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Home , Evan Almighty, Tom Shadyac

case study | film usa | americas

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Editing of Biblical Proportions Made Simple with Lightworks Telling the story of a modern day ’s Ark is no easy task, however, adding some Lightworks zest makes creating a boatload of animals and massive flooding seem a lot less cumbersome.

Evan Almighty tells the story of however, ’s budget relocated to Universal Studios Buffalo, NY newsman, Evan Baxter called for a heftier production for green-screen and blue-screen (played by ) who is effort than its antecedent; one shots, mostly with live animals, elected to Congress to “Change that necessitated massive flooding Hill edited at the studio lot on the World.” When duty calls and and hundreds of live and CGI a network of five Lightworks Evan must sponsor a bill to allow animal species. “Filming all of the Alacrity systems sharing off the development in national parks, animals was tough – there were a same RAID; all Fibre Channel SAN God appears and instead, prompts lot of them. We shot close to two with Essential Server Support. Evan to construct an ark. As wood, hundred pairs live and 300 more Academy Award®-winning visual tools and pairs of animals continue were CGI,” said Hill. effects company Rhythm & Hues to surface on Evan’s property, his Filmed on location in (R&H) worked on creating the CGI focus shifts to building the ark to Charlottesville, over a 3 animal effects, with help from “Change the World,” and his new to 4 month period, and also at C.I.S. Hollywood and CafeFX; “calling” becomes quite clear to Universal Studios in Los Angeles, and Noah’s Ark would not be everyone surrounding him. California, Hill worked with three complete without modern day Editor Scott Hill has worked on a assistants and a flood imagery, which was handled variety of feature-length comedies, editor. He brought four Lightworks by Academy Award-winning visual including Evan Almighty’s Alacrity systems with him to the effects company, Industrial Light predecessor, – Virginia shoot. When production and Magic (ILM). case study | film usa | americas

Harnessing the Floodgates with Lightworks Alacrity Lightworks Alacrity systems are Filming all of the animals was tough – there were a powerfully integrated with Geevs lot of them. We shot close to two hundred pairs live Video servers for flawless multi- and 300 more were CGI. camera ingest, perfect for on-the- Scott Hil, Editor fly creation. Due to the complexity of the scenes with live and CGI bear and a giraffe, and I wanted video. Lightworks immediately animals, Hill found himself locking to remove the giraffe, Lightworks tells me if any parts of the 16 tracks up some four or five cameras at let me go in and customise that have been thrown out of sync, and a time. The Alacrity provided him specific plate. I didn’t have to once I tell it where to fix synch, with a truly fast camera-to-edit re-render the shot and it didn’t it will automatically correct the solution. compromise image quality – I tracks for me. It’s such a brilliant “Lightworks is such a reliable could immediately playback the feature that saved us hours in system. It’s never an issue going footage with the changes Tom post-production, and everyone through footage – and one of my asked for,” Hill said. loved it.” favorite features is its ability to Although some sound and VFX backup your work transparently editors working on Evan Almighty Everlasting Light in the background. When I went were not accustomed to utilising “Of all the machines I’ve worked over dailies with [director] Tom Lightworks, the simplicity and with, Lightworks is definitely the Shadyac, I never had to wait for ease of use of the Alacrity fostered most stable – in all the years I have the machine to backup. This is immaculate results. Its exceptional been editing with Lightworks, my issue with other systems… export qualities allowed Hill to which dates back to ’93, I really it’s frustrating when you have an flawlessly exchange files with have never lost an edit,” explained idea fresh in your mind and you R&H and ILM visual effects artists Hill. “It is also the fastest system I have to wait until it’s done backing using a DI, and sound and music have encountered in my career – it up - you lose your train of thought. editors applauded the Alacrity’s saves huge amounts of time in Lightworks never interrupts my outstanding audio features. “We post-production. It takes twice as workflow.” used OMF files, which worked many keystrokes with any other Compositing animal footage shot smoothly with our sound editors.” system – it’s much more simplified on green-screen and blue-screen Hill also highlighted Lightworks’ in how you edit, which in turn, also proved an easier feat with faultless ability of synching audio produces quicker and more precise Lightworks. “I didn’t have to render tracks. “Once I’ve done preview results.” like did on other systems. A lot of screens, I take sound that I’ve green and blue screen composite recorded on the mixing stage and “Editing on Lightworks is a dream... shots, where I had multiple layers, allocate it back into Lightworks. By it just flows better,” he comments were all in real-time. When I had mid-movie, I’m running 16 tracks (no pun intended). footage that contained a lion, a of audio with multiple layers of

Lightworks is such a reliable system. It’s never an issue going through footage – and one of my favorite features is its ability to backup your work transparently in the background. When I went over dailies with [director] , I never had to wait for the machine to backup. This is my issue with other systems…it’s frustrating when you have an idea fresh in your mind and you have to wait until it’s done backing up - you lose your train of thought. Lightworks never interrupts my workflow.

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