LOS
ANGELES, CA --(May 8, 2000)-- From the creators of the hit thriller
Breakdown comes Universal Pictures' U-571, a white-knuckle World War
II suspense drama about an American submarine crew's battle against
time-and their own fears-while carrying out a daring mission to capture
a top-secret encrypting device from a Nazi U-boat. The stellar cast
for U-571 includes Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey
Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi. A Dino and Martha De Laurentiis
production, the film was co-written and directed by Jonathan Mostow.
"Cinesite's challenge was to help create a believable underwater
environment using the model submarines that Peter Donen, the
film's Visual Effects Supervisor, shot in a tank in Malta," says
Cinesite Visual Effects Supervisor Thomas Smith.
To create dramatically realistic shots and accurately produce the illusion
that a sub was traveling from the deepest depths of the ocean to just
below the surface, Cinesite used a series of techniques that integrated
Donen's shots of miniature submarines into the movie by creating graduated
ocean depth.
"We helped tell the story by color correcting numerous shots to create
different depth levels," explains Smith. "Peter established that
there were four different depths, from close to the surface to 160-feet
deep, so our color palette went from light green to a deeper, darker
blue at the bottom setting. On one shot, Cinesite's creative director
Lubo Hristov created a matte painting of a damaged sub that our composite
supervisor Mark Lewis tracked onto an existing model."
Compositor Lewis also came up with creative techniques for replacing
wires and rigs using Cinesite's proprietary software MoovTracker, in
conjunction with Elastic Reality and Cineon. Cinesite also added 3-D
propellers to one shot where the story called for the submarine to start-up
and turn right.
"We had to replace the existing propellers and add the new ones in,"
says Smith. "All in all it was a great collaborative process,' says
Smith. "We helped Peter polish off his already fine underwater photography
of the miniatures."
Using its award-winning Kodak Lightning technology, Cinesite also provided
all of the digital film scanning and recording services for the visual
effects work done by various other facilities in order to maintain a
consistent look.
Ruth Scovill, Cinesite's newly appointed president and COO adds,
"U571 is an excellent example of the great 2D work Cinesite is known
for. From this solid base, we will continue to provide this service
to the industry as well as expanding further into new 3D and animation
challenges."
Cinesite is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Company, and
part of the Entertainment Imaging Division. For additional information
visit the Cinesite website at www.cinesite.com
- U-571 Genre: Suspense drama
- Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, David Keith, Jake Weber
- Director: Jonathan Mostow
- Writers: Jonathan Mostow, Sam Montgomery, David Ayer
- Produced by: Dino and Martha De Laurentiis
- Exec. Producer: Hal Lieberman
- Release Date: April 21, 2000
To see the movie trailer, visit the U-571 website