Earlier this year, Chris Heurer of Freefall FX blew us all away with his work restoring -- and remastering to 3D -- the 1922 classic horror film, Mernau's Nosferatu. Retitled "Orlock, The Vampire," this eerie 3D adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last spring.
The team at Imagineer Systems was also blown away by Heurer's innovative use of mocha to help track through hours of original footage - damaged and dirty from years of neglect. Chris had this to say when talking to Imagineer about his experience:
"During testing, I was shocked to see mocha track through this old footage. The original footage jumped almost every frame, had tons of noise, dirt and damage, AND had random exposure changes. mocha tracked it flawlessly, just like it was pristine digital footage. I could not have done this film without mocha... it would have taken years instead of months. When I learned of Imagineer’s tutorial contest, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to show my colleagues in the industry how mocha can tackle seemingly insurmountable workflow challenges."
His approach was so unique, Chris decided to create a tutorial on how he used Imagineer's planar tracking tools as a key step in his restoration work. And the tutorial was so good, he won Imagineer's Second Annual Video Tutorial Contest! Congratulations Chris and thanks for sharing this amazing work with your colleagues in the industry.
Read the official press release here: http://www.imagineersystems.com/company/news/194
