Not a Bad Start

Ascent 142’s First DI Project is Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond movie, which was released in U.S. theaters last month was the first digital intermediates project for London-based Ascent 142. Stephen Nakamura, vice president of features for Company 3, an Ascent Media business, graded the film at Ascent 142 on a da Vinci Resolve R-350.

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The Logline

An Ongoing Series of Articles on Screenwriting by an Award-Winning Filmmaker

By Donald Vasicek

The logline must show what your movie is about. You have about a minimum of five or six words and a maximum of three, five to six word sentences to show it in the logline. The shorter the better. If you are serious about writing, selling and getting your screenplays produced, then, you must think in terms of writing lean and mean. Lean and mean is the same thing, as the shorter, the better. This attitude will help you write to industry standards and help you hone your craft as a screenwriter.

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Saving Every Minute

Sony Unveils High-Def Camera and Recording System for Professional Video Applications 
 


In an effort to help filmmakers save money per recording minute, Sony plans to make available in February a new full high-definition compact point-of-view camera and solid-state recorder combination, the HXR-MC1. Its video compression will afford its users longer recording time per GB, as well as a low cost of media per minute.

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A Conversation with Don McAlpine

Winner of the American Society of Cinematographers International Achievement Award

Donald McAlpine will receive the 2009 American Society of Cinematographers International Achievement Award. The tribute is presented annually to a cinematographer who has made significant and enduring contributions to the global art of filmmaking. He will be feted during the 23rd Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards in Los Angeles on February 15, at the Century Plaza Hotel. McAlpine has compiled an eclectic range of some 50 narrative credits during the past 35 years, including such memorable films as Molin Rouge!, which earned an Oscar nomination in 2002, Breaker Morant, Predator, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Patriot Games, Peter Pan, The Time Machine, Clear and Present Danger, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is slated for release by 20th Century-Fox next April. We spoke with McAlpine recently.

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Shooting Sandhogs

New Documentary Chronicles the Largest Public Works project in the Western Hemisphere

Manhattan-based filmmaker Eddie Rosenstein, a founder of Eyepop Productions, is the creator, director and co-director of photography of The Greatest Tunnel Ever Built, profiling New York City’s legendary urban tunnel workers known as Sandhogs. Currently, the Sandhogs are building the city’s third water tunnel, scheduled to go online in 2013, to help alleviate New York City’s serious long-term water problem. Initiated 40 years ago, Water Tunnel #3 represents the largest public works project in the Western Hemisphere and will ultimately pump 1.2 billion gallons of water a day into Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.


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