Ice Planet TV Series & Game Franchise Announces SFX First
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 10, 2006)
CANNES, France - In what is believed to be an industry first, SpaceWorks Entertainment Inc. (Canada), and Circles & Lines (Germany) have signed a deal with Toronto's Fast Motion Studios to work with CGI studio, Optix Digital Pictures (Toronto, Hamburg) to create the first live-action motion-capture/CGI creative partnership in television history.
The unique partnership will be used for the new HD project Ice Planet, a new sci-fi television series and video game enterprise, starring Michael Ironside.
Plato Fountidakis, CEO of Fast Motion Studios explained that motion capture technology is often married with CGI platforms for feature films, "But this is a first for live action television," he said. "We've seen it done successfully in animated TV series, but the cost and the time has been prohibitive for live action, until now."
The 22-epsiode, one-hour series will begin production November 17, this year and has devoted two studios to green screen setups to accommodate CGI shoots as well as motion capture photography and wire work.
"We have the luxury of a studio space large enough to accommodate this kind of dedicated setup," said Ice Planet Executive Producer and SpaceWorks CEO G. Philip Jackson. "Sophisticated, big-budget, feature film sequences can be shot and processed simultaneously as we shoot conventional scenes in our adjoining studios," added Executive Producer Hendrik Hey.
Fast Motion will be using the new VICON Motion Systems software, usually employed by console video game developers, for this ground-breaking application, Fountidakis said. Footage captured and rendered with this method will also be used by developers of the Ice Planet console game, slated for release at the conclusion of the series' first season.
Ice Planet is a Canada-Germany treaty co-production and a SpaceWorks Entertainment Inc. (a D'or, Jackson and Rapovski Company, Canada) and Circles & Lines GmbH (Germany) co-production. The executive producers are G. Philip Jackson, Daniel D'or and Paul Rapovski (Canada) and Frank Winnenbrock and Hendrik Hey (Germany). Produced in association with CHUM Television.
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About CHUM International:
CHUM International ( www.chumtv.com/international) is the development and distribution arm of CHUM Limited, one of Canada's leading media companies and content providers. CHUM International distributes CHUM-owned and independent multi-platform programming worldwide and develops international licensing arrangements for CHUM's original channel formats.
About SpaceWorks Entertainment:
SpaceWorks Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian creative studio with depth in international co-production and independent film and television financing. Since 1993, the creative team of Daniel D'or and G. Philip Jackson has been critically and commercially acclaimed for its diverse production and sales track record in television series and feature film production. Market-sensitive originality in content and style is at the core of the SpaceWorks approach. Under the D'or / Jackson leadership, the SpaceWorks team has produced more than 20 feature and series titles. In 2002 they were joined by partner Paul Rapovski, bringing further depth in production and greatly increased capacity in Pacific Rim markets to SpaceWorks.
About Fast Motion Studios:
Fast Motion Studios Inc., in association with Seneca College's Academy-Award-winning animation Arts Centre is a motion capture facility. The studio provides raw motion data for games, television, film, new media and kinetic research. Equipped with a 24-camera Vicon Motion System, Fast is able to capture in excess of 300 frames per second accommodating single or multi-person captures as well as hard and soft body props. Founded by Plato Fountidakis and Paul Rapovski.
About Silverbirch Studios:
Ice Planet's mobile game developer. Canada's only publicly-traded mobile game developer, Silverbirch Studios was founded by Kevin Birch, who currently serves as its president. After releasing the hugely successful Warner Brothers movie-to-game Constantine, the team at Silverbirch has just completed production on the much-anticipated Superman mobile game.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Mark Terry
VP, Production, SpaceWorks Entertainment Inc.
Associate Producer and Brand Manager, Ice Planet
Studio: 416-265-2145
Office: 416-465-5855 ext. 223
Email: mark@spaceworks.tv