250 hours of FLAME compositing
pays off with prestigious award

MONTREAL, Quebec--March 3, 1997-- Discreet Logic, a leading developer of visual effects, editing and broadcast production tools, Monday announced that its flagship effects product, FLAME, was used extensively by POP in Santa Monica and Quiet Man in New York to create The Beatles' "Free as a Bird," which was awarded Best Music Video at the 39th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

The Beatles "Bird" video is a sweeping collage of live-action scenes that feature, from a flying bird's point of view, references to Beatles songs and the careful weaving of stock footage featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo. This dazzling, seamless mix of live action, special effects and stock footage required the very latest in compositing technology.

Renowned commercial director, Joe Pytka of PYTKA in California spent six days shooting in Liverpool and London, lensing images that would refer to Beatles songs. Once the footage was captured it was up to visual effects artists Kristen Johnson and Ben Gibbs at POP in Santa Monica and Johnny Semerad in New York at Quiet Man to take Pytka's footage and, using Discreet Logic's FLAME, marry it to the stock Beatles footage.

POP's Gibbs said the team couldn't have met its deadline without FLAME. "Without FLAME cutting this video, it would have been considerably more difficult if not impossible. FLAME can edit the tracking data with an amazing level of precision and ease. Most of the video boxes don't permit the same level of manipulation. FLAME is so much more interactive."

Alix Eglis, POP's visual effects producer, who coordinated an overall visual effects effort that resulted in more than 250 hours of compositing in FLAME, agreed with Gibbs' assessment. "We could not have done this video without FLAME," she noted. "It's the tracking. The tracking abilities are just amazing. That's one of the greatest things about this technology -- it continues to change and grow in every direction."


About FLAME
FLAME is Discreet Logic's award-winning resolution independent, on-line system for high-end visual effects creation for commercials, music videos, television programming, feature films and interactive media. FLAME provides real-time interactivity enabling the immediate feedback required for true on-line experimentation and client-driven design.
About Discreet Logic
Discreet Logic, based in Montreal, Quebec, develops and supports non-linear, on-line, digital systems for creating, editing and compositing imagery and special effects for film, video, audio and broadcast. The company's systems are used by creative professionals for a variety of applications: feature films, television programs, commercials, music videos, interactive game production and live broadcasting.

Through direct contact with digital artists, editors, audio engineers, production and broadcasting specialists, Discreet Logic offers technology designed to meet the present and future needs of content creators. Discreet Logic is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol DSLGF.