HP and Sgo: a cinema technology

HP workstations were involved in the creation of the special effects for 'Balada triste de trumpeta', a film by Álex de la Iglesia that won the award for Best Special Effects at the recent Goya Awards. This work was carried out by the Molinare studio using the Mistika software from Sgo.

In the last edition of the Goya, the award for Best Special Effects went to the film sad trumpet ballad, recognizing the post-production work carried out by the Molinare studio, the Mistika software with which they were created, and the Z800 Workstations of HP and ZR30 and DreamColors monitors on which Sgo developed its award-winning editing system.

In its determined commitment to providing image and design professionals with the most powerful and efficient equipment on the market, HP has developed the Z family of Workstations, in addition to professional monitors such as the ZR30 and DreamColors, capable of creating digital animations and reproducing them with the same quality and resolution as when they are projected in movie theaters.

For this reason, the Mistika programmers and the Molinare professionals used HP equipment to develop a whole range of special effects in “Balada triste de Trumpeta”, which earned them the highest award in national cinema.

“With an extensive history of collaborations with the film industry both nationally and internationally, at HP we work to apply our innovative power in equipment as complete as Workstations,” says Nieves Sánchez, director of the Workstations Unit at HP PSG. “Thanks to them, film professionals, screenwriters, editors and directors can make their dreams come true in films that have the same shape, the same color and the same strength as when they were only in their imagination,” he added.

At full capacity

Along with power and reliability, it is essential for software development managers as well as post-production professionals that the equipment is resistant and can work at full capacity for long periods of time. In the specific case of Sad tompreta ballad, HP workstations had to respond to a frenetic pace, which occupied 24 hours a day for three consecutive weeks.

"The Místika post-production system, which runs on HP workstations, has been designed to meet and exceed the demands of digital cinema professionals, offering them maximum quality and responsiveness. And this is only possible with HP, its technology and its global technical service," says Miguel Ángel Doncel, CEO of Sgo. "Místika is marking a before and after in computer-assisted animation and in the film industry, both inside and outside our borders. We are very proud to have HP technology as the backbone of our work and that film professionals, like Molinere, choose Místika for their most modern creations," acknowledges Doncel.

For his part, Ferrán Piquer, head of the Digital Cinema department at Molinare Madrid, commented that "with more than 600 effects shots and material shot in up to 5 different formats, in addition to the different archive image sequences, Místika was the true heart of post-production. The system worked 24 hours a day, for three weeks... at full power. Something truly surprising."