Snell & Wilcox Create Multiple 'Star Wars' Formats

Lucasfilm recently used Snell & Wilcox's Ukon universal format conversion platform to create various format masters of "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones." The film was recently released in digital cinema, HD and SD broadcast and DVD formats. Lucasfilm also used the company's RollCall Network Management System for remote monitoring and control of Ukon's settings from different suites in the facility.

Lucasfilm first used the Ukon, which targets broadcast, post and production environments where images require conversion in all directions between SD and HD with consideration of different frame rates, images sizes and aspect ratios, for HD to SD downconversion. It was also used for the cross-conversion required forthe digital cinema master.

For the HD broadcast version of the film, Lucasfilm had to crop for 2:35:1 letterboxing because the original film material was shot in 16:9 but intended for widescreen viewing. The SD broadcast master required its own resizing and image cropping with Ukon, as did the DVD version of the film for a 16:9 aspect ratio.