Tutankhamun’s clue to planetary chaos
This scarab-beetle on Tutankhamun’s necklace represents the life-giving Egyptian Sun-God. But scientists say the natural glass it is made of came from a cosmic calamity that could repeat itself at any time.
Tutankhamun’s Fireball tells of the quest for the origins of a unique type of glass, and the mystery of why it’s only found in the Egyptian Sahara. The thirty-million-year-old puzzle has taxed today’s finest scientific minds, and the resources of NASA. Their conclusions have frightening implications for the human race .
Shot in HD and laden with special effects, the film forms part of this season’s BBC Horizon strand. Its ambitious scale dictated a major co-production with Discovery Canada and National Geographic Channel-US, led by award-winning factual production company TV6.
When scientists studied an unusual stone in one of King Tutankhamun’s necklaces they realised it was not a semi-precious gem as previously thought, but a type of glass unlike any other on earth.
Its composition clearly pointed to an origin within the Sahara’s Great Sand Sea, at a temperature of 1800°C. This extraordinary temperature is only known to occur in a meteorite impact. But there was no sign of a crater.
How scientists solved the riddle by interstellar detective work, and their discovery’s frightening implications for Planet Earth’s future, make compelling viewing.
In today’s international co-pro landscape, when different territories all have their legitimate first-claim on the finished product, it’s imperative to shoot such projects on the correct frame-rate, so that mastering, reversioning, V.O., dubbing and conversions processes all harmonise.
Peter Zacaroli, MD of post-house West Digital, recommended 1080p 25, ensuring the best quality conversions to both PAL and to 1080i 59.94 for the North American market, and he mastered the prestigious project on HD-Cam SR to maintain picture quality throughout all intermediate stages of post.
Off-line took eleven weeks, with documentary material enhancing the compelling narrative sourced from DigiBeta, CD-Rom and NTSC archive. Upconversion to smooth out the final look was handled as part of the on-line.
Remembers Zacaroli, “The grade was an absolute joy. The original was shot by a real pro, which allowed me to concentrate on the images’ finer details using Nitris’s advanced tracking tools. And the Nitris’s 16-bit processing let me pull lots of fluffy white clouds and give them real depth of quality.”
“We also had great fun with the desert glass jewel in Tutankhamun’s necklace: the result is absolutely beautiful.”
All this was achieved using a AVID Nitris HD. Delivery was a technical headache, but 2 different versions for each of the 3 co-producers, each with different frame rates, all arrived on time.
