Film-marketing agency Picture Production Company is the first facility to place an order for the EditShare XStream EFS 300 single-node, scale-out storage platform. Renowned for its creative work, PPC has locations in Soho, London and Los Angeles, and produces trailers, television spots and online video for some of the world’s largest film studios.
Hare Krishna! The Mantra, The Movement and the Swami Who Started It All is a documentary film on the life of Srila Prabhupada—the 70-year-old Indian Swami who arrived in America without support or money in the turbulent 1960s and ignited a worldwide spiritual phenomenon with only his unflinching determination and faith. The film posted at AlphaDogs in Burbank. As with most historical documentaries, the biggest hurdle the team had to overcome were the technical challenges inherent in working with multiple source formats.
Snell Advanced Media’s LiveTouch replay and highlights system and its Kahuna 9600 production switcher were central to the first live UHD production workflow of the 2017 Isle of Wight Festival. Based in High Wycombe, UK, CTV Outside Broadcast has 12 trucks in operation and has provided live coverage for a wide range of events including The European Golf Tour, The London Marathon as well as primetime studio-based programs including Strictly Come Dancing and The Brit Awards.
For Gisle Tveito, a 26-year veteran, supervising sound editor, dubbing mixer, and one of the owners of Storyline, getting the sound design process to run closer to parallel with the video editing process has always been a goal. While many sound departments wait for picture-lock before starting to work on the sound, the team at Storyline is breaking the mold of the traditional serial workflow by closely aligning audio with video editors from the first cut.
Signiant today announced the company will showcase a revolutionary new transport architecture that furthers its mission to enable fast, secure global transport of media, in the Innovation Zone at the upcoming HPA Tech Retreat UK.
Shared storage and media management systems company EditShare will expand its UK operations with a brand new office opening in London’s Soho district in July. The central London location features full demonstration capabilities of Ultra HD workflows. The facility will also offer professional and business development services, providing the local creative community a place to gain hands-on experience along with expert guidance for building next-generation editorial and VFX workflows.
Sony Digital Cinema 4K and Hawk-Eye Innovations today announced what the companies say is the first full proof of concept of Hawk-Eye’s globally renowned technology outside the world of sports broadcasting. Hawk-Eye’s Smart Production technology is being used to capture the Hackney Empire’s production of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird chamber opera, with a view to demonstrating scalable, cost-effective remote production for arts establishments.
For Nissan’s Return of the Snowman spot, visual effects specialists The Embassy in Vancouver banded together with post house Alter Ego in Toronto. The Embassy is well known for its photo-realistic, hard surface VFX work, from creating the digital Iron Man suits for all three films to building massive drop ship hangers for The Hunger Games trilogy. Having worked on countless commercials with Alter Ego, The Embassy made the decision to become part of the creative process for grading, to improve the efficiency and precision of their VFX work and present a consistent preview to their clients.
Designing a precise color workflow during pre-production can save motion picture projects time and money. The larger and more complex the project, the more the potential for savings. Digital imaging technician Francesco Giardello (Pan, Game of Thrones, Ben-Hur, Thor: The Dark World) can accurately be described as a pioneer in the use of the Academy Color Encoding System on-set. He recently designed a set-to-post color workflow using ACES for the movie Life, directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds. This space thriller from Sony tells the story of the crew aboard the International Space Station and what happens when they encounter extra-terrestrial life in the form of an organism they name Calvin. On Life, Giardello worked closely with cinematographer Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC. The main cameras used were Arri Alexa 65s although, according to Giardello, several other cameras were also utilized. I spoke with Giardello about the color workflow used on Lif
Extravaganza, a new virtual reality short film satire directed by Ethan Shaftel, leveraged Maxon Cinema 4D software and its CV-VR Cam dedicated plug-in for rendering VR content to streamline the production workflow. The film, which stars Paul Scheer (The League, 30 Rock), John Gemberling (Broad City, Santa Clarita Diet), Will Greenberg (Wrecked), and Annie Tedesco (Bella and the Bulldogs), debuted to positive acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Immersive Virtual Arcade and will make its European premiere during the Cannes Film Festival May 17-28 at the Marche du Film Next VR program.
