DISCOVERY BRINGS CARS OF THE FUTURE INTO VIEW, LEVERAGES NEW WORLD HD WITH SERIOUS ROBOTS

FutureCar to Air in Four-Part Series

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 13, 2007) – When Discovery Channel and CBS producers decided it was time for a show on futuristic cars, the networks tapped Serious Robots – one of the Southeast’s top post production companies – to finish the four-part series in HD.

“The series takes viewers to the year 2030 to give them a glimpse of automobile designs and technologies we can expect to see in the future,” said Serious Robots’ editor Scott Roy. “Given the subject matter of FutureCar, the network understandably wanted to give the show a visual edge that celebrated the car engineers and their stunning design concepts. Because of this, the network was intent on shooting and finishing with leading HD technology.”

CBS Eye Too Productions, the creators of FutureCar, split the series into four distinct episodes.  The first, “The Extremes” explores what is possible – where imagination rules and cars fly. Part two, “The Body,” considers why and how the cars of the future will take their shape. The third episode, “The Fuel,” investigates the many propulsion possibilities that will be used to overcome environmental and energy concerns. “The Brain” is the fourth and final episode, which dives into the core of tomorrow's automobile – its incredible power to think and to communicate.

CBS Eye Too Productions and Discovery Channel invited Serious Robots to collaborate on the FutureCar series in the early stages of development.

“Getting involved from day one really helped us to understand the creative vision and logistical scope of the series,” said Serious Robots’ Roy. “We were eager to tailor a specific offline-to-online HD work path that accommodated a battery of up- and down-converts and SD and HD deliverables, as well as make a collective effort to meet a challenging schedule. Since the offlines were being done in New York by CBS Eye Too, we wanted to find ways to get our camps integrated with one another and to ensure that the HD online would go smoothly.”

According to Roy, the editorial workflow was seamless. “We made sure the projects being offlined in SD on Avid Media Composers were done so at 23.976 to ensure online conforms were accurate for the required 1920x1080 23.98PsF HD deliverables,” Roy said. “Avid has made it very easy to migrate projects from SD to HD. We used Avid Project files directly from CBS, converted them through Avid MediaLog, and conformed them on our Avid DS Nitris.”

Once each episode was conformed, Roy led the Serious Robots team in providing all the color correction, composites, design and graphics to finish the series.

“There was a great deal of work to be done in a short amount of time,” said Rob Cohen, executive producer with CBS. “Thankfully, we teamed up with the right artists who not only brought our episodes to the finish line on time, but allowed us to realize our overall vision of the show by offering creative input and crafting a style palette for our footage.”

The FutureCar series, combined with dramatically increasing market demand for HD finishing, prompted Serious Robots to invest in the Sony SRW-5500 HDCam SR deck, according to Roy. The mastering HD VTR enabled the post house to perform format conversions, up- and down- converts and universal mastering for the entire program.

“So many of our clients are now working in HD for spots and network television, so the addition of this HD deck and format made everyday sense for us,” Roy said. “For most productions, committing to an HD format can be a nagging concern. The 5500 was really solid for us on FutureCar, and we were glad to commit all our work to a pristine yet rugged SR format. We’re hoping people will get into the story and look of the show,” he added.

FutureCar premiered in SD on Discovery Channel during February. It will air in HD in April on DiscoveryHD Theater. For more information, visit http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/future-car/future-car.html.

Serious Robots, one of the Southeast’s top post production companies provides a comprehensive set of HD services including editorial, animation, finishing and workflow consultation for long form and agency clients.  The company has recently completed projects for Fine Living, DiscoveryHD, National Geographic, Sony, Xyience, Rubbermaid and Travelocity. For more information, call 919-645-6650 or visit www.seriousrobots.com.

Watch the FutureCar teaser

Credits

Network:                             Discovery Channel

Executive Producers:       Rob Cohen
                                             Hal Gessner

Senior Producer:              Matt Bennett                     

Production Company:     CBS Eye Too Productions

Associate Producers:      Dena Goldstein
                                             Josh Ravitz

Post Production:               Serious Robots

Online Editors:                  Scott Roy
                                             Joe Wilson

Producer:                           Susan Lacney

Assistant Editors:            Dave Hogan
                                            Clifton Armstrong