AJA KONA 3 used in edit pipeline for Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

USA: AJA Video, a manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, has provided its KONA 3 video capture card which was used with Apple’s Final Cut Pro (FCP) for post on Twentieth Century Fox’s recent release Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.

Working at visual effects studio Hydraulx, the film’s editorial team set up an FCP editing pipeline for the film that featured the KONA 3 card, AJA’s uncompressed capture card for SD, HD, and Dual Link 4:4:4 HD for PCI Express (PCIe) Apple G5 Power Macs and Mac Pro systems.

Shot on 35mm 3-perf film, the setup allowed Hydraulx to cut the film at 1080i resolution, lay down previews to a D5 deck and reviews via an HD deck before the film was finished at EFILM with a 2K digital intermediate scan and film output. The pipeline employed five KONA 3 cards including a projection system, an editor system, a visual effects editor system, a utility system and an assistant system.

Supporting uncompressed SD or HD format including Dual Link and 2K, KONA 3 captures and plays back uncompressed 10-bit and 8-bit digital video and 24-bit digital audio.

KONA 3 also includes 10-bit broadcast-quality features including hardware-based up-, down-, and cross-conversion to and from HD, as well as adds a live hardware HD/SD keyer for compositing bugs, live clips, and other elements over video.

Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, sequel to Alien vs. Predator (2004), was directed by VFX artists as well as commercial and music video directors, The Brothers Strause. In the effects-heavy film released on Dec 25, 2007, the extraterrestrial monsters fight their battle in an unsuspecting Colorado town.