Few know underwater cinematography and how to light the great blue sea better than Pete Romano ASC. His unique specialty has made him sought after for most major films where’s there’s any underwater action. His 40-year underwater track record is unmatched. IMDB tries but at 159 credits for film and television they just skim the surface, especially considering the multitude of commercials, music videos and documentaries to count.
Liquid Media Group has appointed Ronald Thomson as its CEO to drive the growth of its evolving business. As president of the global business development firm Cameron Thomson Group, he has been building successful media/entertainment and tech companies for more than two decades from its offices in Toronto, London, Lake Como, Los Angeles and Taipei.
Audio challenges have inhibited wider acceptance of larger direct view displays because, unlike with acoustically transmissive projection screens, loudspeakers cannot be located directly behind the visual image. Placing screen channel loudspeakers around the display perimeter compromises uniformity of coverage, stability of image localization, and overall audio fidelity. To address this situation, Meyer Sound has introduced Ultra Reflex, a patent-pending solution for optimum reproduction of discrete screen channel audio on large-scale direct view video displays. For the initial launch period, Ultra Reflex solution is paired with Sony’s Crystal LED. The first joint installation for the two technologies is at a reference-level screening room and lab on the Netflix campus in Los Angeles.
Late last year, Deluxe Entertainment appointed George Eyles executive vice president and general manager, worldwide cinema. The move marks a return for Eyles, who at one time was Deluxe’s managing director of digital cinema, EMEA. Prior to rejoining Deluxe, he was at Maccs, a Vista Group company, where he served as CEO and led Vista’s Numero box office reporting business. Previous to that Eyles served at Arqiva where he was responsible for the deployment of a pan-European electronic delivery network for cinema and creating that company’s live event services delivering hundreds of live alternative events to cinemas around the world; and for creating and implementing systems and frameworks in areas including asset deliverables and technical operations, optimization of operational efficiencies, creation, localization and distribution of content assets in the digital cinema and digital platform spaces. I spoke with Eyles via email just as he was settling into his new job, which is where our conversation began.
VFX Legion created more than 200 visual effects for Black Box, one of the series of films in the Welcome to Blumhouse anthology, the thematically connected package of dark genre movies marks Amazon's first-ever global direct to services deal. Director/writer Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.’s psychological thriller is the story of Noland (Mamoudou Athie), an amnesiac desperate to return to his former self. Dr. Brooks (Phylicia Rashad) offers to help the main character regain his memory with the Black Box, an experimental device that immerses him in virtual memories of pivotal life events.
Award-winning filmmaker Ky Dickens is joining Yard Dog for advertising projects originating on the West and East coasts. Based in Los Angeles, Dickens has earned wide acclaim for her documentaries and for work for agencies and brands, which often involves real people and heartfelt subject matter. Her clients include Tylenol, Hershey’s, McDonald’s, Koehler, Purina, Huggies, Hallmark and Kellogg’s.
Assimilate today announced an update of their Live Assist and Live Looks on-set software, which enables a first in highly efficient, streamlined on-set workflows at unprecedented price/performance value for video assist and digital image technician live grading functions. Also included is newly added support for AJA and Blackmagic routers, as well as integrated NDI output among other highly anticipated features.
With 2020 having been a highly unusual year for the recording industry, the release of Taylor Swift’s Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on the Disney+ platform at the end of November provided a welcome, intimate insight into one of the biggest recording stars of our time. A mix between documentary film and live performance, the 106-minute-long movie sees Swift perform all the tracks from her Folklore album live at the secluded Long Pond Studio in upstate New York.
Continuing its long-time support for independent film, Goldcrest Post provided post-production sound and/or picture services for six films screening in this year’s Sundance Film Festival. They include four films taking part in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, and one each including in the NEXT and Shorts tracks. All are world premieres. The festival will be held via new proprietary streaming platform from January 28 to February 3.
Deluxe announced today that it has acquired UK-based Sundog Media Toolkit. Financial terms were not disclosed.
