Award-winning cinematographer Nancy Schreiber, ASC recently shot a two-minute public service announcement for YouTube honoring International Women’s Day. The spot profiles seven YouTube creators from around the world who serve as Change Ambassadors in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign, using their voices to stand up for gender equality.
The Association of Moving Image Archivists has announced May 4 as the date for the New York outing of its annual Digital Asset Symposium, a day of engaging and educational discussions on the most current challenges and breakthroughs in managing digital assets. This year the event will be held at the Victor Borge Theatre in Manhattan.
British colorist Adam Inglis, whose credits include such features as Far From the Madding Crowd, Mr. Turner and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, as well as the television mini-series Wolf Hall, has allied with Post Factory NY, a Sim Group company, for U.S.-based feature and television projects. He has already completed two projects through Post Factory NY, performing final grading for the independent films Little Men and Breakable You.
Motion picture and television professionals hungry to know what gear was used to shoot the latest Star Wars epic or Netflix’s hottest new show are quickly turning ShotOnWhat? into one of the production industry’s most popular destinations on the web. The production and post-production database site, which includes detailed information on everything from the camera lenses to the sound equipment to the visual effects software used to produce particular movies and TV shows, has pushed past 100,000 page views per month. Site founder James LaViola predicts that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Breed, a technical staffing agency focused on recruiting tech talent for careers in the entertainment industry, has launched in Los Angeles. A division of IT specialist GPL Technologies, Breed connects motion picture studios, gaming companies, visual effects houses, post-production facilities and other creative service providers with the industry’s best engineers, IT and pipeline specialists, and programmers.
The Sim Group has appointed former Kodak executive Graeme Parcher as general manager of the Los Angeles office of its SIM Digital division, a supplier of camera systems and related gear to motion picture and television productions. Parcher will oversee operations, manage relations with studios, independent producers and other key clients, and develop strategies for growth.
Codex has named Philippe Panzini vice president, user experience. Best known as the chief technology officer at Discreet Logic Panzini was instrumental in designing the first version of Flame. In 1998 he was a co-recipient of an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Science and Engineering Award for the development and implementation of the Flame and Inferno software. After taking on a key role in the acquisition of Discreet Logic by Autodesk he then worked with Apple’s imaging products group on forward-looking technologies, particularly in the areas of improving the user experience and designing user interfaces.
Deadpool is already one of 2016’s biggest box office hits. The darkly comic and graphic take on the superhero movie was finished by colorist Tim Stipan on Baselight at Deluxe’s EFilm in Hollywood. “Working on such a complex, effects-heavy project often requires various external matte sequences in addition to multiple image tracks. Multiply that by the large number of VFX vendors, and it meant we had a lot of different layers and mattes,” said Stipan.
The Walk feature film, Atomic Fiction’s digital recreation of 1974 New York City—complete with hot dogs steaming on a vendor cart—earned the praise of critics who proclaimed the movie “a visual spectacle” with effects “so grand it’s easy to forget you’re watching a virtual 100 percent CG-created world.” Less visible but equally important to filmmaker clients is the studio’s behind-the-scenes production artistry. Marc Sadeghi, president of Visual Effects at Atomic Fiction said, “By combining the power of technology, the creativity of passionate artists, and a collaborative approach to working with filmmakers, we’re able to overcome the challenges inherent to VFX production. As a result, we can satisfy both the VFX appetites and production deadlines of our clients.”
A full-service design firm, The Hettema Group specializes in experiential entertainment projects such as theme parks, large-scale parades, live events, museums, destination resorts, and other state-of-the-art media-based attractions. Providing initial blue-sky concept designs through delivery of the entire experience, The Hettema Group offers detailed design and media production, on-site art direction and installation supervision.
