Mistika Ultima (Sgo), used for the post-production of the Champions League final show

The show that marked the start of the final of the 2021 edition of the UEFA Champions League was post-produced with the Mistika Ultima suite of Sgo.

The project, produced and directed from Los Angeles and in which more than one hundred professionals were involved, included elements of virtual production, remote workflows, AI, immersive technologies, HDR, HFR and high resolutions. Specifically, The mystique of Ultima of Sgo used for color grading, special effects and finishing.

He creative concept of this piece, starring Marshmellow, Selena Gómez y Khalid, was developed by art director Es Devlin, known for designing the final Super Bowl show. On the other hand, the Spanish company MR Factory has carried out all virtual (post) production, including 3D set design, special effects development, color grading and finishing.

UHD broadcast at 50 fps

Jesus Rodriguez Calvo-Parra, VFX coordinator and colorist, highlights that the project required “stable and powerful software” given the demanding characteristics of the show, “recorded in 6K with Sony Venice to be delivered in 4K HDR at 50 frames per second.

According to Rodríguez, the solution of Sgo rose to the challenge: "We needed to be able to integrate all the different pieces and maintain different versions in a unified environment. Mistika's infinite, unrestricted workspace was a real lifesaver for this, allowing us to make all the necessary adjustments in a non-destructive way."

To be able to handle large high resolution files combined with numerous 3D plans, MR Factory equipped several workstations powered by ten GPUs Nvidia RTX 3090 each one, to be able to render the images with Octane Render of Otoy.

AI integration

Another workflow technique implemented during the creation of the performance was the inteligencia artificial. Esta se aplicó para la captura de movimiento y, posteriormente, para los efectos especiales.

Sergio Ochoa, supervisor de VFX y cine virtual en MR Factory, aporta más detalles: “El seguimiento del movimiento con IA nos permitió producir una animación de hasta un minuto de duración por día. Esta técnica se utilizó para replicar bailarines, crear sombras y otros objetos para lograr la integración completa de todas las piezas originalmente filmadas por separado en un entorno 3D”.

https://youtu.be/HiFMBLFzk_U