Renowned for its work on many of the latest box-office hits, MELS is proud of its collaboration and accomplishments on the soon to be released movie, ARRIVAL. From production to distribution elements, including sound stages, cameras, grip equipment, post-production services, graphic design and visual effects, MELS was instrumental as a creative and technical hub bringing together the collaborations of many individuals and companies involved the making.
Shot in Québec in the summer of 2015, from the award-winning short story by Ted Chiang, one of today’s most celebrated science fiction writers, ARRIVAL is centered on the landing of alien crafts around the world, and the expert linguist (Adams), who is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat. ARRIVAL was produced by Filmnation Entertainment, 21 Laps Entertainment and Lava Bear Films, and Directed by Denis Villeneuve.
Production
The production team used MELS cameras and equipment. They also chose to shoot in MELS sound stages, Montreal’s only purpose built infrastructures for feature films of this magnitude. MELS staff provided production with the management of all original media. Digital image and sound files were checked, synched, processed and archived in multiple copies to ensure their integrity and safety.
Picture post production
MELS was responsible for the numerous deliveries of images to and from all visual effects companies involved in the project. To optimize the creative process, MELS R&D team was put to the task by writing code that enabled precious camera data to be imbedded in the images giving artists access to it throughout the post-production stages. Investments were also made in color correction technology to meet production workflow demands. In the final weeks of production MELS staff worked days on end in order to manage and assemble all of the movie’s components in time to receive the Directors and Producers approval.
Sound post production
Denis Villeneuve asked MELS to put together a team of artists to work under the supervision of long time collaborator Sylvain Bellemare. Eminent artists from Montreal and several countries including Mels chief re recording mixer, Bernard Gariepy Strobl were called in to produce the the high-quality soundscape the film required. To ensure the success of a project of this scale, MELS invested heavily in leading-edge technology, which enabled a greater collaborative effort among the numerous artisans.
Says MELS President, Michel Trudel, «I’m extremely proud of the immense accomplishments we achieved on this epic project, and touched that Filmnation and Denis Villeneuve entrusted the work to MELS and had faith in the wealth of talent we have in Québec.»
Visual effects
ARRIVAL features over 800 visual effects. The work was shared between several leading Montreal based visual effects companies. MELS collaborated closely with the director on the closing credit design as well as visual effects by creating and integrating graphics in monitors for certain scenes where visual representations help the scientists decipher the language used by the extra terrestrials.
«MELS was a true partner on ARRIVAL from pre-production through final delivery. Nearly every phase of the production and post production was touched by their top notch technicians or talented artists. They worked incredibly hard to achieve all that was asked of them and exceeded our expectations throughout. I look forward to finding opportunties to work with them again in the very near future», says Michael A. Jackman, Co-Producer ARRIVAL / EVP Post Production & Worldwide Delivery, FilmNation Entertainment.
Information:
Sophie Houle | Quebecor Media Group | sophie.houle@quebecormedia.com
