‘Mar i cel’ (3Cat): the demonstration that the limits between film and television no longer make sense

Paulí Subirà, Llorenç Gómez, Domenec Gibert and Xavier Bonet convey all the details of the film version of the emblematic musical 'Mar i cel', a production by 3Cat together with the theater company Dagoll Dagom y the Vallès Symphony Orchestra in which the Catalan television team has combined broadcast production techniques with the latest cinematographic and immersive audio technology.

The concern for technology has always resided within 3Cat. “We take risks to open paths,” he explains. Domenec Gibert, listing different efforts such as the “first documentary” that was made from public television with the digital film camera Red One (“the first model that arrived in Spain”); the first television pieces in HD, executed with cameras Sony in 2003; pioneering projects of fiction series recorded in Super35 and with PL optics, and even the use of 3D for documentaries Enchanted. This concern for innovation is shown transversally in the Catalan corporation, as evidenced by more recent projects such as its ambitious transition to IP infrastructures and with renewed news study, which has pioneering technology in the world.

With the collaboration of partners technological like Fujifilm o Sony, 3Cat wanted to take its new challenge to the next level: adapting the emblematic musical Apple and the one of the Dagoll Dagom theater company. With a shoot executed in just two days and an important video and audio post-production work, the result is capable of being compared to the main theatrical works aimed at the cinematographic circuit.

Fifty professionals of 3Cat have been delivered to this project signed in 4K, HDR and with immersive audio Dolby Atmos, which faces an exclusive run in theaters before reaching the platforms of Catalan television. Paulí Subirà, head of image at 3Cat and director of Apple and the one; Xavier Bonet, director of the film and head of post-production; Domenec Gibert, director of photography, and Llorenç Gómez, sound engineer, tell all the keys of Apple and the one, a work that, as the film's production team highlights, could not have been possible without the combination of the latest technologies of cinematic capture and the television production techniques.

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Celebrating a historic musical

The fourth and last representation of Apple and the one It not only served to commemorate a historical musical what have they seen 1,600,000 spectators throughout its four stages (1988, 2004, 2014 and 2024), but to mark the farewell to the stages of the emblematic Catalan company Dagoll Dagom after 50 years of history. “It is a heritage work of Catalonia and Paulí Subirà proposed creating the audiovisual legacy of this work,” says Bonet.

Xavier Bonet: “We decide to contribute the maximum technical muscle possible within our human and technical resources.”

3Cat, which has extensive experience in the adaptation of plays for television, he was fully aware of the visual potential of the work, which had the direction of Anna Rosa Cisquella and Miquel Periel, and the lighting design of Albert Faura. Therefore, it was decided to provide the “maximum technical muscle possible within our human and technical resources”, a path that was decided to take to the next level with the inclusion of cinematographic technique within the theatrical story.

Only then could it be captured with a unprecedented closeness and the maximum production values for its preservation this musical based on the piracy of the Mediterranean in the 17th century and the expulsion of “300,000 Moors decreed by Philip III in 1609 from the kingdom of Spain,” as the synopsis of the work relates.

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Fujifilm and Sony's key collaboration

One of the principles of filming Apple and the one passed by minimal intervention in the lighting and set design of the theatrical work. The production would have to come to life representing the same emotions that the spectator experiences from the audience; In fact, one of the screenings of the recording was done with the live audience, which would have caused continuity errors in the event that the light and color were altered for certain scenes.

In order to capture the complexity of the lights, color and shadows of reality, 3Cat relied on a series of tools provided by Fujifilm y Sony. In Gibert's words: "The work is designed for people who see it in the theater, whose eyes perceive colors and contrasts that standard cameras cannot register. With the arrival of cinematographic cameras, which allow us sensitivities four or five times greater than what we are used to, we can get closer to what the viewer can see in the room. (…) What Fuji and Sony bring us, obviously, is the technology that allows us to experiment and make a production like this a reality.”

Domenec Gibert: “With the arrival of the cinematographic cameras, which allow us sensitivities four or five times greater than what we are used to, we can get closer to what the viewer can see in the room.”

Specifically, the 3Cat team deployed the cinema cameras Sony Venice and Burano, as well as more compact units such as the FX6 y FX9, all of them recording in full frame at 4K in S-Log3 and at 10 bits. These were accompanied by Sony optics: the FX6 mounted a 28-135 mm, while for the FX9 a model was used 200-600 mm. With respect to the Venice and Burano, they opted for cinematographic optics Duvo of Fujifilm: “They really were impressive; they gave us a pristine quality.”

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A historic shoot in 48 hours

The visual capture of Apple and the one was done in just two days and without any prior testing. In the first, in the morning the vast majority of the scenes were shown with a I recommend to obtain more open shots, while, in the afternoon, filming of the first half of the work began. The morning of the second day was dedicated to capturing the second act of the musical; That same afternoon, the production closed with a full screening before the public.

Domenec Gibert: "We have a very critical contrast at all times (...) When working with these optics, at these distances and with such tight diaphragms, a very high level of operator is required. They did a fantastic job."

At the narrative level, the objective was to give importance to the action inside the boat. Therefore, it He mimicked two camera operators as pirates among the characters in the scenes, who would be in charge of capturing short shots armed with the FX6 and angle shots. “We wanted very close shots to achieve maximum immersion, so we decided that, even from the audience cameras, very close shots would be sought,” says Bonet, making it clear that the “Italian-style” approach would have no place in this production. This nine-chamber scheme would be completed with various equipment arranged in the upper part of the amphitheater, intended to give a general plan.

Los diaphragms of the cameras, walking a tightrope to ensure maintaining the complex cinematographic language in the theatrical environment, were controlled from a mobile unit, adapting the RCP of the vehicle: "We have a very critical contrast at all times (...) Working with these optics, at these distances and with such tight diaphragms, a very high level of operator is required. They did a fantastic job," Gibert emphasizes.

This close focus gives the viewer a unprecedented perspective of Apple and the one. In the words of the director of photography: “There is a very important element which is the democratization of the work. In the end, when you go to the theater, you are closer or further away depending on your financial capacity. The work that the spectators in the first row and in the twentieth see are different. With this Mar and the everyone has the same immersive experience. One of the actresses told me: “When I saw the play, I realized that I was seeing the same thing as when I act; that expression on my partner's face when I'm telling him something.”

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A sustained technological flow in the television experience

To Mar and the 3Cat has traveled an “unmarked” path. As Gibert explains, the musical production team in this production has faced an unprecedented challenge: establishing a hybrid workflow that unites film cameras with a television production model. “We have shown that both worlds can work at the same time,” he comments.

Paulí Subirà: "My idea of ​​work was not to make television, but to take advantage of the multi-camera philosophy with a cinematographic treatment. (...) We have achieved a hybridization that has rarely been achieved."

Relying on the broadcast universe has not been a trivial decision. Paulí Subirà, in this regard, assures that, if there had not been a capture design based on the multi-camera model of the television environment, the production of Apple and the one in just two days it would not have been possible. "My idea of ​​work was not to make television, but to take advantage of the multi-camera philosophy with a cinematographic treatment. (...) We have achieved a hybridization that has rarely been achieved. It has been very intense, very hard work, but it has helped the product a lot," he emphasizes.

Graded with DaVinci Resolve, Apple and the one has collected more than 2,000 shots and 50 TB of material, which has ended up condensed into a project of more than 50 video layers. To undertake this, post-production was carried out following the standard ACES, with a color space BT.2020 and directly with a master's degree HDR. Subsequently, a trim pass con Dolby Vision to obtain an SDR copy, from which a DCP version at 4K and 25p was generated, given the lack of compatibility in many theaters with playback HFR.

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Great challenges in the audio section

The creation of the sound section of Apple and the one reached a unprecedented complexity in the acoustic treatment of theatrical productions signed by 3Cat. The recruitment was structured around different phases that had to be addressed in detail in post-production phase, deploying a wide variety of tools that have included different plug-in based on processes artificial intelligence.

After capturing a complete musical reference base with the theater band, the team led by Llorenç Gómez recorded the voices of the actors using the usual microphones of the show and digitally recording the signal via Avid ProTools. The next challenge was the replacement of this musical support with the recording of the symphonic track, performed by the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès. To undertake this process, a specific collection system was designed to Atmos based on an arc-shaped main array of 11 microphones with equipment like DPA 4006 with 40 mm equalization spheres (similar to the Neumann M50) that were complemented with the DPA 4018 and other specific solutions for each instrument family.

Llorenç Gómez: “After many headaches and dozens of hours, we have been able to deliver content in Dolby Atmos of which we are very proud.”

The fact that the orchestra was captured for a cinematographic purpose meant that the ensemble had to reorganize to promote mixing: the members of the symphony were placed in a semicircle with the strings distributed in a non-traditional way to achieve greater stereo width and brass open at 110 degrees left-right, among other reorganizations. At the center of this arrangement, a array of Atmos-ready solutions would function as an “acoustic lens”, supported by two additional microphone bows as reinforcement.

The editing, which was carried out in a week in a high-end digital audio studio (with individual IP monitoring and video systems and intercommunication with the director) with daily reviews to validate shots, subsequently faced the always complex part of post-production. The most complex aspect, in the words of Gómez, was the removing filtered music on head microphones of the actors, for which work was done word by word, chopping up and avoiding artifacts, with manual tools and assisted via AI. After achieving this milestone, and reproducing the ambient sounds removed in the process, a millimeter adjustment of tempo was required, as well as micro-editing of voices and instruments to achieve absolute synchronization, all assisted by Sergi Riera and Maurizio Tonelli, responsible for editing and mixing voices and music.

“After many headaches and dozens of hours, we have been able to deliver content in Dolby Atmos of which we are very proud,” explains Llorenç Gómez, whose work was essential for the generation of the three audio formats available in the cinema exhibition: Dolby Atmos, 5.1 y 7.1.

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The cinematic and real UHD experience remains in 3Cat

After the experience with Apple and the one, 3Cat has set out to continue redefining the boundaries between television creation and cinematographic technique. As Paulí Subirà confirms, the idea of ​​the corporation is to permanently have a mobile unit with a small camera and lens selection with a look cinema: "This project has helped us certify that we can assume this workflow and that it is a place where we can go. In news it would not make sense, but our idea is to rethink how we can implement this methodology and transfer it to other products that we have on television to raise their level."

Paulí Subará: "This project has helped us certify that we can assume this workflow and that it is a place where we can go. In news it would not make sense, but our idea is to rethink how we can implement this methodology and transfer it to other products that we have on television to raise their level."

This film production will end up forming a catalog of content in UHD with the highest technical standards. In this way, 3Cat seeks to defend the relevance of these resolutions against the strategy of other agents around these techniques, based frequently in rescaling or an audiovisual treatment which does not represent the potential of this technology: "Many channels are being promoted with the UHD label, which is very debatable. We do not want to get into that war. Our vision is to protect what UHD truly is. (...) When HD started, everyone hyped those channels and there was not even 10% of real production in that resolution. Now we are in the same situation, and it is something that worries me," explains Paulí Subirà, whose opinion is immediately seconded by Bonet: "No "We want to put content on the air that is not native in Ultra High Definition so as not to deceive the viewer."

Apple and the one, on display in 50 theaters throughout Catalonia and the Valencian Community, seeks to cross borders and reach all types of markets, overcoming all linguistic barriers. In view of 3Cat, an ambitious opportunity is presented, which could only have been possible with the union of two worlds willing to understand each other in the face of the progress of technology and the redefinition of viewer preferences: the television and cinema. As Paulí Subirà concludes: "The idea is that productions with this level can cover a global market. People are looking for this type of shows. And experts who have been able to see Mar and Cel "They have certified us that the work is at the level or above many other things that come from Europe."

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez

https://youtu.be/gDdDl0blaSs