Friday, October 21, 2011

Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World

Sea Rex 3D: matka esihistorialliseen maailmaan. GB/FR © 2010 Land Mantello. PC: N3D Land Productions. Co-production: Mantello Brothers Productions. P: Francois Mantello, Catherine Vuong, Pascal Vuong. D: Ronan Chapalain, Pascal Vuong. SC: Ronan Chapalain, Richard Dowlearn, Pascal Vuong. DP: Christophe Grelié. M: Franck Marchal. S: Gilles Vivier. ED: Hugo Caruana. Principal scientific advisor: Dr. Nathalie Bardet. Scientific advisors: Zulma Gasparini, Dr. Benjamin Kear, Dr. Ryosuke Motani, Dr. Olivier Rieppel. Loc: the Red Sea (Egypt), New Zealand, etc. Cast: Guillaume Denaiffe (conservatory assistant), Norbert Ferrer (Jacques), Chloe Hollings (Julie), Richard Rider (Georges Cuvier). 41 min. Released in Finland by Finnkino. A 2K DCP of the Finnish-spoken version in XpanD 3D viewed at Tennispalatsi 5, Helsinki, 21 Oct 2011.

Featuring in 3D digital animation: Quetzalcoatlus, Elasmosaurus, Liopleurodon, Tanystropheus, Henodus, Rhomaleosaurus, Ammonite, Leedsichthys, Tylosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Ichthyornis, Cryptoclidus, Nothosaurus, Shonisaurus, Ophthalmosaurus, Mixosaurus.

Technical specs (IMDb): Laboratory: Arane-Gulliver, Paris, France. - Film negative format: 65 mm. - Printed film format: 70 mm. - Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 (IMAX version).

An educational film. The movie starts with the huge fossil of a giant marine lizard which Georges Cuvier named Mosasaurus in 1808. When Julie visits a Georges Cuvier exhibition in a museum of natural history, Cuvier, himself, comes alive as her guide, and the ancient creatures roam before us in 3D, as photorealistic animations and also as living skeletons like those familiar from the Ray Harryhausen creations in the Sinbad movies. There are also illuminating animated graphics reminding us how recent a phenomenon we human beings are, emerging just a few seconds ago on the earth clock. The focus is on the Mesozoic era, and specially its last phase, the Cretaceous era, "the golden age of all life". Pangea (when all continents were one) continued to grow apart. Many children were present in the screening, and the film is very good for school classes and family viewing. Truth can be stranger than fiction. It is a well-known phenomenon that pre-historic giant creatures are especially fascinating for children (... of all ages...). Shot on 70 mm film and designed for IMAX, Sea Rex 3D looks good too on 2K DCP in 3D.

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