HOLLYWOOD — Seven-year-old Identity FX, which originally established itself by supplying 2D VFX for films like
Transformers and
Hancock, has been dipping its feet in the 3D stereo conversion waters over the past two years. Recently they dove in head first with the purchase of a Mistika system from Spanish company SGO.
“We needed to loop in finishing of 3D stereo, and the Mistika system does that,” explains David Scott Van Woert, producer/co-founder of Identity FX. “It provides everything, from ingest to finishing, so now we can offer full creative services. It also allows us to access short-form work, such as spots and trailers, which we haven’t pursued in the past.”
The system is already reaping rewards. Currently Identity FX is working on a major commercial spot being shot on Red Epic in 5K (which they can’t talk about at the moment), and well as a feature film coming in for color work (another project they can’t mention by name).
How important was the purchase of this new system to Identity’s business model? “Mistika platform is lynchpin to our pipeline,” explains Van Woert, who will continue offering 2D to 3D conversion services via Foundry’s Nuke and Imagineer’s Mocha Pro in addition to on-set stereo services, including stereo dailies, realtime stereo previs, and on-set compositing, while continuing to offer VFX and stereo supervision.
Identity FX has provided stereo 3D conversion on such films as Narnia — The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Green Lantern and
Conan the Barbarian. They also provided native stereo services for
U23D and
Aliens of the Deep.