
Paul Christopher Michael
Paul Vorsman
Pavan Sain
Perla Venkateswarlu
Philip Maddock
Philip Sisk
Pierce Mangimelli
Porismita Borah
Prabir Bera
Pragya Tomar
Pranay Gopal Parit
Prasanna Siddharthan
Pratik Kalani
Prem Prakash Dhanwani
Puneet Samra
Rahul Kumar Singh
Rahul Sharma
Rahul. S. Sharma
Rajan Gulati
Rajeev Sahu
Rajendra Nagarkar
Rakhee Ghosh
Raman Chahar
Ravinder Singh
Richard Aponte
Richard Sacher
Richard Sowerby
Rick Echevarria
Rio Harrington
Ritu Morwal
Robert Adams
Robert Bardy
Rohan Tirkey
Rohit Sharma
Roland So
Romulo Adriano
Rosi Ruiz
Russell Sadeghpour
Sabin Sasidharan
Safiya Gili
Sam Dabbs
Sameer D Samant
Sameer Madan
Sameer Samant
Samrat Shahi
Sanjay Chand
Sanjiv R Sable
Sanket Kulkarni
Sanket S Shembekar
Santosh Dutta
Sarah Grieshammer
Sari Gennis
Saurabh Vaidya
Sayan Chatterjee
Scott Baxter
Scott Fritzshall
Serge Eustache
Seth Martin
Shandy Pranoto
Shane Wicklund
Sheldon Braithwaite
Sherin Mahboob
Shiloe Swisher
Shivam Mallick
Shivprakash Jangid
Shivraj Patil
Shraddha Kishorbhai Patel
Shrayashi Banerjee
Shrikant Dawale
Skip Simpson
Sophie Luto
Srijith Pillai
Stephen Paull
Subhadip Malakar
Sumeet S Gavas
Sunny Chawla
Sunny Ramesh Chawla
Suraj Balasaheb Sawant
Sushant Bandkar
Sushant Sharma
Tedla Mason
Tejap K Gaikwad
Tharanga Rajakaruna
Tom Heddell
Tushar Rajput
Tushar Vasant Kurhade
Valy Lungoccia
Varion Pereira
Vijay kochale
Vijay Shinde
Vikas uttawar
Villi Ivanov
Vinay Das
Vincent Nguyen
Vinesh Choudhary
Vinit Gohil
Vinod Gundre
Vinod Kumar Vaishya
Vishal Gupta
Vivek Shivdas Jambhulkar
Wagh Rahul Ramesh
Wallace Colvard
Will Driscoll
Yogesh Auti
Yogesh Palav
Yogesh R Girdhar
PRODUCTION COORDINATORS
Aisshwarya Dubey
Alexis Jacobson
Andrea Kistler
Annsh Patel
Christian Quickle
Eugene Kotlyarenko
Iman Charles
Jake Delaney
Megan Downey
Michael Anders
Michael Hall
Nandita Bhatnagar
Nidhi Seth
Preyoshi Bhattacharya
Sarah Wilson
Shadley Grei
Stewart Kojima
Tommy Bacorn
Zach Clairville
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Andrew Jagtap
Ben Harrison
Gaayathri Rajendra
Jamil Akhtar
John Eberhard
Kevin Dsouza
Nick Thompson
Nitin Singh
Ramesh Singh
Rohan Ghanshyamdas Gupta
Rohit Sharma
Sarosh Mistry
Sharique Faiz
Shwetali Ghonge
Travis O'Neill
Vijay Dodia
Zahraa El Tatari
TASKING/ROTO
Oliver Thornton - Tasking Lead
Kyle Hause - Roto Lead
Ashok Kumar
Akshat Tiwari
Amit Karekar
Ashutosh Kumar
Avaiz Najar
Avdesh Shukla
Chandra Prakash
Chandrasekhar Gudati
Dattatraya Aundhakar
Deepak Kumar Singh
Jeffery Evans
Jerome Berglund
Joseph Murad
Kartik Patel
Kaustubh Pednekar
Mahesh Madhur
Nesar Ahmed
Nitin Bahl
Paul Berry
Rakesh Jamalpurkar
Ranjan Kumar
Sameep Chaudhary
Sheeba Pushpan
Shreeraj Gopi
Subrojeet Dutta
Suresh Thakur
Swapnil Sarankar
Yaram Venkat Reddy
PAINT
Hugo Dominguez - Paint Lead
Alexi Steinhauer
Alicia Bissinger
Casey Yahnke
Cesar Quijada
Christopher Stark
Clint Jairam
Dara Bedick
Erubeth Avila
James Taggart
Lala Ghukasyam
Marky Kang
Marvin Lee
Michael Boverg
PREP SUPERVISOR
Robert A Willis
PREP
Andrew K Thompson
Aron Galabuzi
Dan McCrae
Frederikke Glick
Menelaos Peristeridis
Noemi Cruciani
Rick McMahon
Robert J Hall
Shayne Farrier
Yousaf Mian
EDITORIAL
Allen Tracy
Chris Coupland
James Cundill
Joe Thompsen
John Cruise
Latham Robertson
Lewis "Sonny" Menga
Marc Sutton
Richard Pring
PIPELINE
Amit Desai
Isaac Guenard
James Coulter
Jeff Baksinski
Robin Emerson
IO / DATA OPS
Rob Albano
CJ LePage
Daniel Lewis
Daniel Molina
George Castaldini
Imran Malik
Jay Johnson
Katharina Nimmervoll
Rachel Dickson
Whan Je
TECH SUPPORT
Adam Kane
Asim Tahir
Imran Shafique
Karl Woolley
Krishna Venugopal
Malik Imran
Mohammed Ashraf
Muhammad Kashif Arshad
Shahzad Maqbool
Shawn Wallbridge
Stephen Willey
SENIOR MANAGEMENT
Namit Malhotra - Global CEO & Founder
Terry Clotiaux - President, Prime Focus International
Bridgitte Krupke - Executive Producer, View-D™
Martin Hobbs - Managing Director, London
Matthew Bristowe - Head of Production, London
Parminder Chadda - 3D Technical Supervisor, India
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