Adobe Software Plays Leading Role in Visual Effects for "Gladiator"

"Gladiator" Wins Academy Award for Best Visual Effects

San Jose, Calif., (March 27, 2001) (Nasdaq:ADBE)--Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that Adobe® After Effects® and Adobe Photoshop® software were used to create several of the visual effects shots for DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Studios' "Gladiator," directed by Ridley Scott and winner of the 2001 Academy Award® for Best Picture and Best Visual Effects.

"Creating Academy Award-winning visual effects on the desktop is proof positive that creative tools like Adobe After Effects and Photoshop have come of age," said Bruce Chizen, president and CEO of Adobe Systems Incorporated. "Top visual effects houses like DreamWorks are realizing that they don't need to use expensive, high-end editing hardware and software to create award-winning special effects."

One of Scott's primary goals with "Gladiator" was to bring the glory and colossal scale of ancient Rome back to the big screen, as films such as "Ben Hur" and "Spartacus" had done in the past. To achieve this in grand style, Scott relied on superb visual effects created by DreamWorks.

When production on the film was nearing completion, artists had to create several visual effects shots quickly, on a relatively tight budget. Wes Sewell, visual effects editor for DreamWorks, oversaw completion of the final effects shots for "Gladiator" using Adobe software, which took only a few days.

"Several people were amazed that we could create such high-end visual effects on the desktop," said Sewell. "We're heading into our next project—another Ridley Scott film—with plans to do more visual effects shots using Adobe software."

Final visual effects shots created using Adobe software include:

• A shot early in the film of the main character, Maximus, played by Russell Crowe, riding home to reach his family before they are harmed. The shot combines stock footage of a funnel cloud and lightning strikes with live-action footage of Crowe riding and leading a horse.
• When Maximus arrives home to find his family slain, he falls to the ground and the film cuts to a nightmare. The nightmare shot created in After Effects features the sun crashing into the horizon with time-lapsed clouds passing overhead, then cuts to several segments such as one of Crowe being moved on an invisible dolly with rocks beneath him.
• When Maximus dies in the end of the film, he goes to meet his family in heaven. Maximus' wife stands amidst ethereal clouds, created in After Effects by taking a shot of an ocean, flipping it upside down, manipulating and compositing it in After Effects.
• In addition to creating several final shots for the film, DreamWorks did all of the pre-visualization and pre-production work for the establishing shot of ancient Rome using Photoshop and After Effects. Artists began with a poster of a model of ancient Rome, scanning it into Photoshop to paint out artifacts and text. Within After Effects, artists added digital clouds and movement to make it look as if viewers are flying in toward the city. This presentation was so successful that the DreamWorks team subsequently flew back to Rome to photograph the model to create the final piece.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for Network Publishing, including Web, print, video, wireless and broadband applications. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media and authoring tools enable customers to create, manage and deliver visually-rich, reliable content. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Adobe is the second-largest PC software company in the U.S., with annual revenues exceeding $1.3 billion.

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© 2001 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, After Effects and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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