Star is a new Fox TV music drama from Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Lee Daniels (Empire, Precious). Exposing the cutthroat music industry, Star follows three talented singers as they navigate the road to stardom. Cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball) shot the series pilot on Panasonic VariCam 35 cinema cameras.
Quantum has released StorNext 5.4, a new version of the company's workflow storage platform that enhances the efficiency and flexibility of media content management. StorNext 5.4 enhancements include the ability to integrate existing public cloud storage accounts and third-party object storage (private cloud) — starting with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, NetApp StorageGRID, IBM Cleversafe and Scality RING — as archive tiers in a StorNext®-managed media environment. Another new feature enables users to deploy applications embedded within StorNext-powered Xcellis workflow storage appliances.
Honoring one of Hollywood’s biggest icons, the American Society of Cinematographers will bestow their Board of Governors Award on director Denzel Washington on February 4, 2017, during the 31st ASC Awards at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom. The organization presents the accolade to individuals in the industry whose body of work has made significant and indelible contributions to cinema. It is the only ASC Award not given to a cinematographer, and is reserved for filmmakers who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.
The just released short film, The Refuge, focuses on the Gwich’in people of Alaska and Northern Canada and their more than three decade fight to protect the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and other threats. Filming in such a remote location was severely challenging. As there are no cars in Arctic Village, bulky film equipment had to be transported by ATV or carried on foot. Electricity was also at a premium. Directors Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski had access to just one electrical outlet for use in charging camera equipment and computers.
Data management company DCIMPro360 has named post-production veteran Patrick Howley to be its director of technology. Howley has more than 40 years of experience as an engineer, consultant, sales director, project manager, and owner/operator of a large digital production and post-production center.
When Gavin Struthers ASC, one of Britain's leading cinematographers, learned he’d been selected to shoot the U.S. television drama series Black Sails, he knew there would be a lot of challenging location work including water scenes and day-for-night scenes. Black Sails is set roughly two decades before the events of Treasure Island and during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Jay Hunter is a celebrated director and cinematographer whose work runs the gamut from features and scripted series to documentaries and reality TV. He’s crafted unique aesthetics for television shows such as On the Lot and films including Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. Hunter’s current project is the NBC comedy Superstore, about the employees of a big box retailer. For that series, he tries to make viewers feel like they’re part of the action through a visual style that looks handheld, but is not.
Created by former 60 Minutes producers Joel Bach and David Gelber, the National Geographic Channel’s documentary series Years of Living Dangerously won a 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. The series has earned wide praise for its thought-provoking stories on the human and environmental costs of climate change. It is also notable for its outstanding production value from the epic imagery captured by production teams operating around the globe to the detailed color treatments applied during post.
European entertainment company Sky has installed two FilmLight Baselight 4K color-grading systems in its post-production department. The new systems will allow Sky to serve the increasing technological demands of external clients as well as in-house departments at the company’s headquarters at Osterley, West London.
By overwhelming popular demand, acclaimed animation studio Laika will present a return holiday engagement of From Coraline to Kubo: A Magical Laika Experience from December 21, 2016 to January 15, 2017 at Universal Studios Hollywood. This special event will take place within the theme park’s Globe Theatre and is included in the price of admission.
