OFFSPRING (TV Series)

From the same team that brought the excellent 'Love my way' to screens a few years back, Offspring's kooky mix of comedy and drama features a huge amount of surreal moments and unexpected shifts in reality for it's main character, Nina (Asher Keddie). We have been flat-out producing visual effects for the entire series, covering a huge range of techniques, applications and stylistic approaches. Each episode brings some weird and wonderful requests which are a lot of fun to put together.

Like Southern Star's RUSH, we are providing VFX supervision and production for the scripted effects, but also play an important role in reducing day-to-day costs, safety and logistical issues for other departments by providing costs effective post solutions to traditionally practical problems.

Offspring is airing on TEN as we speak - Check it out!

UNDERBELLY: FILES (Telemovie)

The runaway success of the Underbelly series has recently spawned a new series of telemovie spin-offs coming to screens later this year. The Screentime produced project will continue the tradition of gritty underworld crime drama - based on real events, but with shooting moved back to Melbourne as with the first series.

Having designed the original branding and titles for the first 3 seasons, Chroma are returning to create the titles and broadcast packaging for the three 'Files' movies. Although still in the Underbelly style, the new titles will present a more stylish direction, with a more mature edge to its visuals.

As with previous series, we are also creating several VFX sequences for 'Files' including aircraft, set extention and stunt work for the three movies. 'Files' is currently in production, look out for it on the Nine Network later this year!

CLOUDSTREET (Mini Series)

Matthew Saville's TV adaption of the classic Tim Winston novel 'Cloudstreet' is currently in production and we have been commissioned to produce the visual effects for the 6 hour mini series. Due to the novels high use of surrealistic sequences and period settings, Cloudstreet's effects fall between highly-stylised dreamy visuals and ultra-real CG work, transforming the west Australian locations into believable 1940's incarnations.

Rushes look amazing and we have already begun on asset creation and previs for the many effects throughout the series, including an aircraft sequence featuring a beautifully recreated CG model of the 'Catalina' Flying boat, a steam train and more to follow in the coming weeks.

Cloudstreet will be coming to Showtime later this year!

UPDATE: We got nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 2011 AFI Awards!

WILD LIFE (TV Series)

We just finished production on the opening titles for December films latest production, Wild Life.

This realty-based series follows the daily lives of Chris Humfrey and his family who live in a chaotic private zoo in rural Victoria. The purpose shot titles feature an 'animal diary' filled with animals literally coming off the page. Branding and various other on-air graphics were also created for the show.

Wild Life is due to air on ABC (and ITV in the UK) later in the year.

'LOVE THE FALL' (Music Video)

We just finished post production on the new Michael Paynter/Veronicas clip 'Love the Fall' for Sony.

Shot in LA on the RED ONE, the clip follows Michael's pursuit of the girls through a storybook-style forest. Aside from taking on the 2k edit and grading, we also produced several high-end VFX shots of the 'living dress' that one of the girls wears. The brief called for a high-end look but with a dirty finish, requiring advanced skin smoothing, grading and film treatments.

Check out the clip HERE!

RUSH S3 (TV Series)

Southern Star's hit police drama returns for a third series in 2010. With some new faces, new stories and even more action, the Rush formula continues to excite with several high action stunt sequences and effects already in production.

Rush is continuing its tradition of utilising high-end CG animation and VFX techniques to add a whole new dimension to Australian drama, something usually only reserved for feature films with massive budgets. As with series 1 & 2, we will be producing all of the shows visual effects and working closely with the stunt and camera departments to create some truly breath-taking sequences. Series three will also be accompanied by an exhaustive 'Behind the scenes' site where we will be covering some of the bigger shots produced for the series.

The current promo for the show features a few shots from the 'airliner' sequence we just produced, check it out here!

BED OF ROSES RETURNS IN 2010 (TV Series)

ABC favourite, Bed of Roses returns for a third series this year!

And we are back too, with a revision to our opening original titles and some VFX throughout the series. Can't say what we are doing yet (spoilers!), but its pretty epic - more news as we get it.

Bed of Roses S3 can be found on ABC later this year.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW TITLE IN HD

WORLD EXPO 2010, SHANGHAI OPENS (Visuals)

After two years of production, the Australian pavilion at World Expo in Shanghai is now complete, opening to the public on the 1st of May.

Designed and produced by ThinkOTS!, the pavilion is a massive purpose built venue that dominates the Shanghai site. It has already enjoyed a lot of media attention, placed in the top 5 pavilions to visit and even received an early visit from China's President. Chroma were commissioned by ThinkOTS! to provide the overall broadcast design and create all of the animation for the projection content, producing both the 'ANZ Theatre' and 'Sisters' exhibits.

The 'ANZ Theatre' is the centrepiece exhibit of the whole pavilion experience, comprising of a massive rotating screen system situated in the centre of a 1,000 person ampitheatre. On the outside, it employs a 6k 1:1 tracked projection surface presenting the main show - on the inside, 3 huge LED arrays create animated backgrounds for the set pieces.

Using 7 Christie projectors and 3 LED arrays, the 10 minute show presents three animated children as they discuss the concept of the Expo's over-arching theme, "Better city, Better life". As the screens rotate around large practical sculptures (that change as the show progresses via a lift system), as the viewpoint of the animation changes to match the angle of each viewer's position in the room. This involved a long and complex process of prototyping and testing the optical effect created by the rotating, bi-secting canvas.

Between these animated character sections, the screen system reconfigures where it presents other animated sections and image sequences filmed exclusively for the show in 8K anamorphic on RED cameras. This footage was graded in-house to create some of the most stunning and high resolution pictures ever shot in Australia.

We also designed the content for the 'Happy Tubes' lighting system. This massive circular array of over 300 LED video tubes presents animated graphics with the appearance of a lighting rig, synchronised with the central show. This works in tandem with Phil Lethlean's main lighting design of the hero sculptures and the various video and animated content.

Our 'kids' (Blue, Tom and Kate) create the narrative for the whole show, appearing in three different sections covering various aspects of the 'Better City, Better Life' theme. The animation presented a huge challenge as not only are three separate characters performing and talking (in Mandarin no less!) in 360 degrees, but are also visible from all angles at all times with lots of interaction between the characters, props and environments.

The character designs, CG modelling and lighting were created by Harsh Borah (HarshCG) with Robert Dowling (PixelPickel) taking on the rigging and animation of the three characters for the whole show. All of the 'kids' sections were created in Maya.

'Sisters' is an hour-long, super resolution projection show presented on a large curved 'wave' screen, set into the entry ramp of the pavilion. Fed by four rear-projectors, the show features the success stories of 20 Australian and Chinese women making their mark in business, environment, finance, politics and culture. The entire program was shot in 2k on RED and sliced into 20 separate 'diamond' screens that join to form a lush, super screen show. The animation and broadcast design for Sisters was created by Stuart Elith at Chroma. The program was so well received that a shorter, 'sizzle' version was produced soon after for events and special visitors.

Both exhibits projection tracking and media delivery was handled by Florian Mosleh from Coolux. The ANZ Theatre in particular was a huge challenge, requiring complex 3D tracking and warping of the rotating, vertically travelling 'pillar' screens. The content was produced at a native 6k resolution with the projection mapping done in real time.

The project was an immense creative and technical challenge, involving the balancing of many technical and creative elements. It was delivered on time and budget, surpassing our clients expectations and receiving glowing reviews from visitors.

Shanghai 2010 is the largest World Expo in history, expecting to attract over 8 million visitors during the year.

It's an honour representing our country once again (Japan 2005) and working with the ThinkOTS! crew on such a massive project. The Expo event continues until the end of the year.

UPDATE: Well, that was quick! Expo 2010 is now closed and we are pleased to announce that the Australian pavilion placed in the top 5 overall with a 95% satisfaction rating from over 8 million visitors - bested only by China own pavillion! It was Australia's biggest presence at any Expo to date and also the most successful.

UPDATE: Won 2011 AVIA Award for Best install over $1M and Best Audio Visual Production

TANGLE S2 (TV Series)

Tangle was a huge hit for Southern Star last year and it's now returning for a second series in 2010. We produced several VFX and stunt shots for the first series and we're back again for series two, with several shots already underway.

Tangle returns to screens this year.

UPDATE: Won 2010 AFI for Best Television Drama Series, 2010 Logie for Most Outstanding Drama Series and ASTRA for Most Outstanding Drama

CES 2010 LAS VEGAS (Visuals)

The new year saw us heading over to Las Vegas for the 2010 CES to produce a presentation for US chip giant, Qualcomm.

Working with Think!OTS and a great local team of animators and crew, we produced an hour-long animated presentation that combined 4k motion graphics, 3D and real-time elements to create a pretty cool looking keynote. The whole project was produced on site over four days and the result was thrown up onto 3 huge screens (4K over 5 projectors) via a Coolux system operated by Florian Mosleh. The result was a big hit with the client, including producer Pete! Ford going on to write their 'My Generation' SuperBowl spot this year.

DEAD GORGEOUS (TV Series)

Produced by Burberry Entertainment on behalf of both the ABC and the BBC, Dead Gorgeous is a beautifully produced tale of three sisters from the 1800's who return to the modern-day land of the living.

We have been commissioned to produce the opening titles for the show. This takes the shape of a 'pop-up book' style journey through the girls old house, which has now become a bustling school campus. 

To give the titles a unique look we used a technique called 'photogrammetry', a process where many high-resolution photos are taken of the physical locations and then the resulting images are cut, warped and arranged together in such a way that they can form a 3D 'set' that can be navigated through. Alternate versions of the title were produced for each block in the series. 

Dead Gorgeous is set to air early in 2010 on ABC, BBC and Nickelodeon.

Check out the titles here

UNDERBELLY 'THE GOLDEN MILE' (MiniSeries)

Underbelly returns to screens early next year with the third saga in the series, titled 'The Golden Mile'

This time the corruption of NSW police in 1980's Kings Cross is the focus for the series, along with all the drugs, sex and violence that came with it. 

We are also back to produce the opening titles, again presented in the classic UB style and including design of the new 'Golden Mile' sub-branding to go with our original Underbelly logo. A set of bumpers and other broadcast elements were also produced.

The titles for the epic drama have become quite unique in that they are structurally the same across all series and feature the same music, but with a distinctive shift in the time period, image styling and colour ways.

'TRAPPED!' OPENS AT SOVEREIGN HILL(Visuals)

Top exhibition designers, Think!OTS have just completed a new addition to the Sovereign Hill history park, called 'Trapped!'.

Visitors exit from an underground railway and are lead through a perfect recreation of an 1880's era mine, moments before it begins to flood. The audience learns the story of this historical tragedy first hand, experiencing what it must have been like to be trapped in the doomed mine. A range of techniques are used to tell the story, ending in a large pepper's ghost effect where the township seems to appear in the depths of a moon pool, while above, the 'faces' projections tell the story of the friends and family of the miners trapped below.

We produced the projection content for the exhibition which included the hologram-style 'faces', created to conform to 3D shapes hidden in the darkness of the exhibit, with the illusion of floating in space.

UPDATE: Awarded 2011 AVIA Special commendation for 'Trapped!'

BED OF ROSES BACK IN 2009 (TV Series)

Bed of Roses debuted last year on ABC and steadily built up a loyal following amongst viewers.

Series 2 is now nearing completion and we have been brought back to provide some visual effect services to the show with post facility, Blue Post. Alongside the usual rig removals and technical work we also produced several shots of an animated CG lizard for one of the episodes.

Our opening titles from series 1 remain with updates for this seasons cast.

RUSH RETURNS FOR SECOND SERIES (TV Series)

After a well received first series, Rush is set for an action packed return in 2009.

Chroma are also returning to provide more of the visual effects work that helped to propel the show's ratings last year. During the first series, we produced a diverse range of VFX for Rush including CG helicopters and set pieces, digimattes, CG weapons fire and bullet hits, along with complex retouching, rig removal and stunt sequence work.

Rush looks set to go even bigger this year - Stay tuned.

TRIPLE ZERO HEROES (TV Series)

Triple Zero Heroes is Fremantle's new emergency services program due on Seven this year.

The show re-enacts real life emergencies and talks to the people involved as they reflect on the actual 000 call recordings.

Chroma are producing the opening titles and graphics package for the show. We are also providing post production visual effects to re-create the many accident scenes and moments of peril featured during the dramatic re-enactments.

The show is currently in production and is due to air on Seven in Q1/09.

BOGAN PRIDE (MiniSeries)

A six-part series on SBS, Bogan Pride is a thoroughly suburban Aussie comedy.

We produced several VFX shots for the series including a scene where Rebel's hair catches on fire during a school concert. We also carried out some very tricky abberation removal, where lens reflections in one scene were dancing around the actors faces.

Bogan Pride aired in Q4/2008 on SBS.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT GUY (TV Series)

Veteran comedian, Peter Moon is returning to screens this year as.... Peter Moon.

Produced by Ruby Entertainment and presented in the style of 'Curb your enthusiasm', the show follows the daily grind of leveraging past fame and milking it for all it's worth. Featuring some great cameos and snappy writing from Brendan Luno, "WHTTG" is due to hit screens in the next few months.

We produced some exterior effects for the show and various bits including an image of a dog as it goes through an airport xray machine. Weird. 

THE LIBRARIANS (TV Series)

The Librarians returns to ABC this year and we have just produced a couple of CG shots for the first episode. CG flames and other elements were added to various exterior shots of the 'Series 1' library creating a very realistic inferno that follows an arson attack on the building.

The Librarians can be found Wednesday nights on ABC.

CHROMA@WORLD EXPO 2010 (Visuals)

Back in 2005 we were involved in creating the 'DataForest', a 12-minute, 80-screen, totemic video installation for the Australian Pavillion at the World Expo in Japan. 

We are pleased to announce that we are again commissioned, by ThinkOTS Worldwide to produce another cutting-edge installation at next year's World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. I've been engaged as senior creative director alongside Pete Ford, Dave White and Alistar Flemming, tasked with designing and producing the content for 'Act2' - a massive, moving video installation in a 360˚ theatre.

Check out some early glimpses of the building and regular updates on Expo2010 HERE.

TANGLE (TV Series)

Hot on the heels of Rush's second series comes Southern Star's next big drama production, Tangle.

Staring Ben Mendelsohn, Justine Clark and Kat Stewart, the ten-part drama presents modern parents and teenagers struggling with the morals of living in the 21st Century and with each other. The series also has long-time Chroma patron, Matthew Saville directing. We have been producing several VFX shots for the show mainly focused on complex stunt rig removal and technical corrections.

Tangle is set to hit Australian screens in the coming months on Showtime.

NEWSTOPIA SERIES THREE (TV Series)

Each series of NEWStopia gets better with what is now one of the best comedy teams in recent years. We returned to again provide visual effects and graphics support for the third season which aired late last year.

The crowning achievement, however, must be the final show of the series which took the form of a full-length INSPEKTOR HERRING episode. All of the NEWStopia cast are there and are easy to watch as always, but it's Nicolas Bell that really shines as Comrade Beluga. The entire 'film' was shot and produced in only 1 week and involved us producing over 20 VFX shots and performing grading duties to give it a strong eastern-european feel.

One of the best things about the show is the ability to hear the viewers feedback and encouragement on the NEWStopia website as the series is airing. When your slaving away in the dark recesses of post production, it's great to see comments on a shot or sequence only a few hours after broadcast.

If you missed it, you can still watch the final episode here.

Jahasra and goodnight!

UNDERBELLY 2 (Miniseries)

Controversial gangster saga, Underbelly returns to Australian (and hopefully Melbourne) screens in early 2009 as 'A Tale of Two Cities'.

This prequel of sorts is set in the late-70's/early-80's and we've just completed the new HD opening titles for the series.

As the network wanted to pretty much keep the titles the same as the first series, so we ended up creating a 'retro' version of the our original sequence. The structure, edit and overall style is practically the same, due to the music also being brought over from the first title too, but with a more 'super-8' treatment to the imagery. The Underbelly branding we developed for series 1 has also been carried over.

The show is scheduled to air in early 2009 on Nine.

STUART JOINS THE TEAM

Chroma welcomes Stuart Elith to the team. Stuart will be working primarily with animation and VFX for our broadcast clients and has already produced work for NEWStopia S3 and Snake Tales. You can contact Stuart at the office or at: stuart@chromamedia.com

DIRT GAME (MiniSeries)

ABC's new mini-series, Dirt Game, is well into shooting and we've been engaged to produce the opening titles in addition to providing visual effects supervision and production.

The series is set in several stark rural locations around the world (although shot entirely in Victoria) and a large part of our work is involved in the creation of large-scale establishing shots. These involved working with director Brendan Mayer (Spooks) and DOP Lelani Hannah (The King) on location during acquisition to achieve the shots of the partial set that we would augment later. The scenes are scripted at night so footage was shot at dusk to give us some image to work with, whilst still preserving light-sources from vehicle headlights and buildings. Texture photography was taken of the location set-pieces and the buildings and props were constructed in Maya and tracked into the shot to create a sprawling community. Several day and night variations were produced.

Other shots include a composited sequence using fluid simulation to create turbulent water, several digi-mattes and some advanced colour correction and digital removal.