The SIM Group has reached an agreement in principle to merge with Hollywood-based Chainsaw. The deal unites the film and television production equipment and post-production services provider, with the independent post-production house that services such renowned shows as The Academy Awards and American Idol. The merger is expected to close next month.
Entrepreneurs Greg Campbell and Wendy and B. Wayne Hughes Jr. have founded Cantinas Entertainment, a fully funded venture dedicated to releasing multi-platform entertainment that inspires and informs through positive, life affirming stories. The company will finance the development, production and P&A for films as well as the development and production for television properties.
Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shotgun Software, a developer of scalable, cloud-based production tracking, review and asset management software for the film, television and games industries. Shotgun's tools for production management are used by some of the world's leading production studios and are tightly integrated with many of the most widely used tools in the industry including Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Continuing its expansion mode, Filmworkers has formed a new in-house creative unit, Churchill’s Studio, focused on visual effects and animation. Headed by visual effects director Rob Churchill, the new unit will provide services ranging from compositing and visual effects to full CG production.
DiaQuest Products announced today that ProductionLink for Adobe Premiere Pro and ProductionLink for Adobe After Effects plug-ins are compatible with Adobe Creative Cloud 2014 and are available through a new Adobe Marketplace Web site, creative.adobe.com/addons.
Encore uses a global post workflow for the on-site dailies and post-production services for all 12 episodes of the Fox series 24: Live Another Day. Shot in London, Encore's local office manages the dailies workflow and then pipes footage back to Encore Hollywood for online editing, coloring and finishing.
Super Star Power Productions in Los Angeles is a combination post-production facility and theater that offers a seamless 4K pipeline from review of uncompressed 4K image files taken directly from 4K cameras, through color grading at 4K, to a Qube XP-I server and Xi IMB and projected via Barco's new DP4K-P post-production projector. Hollywood producers and directors of feature films will now be able to review 4K images, color grade at 4K in real time and generate 4K digital cinema packages for final quality control, all from a single 4K projector in a home-like setting.
Bruce Austin of Bruce Austin Productions and Dan Harris of Eight Ball Pictures and Stereoscope teamed up to create the 3D film Our Restless Planet, for the JPL Earth Science Visitor Center. The film highlights the effects of hurricanes, earthquakes and fresh water supplies on our planet.
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has announced plans for a new partnership with the Hollywood Post Alliance. The partnership will begin with SMPTE providing administrative support to HPA, and it is expected to culminate in the merger of the two organizations by May 2015.
Cospective has introduced new pricing plans for its Frankie video review-and-approval system, starting at just $49 per month. Frankie has also added new features and doubled quotas for our existing customers worldwide. With three levels of service, Frankie now caters to everyone from individual freelancers to the largest studios.
