Scar (film)

Plot

Joan Burrows (Bettis) returns to her hometown of Ovid, Colorado to attend her niece Olympia's (Blanton) high school graduation, but finds herself confronted by her past in the town. Before the graduation is to occur, a young couple goes missing and within a few days a mutilated body is found in the water during a town fish festival. This initiates flashbacks in which Joan's dark past is learned. When Joan was 17, she and her best friend were kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer by the name of Bishop (Cotton). Bishop bound Joan and her friend to an autopsy table where one girl was tortured while the other had the power to make it stop simply by demanding the death of the friend. Joan was able to escape and kill her captor, but was left as the sole survivor of the spree with a scar on her cheek. With the present day's body count rising, questions arise whether Bishop had evaded death or if a new copy cat killer has arisen.

Cast

Production

The production office opened on September 5, 2006 and had a scheduled 25 days of shooting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada beginning October 3, 2006. Despite the use of 3-D an early review by Fangoria.com explains that the 3-D "doesn’t overshadow the film, which would be just as effective without it; instead of tossing in over-the-top, in-your-face FX like those seen in Jaws 3-D and Friday the 13th Part III, SCAR's dimensional cinematography encourages a subtler, more voyeuristic feel".

All-digital workflow

Scar is the first feature length narrative 3D movie be completed in a completely digital workflow. The production workflow was designed by NHK and DitlevFilms. Using a 3D camera rig engineered by NTS in Japan (built around two digital high definition Sony cameras) the all-digital workflow was supported by an on-site digital lab. The lab facilitated an HD offline version of the footage so editing could begin while filming. The lab also generated dailies and full resolution plates for VFX.

Postproduction

The editing process of Scar was done entirely in HD (720p) and was using an editing method that allowed both stereoscopic video streams to be cut and viewed simultaneously. Proprietary scripts were used to generate 3D previews using a DepthQ 3D projector and CrystalEyes3 glasses. The postproduction process was designed and implemented by Christian Ditlev Bruun (DitlevFilms) and included FotoKem, Technicolor, and Plaster City in Los Angeles. Final stereoscopic adjustments were done in Skip City in Kawaguchi, Japan with NTS (a division of NHK).

Reviews and buzz

According to early reviews at one instance a man was "out cold and paramedics were actually called" and "one viewer ran out of the theater and threw up".

Release

On May 19, 2007 Scar3D opened at the Cannes Film Market. It has been the #1 film at the box office in several countries around the world, including Russia where it opened in 3D on 295 screens.

Home media

On October 1, 2010 Scar3D was the first-ever stereoscopic 3D Video-on-demand film released through major cable broadcasters for 3D televisions in the United States.