I discovered today an amazing short film directed by Arev Manoukian. Nuit Blanche is a short film produced by Spy Films featuring some very cool slow motion 3D effects. Shot in the classic Film Noir style, this film has a wonderfull soundtrack composed by Samuel Bisson. The cinematography was also made by Arev Manoukian and the camera operator was Jay Pavao.

The film was shot on a green-screen set in Toronto. The two principal actors were shot separately in a four day time and they only met the last day. Each actor was shot as a separate layer so they could place them afterwards wherever they wanted.

Manoukian used a DVCPRO HD camera for the 24 frames-per-second live-action shots and the Photron APX for slow-motion sequences filmed at up to 2,000 frames per second like the slow-motion car crash. They actually broke real glass on set at over 2000 frames per second and added later on post-production 3D glass. This way they could get real reflections from the scene. Finally dirt was added to the pieces of glass to make it more natural.

The Post-Production

The editing was made with Adobe Premiere and for the 3D they used Maya, Mental Ray, 3Ds Max and V-Ray. The compositing was done with After Effects and the matte paintings with Photoshop and mapped in 3D.

About Arev Manoukian

Raised in Montreal by a family of artists and engineers, Arev Manoukian plays with art and technology to tell stories in ways that challenge his imagination. Ever Meticulous in his work, Arev thrives on being involved in all aspects of filmmaking, from pre-visualizing his concepts, to cinematography and music. He recently turned one of his day dreams into a short film, the stunning hyper-real fantasy Nuit Blanche. The film recently won the Grand Prize at the LG Film Festival in Toronto and the coveted Golden Nica at Prix Ars in Europe. It has been highlighted in magazines such as Wired, Shots Magazine, Motionographer, and Stash Magazine. Nuit Blanche is being screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival and SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles.

The Final Movie

Directed by: Arev Manoukian
Produced by: Stephanie Swedlove & Arev Manoukian
VFX by: Marc-Andre Gray
Music by: Samuel Bisson
Starring: Michael Coughlan & Megan Lindley
Cinematographer: Arev Manoukian
Casting: Jeff Marshall
Assistant Director: Andrew Cividino
Production Designer: Arev Manoukian & Marc-Andre Gray
Art Director / Costumes – Dan Levy
Camera Operator: Jay Pavao
Camera Assistant: Max Armstrong
Gaffer: Alan Poon
Editor: Arev Manoukian
Compositor / Animator: Marc-Andre Gray
Effects Supervisors: Marc-Andre Gray & Arev Manoukian
Additional Compositing: Arev Manoukian
Matte Painter: Pat Lau
Colourist: Andre Chlebak