Montreal: The producers of the coming-of-age fantasy series Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension say advances in matching green-screen HD photography with digital special FX are helping create wide vistas of magical worlds more often associated with motion pictures than TV.

Galidor, a live-action/CGI production from CineGroupe, is shooting at the Cine Cite studios in Montreal. The show is slated for broadcast Saturday mornings on Fox Kids in the U.S. and on YTV in Canada early next year.

L.A.-based Tom Lynch, Galidor’s creator and executive producer with CineGroupe president Jacques Pettigrew, calls the genre ‘humantasy or human stories in a fantastic world.’ The core concept considers the identity of a 15-year-old called Nicholas. ‘There’s a bigger plan in his life but he doesn’t know what it is and on his 15th birthday he finds this great adventure, and going through this adventure gets to come of age and find out who he is,’ says Lynch.

Series leads are Matthew Ewald as Nicholas Bluetooth and Marie-Margeurite Sabongui as his best friend, Allegra Zane.

Galidor fantasy elements include five unique 3D 360-degree universes, the ‘outer-dimensional’ tunnel called the ‘Vortex’ and lead character Nicholas’ ability to ‘glinch’ or morph his body parts to match the parts of creatures in the outer dimension.

Lynch says the high production values and action elements will work to bridge an audience aged six to 12 and up to 17.

He says kids love great FX movies, and with Galidor’s two-season, $25 million-budget (2 x 13 half-hours), ‘this is the most complex and largest series that I have done in kids.’ A renowned specialist in tween shows, Lynch series currently on air include Skate and Just Deal (NBC), both shot in Vancouver; Caitlin’s Way (Nickelodeon), produced in Calgary; and The Jersey (Disney). He is also the creative force behind the new Showtime movie Red Sneakers.

Advanced production systems

‘(Galidor) is a large risk for all partners involved,’ says Lynch. ‘And as I wanted to experiment with storytelling, [CineGroupe] wanted to build the best 3D CG lab that can be made, and so that’s why I landed up in Montreal.’

‘The new state-of-the-art tracking program opens up the possibility of creating a big picture. You can pan, tilt and move the camera like one would normally on a live-action show, and the backgrounds change accordingly, ‘ explains director George Mihalka (The Watchtower, Dr. Lucille), who helmed the first episode and will direct several others along with Jim Donovan, Giles Walker and others.

With these advances, Mihalka says CGI can be fully exploited to ‘create beautiful wide vistas of new worlds, the kind of shots in the old days you’d have to go to Jordan to get. The beauty of this system is that it allows us to use the entire film vocabulary. In other words, I can use a wide shot, a medium or over-the-shoulder shot, all the things one is used to in big-screen motion pictures or high-end television.’

CGI on Galidor

A third or more of the series’ storyboard elements are CGI.

Galidor CGI supervising director Alan Best’s team (28 workstations) includes specialists in tracking pure or virtual camera movement for both elements which exist only in CG, as well as objects which exist in both CG and live-action realms; modeling, surface or texture design (Photoshop), including skyscapes and terrains; and special visual FX such as lighting, and compositing.

New software platforms like 3D Equalizer and Boujou represent major advances in tracking, which matches virtual cameras with live-action camera footage including hand-held and crane shots, says Best (Xcalibur, ReBoot).

‘We have a special-effects department [for actions like morphing, glinching and melding], and usually each department has a lead with three or four people under that lead. The [CG] lighting lead works very closely with the DOP,’ adds Best.

The primary animation and production software package on Galidor is the new Softimage XSI, although some work is being done with Maya. The Discreet flame and combustion units (and plug-ins including Ultimatte) are used to composite and create visual FX.

‘Often an effect is created in many different layers that are rendered separately and how they come together is in the hands of the flame artist, but the flame artist really has to work under the direction of an effects person,’ says Best.

‘It takes as much time to design a CG prop as a live one,’ he adds.

In addition to the 2D and 3D elements, the series uses many mechanical effects and makeup produced by Twins F/X, incorporating stunt sequences, puppetry and elaborate animatronic masks and costumes used for the bad-guy ‘Gorms.’

HD cinematography

DOP Daniel Villeneuve’s camera package includes two side-by-side Sony HDW-F900 24P cameras with Canon zoom lenses (5.5-50mm with seamless focus and 7.8-144mm). ‘Most of the show is single camera because of all the FX,’ says Vincelette.

The straightforward lighting package includes standard mini and maxi Bruts, 5K and 10K lamps, and lots of fluorescent Kino Flos. Much of the HDCAM tape footage is set from tracks and dollies. Timing and other corrections are primarily done later in post. The delivery format is Betacam PAL.

Overwhelming detail

Every frame in the series has to take into account the action potential, and consequences, of outer dimension’s creators and the various machines and weapons. ‘And that has to be coordinated with the CGI people to make sure what we’re doing matches a style,’ says Mihalka. ‘Whenever we’re doing any FX we [have to] coordinate on many plates we have to deliver. Sometimes the composite is three or four [visual elements].’

Measurements duly noted by the CGI department ‘nanny’ on set include perspective computations such as height and camera angle, lens specification, etc.

‘We’re pushing the envelope to where [Galidor] is comparable to a lot of the special FX commercials I have done,’ says director Donovan (Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Shelby Woo), who also works with Montreal spot house Voodoo Arts.

‘There is always an event every third of a page. It isn’t always about digital effects,’ says Donovan. ‘There are wireworks, mechanical stunts, combat scenes and ray guns. It’s a kids show that rocks. The shoot entails a huge amount of preprod design planning and a significant ‘learning curve.’

Galidor showrunner Tom Chehak represents Lynch’s vision on the production, overseeing writing, production, music and post. ‘And I’m working with Lego in keeping their vision of the show with CineGroupe, Fox and [distrib] Sony.’

Galidor’s producers are Marie-Claude Beauchamp and Michel Lemire. Mychele Boudrias is supervising producer. The production executive is Ken Katsumoto.

Denmark-based Lego holds global merchandizing rights to Galidor, including master toy and software licences. United Media is repping the property in the U.S. and Canada.

Galidor is distributed worldwide by CineGroupe and Columbia TriStar Television International.

-www.cinegroupe.com

Leo Rice-Barker