When Graham Sheldon got the call from showrunner Johnny Fountain to be his DP for remote production on the new Behind Every Man series, he felt up to the challenge. Sheldon’s technical background, and his willingness to try new and potentially unproven shooting methods gave him the confidence to capture the interview-heavy documentary-series amid COVID-19 restrictions.
The global pandemic has forced the world’s cinemas to close down. The biggest film festival in Scandinavia is therefore creating The Isolated Cinema on the lighthouse island of Pater Noster. One film enthusiast will be able to enjoy the festival in total isolation on a rock far out at sea, with film as his or her only companion. There will also be exclusive one-person film screenings at two iconic venues in Göteborg. Our world looks very different today, and so too does the Göteborg Film Festival. The 2021 festival will be digital, with audience having access to all the films, premieres and talks via a digital platform. Some participants will also get a real-life experience with the opportunity to watch the films in total seclusion: The Isolated Cinema.
Matt Scott has joined media and entertainment storage company GB Labs to further develop the company’s presence in the Americas. As solutions architect and pre-sales engineer, Scott will be based in California, and work with both resellers and end users.
The future of independent film production in a post-covd-19 world is taking “virtual” shape at Pace Pictures in Hollywood. The boutique facility recently used groundbreaking virtual production technology to produce Match, a feature-length romantic comedy from director Sean McGinly (Silver Lake, The Great Buck Howard). Actors were shot on a green screen stage and placed into virtual three-dimensional environments while incorporating complex camera movement and lighting. Most remarkably, principal photography was accomplished in just five days and at a fraction of the cost of most conventional film productions.
When director Carlos Montero finalized the deal to turn his novel, The Mess You Leave Behind, into an eight-episode mini-series for Netflix, one of the first calls he made was to cinematographer Isaac Vila to ask him to take on the project. Vila, a frequent Cooke lenses user, knew the range of S7/i Full Frame Plus lenses would allow him to achieve a sharp, subtle and smooth rendering to create magical scenery when playing around with the fog, humidity, stone, and contrasts of the scenery the series would have in the background.
Atlanta-based dry-cleaning startup Presso says it has recently closed deals several major movie studios including Netflix, HBO, Apple TV, Fox, Disney, Hulu, and Shudder to handle the cleaning of costumes during productions.
For the fifth consecutive year, the award for outstanding writing of a Nordic drama series, funded by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, will be handed out during TV Drama Vision, Göteborg Film Festival’s conference event and series market. Five drama series from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been nominated for the prize, which will be awarded to the main writer.
Visualization services company Opsis recently provided end-to-end services from concept, pre-vis, post-vis, and finalizing VFX shots to assembling the right talent on Songbird, director Adam Mason's new dystopian thriller from producer Michael Bay. Opsis integrated VFX Legion into its effects team.
New York Women in Film & Television has presented two filmmakers with grants funded by the Alan M. & Mildred S. Ravenal Foundation. The NYWIFT Ravenal Foundation Grant supports the production of a feature film from a female director over 40. Funds may be used for pre-production, production, or post-production.
The historic Michelson Cinema Research Library, the legendary repository of all things Hollywood, was donated to the Internet Archive was today by the Library’s founder, Lillian Michelson. She and the Internet Archive’s founder and digital librarian, Brewster Kahle made the announcement jointly. A virtual ribbon cutting, panel discussion and a screening of the documentary Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, will be held on Wednesday, January 27 from 4-6:30 PM PST. At that time Michelson, 92, will unveil the first phase of her new digital collection.
