DIGITAL PRODUCTION, CIRCLEVISION360 & TOURISM PROMOTION

DIGITAL PRODUCTION, CIRCLEVISION360 & TOURISM PROMOTION

M E D I A M I N D D I G I T A L I N C. W o r ld Class Ex pertise Director of Photography- Bob Ennis, Writer/Producer- Craig Farlinger and Editor/Colourist- Neil Thompson have been working together on original productions since 1985. Projects during the last 23 years have included feature films, television series, documentaries, corporate media, large screen projection, specialty theatre productions and travel programs. Since 2006 Bob and Craig have worked with Hollywood based VFX Director of Photography- Jim Dickson and Visual FX Supervisor- Angus Wakefield. Angus is a Leo award winning animator, modeler and VFX specialist. These exceptionally creative and experienced film industry professionals have long accomplished track records and history working as a team on majour production projects.

Innovative Producers of Original Content MediaMind s primary focus is the production of edifying, original film and high definition video projects. For over two decades, Craig Farlinger and Bob Ennis, have been working together as a Writer/Producer and Director team delivering exceptional creative and production value to corporate and Hollywood clients. As a Director of Photography, Bob has broad experience including feature films, television series, Disney circlevision360 and travel programs. A solid Producer/Director team is a key spark that gets everything going in the right direction with innovative creative ideas and a well written script. MediaMind has been in the digital media business since its inception, so the company s strategic and creative assets have evolved to optimally achieve clients objectives. Client solutions include proprietary applications that offer unique capabilities. MediaMind s post-production facility in West Vancouver, British Columbia (Hollywood North) uses the latest Avid Media Composer editing system, 2D and 3D animation technology. The company s legacy experience and leading edge digital technologies guarantee exceptional production value.

Disney CircleVision 360 Theatres that completely surrounded the audience with movie screens were extremely popular attractions at theme parks, world fairs and expositions over the last forty years. The circlevision360 theatre format was pioneered by the Walt Disney Company. Disney has been operating an extremely successful circlevision360 theatre in the Epcot Centre at Disney World, Orlando, Florida since the ground breaking, 1960 s production America the Beautiful. Circlevision came to Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia with the film Portraits of Canada presented in the Telecom Canada pavilion and shot by MediaMind Director- Bob Ennis. It is the longest running and most successful circlevision360 film ever produced, still playing at the Epcot Centre. Disney s circlevision360 technology uses nine 35mm film cameras mounted pointing straight up into mirrors angled at 45 degrees (see photos above of Director of Photography- Bob Ennis filming Portraits of Canada ). They are mounted in this configuration in order to pack the cameras in as close together as possible to reduce the nodal distortions that occur when two cameras film the same subject from slightly different angles. When projected in the Epcot Centre s circlevision theatre the visual field is recreated in all directions with just an inch gap between the nine screens. The gap serves to hide the slightly mismatched edges. New digital techniques completely eliminate these artifacts.

New Digital CircleVision360 Technological breakthroughs in digital high definition video and large venue DLP projectors now enable edge blended images to be projected onto a seamless 360 degree curved screen. These advances not only enhance the format but also substantially reduce production and theatre costs by more than 60%. Lower costs are opening up new markets in a variety of applications including destination theatres, nightclub dance floors and presentation venues. The first such installation was the Electronic Arts booth at E3 in 2007 (see photo above left). The first permanent theatre was completed in the summer of 2008 in the new Table Rock Center in Niagara Falls, Canada (see photo above right). MediaMind s CircleVision Group is a team of film industry specialists with circlevision360 production and surround theatre installation experience who are committed to the development and commercial deployment of state-of-the-art Digital CircleVision360 systems. The CircleVision Group is the only integrator currently offering a custom manufactured theatre playback system featuring full high definition video resolution (1920x1080 interlaced and progressive) playback of multiple video streams in perfect sync, at low compression rates (100 mbps) along with 8 channel 24 bit, 48 kh surround 7.1 audio. MediaMind s team is not just technologically savvy but is particularly strong on the creative side which is critical to the success of a project.

tourism destination attraction Beyond IMAX - Digital CircleVision360 According to Imax engineers the discernable digital equivalent of the Imax projected film frame is 4,500 x 6,458 pixels which equals 14 uncompressed, high definition resolution video frames. Digital CircleVision360 projects 9 HD digital video streams onto a seamless, circular surround screen that recreates the visual field in 360 degrees, providing more experiential information with just a little less resolution. CircleVision360 famously offers an incredible sense of presence and realism. Audiences have been observed to grab hold of the hand rails during helicopter aerials as the theatre becomes a giant spaceship moving through the scene. Niagara Falls, Canada now boasts a Digital CircleVision360 theatre showing Niagara s Fury, the story of the creation of the mighty falls and the Great Gorge it carved. A Digital CircleVision360 theatre is an ideal way for destinations to showcase their stories within a revenue producing attraction. The circlevision venue can also be designed to do double duty as a CircleVision360 theatre in the day and a nightclub at night to increase revenue. The modular raised platform design enables the installation to become a circlevision dance floor. MediaMind has programmed a software demo visualization engine which generates 3D animated patterns that react to music. Music videos of concerts shot in circlevision can also be projected as can visual fx sequences created for specific songs. The theatre is also ideal for corporate and other special events with the addition of tables and chairs. The utility and appeal of this new theatre format is truly beyond IMAX.

Destination High Definition Video - DVD/Blu-ray High definition video offers destinations and attraction operators the opportunity to shine like never before. MediaMind has produced tourism promotional programs on areas throughout Canada and the Western United States including some of Canada s top tourist attractions, the Royal Ontario Museum, Stanley Park Aquarium and Chatter Creek Mountain Resorts. Over forty shows later we re still at it because we do it better. Attractions should be producing all their promotional video in high definition for many good reasons: 1) The current DVD format requires filming in 16:9 aspect ratio which is native to all high definition formats; 2) High definition video streamed and distributed on Blu-ray discs is the future; 3) The resolution, colour reproduction and quality of digital high definition video shows off your attractions in the most spectacular way; and 4) Broadcasters now require high definition video b-rolls.

director Robert Ennis Bob Ennis has been a well-known name in the film industry for thirty years. Bob was co-creator and CGI Director of Photography (DOP) on Jibber Jabber a children s 3D animation series (twenty six episodes) which won three Leo awards in the spring of 2008. Gold Camera award winner, his work includes DOP on the Danger Bay series (88 episodes), which won a Gold Medal as Best Television Series in the Youth category at the International Film and TV Festival, New York. Further TV Series work included 21 Jump Street, Ritters Cove, Wiseguy, MacGyver and Beachcombers. Bob s Feature film credits include: Jumanji, Bird On A Wire, The Journey of Natty Gann, Clan of the Cave Bear and Home Is Where The Heart Is. He has worked on Movie of the Week productions such as Can of Worms, Dog s Best Friend, and Up River. EXPO 86 in Vancouver, showcased Bob s work as DOP on the Disney circlevision360 film Portraits of Canada, shot with nine cameras and projected in a specially built theatre that surrounds the audience. Over twenty years later the film is still being shown at the Epcot Centre in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. Recently Bob was Director of Photography and post-production supervisor on the feature film House for Sale to be released in Odeon Theatres in 2009. He is a creative and highly skilled Director and leader whose extensive experience makes him an absolute joy to work with.

vfx director of photography James Dickson Jim Dickson is a veteran Hollywood commercial and VFX Director of Photography who worked on many TV shows and feature films during 10 years at Columbia Pictures. He has designed and built several circlevision mirror rigs (see Jim s rig above) which have been used in commercial shoots, several feature film productions ( Spiderman 2 & The Fast and the Furious ) and tested with several high definition video cameras. Jim was Director of Photography on three large format special venue shows for the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, the Past, Present and Future. These shows have become Search for the Obelisk which is still running every day in the Imax Ridefilm theatre at the Luxor Hotel. Jim Dickson s CircleVision film credits include 1999 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs (an award winner) and Top Secret a 360 motion base ride film running near Shanghai for Catalyst Productions. In 2007 Jim built a custom car mounted digital circlevision360 rig for a commercial shoot for Brazil TV. Jim recently worked on a four screen, edge blended background, that was rear projected on a sound stage for a show he produced for Sony. We are shooting the background material in 180 degrees, very wide at 60 degrees per screen and sixty degrees for the ceiling. I built the circlevision rig with four of the new Sony EX3 cameras. It was a wild, high tech kind of surrounding that will be re-filmed with actors and celebrities.

Q&A with Craig Farlinger, President Q. Can existing circlevision films be shown in Digital CircleVision360 theatres? Q. There were problems in the past with edge blending, how have they been solved? Q. With so few permanent theatres installed how can returns be calculated? A. Theoretically the answer is yes. However the only professionally produced circlevision360 shows currently running are at the Epcot Center in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. They are Portraits of Canada and Reflections of China both produced for Disney theme parks and probably unavailable for anyone else s use. Production costs for a first class circlevision360 show are high which is why the shows time out at less than twenty minutes. It is a goal of the CircleVision Group to build up a library of spectacular circlevision360 shots that could be re-used in a generic themed show like Wonders of the World. There would be huge production budget savings. The show could then be branded for each destination by simply adding a segment on the specific theatre s tourist area. A. Jim Dickson has worked on many large A. Conservatively estimating gross revenue screen, edge blended, digitally projected shows. from a new circlevision theatre located in a In 2001 an installation technician showed him high tourist traffic area or at a majour tour bus how to create perfect edge blends. It is a trade stop, is based on 50% capacity in the first year. secret and not all exhibition integrators know Building a circlevision theatre outside majour how to do it, but that doesn t stop them from tourist areas is not advisable. An optimally trying, thus all the bad edge blended shows located, one hundred person theatre with people have seen in the past. Recently digital showings every half hour, eight hours a day, six projectors have been engineered with the days a week and a ticket price of fifteen dollars ability to do edge blending electronically. Oddly (10 euros), would conservatively gross monthly enough this has compounded the number of revenue of $300,000 (200,000 euros). Niagara s problem installations because the projectors Fury in Niagara Falls, Canada is worth seeing do not project a perfect 100% black. When for any client considering putting in a Digital the blacks from two projectors overlap a grey CircleVision360 theatre and producing their own rectangle appears over the edge blended show. We were not involved in this project in region. This occurs whenever adjacent screens any way which was unfortunate for the client, are dark, an unacceptable limitation for most the Niagara Parks Commission, because the producers. Electronic edge blending should not integrator and production company made edge be used ever. QUESTIONS blending and other mistakes; cautionary for answers choosing the right production company.

MediaMind s Production Team ROBERT ENNIS, DIRECTOR BOB was Director of Photography (DOP) on the Danger Bay series (88 episodes), winner of the Gold Medal as Best Television Series in the Youth category at the International Film and TV Festival, New York. TV Series work included 21 Jump Street, Ritters Cove, Wiseguy, MacGyver and Beachcombers. Bob s Feature film credits include: Jumanji, Bird On A Wire, The Journey of Natty Gann, Clan of the Cave Bear and Home Is Where The Heart Is. Bob was DOP on the Disney CircleVision360 film Portraits of Canada, shot with 9 cameras and projected in a specially built theatre that surrounds the audience. JAMES DICKSON director OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jim is a Hollywood VFX Director of Photography who worked on many TV shows and feature films during 10 years at Columbia Pictures. He has designed and built several custom designed circlevision rigs including mirror rigs which he used in several feature film productions ( Spiderman 2 & The Fast and the Furious ) and commercial shoots. Jim was DOP on three large format special venue shows for the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, the Past, Present and Future. Jim Dickson s CircleVision film credits include 1999 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs (an award winner) and Top Secret a 360 motion base ride film running near Shanghai. CRAIG FARLINGER B.SC. PRODUCER Craig is a Television Producer who has worked closely with Bob Ennis for the last twentythree years on TV commercials, documentaries, corporate videos and travel programs shot throughout Canada and the western United States. Craig is a writer, director, editor and animation artist who manages MediaMind Digital s high definition video post-production and animation facilities. He has worked in television program development and has managed investor relations and media for oil and gas and other public companies for 17 years. He is currently producing a travel program on the Canadian Rockies. ANGUS WAKEFIELD VISUAL FX SUPERVISOR Angus is a 3D computer graphic artist, modeler and visual fx storyteller. He is a rising star in Hollywood North. Angus s most recent accomplishments and credits include: Lead Modeler, Max Steel 7, Direct to video; Senior Modeler and Character Technical Director, Ghostbusters the Video Game ; Senior Modeler, Max Steel 6: Biocrisis, Direct to video; VFX Artist, Destination Infestation, Direct to video; Lead Technical Director, Jibber Jabber ; Television series, season one; Winner of four Leo Awards in 2008 including Best Animation Series. Neil THOMPSON EDITOR/COLORIST Neil has worked with Craig Farlinger and Bob Ennis since 1985 when Craig hired him as an editor right after graduating from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design. Neil is an online editor and colour timer who has worked on numerous television series and one hour documentaries. In the last two years alone he has on-lined and colour timed over 110 hours of broadcast high definition video programming. The switchover to high definition video has made the role of colorist a critical function. Neil s experience with the Avid Symphony colour correcting tool set and artistic eye have been invaluable to MediaMind.