REZN8 Creates Opening Animation Sequence for ‘The Outer Limits’ Premiere
Los Angeles, CA, March 16, 2001 -- REZN8, one of Hollywood’s leading design and animation production houses, was selected to create a new opening animation sequence for the premiere of the SCI FI Channel’s “The Outer Limits” television series, a weekly show launching its eighth season tonight.

This will be the first season that SCI FI airs new, exclusive original episodes of the series. The Channel, known for its innovative on-air identity, decided to update the show’s opening segment, and commissioned REZN8’s creative team to produce the detailed one-minute animation piece. The title sequence was created in a time span of four weeks under the supervision of award-winning SCI FI Channel Art Director Roger Guillen.

The new opening sequence, which complements the series’ theme music and eerie voice-over, transports viewers through a dream-like world. The journey begins by traveling through several “alternate” dimensions -- such as the human mind, television test patterns and even an Escher-like environment. The show title, “The Outer Limits” is eventually revealed as a woman is seen falling through endless space.

“’The Outer Limits’ presents stories with very surreal themes, suggesting another dimension of alternate reality,” said Roger Guillen. “We wanted the title sequence to mirror those themes and REZN8’s creative team added elements to make the initial concept come alive and jump off the storyboards.”

“REZN8’s goal is to create emotion and wonder in the mind of the beholder,” said Paul Sidlo, CEO and founder of REZN8. “Because of the type of science-fiction show ‘The Outer Limits’ represents, this project offered a format that allowed our creative team to push their own outer limits, and provide the type of mind-warping imagery that the program was looking for, there by meeting and exceeding expectations.”

The new animation sequence of “The Outer Limits” will be seen Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on SCI FI.

About REZN8
Based in Hollywood, REZN8 provides design and animation expertise for major corporations and entertainment industry clients including CBS, Sony, Intel and IMAX. REZN8 services include media packaging for broadcasts, trailers and titles, visual effects for film and television, commercial production, corporate branding and design, Internet design and programming, interactive presentations and hardware and software integration for complex video and location-based entertainment projects. For more information about REZN8, visit www.rezn8.com.

About SCI FI Channel
SCI FI Channel, owned and operated by USA Cable, a division of USA Networks, Inc.'s Entertainment unit, transmits fantastic images to over 69 million human homes. Launched in 1992, SCI FI features a continuous stream of cinematic hits, new and original series and special events, as well as classic sci-fi, fantasy, and horror programming. The SCI FI Channel's Web site is www.scifi.com.

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Cinesite Creates A Magical Flight Into Fantasy For Get Over It
Los Angeles, CA, March 16, 2001 -- Cinesite Hollywood has created some 30 visual effects shots for Get Over It, a romantic comedy release from Miramax directed by Tommy O'Haver.

Cinesite Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Lingenfelser was in charge of creating enchanting daydream sequences complete with three flying fairies. Get Over It tells the tale of a high school boy, Berke (Ben Foster), who loses his girlfriend, Allison (Melissa Sagemiller), and will do anything to get her back-including trying out for an acting role in a Shakespeare play. Martin Short is cast as a high school drama coach preparing a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Over the set, three fairies appear in Berke's coping mechanism -- daydreaming.

"The effect needed to be magical and almost real," says Lingenfelser. "We decided to film the actors, costumed as fairies, flying. Later we added gossamer wings and fairy dust in a digital suite."

To achieve the look of flying unaided, the actors were suspended from wires and filmed against a green background screen. That film was converted to digital format and the wires removed. Cinesite then plotted the images of the flying actors and created projection maps in 3-D computer space. The wings were created separately with CG texture maps and composited seamlessly onto each of the three actors. In addition, the digital artists added "fairy dust" to the shot and superimposed what seems like the glow of a slight lens flare on the images.

"The glare is a visual clue which augments the illusion that we were actually filming three flying fairies," Lingenfelser says.

The final composite consisted of 10 layers of images with 95 percent of the content done as 3-D computer animation. Lingenfelser collaborated with O'Haver to develop the look and motion that gives the scenes an ethereal aura that is believable.

"3D technology gave us more flexibility with movements," Lingenfelser says. "In one shot, the fairies come forward from deep in the background for a close-up in the foreground. Because of that distance, this was a very lengthy shot."

Most of the flying fairy shots were at least 400 frames, or nearly 20 seconds. Lingenfelser notes that's an eternity for effects shots. The motion of the wings had to be calibrated to match the movements of the fairies. Two basic wing speeds, one more intermittent, were developed and finessed. The fairies glow was a separate 3-D element that was tracked to match their movements and digitally composited with Cineon software.

"The nice thing was that we had separate control over all the elements-the glow, the lens flare, pixie dust, wings and the fairies," says Lingenfelser. "We had control over opacity and color, and had a lot of flexibility. That allowed us to adjust the subtleties to make each shot work."

The other visual effects shots were more traditional. One interesting comedic scene involved a piece of steak that is coughed up and tossed around a Benihana-type restaurant and eventually leads to a fire.

Cinesite is a Kodak subsidiary and part of the company's Entertainment Imaging division. With facilities in Hollywood and London, Cinesite provides a wide range of visual and physical effects, digital film mastering, digital film restoration and preservation services.

For more information, visit the Cinesite website at www.cinesite.com.

Roughnecks - The Starship Troopers Chronicles - The Pluto Campaign Now Available on DVD
March 15, 2001 -- "Starship Trooper" fans have been posting raves about the quality of the newest edition of the groundbreaking animated TV production to be released on DVD.

Several comments posted by buyers at Amazon.com, which is selling the release for $19.99, praise the video transfer quality in particular. The Columbia Tristar Hom film aired August 30, 1999, and the run time is 95 minutes.

Click here to go to The Pluto Campaign page at Amazon.com .