The CurseArguably the most significant film event of the calendar, Cannes is the festival that bought us films such as Pulp Fiction and Brief Encounter. This year, Cannes boasts films in Competition from directors including Wes Anderson, Ken Loach and David Cronenberg. 'The Curse', shot in the desolate Moroccan countryside, the film centres on the struggles of a young woman, Fatine, who is hounded by villagers after she is discovered to have had an affair with an older man. Colorist Jason R Moffat explains how he achieved the films distinct look. ...Read More »
Q&A with Creative Supervisor of Replacement Animation & Engineering Brian McLeanWith ParaNorman, we have made the first stop-motion movie that uses a 3D Color Printer. The technique is similar, but what the 3D Color Printer affords you to do is to build color into the model. ParaNorman is not only a wonderful story but it is the most advanced stop motion film of all time. I think the audience members will ultimately get so involved in the story that the will forget that they are actually watching a hand crafted stop motion movie. Only after the movie is over do they have time to think "whoa how in the world did they do that?" ...Read More »
Q&A with Animation Supervisor Brad SchiffI have many proud moments from this film. Most of them revolve around the success of the animation team. While it seems like it's all fun and games, what we do is incredibly difficult and taxing...mentally and physically. It takes great skill, concentration and confidence to animate at this level. Witnessing the animators on this film shoot the greatest shots of their careers on ParaNorman has proven to be most rewarding to me. ...Read More »
Q&A with Visual Effects Supervisor Brian Van't HulIn Part 2 of our PARANORMAN interview series we talk with Brian Van't Hul who works at animation studio LAIKA, and was also the visual effects supervisor on the company's Oscar-nominated 2009 feature "Coraline." His previous stop-motion credits include Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James & the Giant Peach." ...Read More »
Dubai Color Artist Gives International Film Festival Favorite, The Intruder!, a Winning LookDiane Kuo, senior colorist at Dubai's Optix Digital Pictures, is fast becoming one of the top grading artists in the Middle East. Her portfolio boasts a number of 'big brand' commercials, Bollywood feature films and most recently an independent sci-fi film hitting the international film festival circuit called The Intruder!. ...Read More »
Anyone who has wet a line in Australia has heard of Rex HuntAnyone who has wet a line in Australia has heard of Rex Hunt. When Rex hung up his rod and reel seven years ago, he introduced us to Paul Worsteling who received an enthusiastic audience response. Worsteling was a natural, had on-camera flair and seemingly boundless energy along with an infectious laugh, and so IFISH with Tackleworld was born. Running on Channels Ten and ONE, with repeats on Foxtel, production company Dreampool shoots 30 half hour shows a year plus ten one hour shows, on location in Australia and around the world, including Denmark, Holland, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Vanuatu, Fiji and the UK. ...Read More »
"Sling Baby" Is A Winner at Super Bowl XLVIBurbank's Blacklist Productions was a part of the process from beginning to end, providing the rented Red camera "Sling Baby" was shot on, and handling color grading and finishing in house with DaVinci Resolve. The one stop shop, which has essentially grown their entire business around the color correction system they purchased last year, considered Resolve to be the instrumental tool in making "Sling Baby" look like a million bucks. ...Read More »
Inferno Records Creates Music Videos Just "Like That"Modern technology has given artists the opportunity to share their talents with the whole world. Pop music singer, songwriter and producer, Killian Wells, made the most of that opportunity when he founded Inferno Records, putting a new spin on the outdated record label business model. Having been heavily involved in all aspects of his career and enjoying the many successes that came as a result, Killian wasn't about to change his winning formula when it came time to produce the music video for his new single, "It's Like That (feat. Nixon)". ...Read More »
IdeaRocket Helps Launch Eighth Season of the SHOWTIME Comedy Series "Weeds" with New Show OpenThe hit SHOWTIME series "Weeds" is back for its eighth and final season, which called for a new show open to deftly provide the backstory of the entire seven seasons. The show's producers were fascinated by an animation technique they came across called whiteboard and asked IdeaRocket to run with the format. ...Read More »
The Film Bakery Gets Cooking with Blackmagic Design and QantasThe Film Bakery recently teamed up with Qantas to release an hour long independent documentary, now airing on The History Channel, about Australia's national airline. The purpose of creating "Qantas: From the Outback to the World" was to bring archived material together to tell a cohesive story about the major airline's humble beginnings, while still maintaining the aspect of age. ...Read More »
The Film Bakery Gets Cooking with Blackmagic Design and QantasThe Film Bakery recently teamed up with Qantas to release an hour long independent documentary, now airing on The History Channel, about Australia's national airline. The purpose of creating "Qantas: From the Outback to the World" was to bring archived material together to tell a cohesive story about the major airline's humble beginnings, while still maintaining the aspect of age. ...Read More »
Building Broadcast Communities: From Public Access to Educational Institutions in New York State with Blackmagic DesignOne project was the creation of an HD studio for Albany Public Access, which was recently completed by CineDV Productions. Albany Community Television "brings transparency to the Capital District" by streaming programming, which includes weekly live broadcasts of City Hall meetings, on cable and online, with the help of a Blackmagic Design ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher. The ATEM 1 M/E Production Switcher was a high quality solution that provided Albany Public Access with a wide range of inputs, outputs and effects. It gave them a switching network that rivaled larger broadcasters, for less than $3,000. ...Read More »
ASSIMILATE Expands Sales and Support for SCRATCH in India with DOTS Techno-Creative SolutionASSIMLATE announced further expansion of its sales and technical support presence in India with the appointment of reseller DOTS Techno-Creative Solution, nationwide. In response to India's demand for high-quality file-based workflows to support its burgeoning Bollywood and broadcast markets, ASSIMILATE opened a sales and technical support division for its SCRATCH product line in Mumbai in October 2011, and has since built a strong network of knowledgeable resellers and authorized training centers. ...Read More »
Filling a Full Broadcast Schedule Before Homeroom at Texarkana's Texas High SchoolTexarkana's Texas High School (THS) has always prided itself on being able to offer real world learning experience at state of the art facilities. It is home to a vibrant and united student body. The public school is well known for competitive sports and even some famous alumni that have gone on to become politicians and professional athletes. Even the facility itself is widely acknowledged as an architectural beauty. ...Read More »
ASSIMILATE Congratulates SCRATCH Artists On Festival de Cannes 2012 EntriesAt the 65th Festival de Cannes, May 16 - 27, several films on the competition roster have been created by filmmakers whose post-production companies used ASSIMILATE's SCRATCH DI software in their digital workflows for conform, color grading, and finishing. The Cannes Film Festival is the world's premier showcase for independent and international filmmakers. ...Read More »
Color Grading 'The Courier' with Louisiana's Films In Motion and Colorist Omar GodinezShot and finished in Louisiana, 'The Courier' joined massive features such as 'Battle LA' and the 'Twilight' movies, as well as the host of independent films and television series that have transformed the state into the fastest growing region in the US for feature and television work. So while faced with the need to create a blockbuster look on a tight budget, the producers of the film needed to join forces with local post professionals that had experience handling all levels of production. To finish the film, the filmmakers chose Baton Rouge's Films In Motion. ...Read More »
Broadcasting To The Masses At La Porte Ouverte ChretienneEach mass is attended by more than 2,000 people, and "virtually" by thousands more, as services are also streamed live to the church's website. For an even wider reach, church services are published on DVD within a week. Jéry Vannieu (Vanniewenhuyse) is the technical director at La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne. With a background in audiovisual technology, Mr. Vannieu has worked in audiovisual production as a freelance technical event director for concerts, youth gatherings and festivals for more than 10 years. Already a member of La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne, he was delighted to be invited to collaborate on audiovisual projects involving multiple media, including TV and streaming live to the Internet. ...Read More »
DaVinci Resolve Connects Across Oceans to Bring Out the Hero Within Us AllFounded in 1993, the independent and highly successful Metrafilms follows the principles of "handmade production," investing in talent rather than expensive hardware for their productions. With an impressive client list that includes Samsung, Wimm-Bill-Dann, one of Europe's biggest dairy products companies, and MegaFon, Russia's second largest mobile phone operator, Metrafilms is known for its creativity and ability to hire only the best. The company's vast connections eventually teamed the production house up with Jake Blackstone, an LA based colorist and the founder of MOD Color. More than a talent, Blackstone is a technologist. Together, they would carve a new path for post and color grading, changing the way editors can connect and collaborate to bring a film to life. ...Read More »
RED EPIC-X: Jeremy Wiles and Creative LabThe RED EPIC-X with its Mysterium-X Sensor sporting 5K resolution, one of the best dynamic ranges at 13.5 stops (18 with HDRx) and rated at 800 ISO, frame rates up to 120 fps at full resolution, the ability to use a variety of lenses, and you've got a camera that's made for both Hollywood and the working professional. Peter Jackson is using the EPIC in a 3D rig for The Hobbit films, and even more major and indie filmmakers are taking advantage of RED's latest camera. We decided it's time to get to know the RED EPIC-X, and Jeremy Wiles of Creative Lab in West Palm Beach was more than happy to introduce us. ...Read More »
Principal Photo Takes Flight with HyperDeck ShuttleThe Lockheed T-33 is an aircraft with history, entering into the United States Air Force in 1948 as America's first operational jet fighter and trainer, and seeing service in a variety of countries over the next three decades. Though it has been retired from most active service, T-33's around the globe are still flying and the plane has become a featured performer in a number of air shows around the globe. Acemaker performer Greg Colyer decided to create a promotional marketing video in order to prove the T-33 is still a sight to behold. ...Read More »
