Press Release

For immediate release - October 2006, London, UK.

BARAKA CREATES COOL EFFECTS FOR MCFLY POP PROMO “STAR GIRL”

Baraka Post Production is just completing an incredible music video for McFly titled “Star Girl” directed by Ulf Buddensick and Produced by Kwok Yau, both from Draw Pictures for Universal Island Records.

The tongue in cheek video conveys the McFly band members Danny, Dougie, Harry and Tom performing live at a gig. In parallel, footage is shown of them at home filming themselves working on a crazy and fun-filled project building a rocket and undertaking comical endurance tests to be astronauts so that they can get to the moon. The two contrasting sets of footage are intermittent as we get to see both sides of the band, which adds humour and an entertaining story line to merely just watching a performance.

Eliot Milbourn, gifted compositor and special effects grading artist at Baraka had two types of footage to work with throughout the project. The footage portraying the band’s performances was graded beautifully smooth, clean, unblemished and stylish, which deliberately contrasted heavily with the rough, grainy, jumpy footage of the guys trying to build their rocket at home.

Eliot added a burnt-in clock effect onto the home video footage, which was in keeping with its VHS quality and had an organic feel to it. Eliot made the footage look like VHS quality by treating it in Mistika as originally it looked normal. We see the guys from McFly try various comical stunts that go wrong from exercising, preparation, even potty training for space and learning to drink water in zero gravity. Various tests take place including the G-Force test and the re-entry test where Eliot drew a rope into the scene using Mistika. In one of the scenes testing re-entry from space to earth, one of the band members, soon to be astronaut, lands flat on the floor ungracefully after jumping off a garage roof, it is evident that the rope was too long and why he hit the floor. In reality, the band member was replaced by stunt artists who fell from the roof onto boxes and cushioning which Eliot removed from the scene, therefore making it appear as if the man had in fact fallen straight onto the cemented patio below. Finally, we see the dramatic and amusing Rocket Launch skit where Eliot added smoke effects, fire elements and sparks to give it credibility as the rocket blasted off into the stars! Eliot added many other subtle effects including electricity pulses into the promo to add to its look and feel. The conform, grade and all effects were done in Mistika.

“Star Girl” will be released on 23 October 2006. See http://www.mcflyofficial.com/home/ to catch a glimpse of the footage and the latest news about McFly.

Credits
Producer: Kwok Yau
Production Company: Draw Pictures
Director: Ulf Buddensick
Post production company: Baraka Post Production
Compositors and Colour Grading artists: Eliot Milbourn, Online Editor at Baraka
 

About Baraka

Baraka provides postproduction services to the motion picture industry. Established in 1996 by senior compositors David Cox and Chris Gilbert, Baraka specialises in finishing, special effects and design in all areas of production including commercials, feature films, TV-station branding, music videos, corporate presentations, TV-programmes and “virals”. Baraka partners its clients, on a project-basis from script-to-delivery using the very latest technology to create the most visually engaging images on time and within budget. Baraka has four specific areas of operation, which include editing, finishing, special effects and graphics. Dubbing and deliverables, such as DVD authoring and web approvals, support these activities. CHOP is Baraka’s dedicated editing division focussing on the skill of cutting using Avid Adrenalines connected to Avid’s Unity LAN.

Baraka’s finishing and compositing suites uphold the company at the forefront of technology. Its Mistika suites, running on Linux, are all SD, HD, 2K, 4K capable and include timeline-based online editing, infinite layers of compositing and feature film quality colour grading. No other postproduction system includes so much in a single suite, and this makes Baraka’s finishing and effects suites unmatched for speed and efficiency. Mistika is the most powerful postproduction-finishing tool available.

This year marks Baraka’s tenth year celebrating the company’s success and achievements.
www.baraka.co.uk & www.chopsoho.com

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