Drive-ins have survived a long list of challenges over the years. For starters in almost every region they’re seasonal businesses limited in the number of showings they can offer because they have to wait until dusk to start. In the 1950s crusaders called them morally depraved and labeled them “passion pits ” a term that may or may not have helped business depending on your perspective. The advent of color television in the 1960s took a small toll but the biggest challenge came in the 1980s when rising real estate prices made their properties more valuable for other uses. Faced with all of this it’s amazing that so many have survived. But they have and in some places the drive-in business is good. The irony is that digital technology which is bringing so many new opportunities to the overall exhibition industry may in fact be the one challenge most drive-ins simply can’t overcome. The peak for drive-ins in the United States came in the mid-90s when there were 4 300. Then came the years of steady decline. The low point came in 2008 when there were 377 theatres and 623 screens. There were 382 drive-in theatres in 2010 with 629 screens. Richard M. Hollingshead Jr. is credited with inventing the outdoor theatre. In 1932 he conducted tests in the driveway of his New Jersey home to determine how best to place a car and what sound levels worked well with the windows rolled up and down. He was given a patent for his invention (later delared invalid) and opened the first commercial drive-in on June 6 1933. It has 500 parking slots and a 40-foot by 50-foot screen. The first movie projected in an American drive-in was Wife Beware starring Adolphe Menjou. Hollingshead closed his theatre three years later but by then the idea had caught on and over the next three decades drive-ins opened for business all across the country. Among those was Wellfleet Drive-In on Cape Cod Massachusetts. John Jentz and Charlie Zehnder opened the drive-in on July 3 1957. Frommer’s lists the Wellfleet Drive-In as one of the 500 Places to See Before They Disappear and Travel and Leisure has selected it as a Top Ten Retro Escape. Today the Wellfleet is owned and operated by John Vincent who is also president of the UDITOA. The Wellfleet Drive-In has a 44-foot by 100-foot screen with sound provided by both an FM stereo signal and the original individual monaural speakers that can be attached to a car's window. It has a mini-golf course featuring obstacles that date back to 1961. The complex also has a year-round indoor cinema that was built in the 1980s. According to Eleanor Hazen its owner at the time one of the reasons the indoor cinema was built is that film distributors started refusing to allow drive-ins to show first-run feature films. Wellfleet’s indoor theatre currently has four screens. John Vincent has been involved with the theatre most of his life. “I began in 1987 as a ticket seller at the Wellfleet Drive-In ” he says “and worked in between Marine Corps Reserve training and deployments and college until I came on full time in 1995 as general manager. I became an owner in 1997 and one of the principals in 1999.” Although in his opinion some areas of the country are underserved as far as drive-ins are concerned Vincent nevertheless says “We’re at the perfect number of drive-ins now.” One of the biggest plusses of the business especially in tough economic times the drive-in represents enjoyable summer family entertainment at bargain prices. “People come to the drive-in because they love the experience ” Vincent says. “It’s a great experience. You get to see a double feature for the price of one movie. It’s wildly popular with the public.” In a well-run drive-in the grosses are the same as for an indoor theatre but succeeding with a single screen is becoming an increasing challenge. “The ideal drive-in has multiple screens ” Vincent says. “At least two.” He notes that although the Wellfleet is a single-screen drive-in it has the indoor screens and in any case his drive-in is the only one on Cape Cod where the summer population swells from 280 000 to 500 000. He estimates that of the drive-in theatres in the country between 10-20 percent also have indoor theatres. The Wellfleet Drive-In is similar to others in that in addition to the movies it offers a wide variety of family entertainment. There is the miniature golf course and a flea market. On the days when the market is open patrons can get breakfast and lunch at the concessions stand. There’s also a playground for kids and a beer garden for adults. The Drive-In is also one of the venues for the annual Provincetown International Film Festival. The festival started thirteen years ago says executive director Gabriel Hannah and about four years after that “Thursday nights at the Drive-In” became a key part of the event. “We usually don’t show festival films at the drive-in ” Hannah says. Instead they try to find a classic film that either celebrates an anniversary or has some tie to the festival. As an example last year was the 25th anniversary of Psycho so that was one of the movies (they typically run a double feature) and Tony Perkins’ son made an appearance. Another year the festival honored Kathleen Turner and she was on hand for the drive-in’s screening of Serial Mom. Given his location his indoor theatre the market he serves and the fact that the Wellfleet is the only drive-in on Cape Cod Vincent is reasonably confident that his business will continue to thrive. What the future holds for other owners is less certain. Vincent is a member of NATO’s Cinema Buyers Group and is actively investigating the transition to digital both for his theatre and in his role as UDITOA president. He understands that the day will almost certainly come – and it could be relatively soon – when theatres and drive-in theatres in particular will no longer have access to first run 35mm print releases. Asked what that might mean Vincent says simply “Digital cinema presents a lot of challenges.” ,2304
Gayle Ferraro’s To Catch a Dollar,2011-03-25, Screenvision played host to exclusive screenings of Gayle Ferraro’s To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America in theatres across America on March 31st. The film was accompanied by a taped discussion with Yunus moderated by CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo and featured special guests including Suze Orman Robert DeNiro and Premal Shah president of Kiva.org. The evening also included video appearances by Hugh Jackman Matt Damon Russell Simmons and many others. The film narrated by Hugh Jackman chronicles the inspiring logic-defying yet true story of Yunus’ idea to bring his model of microlending to the United States and depicts the millions of lives it has changed in the process. The panel discussion was taped on March 9th in New York. It addresses the monetary issues raised in the film and will explore innovative solutions to today’s most pressing financial challenges.
Yunus known as the “father of modern microfinance ” is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. Yunus is also a 2006 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace.
“Dr. Yunus is a brilliant economist who has brought change to millions of lives. Screenvision is honored to support the film To Catch a Dollar and distribute it to our theatres across the country ” says Darryl Schaffer executive vice president operations and exhibitor relations Screenvision. “Distributing the film and panel discussion will allow Dr. Yunus’ vision to reach a vast audience and help raise awareness of the importance of microfinance in America.”
Screenvision has partnered with Area 23a an event-based theatrical distributor to assist in the distribution of the film which can be seen on over 200 movie screens across the country.
“We are proud to partner with Screenvision to bring this award-winning movie event to local communities across America and provide the opportunity for audiences to discover new innovative ways to improve their own financial situations ” says Kirt Eftekhar co-founder Area 23a. ,2306
Cineplex Debuts World’s First 4K DLP Movie Showing,2011-03-25, Last month Cineplex Entertainment debut Battle: Los Angeles 2011 the world’s first showing of a movie in 4K DLP cinema at Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo using the new Christie CP4200 platform. “At Cineplex our goal is to deliver an exceptional entertainment experience to our guests ” says Pat Marshall vice president communications and investor relations Cineplex Entertainment. “Christie projectors provide the sharpest on-screen image so our guests can enjoy the stunning imagery of today’s movies the way they are meant to be enjoyed on a big screen in a theatre.”
“This marked the first time anywhere that moviegoers were able to see what’s possible on the big screen with a superior 4K DLP cinema projection solution. Cinema fans are going to enjoy the depth and extreme quality of the visuals this new projection technology delivers ” says Craig Sholder vice president entertainment solutions Christie. “We pioneered digital cinema and we’re proud to deliver another ‘first’ to movie audiences and exhibitors.”
“This first installation has been completed at Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo in southern Ontario. The landmark project was managed by Christie and Cineplex and installed by Cinematronix. The installation features a Solaria Series CP4230 to drive a 65-foot projection throw to a 52-foot wide silver screen ” says Dave Muscat senior director of sales Christie Canada. “The Solaria Series includes the CP4220 for traditional cinema venues and the CP4230 designed for the largest theatres.”
Cineplex www.cineplex.com ,2314
Making the Case for 2D-3D Conversion,2011-03-25, By Valentina I. Valentini Barry B. Sandrew founded Legend3D in 2006 in response to the current wave of 3D. The company based in San Diego with offices in Hollywood Patna India and soon in Burbank is a digital media technology company that specializes in using its proprietary image processing technology and artistry to provide 2D to 3D conversion for their clients. Legend3D has developed a reputation as one of the leading conversion companies in the world and as such has helped demonstrate that converted 3D can be and should be just as good as native 3D. West Coast Correspondent Valentina I. Valentini sat down with Rob Hummel who joined Legend3D last November as president to discuss the issues and misunderstanding surrounding the conversion process. Valentina I. Valentini: Tell me about Legend3D’s start in the 3D conversion business. Rob Hummell: Barry Sandrew realized that the technology he’d developed for colorization for black-and-white films back when his company was Legend Films could be used for conversion. That same technology that is used to define all those edges that you’re going to paint in a colorization platform could be used the same way with the 2D to 3D converting process; when you’re converting you need to find all those edges and where they land in the 3D space and composite accordingly. Thus began his development of beginning to fine-tune those algorithms. Legend3D’s first really big project was Alice in Wonderland which finished in January 2010. At that time they had 40 employees in San Diego. Now we have 400 hundred employees in San Diego as well as a studio in Patna India with 700-800 people who identify all the edges that exclusively works with Legend3D. All the depth work the 3D compositing and all the creative aspect is done in San Diego. We’ve just signed a lease in Burbank for an annex to augment last stage of the process. I made this a goal of mine when I signed on knowing that it was imperative to have easy access to the most talented artists here in Los Angeles. VV: There is obvious contention on the 2D-3D subject. What are some of the clashing points? RH: When you understand stereoscopic 3D you understand that it is not the way we see things in reality. The proper term in fact is stereoscopic illusion and one way to create that illusion is to shoot with two cameras. Another way to do it is to shoot with one camera trigger the same cues that fool your brain into thinking it’s seeing depth and you can absolutely match that same illusion by the conversion process. For example there were several shots in Avatar that were converted because of some glitches while filming but no one had any idea they were converted because they were so seamless. We’re working on a movie right now that is mixing film and digital stereo capture throughout. But because conversion is such a damning name to a lot of people the director doesn't want anyone to know anything until after its release. One of the main reasons this is so is because people are uneducated. You can do bad visual effects and you can do good visual effects. You can do bad cinematography and you can do good cinematography. And you can do bad conversion and you can do good conversion. Everyone seems to forget about Alice in Wonderland. With Alice in Wonderland even I thought that the conversions were just the humans themselves. In fact Sony Pictures Imageworks did the compositing of the entire environment of Wonderland filmed on green screen created a 2D flat image then converted it to 3D. They didn’t render it that way. For an opposing example Polar Express was 3D CGI animation everything built in volume. When they decided to do it in 3D they put a second camera in that 3D environment and actually rendered a different stereoscopic view. Wonderland was entirely converted. Ultimately whether a 3D film is going to look good regardless of conversion or native shooting is governed by the filmmakers. Cameron oversaw the direction of the very few conversion shots that were done for Avatar and he demanded and set a really high bar for them. At DreamWorks Nancy Bernstein Wendy Rogers and Phil McNally were really firm taskmasters and really held [Legend3D’s] feet to the fire to make sure we were delivering the absolute best looking image as possible on Shrek 1 2 & 3. And at this year’s 3DNA conference people were walking around saying the Shrek footage that was shown was the best 3D they’d seen all day and that was all converted. VV: Are there pros and/or cons for using the conversion process? RH: The bottom line is because it’s an art form it should be the decision of the filmmaker. If they want to shoot it in 3D or convert it there are pros and cons for each. Like I said it’s not a science 3D stereoscopic is an art form. When you see stereo images it’s not an optical process. It is impossible for your eyes to bring those images together. If you go to the eye doctor and they say that you have a stigmatism but you didn’t even realize it that’s because you’re brain had been fusing those warped images to fit together. The same thing happens when you see 3D stereoscopic – your brain is warping them together to form a stereo image. In real life when you look at someone’s face you’ve just converged and focused on their face. If they hold out their thumb and you look at their thumb you’ve just converged and focused on their thumb. But if they tell you to focus on their thumb but converge on their face you can’t because in “real” life your focus and convergence are inextricably linked. Yet that is exactly what happens when you put on a pair of 3D glasses and watch a 3D Stereoscopic image; that focus and convergence link is broken because when watching 3D you’re focus is fixed on the display screen while your eyes are changing convergence unrelated to focus. The main reason the director I mentioned earlier doesn’t want any press at all on the movie prior to its releasing is to prove to people that 3D conversion can be done well. He wants an element of surprise and realization from his audience an ‘I’ve just fooled you because you didn’t realize that a large part of my movie was converted and you couldn’t even tell’ reaction. This film will be a poster child for showing that conversion can be done to the same caliber of native 3D shooting. VV: What is the cost-per-minute of 2D-3D conversion? RH: Really good 3D conversion is expensive. A two-hour motion picture is going to cost $7-15million dollars to convert it depending on the complexities of the material. A really exemplary conversion where the technology is right now for a minute of conversion it will be over $80 000 for flawless and seamless content. Can you do it for $50 000? Yes but you can’t go kissing pixels. VV: Is the price likely to drop? RH: The price will definitely come down. We have tools now that we didn’t even have a month ago so it’s a constantly improving process of getting tools that make it better and more efficient. However as a cautionary note I know someone who has told me that he could convert an hour of content for $15 000. That works out to be less than $.18 per frame – I can’t even turn on my flat screen monitor for $.18 a frame. He claimed that he’d run some audience tests by taking people off the Las Vegas strip and showing them the converted material in a theatre and that they liked it. Because it’s not reality because it’s an illusion you can show someone off the street and fool them into thinking it’s good but that’s the problem. I told him you don’t want random people off the street telling you if your conversion is good or not. Audiences are going to become – are already becoming – more and more discriminating with the 3D they look at. Because the more they look at it the better they are going to be at looking at it! You should be showing Phil McNally not Mr. Random off the street. VV: How long does it take a talented artist to convert a minute of 2D footage? RH: Let’s go with two seconds. It takes a talented artist 8 to 20 hours – depending on the complexities of the shots (smoke fog hair) – to convert two seconds of footage at 24 fps. You could potentially spend over 50 hours on a really tough two seconds of footage. This isn’t just any kind of painting; you’re doing photo-realistic painting to fill in the void. VV: What are the hottest tools on the market for conversion right now? RH: Legend3D has proprietary tools they’ve built for stereo compositing but in my opinion NUKE a Linux-based software is probably the most used here and is just spectacular. ,2320
Making Flying Swords of Dragon Gate,2011-03-25,By Stephen Black The Tsui Hark film Flying Swords of Dragon Gate starring Jet Li completed principal photography in January and is now in post-production. The $35 million dollar film also starring China's Zhou Xun and Chen Kun Taiwan's Kwai Lun-Mei and Mavis Fan is scheduled for release in December. Kevin Lau co-founder of Widescreen Media Singapore and stereographer for the project says “This was our first stereoscopic 3D project in China and our biggest S3D movie to date. We were exhilarated to work with Hong Kong director Tsui Hark whom I’ve been a fan of since film school.” Due to the scale of the project and the vast amount of material that needed to be shot a total of four camera units were set up. This included three beamsplitter rigs based on Red One and one compact side-by-side rig based on SI-2K. ”The scale was unprecedented in China and probably even in Asia. At its peak we had almost 40 people in our S3D department ” says Lau. Coordinating the units to shoot simultaneously in different locations was a complex operation. To compound this each location could sometimes be four hours apart. Any mistake in logistics could result in long downtimes. “Fortunately for us ” Lau says “We had a great production team who provided accurate and detailed shot breakdowns. This helped us greatly in deciding the best equipment and people for each location.” Coming from tropical Singapore Lau was totally taken aback by the challenge of shooting in winter. “To add to the ‘fun’ we had the coldest winter in a decade. We had -17 degrees Celsius weather three to four grade wind coupled with fine desert sand. It was so cold that the lubricant in the lens started freezing and we had to use the trusty 2K blonde light to heat our cameras. It was really difficult but our team managed it. My respect goes to the cast who endured these harsh conditions in their thin period costumes.” This was the second time Widescreen had worked with Tsui Hark. Last year Widescreen supplied gear and stereoscopic manpower for a project named Catching Monkey. It was originally conceived as a test shoot in preparation for Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. However Director Tsui and his team got so excited that they kept refining the script until it became a full-blown project starring veteran actors like Charlie Yeung Yu Nan and Daniel Chan. To add to the list Chuck Comisky the 3D VFX supervisor for Avatar was also on the set to give his expertise. Promotional materials for both Catching Monkey and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate will be on display at the American Film Market. Hong Kong-based Distribution Workshop will handle international sales. In 2010 Ian Wee also a co-founder and stereographer of Widescreen Media led a team to work on their first Australian project Bait 3D an Australian-Singaporean co-production. “Bait 3D and Flying Swords are a testament to how far Widescreen Media has come in bringing our S3D services to the world ” says Wee. Bait 3D based on a script by Russell Mulcahy (Highlanders Resident Evil: Extinction) has something for the whole family: underground shopping malls a crazy gunman a tsunami and a pack of bloodthirsty sharks. The film is being rolled out later this year. Also due for release this year is Amphibious 3D directed by cult horror filmmaker Brian Yuzna and shot with S3D equipment and manpower from Widescreen. The Dutch-Belgian-Indonesian co-production features a huge aquatic predator long thought to be extinct. A budding trend in theatrical S3D is alternative content such as music concerts and operas. Following the success of U2 3D in the US wildly popular Taiwanese rock band Mayday will release their latest concert tour in 3D. The theatrical release is named “3DNA”. Widescreen was proud to support this S3D production at Mayday’s concerts in Singapore Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Hong Kong concert also received support from Salon Films Hong Kong’s veteran equipment rental house. These and other non-studio shoots demand innovation. Last year to shoot a promo for the Youth Olympic Games for Singapore telco SingTel Widescreen funded their own ad hoc underwater 3D housing to document swimmers. “Modern S3D production is still relatively new and technology is scrambling to keep up with it. So we have to be pioneers and often engineer new solutions to overcome the current obstacles ” says Wee. Being aware that Singapore has a complete 3D ecosystem government support for films and a reputation as a global media center Widescreen is preparing for future growth. “We would like to invite every passionate filmmaker to come to Singapore. With companies like Infinite Frameworks building high-tech sound-stages Blackmagic Design providing top-notch S3D post-production Widescreen Media providing cutting-edge S3D production equipment and services and the Media Development Authority of Singapore providing a slate of initiatives and assistance to film projects this is the place to get your film made ” says Lau. ,2323
Playing with Toys - A Conversation with William Reeves,2011-03-25,William Bill Reeves is a pioneer in the field of computer graphics and more recently has become renowned throughout the film world for his innovative contributions to 3D production. His impressive career is filled with blockbuster contributions and he was an early figure in some of the most memorable animated shorts and films that continue to amaze audiences even today. After obtaining a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and completing a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto Reeves joined the LucasFilms Industrial Light and Magic Computer Graphics Group. He was one of the founding employees of Pixar in 1986 when Steve Jobs bought the company. Reeves received an Oscar in 1988 for Best Animated Short Film for his work with John Lasseter on the film Tin Toy. It was the first film to win the Oscar that used computer animation. Reeves was also the supervising technical director of the first feature length computer-animated film Toy Story. Corey Kawucha of Oceana in Toronto recently caught up with Reeves and discussed his experience with 3D production and the pipelines that have impacted his work so greatly. Your tag line at the 3D camera company is Life is 3D — when did you start making your life all about shooting 3D? I was on the ground level of stereo camera equipment development at IMAX in 1984. The last 26 years I have been testing and developing hardware for large format 3D starting with the development of IMAX mirror rigs and the IMAX 3D camera systems. Since then I have been a freelance Stereographer on twelve 3D IMAX documentaries as well as director / DP on five 3D IMAX documentaries. What kind of cameras do you use as of today at 3D CC? The 3D IMAX Camera S35 Film Cameras Silicon Imaging SI-2K all forms of industrial HD cameras and sometimes the Red. I am slated to be the first to use the ARRI Alexa on a 3D feature in 2010. How important is it to have instant control when shooting 3D? Some people use the term instantlies instead of dailies. Is this something that applies to your style of shooting? Yes I use this style of shooting. Routine checking of the gate is an important part of how we work. Although this is a film term we still use the same basic process every day. We use the IRIDAS FrameCycler DI software to instantly play back each take. We are looking for focus problems flares misalignment and so on. Viewing the RAW image is a huge benefit to photography of any form. I can't point to any format that would negate the usefulness of viewing the RAW image. It’s like having a film negative that can be processed instantly and then verify the optical and spacial characteristics of the footage right on set. You're using three FrameCycler DI packages on 1Beyond Wrangler Pro systems for working with the various RAW camera formats effectively creating a mobile digital lab. What kind of operator do you use to drive the systems? Are we talking about bringing post-production people to the set? Is it a DIT a stereographer? Each system has a DIT to control and manipulate imaging during photography and a data technician for QC and backup before delivering to the post facility. We certainly don't turn into mobile post-production here but checking quality as we continue to shoot and creating reasonable workflows to deliver material to post is paramount. Why do you even shoot RAW? Some companies argue it is technically not a good format for shooting Stereo 3D others are afraid of the data management hassle. With RAW you get an image that is like a film negative recorded at its maximum latitude without any form of permanent dithering. Unlike compression which can introduce unwanted artifacts and throw away some image quality by default. Having the uncompressed images at hand is of more benefit than throwing away the slightest bit of detail for the sake of saving space. ,2325
Following the Panasonic AG-3DA1,2011-03-25, One of the success stories of last year’s National Association of Broadcasters convention was Panasonic’s launch of the AG-3DA1 integrated 3D camera. I spoke recently with the executive responsible for that launch to find out how filmmakers have been using the new tool and what the overall response has been. Digital Cinema Report: Please introduce yourself. Jan Crittenden Livingston: I am a Product Manager at Panasonic Solutions Company
DCR: You debuted the AG-3DA1 integrated 3D camera last year to basically positive reviews. How many of those cameras are currently in the market?
JCL: I am not at liberty to say how many have been sold but let's just say we have a large and growing happy customer base.
DCR: What do you think has been the biggest misconception about the camera? Is it the suggestion that you can’t use it to shoot in 2D or something else?
JCL: I think people initially underestimate it as it only has ¼-inch chip set but if they try it they are truly amazed at its performance. I mean it is not a full-blown 3D rig but you can make some very good 3D stuff with it almost painlessly.
Shooting styles are so different between 2D and 3D that to use the camera's left eye for a 2D version might be fairly boring as there are things that you would in include in a 2D shot that you would not include in a 3D shot. 2D needs depth cues and 3D is about depth. Very different indeed.
DCR: To date what has been your favorite project that used the camera?
JCL: Can't say that I have seen them all but of the ones I know of I like the AIX Records Concerts http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prModelDetail?storeI... I like the Break Media stuff but I can't say that I have a real favorite as every time I see a new one it is my new favorite. DCR: I’ve talked with your customers who across the board seem to be pleased with the camera and the results they’ve been able to get using it. But cinematographers are by nature and profession very detail oriented. By now I’m certain you’ve received a lot of feedback about enhancements and changes your customers would like to see in future cameras. What are some of those?
JCL: Some would like a larger camera some would like wider lenses and larger chip set for better low light capability.
DCR: Based on that feedback what changes will we see in the AG-3DA1 or another camera at this year’s NAB?
JCL: Stay tuned.
,2326
Shooting the Aerial Girl,2011-03-25,The Aerial Girl produced through Anna Simone Scott and Peter Sands Vision Fire Films and shot by Danna Kinsky is now in the last stages of post-production. The film is set to travel the international film festival circuit later this year. ,2328
JLS 3D Concert Coming to Screens in June,2011-03-25,The JLS 3D concert movie will be screening in more than 160 cinemas across the United Kingdom and Ireland in June. The feature length film currently in post-production includes over an hour of JLS concert footage shot over two nights in January at the band’s sell-out shows at the O2 London. The finished program will also include backstage footage and interviews with the boys all in 3D. The concert performances of the band’s hits including recent UK chart topping singles The Club is Alive Love You More and current single Eyes Wide Shut featuring Brit Award winner Tinie Tempah will be brought to life for cinema audiences by the very latest 3D technology and powerful 5:1 surround sound. Omniverse Vision has secured exclusive long-term international rights for the 3D event. The company recently had its first premium content success with Les Miserables In Concert - The 25th Anniversary which was the best-attended live cinema event in the UK and earned top five box-office numbers in Australia. Omniverse Vision director Grant Calton says “We are delighted to be working with JLS and Modest! Management on their debut cinema release allowing fans to get right in the middle of the action from the comfort of a cinema seat. For the first time we are also offering exclusive merchandise to fans for what will be a unique concert movie experience.” Modest! Management director Harry Magee says “We fully believe in the Omniverse Vision approach to marketing the movie event as a natural extension of the live shows and to focus on making this an extraordinary JLS experience for the fans. With the band going from strength-to-strength we are looking forward to delighting fans everywhere with an amazing 3D show in cinemas and a behind the scenes look at what goes into JLS.” Omniverse Vision http://www.omniversevision.com ,2331
Refinements and 3D Behind the Scenes: NAB 2011,2011-03-25, Once again the National Association of Broadcasters convention is centered in the Las Vegas Convention Center this year from April 9-14. And once again the gathering which gets bigger every year promises to be exciting informative and almost certainly a bit overwhelming. More than 90 000 attendees are expected from more than 150 countries. They’ll be attending a dozen conferences and training sessions and visiting more than 1 500 exhibits spread out over the 800 000 square feet of the massive convention center. Last year’s hottest topic was 3D and that will certainly be the case this year. Look for significant refinements to most of the products that debuted in 2010. The other story is what hasn’t made headlines in recent months and never will because a lot of serious 3D developments are happening behind the scenes. “This is one of the most exciting times in the history of our business ” says Lin Kayser the CEO of IRIDAS. Having said that his prediction for this NAB is that “I don’t think you’ll see a lot of big news.” Past conventions suggest he’s correct in that regard. At last year’s event there was an almost overwhelming introduction of new products for 3D. Some were admittedly in the prototype stage. This year it seems fair to predict that the conversation will be about customer-driven upgrades for those same tools and also customer-driven price reductions. Kayser says what many people have perceived as something of a lull in 3D activity in recent months is actually an illusion. “What’s happening behind the scenes is really fascinating ” he says. He notes that slowly but surely consumers around the world are buying 3D televisions and Blu-ray players. Those numbers are growing despite the fact as Kayser says “We have hardly any [3D] content.” Meanwhile more 3D networks and launching and producers and filmmakers are increasingly shooting 3D versions of their work even if the initial sale of their film or program will be a 2D version. Kayser says smaller production companies in particular see having a 3D copy is hand “as a way to distinguish themselves.” Major Hollywood TV producers are doing the same thing to ensure that their programs can have a future life in reruns. One of the next big 3D movies on the horizon promises to be Martin Scorsese’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret which goes into production later this spring and is set to be released in November. Rob Legato is a highly regarded visual effects supervisor director and director of photography – as well as an expert in virtual and 3D production – and he is working on the film with Scorsese. At this year’s Digital Cinema Summit (now formally called DCS) Oscar Emmy and BAFTA award winner Legato will discuss his work on the highly anticipated 3D project. He will speak on Saturday April 9th at 1:30 p.m. at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the South Hall Rooms S222/223.
Other featured speakers at this year’s DCS event include Hollywood director Eric Brevig known for his recent 3D work on Yogi Bear Sony Pictures Technologies president Chris Cookson and Hollywood director and cinematographer and chairman of the American Society of Cinematographers technology committee Curtis Clark. The NAB Show is expanding its programs and initiatives for filmmakers providing the Hollywood creative and production communities with an increasing number of education and networking opportunities. The Show is joining forces with leading Hollywood unions guilds and organizations to develop conference programming and offer a new Filmmakers Lounge and targeted tours of the exhibit hall April 9-14. Partner groups include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Science and Technology Council American Cinema Editors American Society of Cinematographers Hollywood Post Alliance International Cinematographers Guild Local 600 and Visual Effects Society. The new Content Conference features educational sessions on current issues and trends in feature film TV and small screen production. Led by renowned filmmakers artists and technologists the sessions focus on the latest tools and techniques in virtual onset production new color workflows for digital filmmakers mobile and sports content creation genre and low budget filmmaking and more. NAB Show attendees will have the opportunity to relax and network in the new Filmmaker's Lounge located in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Conventions Center. Access to the lounge will be reserved for attendees showing membership to a Hollywood union guild association or related organization. Representatives from Hollywood partner groups will also lead guided tours of the NAB Show exhibit hall. Tours will focus on products and technologies introduced at the 2011 NAB Show that will significantly impact the production process. Space on tours is limited and may be reserved on a first-come-first-served basis for qualified attendees. Filmmaker James Cameron and acclaimed cinematographer and CEO of Pace Vince Pace will deliver the opening keynote address on Monday April 11th in the Content Theatre also in the South Hall. Individually and collectively the two men have captured some of the world's most captivating 2D and 3D images and productions of our time including Avatar Tron: Legacy Aliens of the Deep Ghosts of the Abyss Titanic The Abyss Expedition: Bismark and U2 3D. On Tuesday April 12th at 11:30 and also in the Content Theatre animation director Hal Hickel and visual effects supervisor John Knoll both with Industrial Light & Magic and production designer Crash McCreery will take audiences through the new frontier of animation and visual effects in a session titled Rango: The Next Step in CG Animation. Production 3ality Digital is trying to rebrand itself at this year’s NAB. Instead of having people consider them to be a production company that also sells technology they’re positioning themselves as a technology company that does a few select production assignments. One of last year’s hottest products is getting an upgrade. Arri will be demonstrating the Alexa Software Update Packet 3.0. Features include in-camera in-camera audio recording smooth viewfinder display mode and more. All new Alexas will have SUP 3.0 installed and all existing cameras can be upgraded to SUP 3.0. Dashwood Cinema Solutions will unveil a new line of Mac-based stereoscopic 3D products designed to accelerate 3D productions from camera lens calibration to mastering. “Our new products address gaps in typical 3D workflows. They remove the complexities of working in 3D and significantly reduce downtime during 3D production ” says Tim Dashwood founder of Dashwood Cinema Solutions. “With these tools 3D production teams can work with greater confidence speed and efficiency.” The featured product is the Stereo3D CAT is an on-location software calibration and analysis system that the company says dramatically simplifies the calibration of left and right eye cameras. Gamma & Density will be promoting the news that its 3cP on-set color correction system for DPs and DITs has been brought to the Apple iPad and iPhone. The new software will be shown for the first time in development partner Synthetic Aperture’s booth in the South Hall. Gekko Technology is launching kedo the focusable version of its color tunable LED based light. The fresnel based optic within kedo provides a focal range of 6:1.
The combination of both focus and high quality tunable white light which kedo offers brings a new dynamic to lighting directors cameraman and anybody else who cares about how a subject is illuminated for image capture says Gekko Technology founder and managing director David Amphlett. As a hard source kedo fully complements the existing range of Gekko LED based lamps which now means that in the right environment fully LED-based solutions can be deployed which are entirely comparable to more traditional solutions. This is the first trade show for ikan Corporation since acquiring the Cinemáge product line from Cine-tal Systems.
“This is a great opportunity for ikan to expand its product offering” says Kan Yeung ikan CEO.. “The Cinemáge product line has a reputation for unmatched color accuracy and quality.”
ikan’s acquisition of the Cinemáge product line will provide the opportunity to expand their product offerings to include Cinemáge reference grade monitoring for color critical applications in production and post-production. Cine-tal Systems will focus on the cineSpace and Davio products that are used for color management in production VFX post-production animation and gaming. “We have many exciting plans in the works for cineSpace and Davio ” says Robert Carroll president of Cine-tal. “By selling the Cinemáge product line to ikan we are able to commit more resources on our other product lines”. JVC has announced the availability of what the company says is the first camcorder on the consumer market that offers 3D video recording in full high definition. The new JVC GS-TD1 uses two camera lenses and two imaging sensors – one for each lens – to capture three-dimensional images in the same way that human eyes work. Video shot using the GS-TD1 can be viewed in 3D on any 3D TV. Additionally the camcorder shoots 3D video that can be burned to a Blu-ray disc or DVD-R for 3D playback on a compatible Blu-ray player. The JVC GS-TD1 features two 3.32 megapixel CMOS sensors and a new JVC-developed high-speed imaging engine that processes the two full HD images – left and right images at 1920 x 1080i resolution. Marvin Technologies will introduce its new 2.0 on-set camera data management system. Along with support for all common digital cinema cameras including Red Arri Alexa Silicon Imaging SI 2K and others attendees will get a sneak peek at the company’s new stereoscopic 3D support. “We’ll be using the new Marvin on our next feature ” says director Maarten Treurniet inventor of the Marvin. “The film is a dramatic re-telling of the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken owner of the Heineken brewing empire. We’ll be shooting for 45 days and Marvin will be capturing every frame from two Red MX cameras and generating all of our on-set deliverables right on the spot. You can’t get more efficient than that.” Polecam will unveil the Starter Pack which is designed primarily for use with digital SLR cameras.
Polecam Starter Pack enables an entire new generation of video producers to experience the creative advantages of our truly-portable camera crane says Polecam founder and managing director Steffan Hewitt. The ability to create dynamic pan and tilt shots round a very wide radius to shoot over the heads of a crowd and to get in ultra-close to the action is appreciated by Polecam operators around the world. We have been under pressure to introduce an entry-level Polecam system for some time and have achieved this without compromising on quality.” Post-Production Many 3D productions use multiple cameras from different manufacturers and matching those colors cab be a challenge. IRIDAS is introducing a refined version of SpeedGrade system so that as CEO Lin Kayser says “You can perfectly match two cameras.” The company will also unveil Lumetri which he describes as a full 3D tool set. “We are now ready to tie this together.” SmartJog will introduce a new version of its client member access site called Mobius which features an enhanced design simplified processes and new workflow features. Through its web-based Member Site SmartJog gives clients access to manage their files including the ability to initiate digital delivery orders ingest files share files with a third party and view real-time tracking. Mobius’s innovations consist of a new toolbar for instant access to information new reports and statistics page and new dashboard widgets to provide clients with an overview of their files. In addition Mobius provides clients the ability to select the delivery order of outgoing files and offers an enhanced file sending process. The new features are part of the standard SmartJog service and available to all clients. “We’re excited to showcase Mobius at the show; it’s a great chance to present the fresh look and demo the new features. Our clients use the site on such a frequent basis that we are always making advancements and improvements and Mobius took into account their feedback as well as anticipating their future needs ” says Abby Aisley director of global communications.
SmartJog also announces that its mobile application SmartJog2Go! is now extended to all mobile devices using the OperaMini browser. The SmartJog2Go! application is designed to give clients instant access to information about their files on the SmartJog network. In addition Version 2.0 of the application for iPhone iPad and Android systems will be released which includes advanced search functions and filters and a new support form adding another way for clients to contact SmartJog’s around-the-clock Customer Support Team. Autodesk will showcase its 3D finishing tool Flame Premium 2012 which offers streamlined finishing with real-time color grading 3D relighting and the visual effects power of Flame in a single offering. Autodesk will also highlight Smoke 2012 its all-in-one editorial finishing solution for professional post-production on the Mac. Cintel will show the first working version of the new Origin data image restoration tool imageMill2. Cintel sales director Simon Carter says “imageMill2 already addresses the industry’s need for fast and simple-to-use Noise and Grain management tools for both data-centric digital intermediate applications and restoration projects. Origin can now fix a lot of image defects in real time which is amazing considering many software-only systems can take up to a minute per frame. With speeds in excess of 31fps for 2K and HD files the performance of imageMill2 is unequalled. We are currently processing 4K files at 10fps and can also deal with SD files at twice real time.” Cintel will also be demonstrating a new faster version of the diTTo evolution film scanner with 2K speeds at up to 11fps and 4K at up to 7.5fps. DFT Digital Film Technology will debut Flexxity specialized software with applications for dailies archive & restoration video play out and file mastering as well as ingest transfer and transcoding tasks.
DVS will be showing added features for the Clipster including extended mezzanine workflows which support MXF AS-02 as well as IMF (Interoperable Master Format). The Foundry will feature their Storm Red Digital Cinema workflow product. Bill Collis CEO of The Foundry says “Storm has been built from the ground up at The Foundry to address a new and growing market. We have enjoyed a very collaborative alpha and beta period and believe there is a real hunger for the tools that Storm provides. We look forward to continued input from customers and expanding Storm’s features and role in the market.”
“I’d describe it as RedCine-X on steroids ” says Ted Schilowitz of Red. “The Foundry have looked at Red workflow in great detail and taken logical integration with Red to a very evolved state. We’re very excited that those shooting and posting Red all over the world will soon have access to this software.” Clients love to see shots previewed on set ” says Simon Blackledge VFX supervisor and head of post at Space Digital. “Storm helps me show them what is possible confirm what we have and what we need to deliver the director's vision and deliver just the right content to editorial. It is a real time saver. Storm is available now for $375. It requires a MacBook Pro Mac Pro or iMac with at least 2GB RAM running OSX 10.6.4 or later. Storm is optimized for Red R3D footage and will use a Red Rocket card if one is installed. Calibre is debuting the PVProHD-IW Image Warping video processor/scaler – a product designed to improve the technical and commercial prospects for dual-projector passive 3D in cinema themed attraction and post-production applications. “Dual projector passive 3D allows use of very low-cost viewing glasses and avoids the inherent flicker of active 3D but it does require precise alignment of the left and right eye images such that the two projectors act as one. Images are mixed optically on screen after passing through the preferred L/R selection mechanism either chromatic or polarizing filters ” says Paul Carey of Marketing Specialists Calibre’s US representative. “This has traditionally been very hard to achieve but Calibre's ‘IW’ processors make it possible to warp the image in real time to provide pixel-perfect alignment. This alignment can be performed visually using the Calibre warp tools or with the aid of camera-based automatic warp alignment software from Scalabale Display Inc. Such a system truly offers the best stereographic viewing experience.”
Can Drive-Ins Overcome the Digital Challenge?
