Press Release from Phosphene

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - April 19, 2010 -  Mud-baked automobiles piled high under overpasses, damaged houses with fresh  water and mold  lines inside and out, downed fences and debris strewn  lots where homes formerly stood, all the internal visual effects for the ten hour opening season of HBO's new drama series, "Treme," were designed and executed by the design and visual effects house Phosphene.

Set in one of New Orleans oldest neighborhoods - a hub of African-American and Creole culture known for its rich musical tradition - "Treme" is the brainchild of David Simon, creator of "The Wire" and "Generation Kill," and Eric Overmyer, writer/executive producer of "Law & Order," and chronicles the rebuilding of the city's unique culture and features a rich gumbo of characters including several struggling musicians and other New Orleans locals in the aftermath of the 2005 devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

Visual Effects Director John Bair and Executive Producer Vivian Connolly, Founders and Co-owners of Phosphene, and their creative team, were tapped to digitally retrofit the post-Katrina landscape for "Treme" (pronounced truh-MAY), which premiered Sunday April 11.

"The entire first season takes place in the months immediately after Katrina and, fortunately, things have improved in New Orleans since 2005. In general, the bulk of our work, and our most complex shots, involve the recreation of the look and feel of a specific moment in the history of the city. The producers wanted to include locations that no longer looked as they did which meant adding back the horrendous damage and destruction done to the landscape. Reference photos and extensive research provided the inspiration for the environments we created, "explained Phosphene's John Bair. "Another massive group of effects involve the dressing of locations that were not damaged, or have recently been refurbished - removing air conditioners, boarding  up windows -  essentially taking now functional residences and retrofitting them to look as they did when they were closed off from the public. Further, there are some driving shots lensed greenscreen and a number of straight forward effects."

"Although John was not on location he worked closely with the preproduction team in anticipation of their shoot in New Orleans. There were several shots, key visual moments, on which he collaborated throughout the prepro phase.  A digital still photographer shot every day, grabbing references and resources and documenting all the locations. We are always excited about participating as early in the process as is possible. It was all planned out ahead of time and has really paid off," added Vivian Connolly.

"There was a lot of camera movement and characters that pass in front of the environment and our work really had to look like it was there when the footage was shot. Tracking all the elements, matching lighting and texturing and making sure that our work is accurate and believable is always a challenge. The entire series has a high level of authenticity and our effects, of course, must as well," continued Bair.

HBO Post-Producer Jessica Levin says of their work experience, "Phosphene's John Bair is the most talented Visual Effects Artist in New York, and Executive Producer Vivian Connolly is a production's best friend.  Phosphene does the best possible creative work (some of my favorite shots in my films), on-time and budget, and they're a pleasure to work with.  I'd be lost without them!"

The Phosphene creative team, lead by Bair and Connolly, included Associate Producer Jody Peters; Senior Compositor Scott Winston; Composite Artists Connie Conrad, Tara Jacobson, Sergei Martirosov, Thomas Panayiotou, Aaron Raff and  Mark Rubbo; and 3D Animators Vance Miller and  Steve Sullivan.

Phosphene utilized After Effects CS4, Photoshop CS4, 3ds Max 2009 and Nuke and PC's (Intel Xeon Processors running Windows XP 64-bit) in the execution of this project.

Representing HBO/Blown Deadline were Executive Producers David Simon, Nina Noble, Eric Overmyer and Carolyn Strauss; Co-Executive Producer David Mills; Producer Anthony Hemingway; Line Producer Joseph Incaprera; Post-Producer Jessica Levin; and Associate Prod: Laura Schweigman.