Nova Zembla - Stereoscopic Feature Effects

Posted in News by Joe in November 2011

Eyeworks asked Hectic to do some serious Stereoscopic effects and beautiful titles for their film Nova Zembla.

Nova Zembla is the first 3D film to come from the Dutch film industry. Director/producer Reinout Oerlemans (“Komt een vrouw bij de doctor”) has instinctively steered the creative process with a confident hand, enabling the team to excel in a wide range of challenges, from beautiful titles to a myriad of demanding individual shots.

The titles are truly a master artwork, transitioning the live action shots of the leading stars into an etched, canvas composition, inspired by Jan Luyken’s 16th Century engravings of Nova Zembla.

We were privileged to work on the opening sequence, a one minute epic piece, immersing the audience in a stereoscopic universe full of stars and wonder, drawing them deeper into the 3D.

(more after the jump)

How to deliver files

Posted in News in September 2011

Delivery address is artwork@hecticelectric.nl for Hecticelectric and artwork@avp.nl for AVP.

Sonny Boy selected to open the Stony Brook Film Festival

Posted in News by Saskia in May 2011

The Dutch film Sonny Boy is selected to open the 16th Stony Brook Film Festival on the 21st of July. This has been published by Shooting Star, the production company behind the movie. Hectic Electric and AVP are responsible for the post production and special effects of this succesful film.

Stony Brook festival wants to expose the American audiences to non-English spoken films. Sonny Boy, directed by Maria Peters, is based on the bestseller by Annejet van der Zijl and tells a true love story of a Suriname immigrant (Sergio Hasselbaink) and a white woman (Ricky Koole) in the 1920s and the 1930s.

The film has attracted more than 400.000 viewers to the Dutch cinemas. Sonny Boy has been selected from 800 submissions from all over the world. (ANP)

HecticElectric and Avp have launched a new version of TransitMedia

Posted in News in February 2011

We are further developing our digital publishing and archiving tool. The service is now organized as a new business structure called TransitMedia.

At our clients request, we have added some highly useful features. For more detailed information, or a personal demo, please contact AVP on +31 20 347 2828.

Read on for more information:

Reconstruction HecticElectric

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

After the AVP reconstruction, we are now focussing on HecticElectric’s needs. Central to this is the fact that media is now exchanged in digital file formats.

In response HecticEletric will go completely tapeless and reconsiders space and equipment appropriately. The colour correction facility, for example, now has a bigger role within Hectic, and therefore grading will be moved to the former VTR/support room by the end of May.

Feature film: Dolfje Weerwolfje

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

Hectic is Proud to be the VFX partner for the new Dutch feature film: Dolfje Weerwolfje.

Hectic Electric Brussels

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

Hectic opened new office in Brussels.

AVP changes

Posted in News in February 2011

Hectic group is always pushing the edge of technology. We must make the right choices, the right investments, hire the right staff today, to offer the services demanded tomorrow.

De Storm wins an american award

Posted in News by Amrita Kraakman in August 2010

NEW YORK - The Dutch film De Storm by director Ben Sombogaart has won a prestigious price this weekend on the Stony Brook Filmfestival in New York. This has been reported by the producer Alain De Levita representing NL Film on Monday.

The film about the 18-year old mother (Sylviak Hoeks) who loses her child during the flood of 1953, was presented during the opening screening of the festival. Producer De Levita and Hoeks were present at the screening.

The "Award for Outstanding Achievement In Filmmaking" won by the film consists of a small sculpture. The Stony Brook Festival wants to give more exposure to the foreign-language films in the US. The film "Bride Flight" by Sombogaart has also been screened at the festival.

Source article

Richting West

Posted in News by Arjan Eekels in March 2010

We have been taking on a new project. It's called Richting West, Director is Nicole van Kilsdonk who recently did Sekjoeritie (which aired just last Tuesday) with us. Jeroen de Bruin is DOP. Producer is Keyfilm. Pic will be shot on 35mm2perf, shooting starts next Tuesday. We will do one-light dailies, data scanning en grading in Cinema Scratch. George Balatoni is grading with Jeroen first 3 weeks of July. The film will be released in cinema's by A-Film end of 2010.

ANNIE MG new hit series

Posted in News by Arjan Eekels in January 2010

The television series ANNIE MG, showing the curious life of the famous Dutch writer Annie M.G. Schmidt, has been an success. Since it started airing beginning of January it reached a enormous amount of people. The first episode broadcasted on January the 3rd reached 933.000 viewers and the second episode broadcasted on January the 10th jumped over that magic number: 1.005.000 viewers. The third episode broadcasted on January the 17th got 699.000 viewers in front of the telly. We did all vfx and color correction work on ANNIE MG.
ANNIE MG can be seen every Sunday 20.10 on Nederland 2.
www.anniemg.nl

KOMT EEN VROUW BIJ DE DOKTER box-office hit

Posted in News by Arjan Eekels in January 2010

The film from Reinout Oerlemans, after the famous book by Kluun, has been seen by 1.000.000 viewers in no time and therefore it received a Diamond Status in short time. Oerlemans' debut is successful on more levels as it scored best openings weekend for a Dutch film ever and made it to Golden status (100.000 viewers) in no more then two day's. After ten day's the film reached Platinum Status (400.000 viewers). The film still runs in theatres to this date, the current score stands at 1.160.000 and every week around 100.000 ad up to that number.
We congratulate both cast and crew of KOMT EEN VROUW BIJ DE DOKTER (LOVE LIFE) for this enormous success and are also very proud that we have been able to be a part of it.

www.komteenvrouwbijdedokterdefilm.nl

Files via HecticTransit

Posted in News by Mariëlle in December 2009

From now on it is also possible to download or upload files straight from the HecticTransit site.

You will find a selection of file formats under the Publishing bar of your commercal.

Need information or help? Contact us at AVP: bookings@avp.nl or Hectic: planning@hecticelectric.nl.

Earforce @ AVP

Posted in News by Marielle in October 2009

We are happy to inform you that Earforce has opened a soundstudio at AVP.
Earforce is the combined talent of audio engineers Reinder van Zalk, Tymen Geurts, Jasper van Oorschot, Rob Rolefes, Arno Krabman en Iwan van Wijk.
Many of our clients already experienced the audio skills of the Earforce team and to get an impression of their work you can visit their website www.earforce.nl, or book them via info@earforce.nl.

Silent Army

Posted in News in October 2009

The Silent Army is the international edit from Wit Licht, directed by Jean van de Velde. In May 2009 it premiered at the Filmfestival in Cannes. The Silent Army was shown in the category “Un Certain Regard”, whereafter it received a standing ovation from the press. For the international version the director Jean van de Velde decided to remove all the music out of the film and put all flash back scenes in chronological order. Hectic Electric/AVP is proud to have contributed to the postproduction of such a wonderful project. The film was color graded on Scratch by colorist John Thorborg.

De Storm

Posted in News by Marc Kubbinga in September 2009

Friday the 11th of september 2009 the film De Storm had its world premiere in Vlissingen. De Storm is the latest film of Ben Sombogaart, which tells about the flood in 1953 in Holland, Zeeland. HecticProjeX, the collaboration between AVP, HecticElectric and HecticParis achieved a tremendous amount of work in a very short notice. A lot of the water shots has been created in full CG. The full opening shot, a shot of more than 30 seconds, has been created in CG. HecticProjeX has developed a special technical pipeline to be able to produce the necessary shots in the amount of time available. A significant part of the compositing is done in Scratch. The interactive way of adding rain, fog and spray on most of the shots in film continuity, was only possible in this online environment. VFX supervisor Raphael Kourilsky was responsible for all visual effects. Colorist Gyorgy Balatoni was responsible for the grading. HecticProjeX and its complete team is proud of the final result. The result is the sum of all efforts of all operators, as well as the people from NL Film.

Broadcast copies via our Hectic Transit system

Posted in News by Marielle in February 2009

Since the beginning of this year broadcast copies are no longer delivered to the broadcast stations on digital betacam tapes, but as MXF files via our Hectic Transit system.

A commercial can be entered into the system in no time, and once approved by the client, the digital distribution to the broadcasters of choice is executed using the internet browser and a few mouse clicks.

A simple but safe process that saves time and costs.

For more information, feel free to contact our planning teams.

At HecticElectric: Amrita Kraakman & Jasper Wolf planning@hecticelectric.nl

At AVP: Dorien Plante & Patty Veenstra bookings@avp.nl

Become a HE-Man (or Woman)!

Posted in News in September 2008

HecticElectric and AVP proudly present HE Magazine, a 72-page insider's guide to the post-production industry.

The new magazine is not only meant to open a window into the world of HecticElectric and AVP but also to serve as a platform for everyone who is interested in the numerous ways in which communications, culture and technology interact.

In the first issue:

• Acclaimed director Olivier Gondry reveals a few tricks of the trade;

• Four seasoned cameramen review the much-hyped Red One camera;

• Advertising luminaries Paul Meijer, Simon Neefjes and Lorenzo de Rita discuss brand communication in the new media age;

• and Simon James Milner tackles Pixar's Renderman software.

We would love to hear your comments at [magazine@avp.nl] (mailto:magazine@avp.nl)

If you haven’t received the HE magazine, order your free copy now! Send your mailing address to [magazine@avp.nl] (mailto:magazine@avp.nl)

Due to limited availability, copies will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Netherlands Film Festival 2008

Posted in News in September 2008

The Netherlands Film Festival is about to begin, and once again the post production of this year 's brand new trailer and television commercial was done at AVP. The concept of the film is the contradiction between a chique filmpremiere and a heavy rock concert. Moviestars Frank Lammers, Maryam Hassouni and Monic Hendrickx combined with one hundred extras clad in rock gear form this contradiction.

HecticTransit

Posted in News in August 2008

The digital video revolution is yesterday’s news. Hectic Electric and AVP are already taking the next step: making sure everyone can find their way in the jungle of their newly digitalized, high-speed work environment.

Soon, audio and video will no longer have to be delivered to broadcasters on tape, but can simply be put on a digital file that’s kind of an upscaled version of MPEG. Only this file uses a different way of coding to ensure high quality. It’s the brand new MXF 30.

Putting together an MFX file will remain a clear and orderly process, but delivering it to broadcasters is set to become much more

THE STORM

Posted in News in August 2008

NL-Film has recently selected Hectic to create all visual effects for the Ben Sombogaart film The Storm (De Storm), to be released next year. The movie will include al large number of VFX shots that simulate water effects. Hectic has already conducted extensive preliminary tests and research in this field, with the company’s entire 3D crew devoting many hours to the task at hand. Raphael Kourilsky of HecticElectric Paris will serve as the project’s VFX supervisor. John Thorborg will take care of

Flame & Flint 2008

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticElectric and AVP have updated their whole infrastructure of Flame and Flint to the Linux platform. Moreover the latest software versions have been installed. With this new upgrade the render speed and the storage capacity have drastically increased. The different Flames are internally connected through a dedicated 4 GB network. All the machines have been prepared for the use of HD and 2K and are capable of playing these in real-time.

Renderman

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticElectric and AVP have recently changed to Renderman, the high-end render software for 3D. With this change we are the only company in Holland that uses this software. Renderman has been developed by PIXAR and offers optimal control in complex 3D models with extreme high definition. Renderman guarantees the best creative results with a proper, acceptable speed. Simon Milner (ESCAPE studios) took care of an optimal implementation within our 3D pipeline.

Letter for the King (Brief voor de Koning)

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticProjeX has recently finished work on the movie “Letter for the King”. This movie has been directed by Pieter Verhoef and contains a large number of VFX shots with backgrounds that have completely been generated in 3D and 2D. Several elements have been specially shot for this purpose, in consensus with DOP Jules van de Steenhoven. This project was handled by two VFX supervisors: Jan van de Laar and Raphael Kourilsky. Jan has managed several large movie projects for HecticProjeX. Raphael, known mostly from HecticElectric Paris, has numerous large projects on his name. Together Jan and Raphael headed and formed a team of 14 VFX artists divided over HecticElectric, AVP and HecticElectric Paris. The colour correction of the DI has been done by John Thoborg.

New Colorist @ AVP

Posted in News by Gerben in June 2008

Since January 2008 AVP has a new grader in the team, her name is Isabell Brockmann. She came into the business at "Das Werk” Hamburg in October 2000 where she got enthousiastic about colourcorrection with al its possibilities. She started in VTR to learn more about all the technical systems. Next step was to be a Telecine assistant, but soon she made the step to junior-colorist and left Das Werk in july 2003 to start at Delipictures. At Delipictures she worked as a senior-colorist for 4 years and now she's here in Amsterdam at AVP. We're happy she joined our team and hope she'll have a great time in Amsterdam.

To get a view of her work, have a look at the homepage: www.isabellbrockmann.com

How to watch our clips in Linux

Posted in News by Julik in May 2008

Hello, fine visitors! Julik from Hectic Amsterdam here. In this article I would like to quickly explain how to view our clips under Linux.

ARRI Scanner

Posted in News by FS in September 2007

For digital 2K scanning we are going to use the ARRI scanner. We are expanding our scanning equipment because of the gigantic amount of Digital Intermediates we are producing. It is nescassary to expand before we have a data overflow. Besides this logistic advantage the improvement of quality is the most important reason for the introduction of ARRI scanning. Especially the combination of experienced graders and professional color management can contribute a lot to improve the quality of the final commerical or feature film.