Online Edit/Conform, 2D VFX/Cleanup, Titles, Post Pipeline Design
(2003 - 2007)
Las Vegas was one of the first prime time dramas on television to take full advantage of Derek's capabilities. At a time when most shows were assembled in linear tape bays, sending out even basic visual effects to dedicated compositing suites, suffering generational loss through multiple passes in dirt fix systems, and using multiple tape decks and a crew of three people just to apply simple titles, Derek was doing something different.
"We handled the conform edit, most of the VFX cleanup, much of the beauty work, lots of other basic VFX compositing like monitor composites, full dirt fixing and animated titling all in the conform/composite system. At the time, it was groundbreaking, and it set a standard for prime time television post that I have continued to develop for many years."
Many of the episodes featured the series signature "whoosh" effect for scene transitions, in which the camera POV would rapidly appear to fly past people, travel through the casino security system, and emerge in another area of the casino set.
"There were in/out 'lense' transitions for these that were created by a VFX studio, blended into variable speed motion effects that were roughed in in editorial. On the stage, the director would yell "Freeze!" and everyone stood still as the camera was moved as steadily as possible though crowds of extras and the cast. We re-stabilized all those shots, painted them to eliminate unwanted movement and eye blinks and added cool-looking optical streaks before speeding them up to match the creative intent of the offline editorial team. The result was fantastic!"
(2003 - 2007)
Las Vegas was one of the first prime time dramas on television to take full advantage of Derek's capabilities. At a time when most shows were assembled in linear tape bays, sending out even basic visual effects to dedicated compositing suites, suffering generational loss through multiple passes in dirt fix systems, and using multiple tape decks and a crew of three people just to apply simple titles, Derek was doing something different.
"We handled the conform edit, most of the VFX cleanup, much of the beauty work, lots of other basic VFX compositing like monitor composites, full dirt fixing and animated titling all in the conform/composite system. At the time, it was groundbreaking, and it set a standard for prime time television post that I have continued to develop for many years."
Many of the episodes featured the series signature "whoosh" effect for scene transitions, in which the camera POV would rapidly appear to fly past people, travel through the casino security system, and emerge in another area of the casino set.
"There were in/out 'lense' transitions for these that were created by a VFX studio, blended into variable speed motion effects that were roughed in in editorial. On the stage, the director would yell "Freeze!" and everyone stood still as the camera was moved as steadily as possible though crowds of extras and the cast. We re-stabilized all those shots, painted them to eliminate unwanted movement and eye blinks and added cool-looking optical streaks before speeding them up to match the creative intent of the offline editorial team. The result was fantastic!"