Koning van Katoren (To Be King)

Posted in News in May 2012

The shooting period of 'Koning van Katoren' (To Be King), the screen adaptation of a book by Jan Terlouw, has begun. The director Ben Sombogaart (De Storm, Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek and De Tweeling) and lead actors Mingus Dagelet and Abbey Hoes have traveled to Italy to take part in the shoot. The film tells the story of 17 year old Stach (Dagelet) who has to fulfill difficult quests to become the king of the fictional country of Katoren. He is being assisted by Kim (Hoes). HecticElectric has been brought on board to provide lots of various visual effects sequences for the feature. The grading of the feature will be done at Hectic as well. The movie opens in theaters on December 5th 2012.

ADCN 2012

Posted in News in April 2012

On the 26th of April the Art Directors Club Nederland has announced the nominees of the prestigious ADCN Lamp Awards for advertising and design. This year the awards ceremony took place at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In total, 36 Lamps have been awarded in different categories, and 2 of them - one Gold and one Silver award - went to the commercials that HecticElectric and AVP have worked on.

Bavaria commercial wins awards

Posted in News in December 2011

The Bavaria campaign continues to receive accolades and acclaim, with the Hugh Heffner spot winning a silver Epica, and a Bronze award at Eurobest.

Bavaria is the second biggest brewer in Holland, and impressively been family owned and operated for the last 284 years. Reflecting that wholesome feeling, Heffner (normally living the Mans Dream), seeks a moment away from the Mansions bouncy, cocktail world, and enjoys a beer with his buddies.

Working with our friends at Bonkers, we were embedded in the whole process, from on set supervising in Los Angeles, all the way through 3D and Flame to grading.

Nova Zembla - Stereoscopic Feature Effects

Posted in News in November 2011

Eyeworks asked Hectic to do some serious Stereoscopic effects and beautiful titles for their film Nova Zembla.

Nova Zembla is the first 3D film to come from the Dutch film industry. Director/producer Reinout Oerlemans (“Komt een vrouw bij de doctor”) has instinctively steered the creative process with a confident hand, enabling the team to excel in a wide range of challenges, from beautiful titles to a myriad of demanding individual shots.

The titles are truly a master artwork, transitioning the live action shots of the leading stars into an etched, canvas composition, inspired by Jan Luyken’s 16th Century engravings of Nova Zembla.

We were privileged to work on the opening sequence, a one minute epic piece, immersing the audience in a stereoscopic universe full of stars and wonder, drawing them deeper into the 3D.

(more after the jump)

How to deliver files

Posted in News in September 2011

Delivery address is artwork@hecticelectric.nl for Hecticelectric and artwork@avp.nl for AVP.

New grading room

Posted in News in July 2011

After reconstruction this spring we are proud to unveil our brand new grading room. We have taken care to create a cozy but spacious modern working environment that responds to today's expectations from a grading suite. The room is equipped with a top-notch install of the Scratch color grading system and a huge 3D screen, and a nice view of the canal.

New Bavaria commercial with Hugh Hefner

Posted in News in June 2011

HecticElectric has recently completed work on the latest Bavaria commercial which features Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner.
Hefner succeeds celebrities like Marco van Basten, Maradona, Joan Collins, Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke, who previously played roles in a Bavaria commercial. HecticElectric coordinated the complete post-production process, from VFX supervision on set, to CGI and Flame compositing through to grading by Jean-René Nébot. The new Bavaria commercial with Hugh Hefner was created by Selmore, produced by Saskia Kok and directed by Jonathan Herman (Bonkers).

Sonny Boy selected to open the Stony Brook Film Festival

Posted in News in May 2011

The Dutch film Sonny Boy is selected to open the 16th Stony Brook Film Festival on the 21st of July. This has been published by Shooting Star, the production company behind the movie. HecticElectric and AVP are responsible for the post production and special effects of this successful film.

Stony Brook Festival wants to expose the American audiences to non-English spoken films. Sonny Boy, directed by Maria Peters, is based on the bestseller by Annejet van der Zijl and tells a true love story of a Suriname immigrant (Sergio Hasselbaink) and a white woman (Ricky Koole) in the 1920s and the 1930s.

The film has attracted more than 400.000 viewers to the Dutch cinemas. Sonny Boy has been selected from 800 submissions from all over the world. (ANP)

TransitMedia - new version

Posted in News in February 2011

HecticElectric and Avp have launched a new version of TransitMedia. We are further developing our digital publishing and archiving tool. The service is now organized as a new business structure called 'TransitMedia'.

At our clients request, we have added some highly useful features. For more detailed information, or a personal demo, please contact AVP on +31 20 347 2828.

Read on for more information:

HecticElectric creates Lemsip commercial for Moscow

Posted in News in February 2011

HecticElectric created fantastic visual effects for ActionFilm (Moscow). This challenging script for a Russian Lemsip commercial featured a snow avalanche chasing our cold inflicted hero through a city. Marc Kubbinga was on-set supervisor for the shoot in Kiev, and also supervised an intensive workflow using all the resources across HecticElectric and Carbon, including Autodesk, 3ds Max and Maya, and a myriad of CG effects to reproduce this intense, dramatic natural effect and the Lemsip character animation.

Reconstruction HecticElectric

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

After the AVP reconstruction, we are now focussing on HecticElectric’s needs. Central to this is the fact that media is now exchanged in digital file formats.

In response HecticEletric will go completely tapeless and reconsiders space and equipment appropriately. The colour correction facility, for example, now has a bigger role within Hectic, and therefore grading will be moved to the former VTR/support room by the end of May.

Feature film: Dolfje Weerwolfje

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

Hectic is Proud to be the VFX partner for the new Dutch feature film: Dolfje Weerwolfje.

Hectic Electric Brussels

Posted in News by Joe in February 2011

Hectic opened new office in Brussels.

Adam and EVA

Posted in News in February 2011

We have wrapped on a huge amount of work - 8months of post - job for a great television series: Adam and E.V.A.

Shortlist for FWA award

Posted in News in February 2011

Our latest site, the world's first 3D stereo site: http://nederlandse.tuinbouw.nl has been shortlisted for an FWA award (http://thefwa.com).

Adobe XL Celebrating Creativity Conference

Posted in News in February 2011

Julius Horsthuis from the digital team - Carbon - stepped up and gave a great talk on the issues and opportunities when developing stereo 3D for the web, based around our recent Tuinbouw Stereo 3D website.

Wrapping up 2010 with the 3FM serious request

Posted in News by Joe Broadbent in January 2011

Serious Request campaign: Record breaking € 7.135.707 raised!

Every year we create the media for the Serious Request campaign. This year 3FM was supporting the silent victim of aids – the children that have lost their parents through this devasting disease. A fragile 3D mobile symbolically shows that a child’s life in Africa – their education, health and se curity – relies on their parents. If that connection breaks, the child life can fall apart. A Record breaking € 7.135.707,- was raised, astonishing when you consider that for every 25 euro's the Red Cross can provide a child with food, school and care for a month long, so the sum collected from Holland goes a long way to helping those in need.

De Storm wins an american award

Posted in News by Amrita Kraakman in August 2010

NEW YORK - The Dutch film De Storm by director Ben Sombogaart has won a prestigious price this weekend on the Stony Brook Filmfestival in New York. This has been reported by the producer Alain De Levita representing NL Film on Monday.

The film about the 18-year old mother (Sylviak Hoeks) who loses her child during the flood of 1953, was presented during the opening screening of the festival. Producer De Levita and Hoeks were present at the screening.

The "Award for Outstanding Achievement In Filmmaking" won by the film consists of a small sculpture. The Stony Brook Festival wants to give more exposure to the foreign-language films in the US. The film "Bride Flight" by Sombogaart has also been screened at the festival.

Source article

Dutch Agriculture Ministry

Posted in News by Joe Broadbent in August 2010

Our digital division – Carbon – was asked to create a full screen, fully 3D interactive site for the Dutch agriculture ministry. As part of a campaign to put the complete sector under one name – Nederlandse Tuinbouw - this promotional site was aimed specifically at young people to give an inspiring insight into the many divisions of Horticulture and the career possibilities within. It was vital to strike a good balance between entertaining and informing, and Kong hit the target: briefing a busy realm populated with dozens of choreographed animations, informative commentary and immersive sound. Finished in 3 months, Carbon created an extremely detailed entertaining world, where every blade of grass is modelled and every machine and robot animated to life. Carbon won a FWA award for their interactive programming, and the site is currently up for a Dutch design award. For more information and to see how Carbon can beat your expectations visit their website.

Hectic Electric is looking for a 3D intern

Posted in NewsJobs by Amrita in January 2010

We are a post-production company based in Amsterdam. We are working on high-end visual effects for commercials and features. For the next few months we have an opening for a talented intern to join our team of about 15 people. We are offering to work and learn in a professional environment and further develop your skills within our small, cozy company.

Applicants must be be enrolled in a Dutch school.

Preferred skills: Maya, some basic Nuke and Realflow chops would be nice.

To apply, please submit a motivation letter and CV with a link to your online website/portfolio to jobs@hecticelectric.nl

Files via HecticTransit

Posted in News by Mariëlle in December 2009

From now on it is also possible to download or upload files straight from the HecticTransit site.

You will find a selection of file formats under the Publishing bar of your commercal.

Need information or help? Contact us at AVP: bookings@avp.nl or Hectic: planning@hecticelectric.nl.

Scratch At HecticElectric

Posted in News in September 2009

HecticElectric Amsterdam recently expanded its facilities with a Scratch color-correction system, replacing the old Avid offline suite.

The system is fully intergrated in the AVP-Hectic network. The system will be able to autoconform all material what has been scanned at the ARRI scanner at AVP, and to process the incoming RED material. You can book the suite with all colorists working at AVP as well as with a number of select freelance graders (contact us for their reels and further info).

De Storm

Posted in News by Marc Kubbinga in September 2009

Friday the 11th of september 2009 the film De Storm had its world premiere in Vlissingen. De Storm is the latest film of Ben Sombogaart, which tells about the flood in 1953 in Holland, Zeeland. HecticProjeX, the collaboration between AVP, HecticElectric and HecticParis achieved a tremendous amount of work in a very short notice. A lot of the water shots has been created in full CG. The full opening shot, a shot of more than 30 seconds, has been created in CG. HecticProjeX has developed a special technical pipeline to be able to produce the necessary shots in the amount of time available. A significant part of the compositing is done in Scratch. The interactive way of adding rain, fog and spray on most of the shots in film continuity, was only possible in this online environment. VFX supervisor Raphael Kourilsky was responsible for all visual effects. Colorist Gyorgy Balatoni was responsible for the grading. HecticProjeX and its complete team is proud of the final result. The result is the sum of all efforts of all operators, as well as the people from NL Film.

Broadcast copies via our Hectic Transit system

Posted in News by Marielle in February 2009

Since the beginning of this year broadcast copies are no longer delivered to the broadcast stations on digital betacam tapes, but as MXF files via our Hectic Transit system.

A commercial can be entered into the system in no time, and once approved by the client, the digital distribution to the broadcasters of choice is executed using the internet browser and a few mouse clicks.

A simple but safe process that saves time and costs.

For more information, feel free to contact our planning teams.

At HecticElectric: Amrita Kraakman & Jasper Wolf planning@hecticelectric.nl

At AVP: Dorien Plante & Patty Veenstra bookings@avp.nl

Bol.com Battle makes the front page of CGSociety

Posted in News by Julian in November 2008

Maarten Boon gives a thorough breakdown of the workflow we used on the Bol Singstar commercial on the CGSociety front page.

You can also see some of the in-progress renders and sketches for the characters.

Become a HE-Man (or Woman)!

Posted in News in September 2008

HecticElectric and AVP proudly present HE Magazine, a 72-page insider's guide to the post-production industry.

The new magazine is not only meant to open a window into the world of HecticElectric and AVP but also to serve as a platform for everyone who is interested in the numerous ways in which communications, culture and technology interact.

HecticTransit

Posted in News in August 2008

The digital video revolution is yesterday’s news. Hectic Electric and AVP are already taking the next step: making sure everyone can find their way in the jungle of their newly digitalized, high-speed work environment.

Soon, audio and video will no longer have to be delivered to broadcasters on tape, but can simply be put on a digital file that’s kind of an upscaled version of MPEG. Only this file uses a different way of coding to ensure high quality. It’s the brand new MXF 30.

Putting together an MFX file will remain a clear and orderly process, but delivering it to broadcasters is set to become much more

THE STORM

Posted in News in August 2008

NL-Film has recently selected Hectic to create all visual effects for the Ben Sombogaart film The Storm (De Storm), to be released next year. The movie will include al large number of VFX shots that simulate water effects. Hectic has already conducted extensive preliminary tests and research in this field, with the company’s entire 3D crew devoting many hours to the task at hand. Raphael Kourilsky of HecticElectric Paris will serve as the project’s VFX supervisor. John Thorborg will take care of

Flame & Flint 2008

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticElectric and AVP have updated their whole infrastructure of Flame and Flint to the Linux platform. Moreover the latest software versions have been installed. With this new upgrade the render speed and the storage capacity have drastically increased. The different Flames are internally connected through a dedicated 4 GB network. All the machines have been prepared for the use of HD and 2K and are capable of playing these in real-time.

Renderman

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticElectric and AVP have recently changed to Renderman, the high-end render software for 3D. With this change we are the only company in Holland that uses this software. Renderman has been developed by PIXAR and offers optimal control in complex 3D models with extreme high definition. Renderman guarantees the best creative results with a proper, acceptable speed. Simon Milner (ESCAPE studios) took care of an optimal implementation within our 3D pipeline.

Letter for the King (Brief voor de Koning)

Posted in News by Maarten in June 2008

HecticProjeX has recently finished work on the movie “Letter for the King”. This movie has been directed by Pieter Verhoef and contains a large number of VFX shots with backgrounds that have completely been generated in 3D and 2D. Several elements have been specially shot for this purpose, in consensus with DOP Jules van de Steenhoven. This project was handled by two VFX supervisors: Jan van de Laar and Raphael Kourilsky. Jan has managed several large movie projects for HecticProjeX. Raphael, known mostly from HecticElectric Paris, has numerous large projects on his name. Together Jan and Raphael headed and formed a team of 14 VFX artists divided over HecticElectric, AVP and HecticElectric Paris. The colour correction of the DI has been done by John Thoborg.

New Colorist @ AVP

Posted in News by Gerben in June 2008

Since January 2008 AVP has a new grader in the team, her name is Isabell Brockmann. She came into the business at "Das Werk” Hamburg in October 2000 where she got enthousiastic about colourcorrection with al its possibilities. She started in VTR to learn more about all the technical systems. Next step was to be a Telecine assistant, but soon she made the step to junior-colorist and left Das Werk in july 2003 to start at Delipictures. At Delipictures she worked as a senior-colorist for 4 years and now she's here in Amsterdam at AVP. We're happy she joined our team and hope she'll have a great time in Amsterdam.

To get a view of her work, have a look at the homepage: www.isabellbrockmann.com

How to watch our clips in Linux

Posted in News by Julik in May 2008

Hello, fine visitors! Julik from Hectic Amsterdam here. In this article I would like to quickly explain how to view our clips under Linux.

ARRI Scanner

Posted in News by FS in September 2007

For digital 2K scanning we are going to use the ARRI scanner. We are expanding our scanning equipment because of the gigantic amount of Digital Intermediates we are producing. It is nescassary to expand before we have a data overflow. Besides this logistic advantage the improvement of quality is the most important reason for the introduction of ARRI scanning. Especially the combination of experienced graders and professional color management can contribute a lot to improve the quality of the final commerical or feature film.

Coolbest

Posted in News by FS in September 2007

In this large project our 3D team and our compositors worked together with director Othmar Sweers. Production wise it was impossible to shoot the backgrounds, Othmar had in mind, in real life. The budget we would need for a shoot in the upper north of Europa was simply out of reach. This resulted in a studio shoot with a blue background. Before the shoot we created realistic backgrounds in 3D. These loose components then needed to be merged with the life action material, which of course had to be shot. We had to use the light and the camera tracking as focus points. Our software designers developped in the meanwhile special software to make all the tracking as smooth as possible.

Grolsch Eagle

Posted in News by FS in September 2007

Grolsch Eagle is a project we co-produced with the Jelle Oortman Gerlings. At the moment Jelle is living in Los Angeles where we shot the commercial. In an early fase Hectic's 3D team has started testing the first of the glass houses, wich were created to intergrate in the commercial. "The look" was the most important aspect in this project. By building this "look" in an early stage the client could see the result of our 3D modelling during the P.P.M. Our VFX supervisor went to L.A. during the scouting of the locations, to have enough references to finish the project as planned.

Jelle assisted us by making a detailed breakdown of the plates we needed to do the postproduction. Eventually we decided to use HDRI technology because the look shouldn't be fully intergrated within the total image. The client wanted the glass houses to be completely visible. Sven de Jong an JP Leclerqc combined all the elements during the compositing fase in the Flame @ Hectic.

New Parking Service @ Hectic

Posted in News by FS in September 2007

Since a few months HE has acces to the online Parking service Parkmobile. When you arrive you can register your car at our planning so they can activate the parking during the time of your stay.