Noise Toys - UK
Myron Nettinga Chooses VCUBE HD For Miley Cyrus Dub
VCube HD's Flexibility, Quality & Compatibility Wins The Day On 'Hannah Montana'
Hollywood, California, May 2009: VCube HD, Merging Technologies' computer-based high-definition video playback system, was recently used to complete dubbing work on teen sensation Miley Cyrus' first full-length feature film, 'Hannah Montana — The Movie'. Audio post-production took place at respected dubbing facility 424 Inc, based high in the Hollywood hills, under the watchful eyes of re-recording mix engineer Myron Nettinga, joint winner of the 2002 Oscar for Best Cinema Sound on 'Black Hawk Down', with the HD signal from the VCube being projected onto a 20x40-foot screen by 424 Inc's Barco DP-90. As the VCube HD was set to auto-boot each day with the last-used sequence pre-loaded, and because Nettinga was controlling its operation via a Euphonix System 5 control surface, using the Euphonix-authored open control protocol EuCon, the operation of the VCube HD was fully integrated into the sound stage's workflow — the VCube's built-in controls scarcely saw any use at all, beyond the power button being pressed first thing in the morning to start it up and then again to shut it down at night.
"The flexibility of the system, combined with the image quality and amount of detail in the HD picture, was very inspiring to the creative process, both for the mixers and the director," comments Nettinga. He was also impressed by its compatibility with a wide range of video formats and codecs. As work on the picture progressed and effects or title sequences were completed, Nettinga was able to update individual sequences in the version of the film stored in the VCube HD using files in a variety of video formats sent to him over email or FTP, without having to recapture entire reels at a time.
Several other VCube features proved to be a great help to Nettinga, and a considerable improvement over those of linear video playback systems. "We kept a reel-by-reel version of the movie on one track in the VCube and an assembled long-play version on an other. That way, we could switch over to the long-play version with a single click, to check change overs or just to assess the flow from one reel to the next. And in the long-play version, we could reset the footage-counters at the head of each reel, so that the timecode references made by the director or producer at a screening would continue to be accurate when working on a specific reel." Even the tedious work of adding 'X' marks to rushes 10 frames before a cut point was made easier by doing it in VCube's character generator, rather than employing traditional grease pencil marks on the film itself. "You can turn the Xs off in the VCube, too" laughs Nettinga. "You can't do that with grease pencil marks!"
In short, Myron Nettinga's experience of the VCube HD on 'Hannah Montana' was a very positive one. "The VCube HD's flexibility, combined with the integration and control offered by the System 5 through EuCon, makes it the most flexible and reliable solution currently on the market," he concludes.
'Hannah Montana — The Movie' is on general release in the USA now, and is due to hit the UK and Europe in May and June 2009.
Myron Nettinga at 424 Inc during work on 'Hannah Montana — The Movie' with the output from the VCube HD behind him.