Nearly 83 000 people from 156 countries attended last month’s National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas and if you were there you could be forgiven for getting the impression that absolutely every single person at the show was involved in stereoscopic 3D. In some ways it was one of the most discouraging events I’ve ever attended because in my view this mad rush to get on the 3D bandwagon is almost certain to lead to an alarming number of poorly conceived poorly executed and poorly received 3D movies and television programs. I’m not alone in this opinion. Privately – and sometimes publicly – those that do understand all that’s involved in making quality 3D expressed similar thoughts. The owner of one 2D-to-3D conversion company serves as the poster child for all that is wrong with the current state of the development of digital stereoscopic 3D. I will not use his name or the name of his company. In part I don’t want to embarrass him and in larger part I will not do anything to publicize his business. The whole notion of 2D-to-3D conversion is fraught with problems and controversy in the best of circumstances and given the sheer physics involved the process has inherent limits. Even the experienced companies that take the time and care to do good work understand and admit these limits. On the first morning of the show I met with this owner and founder and got a personal demo from him. The images on the screen were not simply un-watchable; they almost instantly gave me eyestrain and in just a few minutes gave me a growing headache. I took off the glasses and concentrated on what he was telling me about his technology and his company. It was then that he really ruined my morning as if the headache weren’t enough. He acknowledged the challenges that he and his competitors face when it comes to making really cost-effective 2D-to-3D conversions. He even seemed to understand the truly poor quality of what he was showing. That he said was the point. “Our product is good enough ” he said. “It’s cheap so people will be able to buy it and that will help grow the market. Once people get used to 3D in their homes they can upgrade to better quality later.” That was his business plan: cheap and good enough. In all my years covering new technology introductions I’ve never heard anyone much less the owner of a company call his own product cheap and good enough. Fortunately he was the exception and there were many very interesting developments at this NAB both in business and technology. Business Arri Fujinon and Zeiss today announced a strategic partnership designed to utilize the unique strengths of each company in order to create innovative new products for the entertainment imaging community. The agreement consists of an open exchange of ideas standards and technologies as well as close cooperation in the development of new products. Canon announced that it has expanded its Canon Professional Services program. The CPS program expansion will offer the same three levels of membership – Silver Gold and Platinum – to qualifying professional video customers with each level receiving better and more extensive service benefits. The expansion of the CPS program is designed to extend Canon’s service assistance and offerings to this professional demographic and support professional filmmakers and videographers with fast service equipment evaluation loans and a range of other benefits to be announced in the coming months. New members can sign-up and join the expanded CPS program to take advantage of the current CPS program benefits as listed on the CPS Web site. www.usa.canon.com/cps Existing CPS members with qualifying video equipment will also be able to take part in the expanded CPS video services and benefits. However the expedited two-day and three-day service benefit for eligible video equipment will not be available until July 2010. “As digital imaging evolves we are proud to expand the CPS program to meet this new evolution and embrace the opportunity we have to serve the video market not only with superior products but also with continued service to ensure our professional customers have the equipment and support they need to successfully do their jobs ” said Yuichi Ishizuka executive vice president and general manager Consumer Imaging Group Canon U.S.A. A complimentary CPS Silver membership will be offered free-of-charge to qualifying videographers cinematographers and filmmakers. This level of membership includes a welcome kit access to the CPS phone hotline and a 20 percent discount on repairs. For professionals requiring a higher level of Canon support CPS Gold membership additionally includes access to equipment evaluation loans for a limited trial period and an expedited three-day turnaround on service items. Along with a 30 percent service discount CPS Gold membership also includes two free Check & Clean vouchers and backup loan equipment when available if repair or service exceeds the three-day turnaround. CPS Gold membership has an annual fee of $100. Nine global media operators and major rights holder including ESPN have selected Net Insight to deliver live HD and 3D broadcasts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. For the first time the entire four-week event will be broadcast live in full HD to soccer fans in over 130 countries. To support this scale of broadcast operators require a solution that allows them to produce distribute and deliver the premium content consumers demand. With the highest quality transport with 97 percent utilization Net Insight’s Nimbra provides the most efficient solution for converged video voice and data. In addition to transporting hundreds of hours of live HD coverage Net Insight will also transport ESPN’s 3D broadcast. The broadcaster plans to cover up to 25 games in 3D a first for the sports network. The games will also be available in selected movie theatres worldwide. “With the highest level of bandwidth utilization available and guaranteed QoS of the Nimbra platform Net Insight is the only company prepared to take on bandwidth issues associated with marquee broadcast events ” said Fredrik Trägårdh CEO of Net Insight. “These technology capabilities combined with Net Insight’s past success for major live broadcasts such as the Beijing Olympics are the reasons why Net Insight was selected by nine operators across the globe to deliver the action-packed soccer matches of The World Cup.” Technology In our last Report we named what we felt were the Top Ten Products introduced at the convention. As a refresher they were: 1. ARRI Alexa Camera 2. Panasonic AG-3DA1 3D Camera 3. Sony SRW-9000PL Camcorder 4. FGV Scmidle’s FGV 7D-PL from Band Pro 5. Fujinon 3D Synchronous Control System 6. Dolby PRM-4200 Reference Monitor 7. JVC IF-2D3D1 Stereoscopic Image Processor 8. The Foundry Mari 9. Nvidia Quatro Digital Video Pipeline for 3D 10. T-VIPS TVG480 Digital Cinema Gateway More complete coverage of those products can be found by clicking here http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/node/1684 But of course there was a lot more new digital cinema technology on display. Here are the highlights. Production 3ality Digital was showcasing its full line of stereoscopic 3D gear. This included a standard HD OB truck from All Mobile Video to demonstrate how easy it is to transition from 2D to S3D. The truck featured live S3D image capture using two 3ality Digital TS-2 Studio beam splitter rigs fitted with Sony cameras and paired with a shooting set where show attendees can receive hands-on demonstrations on how to operate S3D camera platforms. 3ality’s TS-2 rig fitted with various cameras was being demonstrated in the Panasonic Ikegami Grass Valley Bexel and Vinten booths. 3ality-produced content was on display in several booths as well. “3ality Digital’s leading-edge work in live S3D broadcast production has captured the interest of a range of visionary companies ” says Sandy Climan CEO 3ality Digital. “We think the working presentations of our integrated technologies at the NAB show will do much to show the market how together we make S3D production accessible precise and scalable.”
“We’re deeply honored that virtually all of the leading camera manufacturers have selected 3ality Digital for their NAB exhibits as it validates our production systems as the best S3D live action tools available to the market ” says Steve Schklair CEO of 3ality Digital Systems the technology and production arm of 3ality Digital. Band Pro introduced the wide and short Ruby 14-24mm T2.8 zoom from Focus Optics. This new niche lens delivers a quality image with extreme sharpness especially at the wide end. The new Ruby offers full coverage even for the F35 sensor. Weighing just three pounds and measuring 138 millimeters long the Ruby has a front diameter of 110 millimeters and will accept a 102 millimeter screw-in filter. The lens works on all 35mm PL mounted cameras including the Sony F35 Arri Red and Canon D7 and on the Canon D5 with an adapter. The Ruby 14-24mm T2.8 is available worldwide exclusively through Band Pro Film & Digital. Fujinon has completed its family of four PL zoom lenses with the introduction of two additional models: the 24-180 mm T2.6 and 14.5-45 mm T2.0. The new lenses join two PL zooms previously introduced: the 18-85 mm T2.0 and 75-400 mm 2.8-T3.8.
Designed for current and emerging 35mm format film and digital cinema motion picture cameras Fujinon's PL Series offer T-stop focal range and optical performance previously unavailable in a family of PL zooms. With workable size industry-inspired functionality and focal range from 14.5 mm to 400 mm these zooms provide top performance and cost efficiency.
All four Fujinon PL zooms have 136mm front diameters. Focus zoom and iris gears are all in the same position—which speeds up lens changes since follow focus accessories and lens motors can stay in the same position on the rods. Focus barrel rotation is a uniform 280 degrees on all four lenses. The new Fujinon lenses were also on display in the Band Pro booth. Vision Research introduced the Phantom Flex the company’s next generation high-speed camera for the digital cinema market. The company says the camera redefines what’s possible when it comes to high-speed imaging. A Vision Research camera was used for several key scenes in recent the Academy Award winning movie The Hurt Locker. Vision Research also unveiled a new lens mount for the company’s advanced Phantom high-speed cameras which allows users to remotely control the focus and aperture of Canon’s digital EOS lenses.
Compatible with the vast array of Canon EOS lenses available today the new Vision Research Canon EOS lens mount is now available for all currently shipping Phantom v-Series digital high-speed cameras. The lens can be remote controlled using Vision Research’s new Phantom Camera Control desktop-based software package which provides an intuitive interface for adjusting aperture and focus. The ability to control these settings without having to physically interact with the lens is ideal for applications where the Phantom camera is not accessible due to positioning the environment or safety issues. Vinten Radamec provided encoded pan and tilt heads and pedestals for a series of virtual reality demonstrations at the convention including the first ever showing of the real-time integration of live stereoscopic 3D cameras as part of a virtual environment at the Brainstorm Multimedia booth. Brainstorm used a stereo 3D camera system from Krono Mav supported by a Vinten Vector 950i pan and tilt head. The 950i provided a constant stream of positional information to Brainstorm’s eStudio real-time graphics engine ensuring that physical and virtual elements remain in perfect synchronization. “It is great to be involved in the world’s first 3D stereoscopic demonstration with Brainstorm Multimedia ” said David Hoffman of Brainstorm America a Vinten and Vinten Radamec reseller. “In addition to the interactive theatre presentation visitors to NAB can also see Vinten and Vinten Radamec products working in virtual environments in the nVidia and Ultimatte booths and of course in Vinten’s own booth. As well as watching demonstrations they will be able to get their hands on the equipment to pan and tilt and see the results of the special effects tracking.” Grass Valley was touting its involvement in the recent live 3D telecast of an NHL hockey game. Game Creek Video of Hudson New Hampshire used a Kalypso high-definition video production center to produce the live 3D multi-camera telecast of the game between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders at New York’s Madison Square Garden. From there and for the first time the signal was distributed to Cablevision subscribers throughout the New York metropolitan area with 3D television sets in their homes. Fans in the Theater at Madison Square Garden were also able to watch the production on a large 3D screen which was provided by RealD using its 3D stereoscopic Cinema Processing System. K-Tek introduced the Norbert Camera Accessory Mounting System – a flexible accessory management system designed to complement the latest generation of video-capable DSLRs and compact HD video cameras. Norbert enables a cinematographer to attach a large array of production tools to a DSLR camera without compromising the camera's integral shoe mount. The heart of the system is the Norbert base frame. Machined from rugged yet lightweight black anodized aluminum the frame has numerous threaded holes in 1/4x20 and 3/8x16 sizes and 23 standard shoe mounts that allow the user to customize the Norbert system to meet the specific needs of any shooting situation. The frame attaches to the camera via a handy quick-release mechanism. Additional threaded holes on the base accept tripod-mounting brackets. Litepanels says it has brought the Fresnel into the 21st century with the new Sola series which offer beam control of 70° to 10° and provide the controllability and single-shadow properties inherent in a Fresnel light but utilize just a fraction of the power of conventional fixtures. Like all Litepanels Sola Fresnels feature instant dimming from 100 percent to zero with no noticeable color shift. The SolaENG provides manual focus and dimming control via camera lens style ergonomic controls. The Sola6 and Sola12 provide on-fixture motorized control of focus and local dimming via a convenient touch screen and are also remote-controllable via their integrated DMX interface. Output is fully flicker free and remains consistent even as the battery voltage goes down. Litepanels Solas are available in three models. The Sola6 draws 75 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 650W tungsten unit and weighs 6 pounds. The Sola12 draws just 250 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 2000W tungsten and weighs only 14 pounds. Designed for both on-camera and off-camera mounting the SolaENG is only 4-inches by 4-inches by 5-inches and weighs just 10 ounces. The SolaENG runs on 10-20VDCsources such as camera batteries or via an AC power adapter. S3D Technologies was showing its S3D Beam Splitter Rig. According to the company the new rig is suitable for film and digital cameras with lenses of up to 114 mm diameter and a 16 mm focal length. It has a camera release system that allows the operator to remove and fix cameras efficiently and fast. In addition the operating temperatures of its electronic components range from -40ºC to 80ºC (-40ºF to 176ºF) which makes filming in a variety of locations and climates a practical possibility. Vizrt was showing real-time stereoscopic 3D HD imagery on a 3 by 1.7 meter using two three-chip Christie DLP HD8K projectors. The projectors which were equipped with Infitec filters delivered 8 000 lumens. “The quality of our stereo 3D graphics projected on Christie’s projectors is unsurpassed ” said Gerhard Lang Vizrt’s chief engineering officer. “The HD8K projectors have true native HD resolution of 1920x1080. And they use Xenon illumination which is the pinnacle of image color accuracy and is needed for the filter technology provided by Infitec. The output is the way stereoscopic 3D is meant to be viewed.” “We see 3D HD virtual applications becoming a major growth market for broadcast much the same as digital HD has been important to the future of television ” said Gary Fuller vice president Christie Business Products. “Vizrt is clearly leading the way with exciting new ways of delivering real-time HDTV stereo content.” Post-Production Cintel International featured a new film scanner ditto evolution and a new image-processing platform imageMill2. Simon Clark Cintel’s business development manager said “diTTo evolution offers solutions to all film scanning needs. It can evolve from a simple-to-use calibrated pin registration scanner for digital intermediate use with superb image quality to a multi-format non-pin registration machine for shrunken and damaged film incorporating a full set of image restoration tools.” Cinetel sales director Simon Carter said “imageMill2 will address the industry’s need for a fast yet simple-to-use Noise and Grain management tool for both data-centric Digital Intermediate applications and Restoration projects within one product. With speeds in excess of 25fps 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. With imageMIll2 you can truly ‘eliminate the wait’. Cintel was also demonstrating a new Millennium dataMill workflow utilizing the Yoyo system from Yoyotta. Film will be scanned to HD data in real time with the Yoyo system controlling both the film scanner and an imageMill processing engine. Barco premiered the RHDM-1701 a 17-inch high-definition reference monitor that is a more compact version of the company’s RHDM-2301. Although broadcasting and post-production professionals have praised the quality of the 23-inch RHDM-2301 reference monitor they also requested a more compact version that could fit into 19-inch racks. As a true Grade-1 LCD display the company says the RHDM-1701 provides the color accuracy professionals demand. Advanced calibration and stabilization technology keep the colors lasting ensuring a perfect reference at all times. The motion handling system prevents motion blur and produces CRT-like quality that is second to none. And a native 10-bit panel calibrated RGB-LED backlights and 48-bit processing are designed to deliver excellent color accuracy. The RHDM-1701 is available in B and P versions targeting the broadcasting and post-production markets respectively. “The RHDM-1701 is a valuable addition to our portfolio ” says Goran Stojmenovik product manager LCD Displays at Barco. “It perfectly fits the need for compact reference monitors bringing perfect color accuracy to more confined spaces. Its reduced dimensions in combination with the advanced motion handling system make the RHDM-1701 ideal as a real-time reference monitor for fast-moving actions – such as sports games.” Blackmagic Design unveiled DeckLink HD Extreme 3D a new model of it’s capture card with new 3D support hardware up down and cross conversion 12 bit hardware architecture 3 Gb/s SDI support for up to 1080p60 in SDI component analog and HDMI connections as well as full SD HD and 2K support. DeckLink HD Extreme 3D is ready for 3D workflow using both interleaved/side by side and dual stream capture and playback. Interleaved 3D allows the left and right eye to be interleaved as fields into a single video connection and file so customers can edit using current editing software. Dual steam 3D allows customers to use the DeckLink HD Extreme 3D dual link SDI connections to capture and playback two streams one for the left eye and one for the right eye. The two streams are recorded into two separate media files. Dual stream 3D is higher quality because each eye is full resolution video but dual stream is less compatible with current editing software. To solve this problem Blackmagic Design’s Media Express has been upgraded to handle both interleaved and dual stream 3D for capture and playback of 3D media for a complete 3D solution. With SDI HDMI and analog video capture and playback combined with balanced analog and AES/EBU digital audio DeckLink HD Extreme 3D lets customers connect to all decks cameras and monitors! DeckLink HD Extreme instantly switches between SD HD and 2K so is the ideal solution for all post production and broadcast users when working on design editing paint and effects tasks. “We are so excited by the new 3D workflows and with DeckLink HD Extreme 3D now there is an all in one solution to allow everyone to have access to the highest quality 3D workflows. I cannot believe how many advanced industry leading features are packed into this single product ” says Grant Petty CEO Blackmagic Design “DeckLink HD Extreme 3D is the only way to get advanced 3D 4:4:4 and 2K capture and playback combined with conventional SD and HD at a price everyone can afford.” DeckLink HD Extreme 3D is available now for $995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. Lasergraphics featured enhancements to its Director pin-registered 35mm/16mm film scanner including: HD QuickTime Dailies at up to 14 frames/second; thumbnail preview at 100 frames/second; automatic scene and splice detection and per-scene color grading. Lasergraphics also demonstrated a fully functioning file-based digital intermediate workflow with at what the company calls a small fraction of the cost of competing systems. SmartJog was showcasing its re-designed cloud storage solutions. The new features are aimed at creating community-based workflows with easy-to-use access tools. Clients can manage access to their centralized archival catalogs by giving access rights to other connected companies or users anywhere in the world. Clients can give access to send preview and update content data. The new features enable connected customers to quickly establish and manage collaborative workflows and projects. “SmartJog users can greatly benefit by the new tools and features offered in our cloud storage solution. Granting catalog access to others based on such parameters as company country or individual provides a high level of flexibility and security in worldwide collaborative workflows ” said Joe DiBianca vice president at SmartJog. ,1717
Roger Ebert’s 3D Lies,2010-05-14,You can hardly turn around these days without finding someone with an opinion – and usually a loudly expressed opinion – about stereoscopic 3D. The latest and most notable comes from respected film critic Roger Ebert who wrote an opinion piece in Newsweek magazine entitled Why I Hate 3D (and You Should too). He makes nine key points in the article and calls them heresies; I call them lies because almost all of them are inaccurate or irrelevant at best and at worst untrue. I suppose what upsets me the most about his position is the fact that he is a person I admire and respect; he’s one of my go-to critics when I want insights about a movie. His depth of knowledge about films and film history is sometimes breathtaking. He seems to have seen every movie ever made at least once. I enjoy his writing about film and have for many years. Still it should come as no surprise that Ebert has such strong feelings about 3D. He has always been a film purist and has only recently – and begrudgingly – apparently started to embrace the notion of digital cinema in any form. What I find particularly frustrating is that by the time Ebert concludes his rant he in essence acknowledges he may be wrong about the whole thing. Here are his nine points and my thoughts on each: It’s the waste of a dimension. He’s of course correct when he writes “our minds use the principle of perspective to provide the third dimension.” But he’s wrong when he says “adding one [dimension] artificially can make the illusion less convincing.” To take just one example I’ve seen Up in both 3D and 2D versions and the sensations that movie evokes especially in the mountains and when the house flies through the sky are much more powerful in 3D. It adds nothing to the experience. “Recall the greatest movie going experiences of your lifetime ” he says and he asks “Did they need 3D?” This strikes me as irrelevant and to a certain extent intellectually dishonest. The answer to his question is obviously no but that’s only because the tools to create something worth watching are relatively new. I count U23D Up and Avatar among the favorite movie going experiences of my life and digital 3D added immeasurably to them all. It can be a distraction. Ebert writes “In 2D directors have often used a difference in focus to call attention to the foreground or the background. In 3D the technology itself seems to suggest that the whole depth of field be in sharp focus.” This is true as far as it goes but to me he seems to be talking only about 3D in the hands of people who don’t understand how to use it. Remember how poorly sound was used in early talking pictures? Part of that was the fault of the technology but much of it has to do with the fact that filmmakers were finding their ways. As the creative community embraces 3D and learns its nuances any so-called distractions will be gone. It can create nausea and headaches. Ebert quotes several authorities that briefly explain how many people become physically ill when they try to watch 3D. Of all the points Ebert makes this one is the most valid although other credible authorities such as professor Martin Banks of the University of California at Berkeley who has studied this issue for years believes many of those people may over time adjust. Again these are the early days of digital 3D. Everyone involved has a lot to learn. This includes filmmakers and exhibitors but it is entirely possible that some people may never be able to enjoy the 3D experience. Have you noticed that 3D seems a little dim? Again a reasonable point but it fails to mention the fact that filmmakers exhibitors and manufacturers are all well aware of the problem and are aggressively addressing it. I believe this problem will be solved by a combination of technique and technology and will not be with us long. There’s money to be made in selling digital projectors. Ebert boils down the last decade of digital cinema development into a single sentence: “There was initial opposition from exhibitors to the huge cost of new equipment and infighting about whether studios would help share these expenses.” This is fair as far as it goes but doesn’t begin to offer a coherent idea of all the serious and complex issues that are finally essentially resolved. It’s clear from his thoughts on this point that Ebert knows next to nothing about the business of exhibition. Ebert like all major film critics usually sees a movie in a screening room where the attention to detail for obvious reasons is unsurpassed. Fair enough. But the average person until a few years ago was often to subjected to a film print that was scratched and smudged and sometimes all but unwatchable. Digital projectors change that and audiences have taken notice. Theatres slap on a surcharge of $5 to $7.50 for 3D. Ebert asks “Are surcharges here to stay or will they be dropped after the projectors are paid off?” No one knows the final answers to that question but in the meantime when given the option and despite an often-significant surcharge audiences continue to choose 3D in big numbers. This was true in 2005 with Chicken Little and it remains true almost five years later. I cannot imagine a serious drama such as Up in the Air or The Hurt Locker in 3D. For me it’s ironic that he chose The Hurt Locker because of all the movies in the running for major awards last year it was the one I wished had been shot in 3D. I can only begin to imagine the added tension of the bomb sequences in 3D. And Ebert himself concedes that in the right hands 3D can and will be a powerful creative tool. He wrote “I once said I might become reconciled to 3D if a director like Martin Scorsese ever used the format. I thought I was safe. Then Scorsese announced that his 2011 film The Invention of Hugo Cabret about an orphan and a robot will be in 3D. Well Scorsese knows film and he has a voluptuous love of its possibilities. I expect he will adapt 3D to his needs. And my hero Werner Herzog is using 3D to film prehistoric cave paintings in France to better show off the concavities of the ancient caves. He told me that nothing will ‘approach’ the audience and his film will stay behind the plane of the screen. In other words nothing will hurtle at the audience and 3D will allow us the illusion of being able to occupy the space with the paintings and look into them experiencing them as a prehistoric artist standing in the cavern might have.” Whenever Hollywood has felt threatened it has turned to technology: sound color widescreen Cinerama 3D stereophonic sound and now 3D again. Here too he presents half-truths. While it’s true that Hollywood has sometimes acted when threatened that is only part of the story. As with any competitive endeavor Hollywood has always strived to make its product better and many times as with this one the main threat came from other movie studios. Of the examples he listed the shift to sound and the shift to color come closest to mirroring the current shift to 3D and neither of those were simply responses to an outside threat. When the studios made the switch to sound the movies were already a widely popular form of entertainment and although radio broadcasts were gaining ground movies were still king. And while it’s true that the studios shifted to color almost exclusively by the late Sixties to combat the success of television many movies had been in color for almost half a century. Ebert confuses me when he says after all the ranting that he isn’t actually opposed to 3D as a creative option. His anger isn’t directed at technology but instead is focused on the current generation of studio executives who in Ebert’s view care more about money than movies. Perhaps but he seems to be suggesting that Walt Disney to name just one famous studio head didn’t enjoy his financial success. Ebert concludes by writing “Hollywood needs a projection system that is suitable for all kinds of films—every film—and is hands-down better than anything audiences have ever seen.” We have that Roger: it’s digital cinema. ,1718
Two Gates of Sleep,2010-05-28,Vision On in New York saw its first feature film color grading effort director/writer Alistair Banks Griffin’s Two Gates of Sleep premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ,1732
Focus-Fox Studio Launches Cinemix ,2010-05-28, Focus-Fox Studio Budapest Hungary has installed a FilmLight Baselight Four color grading system in its newly opened Cinemix digital intermediate grading and sound mixing theatre. The company plans to use its new resource primarily for feature film projects and is targeting both filmmakers based in Eastern Europe and those in London and Hollywood.
Focus-Fox selected Baselight through a competitive review process involving four color grading solutions. “We concluded that Baselight was the best system for our needs ” says Focus-Fox technical director Csaba Gazsy. “We found that it delivered the best image quality and speed. We also have a lot of confidence in the quality of the technology and the support provided by FilmLight.” The Cinemix theatre is unusual both for its large size and combination of DI grading and sound mixing. Designed by Toronto-based Pilchner & Schoustal Design Centre the theatre measures 42-feet by 50-feet and features a Stewart screen measuring 30-feet by 12-feet as well as a Christie 2K digital projector. A Baselight One assist complements the Baselight Four. For sound mixing the theatre features dual Digidesign Icon mixing consoles and complies with Dolby and THX standards. “In keeping with our tradition as a market leader we wanted to build something extraordinary ” notes managing director Gabor Ferenczy. “Cinemix is a grading studio with excellent sound and a sound studio with the best available picture quality via Baselight.” The launch of the Cinemix theatre is part of Focus-Fox’ commitment to provide a full service solution for feature films. The company also offers 2K and 4K film scanning off-line and on-line editorial visual effects CG services and film recording. Additionally it operates Kodak’s local Kodak Cinelabs Hungary film laboratory site housed in its facility. The quality and breadth of its resources combined with generous tax incentives offered by the Hungarian government for film production has convinced Focus-Fox that it can also serve high end film projects. “We have everything needed for modern film production and a lot of experience in serving the international film market ” says Gazsy. “We are very proud of our new theatre with Baselight—it is technically perfect and beautifully designed.” Focus-Fox expects to begin its first DI project with Baselight later this month. FilmLight www.filmlight.ltd.uk Focus-Fox Studio www.focusfox.hu ,1735
Continuing the Family Tradition,2010-05-28, Canadian exhibitor Cinemas Guzzo has purchased 57 Christie Solaria series digital cinema projectors. Cinemas Guzzo a family owned business founded in 1974 with 148 screens in 11 theatre complexes throughout the Montreal area has launched several waves of expansion – the most recent being a new generation of avant-garde entertainment centers.
Founder Angelo Guzzo is one of the earliest pioneers of independent multi-screen movie theatres in Canada. He was instrumental in leading the struggle for independent theatre owners to obtain the right to project first-run movies paving the way for others. Along with his son Vincenzo executive vice president of Cinemas Guzzo they are tapping into their passion for cinema to successfully expand their presence across Quebec. Over the next few years they anticipate opening three new 100 percent digital multiplexes all using Christie projectors.
“Christie is the only manufacturer that has 4K-upgradeable digital cinema projectors that not only deliver exceptional performance but are available at an affordable price ” says Vincenzo Guzzo. “We are confidently moving forward with Christie as our exclusive digital cinema provider because of their extensive history of delivering reliable products along with friendly and supportive service to the exhibition community.”
Guzzo says “Unlike other manufacturers Christie gives us many more choices of products and brands to expand our digital cinema capabilities especially when creating our 3D systems.”
Installation began in January of this year and Cinemas Guzzo anticipates that all 57 Christie Solaria projectors of which 30 are Christie CP2230’s will be fully deployed by November in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend. At that point they will have doubled their 3D capacity in all 11 theatre complexes. Cinemas Guzzo also selected GDC servers and Master Imaging’s 3D technology. “Digital 3D makes a very big difference to the audiences we cater to. We plan to install at least four digital projectors in each theatre to run 3D content in dual languages. It’s great to have the flexibility to show two different 3D titles simultaneously. Our goal is to have 50 percent of our screens showing 3D to take advantage of the slew of 3D coming down the pipeline ” says Guzzo .
“With digital 3D cinema taking the world by storm Christie ensures the brightest images and proven performance for 3D presentations ” says Dave Muscat senior director of sales Christie Digital Systems Canada. “Pioneering independent exhibitors like Cinemas Guzzo can enjoy the widest range of cost-effective solutions to meet their current needs and future plans. For more than 80 years Christie has been committed to providing the highest quality products at the lowest cost of operation in the industry.”
Christie Digital Systems www.christiedigital.com
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TaylorMade Precision,2010-05-29,Digital production studio Precision handled virtually every aspect of the production of eight spots for a new global ad campaign for TaylorMade and its line of Burner clubs. Encinitas California agency NYCA conceived the campaign. Precision’s work included conducting live action shoots at the Reynolds Plantation in Georgia with golf pros Dustin Johnson Mike Weir Sean O’Hara and Sergio Garcia and at the TaylorMade factory in San Diego. Precision’s post team meanwhile contributed three months of intensive effort carrying out graphic design CG color grading compositing and editorial finishing. The spots are now airing worldwide. In Georgia Precision’s production team used a Phantom digital camera to capture the spectacular performance of the new TaylorMade clubs in the hands of the pros in breathtaking slow motion. “Coordinating the talent was a big challenge because the schedules of the golf pros were so tight ” says Precision executive producer Joe Arnao. “The technology the lighting and the performances all had to be perfect—and we had only an hour or so with each athlete. Working with the Phantom added to the challenge because of the intense lighting requirements to shoot at 1000 frames per second.” The team faced a different challenge in San Diego where their aim was to capture the meticulous engineering process of molding assembling and polishing new clubs while the regular routine of the factory was ongoing. “It’s a massive facility with lots of moving parts and pieces ” Arnao notes. “We had to plan the shoot very carefully as it takes days to produce some of the castings and designs featured in some of the spots.” Post work was conducted at Precision’s Los Angeles studio. CG artists produced models of the TaylorMade clubs that were then animated and overlaid with graphics resulting in some of the most visually interesting and dynamic sequences in the campaign. “The live action footage was also treated to have a complimentary look ” says Arnao. “Everything was lit to be subtle and graphic.” NYCA’s decision to entrust Precision with both production and post-production responsibilities resulted in significant time and cost savings according to Precision executive producer Marie Soto. But she says the most important benefits were creative. “There is a consistent creative vision that carries through from pre-production through delivery ” Soto says. “The advantage of our model is that it leaves more time to experiment. Our artists explored every avenue and tried different looks and directions with each aspect of the campaign. We took the time to bring out the best in the boards.” Precision Productions + Post www.meetprecision.com ,1740
Chronicling the Greatest Generation,2010-05-29, Visitors to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans are moved and excited by its unique new immersive film attraction Beyond All Boundaries which not only tells the story of the “war that changed the world” but also breaks boundaries of its own in 4D cinema experiences. A large-scale immersive production that harnesses 21st century technology Beyond All Boundaries plunges viewers into the Greatest Generation’s journey from Pearl Harbor into the heat of battle to the final victory of D-Day. It premiered in the 250-seat Solomon Victory Theatre part of the museum’s recent $300 million expansion. Tom Brokaw has called it “the most significant cinematic piece on World War II.”
Tom Hanks narrates (and executive produced) the 35-minute Beyond All Boundaries which features Brad Pitt Kevin Bacon Patricia Clarkson Gary Sinise and other top actors voicing Americans on the front lines and home front. As part of the 4D experience the theatre’s seats shake from rumbling tanks it snows during The Battle of the Bulge and the nose of B-52 bomber set piece flies in front of the screen during a bombing raid as its wings are projected around it. The production plays to audiences eight times a day.
The Hettema Group was responsible for the concept design and production and called in Electrosonic to consult on AV design for its debut production Beyond All Boundaries. Phil Hettema president of The Hettema Group and a former senior vice president of attraction development for Universal Studios served as show producer and creative director. Mousetrappe Inc. furnished media design and production with Doug Yellen as producer and Darin Ulmer as production and media designer
. Beyond All Boundaries is projected onto a 115-foot by 28-foot curved scrim or transparent gauze screen with three Christie Roadster S+20K DLP projectors edge blending the images to create the compelling wartime visuals. “The main criterion was to create a very large projection experience that would encompass audio moving scenery and layered effects ” says Jane Hall manager of Electrosonic’s Design Consulting Group.
In front of the scrim is a pit from which artifacts – a giant radio set a concentration camp watchtower the gun turret of a warship – emerge at appropriate moments in the show. Behind the scrim various objects such as tank traps can be illuminated and another giant projection screen is set back about 20 feet from the main scrim. This configuration creates truly dimensional complex images with visuals projected onto the scrim bleeding through to the set pieces and second screen. Sequences depicting the fire bombing of Dresden Asian jungles and the bombing of Japan are especially powerful with the double-screen arrangement which can be augmented with lighting and smoke effects. Electrosonic did a mock up with a single projector to determine the best scrim material to use Hall says. “When only a front image needs to be seen a black velour curtain is dropped behind the scrim to make it opaque.” Electrosonic also spent a lot of time working with 3D computer models of the theatre says project manager Steve Calver. “We needed to see how everything would fit and be positioned in the theatre how the projectors would be out of the sight of the audience and out of the way of other props yet be easily accessible for maintenance and retain their signal integrity and network connectivity.”
The main screen projectors were installed on a custom projection mount in the ceiling of the projection booth and aligned to achieve a single focal point so edge blending could be resolved on different surfaces. “That’s very different from typical edge blending ” Calver says. Five Christie DS+10KM projectors are used to create edge-butted images for the second concentric screen 20ft upstage of the primary scrim. A Christie Roadster HD10K-M mounted at back of house projects onto three small panels that rise up out of the pit in front of the scrim providing captions and other supporting images for the main screen.
For the six-minute preshow which sets the stage with a look at life in prewar America all of the plasma monitors are driven by eight Electrosonic MS9500GL MPEG2 HD video players. Beyond All Boundaries is sourced from five Electrosonic ES9600 dual-channel JPEG-2000 players that provide 10 channels of 24p HD. Overall show control is supplied by a Medialon running Show Manager V5 with integrated AMX touch panels for GUI based operation and maintenance access.
“John Bush our Medialon programmer worked three months programming the system on site to make sure everything performed as a perfectly timed integrated system ” says Calver. “In the end there were over 1100 Medialon tasks that coordinated communications and timing between show control and the various subsystems for moving sets special effects lighting audio and video. That took a lot of testing and adjusting to accomplish.”
An extensive audio system was also required to reinforce wartime sound effects and an original musical score by Hollywood composer Bruce Broughton. Electrosonic hired SoundWorks System Integrators a local professional integrator in New Orleans to help build install and commission this very dynamic sound system. The Electrosonic-designed system features a digital Peavey Nion-6 digital signal processor QSC amps and Renkus Heinz PNX series speakers.
Beyond All Boundaries is a real theatrical production in a large-scale sense Calver says. “It’s amazingly well done the kind of show you’d expect to see at a leading theme park.”
At Electrosonic Linda Danet was the sales consultant Mike Dwyre was site supervisor Tom Brighton handled the video encoding for the preshow and film and supported all the onsite video editing and mixing John Groper and Stan Gilson were engineers and John Notarnicola and Nir Elnekave were projectionists. Andy Batwinas from the Design Consulting Group worked with The Hettema Group on early conceptual design and design parameters.
Nick Mueller president of the museum developed the concept to create an immersive theatrical experience for the museum. Bob Farnsworth was project director for the museum. Electrosonic worked with a variety of specialty contractors including Elliott Metal Fabrication for the custom design and fabrication of the projection mounts Visual Terrain who provided lighting design LA Propoint and Rando Production who provided all mechanical and special effects and Technical Supervision was provided by It’s Alive Co. New Orleans-based SoundWorks fabricated audio racks and handled the audio installation. Electrosonic http://www.electrosonic.com ,1746
Pictorvision Joins the A-Team ,2010-05-29, Second unit DP Larry J. Blanford is always excited when he can get to do aerial work himself. This was especially true in the case of 20th Century Fox’s feature version of the 1980s television series The A-Team. During the shoot Blanford says he really got to put Pictorvision’s newest aerial camera stabilizing system the Eclipse through its paces. For one particular sequence shot in British Columbia around the Vancouver Port Blandford found shutting off the larger lighting fixtures first unit cinematographer Mauro Fiore ASC and gaffer Dave Tickell had made would make it easier safer and the action would be much more visual. “I decided to shoot ‘au natural’ with the Genesis along with Panavision’s f2.8 11-1 zoom ” he says. “Historically most aerial systems tend to struggle with stability with that large a lens. The weight and length seem to always be an issue. Not with the Eclipse.” “This was one of those ‘energy’ shots so important to an action picture ” he says. “One thing we had working against us was that pilot Fred North had very little room to maneuver. With so many ships in port the large space got small very quickly. So to cover the action Fred needed to make tight turns with the helicopter having to bank extremely steep.” Blanford says this was not a problem for the Eclipse even though he was shooting anywhere from 100mm to 275mm in the banking shots. “At one point we did a shot where we rose up from the water to literally drop away as fast as Fred could while I pulled back on the lens ” he says. “Fred was able to almost dump the helicopter on its side and the Eclipse stayed level. We had the images being transmitted to the ground. Quite a few people commented that they could see what the helicopter was doing and then would look at the monitor and were stunned that the images they were seeing were coming from the same helicopter. These shots were fun.” At the core of the Eclipse’s superior stability is the patented XR Motion Management technology enabling the most advanced steering stability and pointing capabilities available on the market. The Eclipse will not topple provides an absolute level horizon and also features faster start-ups and resets. “After using the Eclipse ” Blanford says “I was so glad I decided to do this aerial work myself. The system really showed me what the possibility for aerial cinematography is for future films.” Pictorvision www.pictorvision.com ,1747
A Sound Idea,2010-05-29, Despite the fact that sync sound has been a mainstay of motion picture production and exhibition for almost a century audio is still too often an underappreciated stepchild in the entire process. Too many filmmakers focus all their attention on the images in their movies; in the best cases they at least put concerns about the quality of the audio to experienced hands but in worst-case scenarios the soundtrack becomes an afterthought. Then the budget runs out before the audio can be its best. Too many exhibitors concentrate more on the concessions stand than they do on what’s happening inside their theatres. In an effort to change all of this Dolby is offering filmmakers and exhibitors alike a new tool that can make a dramatic difference in the quality of a movie presentation. You can hear it for yourself later this month when Toy Story 3 premieres as the first feature film to be mixed and distributed in Dolby Surround 7.1. Dolby debuted Surround 7.1 at ShoWest earlier this year and also announced that it was working with Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios to deliver the new audio format. “For 40 years Dolby has not only provided content creators with the tools to create a more realistic audio experience but has also enabled the exhibitor to deliver audiences the ability to experience the content as the creator intended ” says Page Haun senior director marketing cinema market segment Dolby Laboratories. “The release of Toy Story 3 in a discrete 7.1 mix will raise the bar for movie theatre owners and their patrons.” Dolby Surround 7.1 is supported in CP650 and CP750 processors and increases the number of discrete surround channels in order to add more definition to the existing 5.1 surround array. The new format will work with 2D versions of movies and will also work with 3D technologies that compete with Dolby.
Dolby Surround 7.1 provides content creators four surround zones to better orchestrate audio channels in a movie theatre environment. The four surround zones incorporate the traditional Left Surround and Right Surround with new Back Surround Left and Back Surround Right zones. The addition of the two Back Surround zones enhances directionality in panning 360 degrees around the theatre.
Dolby Surround 7.1 format comprises 8 channels of audio and has the following channel layout: Left Center Right Low-Frequency Effects (LFE) Left Surround Right Surround Back Surround Left (new) and Back Surround Right (new). In order for exhibitors to deliver the new format Dolby will be providing Dolby Surround 7.1 playback capabilities in the Dolby CP650 and Dolby CP750 digital cinema audio processor lines. Two new discrete channels are added in the theatre Back Surround Left and Back Surround Right. Use of these additional surround channels provides greater flexibility in audio placement to tie in with 3D visuals and can also enhance the surround definition with 2D content. Existing theatres that are wired for Surround EX will already have the appropriate wiring and amplification for these channels. Those that are not wired accordingly will need to install additional amplifier channels and cable runs as necessary to enable these discrete channels. The Bsl and Bsr channels are calibrated to 82 dB the same as in a standard Dolby Digital Surround EX installation. When used in Dolby Surround 7.1 mode 82 dB becomes the reference level for each of the four surround channels in both mixing and playback. All Dolby Digital Cinema servers support Dolby Surround 7.1 playback and any server that supports 16 channels of digital audio may be used with appropriate audio cabling. Digital Cinema Packages supporting Dolby Surround 7.1 will be supplied with two Composition Playlists. One CPL will reference a 5.1 discrete audio track and the second will reference the Dolby Surround 7.1 audio track. The theatre may be able to choose between audio tracks according to the equipment installed and the currently selected playback format or will be given a single license (KDM) for either 5.1 discrete or Dolby Surround 7.1 audio according to the information supplied by the exhibitor to the content distributor. Of course Dolby is no stranger to motion picture sound. From its very beginnings as a company Dolby has sought ways to improve movie sound. Dolby believed that many of the limitations in optical sound stemmed directly from its significantly high background noise. To filter this noise the high-frequency response of theatre playback systems was deliberately curtailed. To make matters worse to increase dialogue intelligibility over such systems sound mixers were recording soundtracks with so much high frequency pre-emphasis that high distortion resulted. Their answer was Dolby noise reduction. The first film with Dolby sound was A Clockwork Orange in 1971 which used Dolby noise reduction on all pre-mixes and masters but a conventional optical sound track on release prints. Callan in 1974 was the first film with a Dolby-encoded optical soundtrack. In 1975 Dolby released Dolby Stereo which included a noise reduction system in addition to more audio channels; Dolby Stereo could actually contain additional center and surround channels matrixed from the left and right. The first film with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack was 1975’s Lisztomania although this only used a Left-Center-Right encoding technique. The first true Left-Center-Right-Surround soundtrack was encoded on the movie A Star is Born in 1976. Dolby Stereo Digital now called Dolby Digital was first featured on the 1992 film Batman Returns and in less than ten years 6 000 cinemas worldwide were equipped to use Dolby Stereo sound. For its part Pixar also knows something about technological innovations in movies. Pixar co-founder John Lasseter today its chief creative officer created the company’s first film in 1986 partly as an attempt to sell the high-end computer systems that Pixar was then trying to sell. Luxo Jr. is an iconic two-and-a-half minute computer animated film that features the hopping desk lamp that today is part of Pixar’s corporate logo. In 1991 after substantial layoffs in the company's computer department Pixar made a $26 million deal with Disney to produce three computer-animated feature films. The first was Toy Story in 1995 which went on to gross more than $350 million. It was the first feature length movie to be entirely computer generated. But Pixar has proven over time that it is not just about the technology it uses. It seems more accurate to say that the company is about how truly creative people can get the maximum results out of new technology. To date the studio has earned twenty-four Academy Awards six Golden Globes and three Grammys among many other awards acknowledgments and achievements and has made $5.5 billion worldwide. It is one of the most critically acclaimed film studios of all time. Pixar has made 10 feature films and each one has achieved critical and commercial success. Pixar followed Toy Story with A Bug’s Life Toy Story 2 Monster’s Inc. Finding Nemo The Incredibles Cars Ratatouille WALL-E and Up which was its first film to be presented in Disney Digital 3D. Finding Nemo The Incredibles Ratatouille and Up are among the top 50 highest-grossing movies of all times. Now comes another first for Pixar Dolby Surround 7.1. The goal is to enhance the movie going experience and create the kind of unique experience that 3D provides to immerse the audience in the sound as well as the picture. I’ve seen about ten minutes of Toy Story 3 in 3D that incorprated a 7.1 mix. The difference is dramatic and I’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t help Toy Story 3 become another critical and box office success. More importantly the movie will hopefully lead the way to more innovations in motion picture sound. The audio possibilities that digital cinema enables are almost limitless. Thanks to Dolby Disney and Pixar a significant first step has been taken. ,1748
Worldwide Heavy Metal,2010-06-14, On June 22nd the legendary heavy metal bands Metallica Slayer Megadeth and Anthrax will perform live at the Sonisphere Festival in Sofia Bulgaria. At the same time audiences in 800 movie theatres around the world will be able to watch the concert live in high definition. NCM Fathom is presenting the concert in the U.S. in more than 450 theaters in over 140 markets at 7:30 p.m. local time on the same day. The event will be broadcast into theaters in Europe Canada and Latin America through other international exhibitor partnerships. Delayed screenings are also planned in Australia South Africa and New Zealand. These four legendary acts broke out of the underground thrash movement in the 1980s to dominate the metal world selling millions of records and packing arenas across the globe. Despite huge demand these musical giants have never shared the same stage until now. In December 2009 the bands announced that they would be joining forces to take part in the traveling Sonisphere Festival for only seven shows across Europe. Now this one-time-only event from the Sofia show makes it possible for fans far and wide to participate in what otherwise is a very limited run of dates. The high definition concert presentation will memorialize the event and the impact will be amplified globally in cinemas making the dreams of fans around the world become a reality. Lars Ulrich of Metallica says of this historic announcement Who would have thought that more than 25 years after its inception thrash metal's Big Four would not only still be around be more popular than ever playing shows together at stadiums all over Europe and on top of that coming to a movie theater near you in high definition. Bring it on. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian says “Damn as if this Big Four tour wasn't exciting enough now we get to be on the big screen worldwide. Metal at the movies two big horns up. It is unbelievably gratifying that this means so much to the metal community around the globe. Get your tix grab some popcorn and get ready to bang your head.” Declares Slayer’s Kerry King “I can’t believe someone didn’t make this happen 15 years ago. The fans finally get what they want. I think it’s awesome.”
Says Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine “The magnitude of this event hasn't really sunk in yet and I am thrilled to know that people around the planet will be able to walk into a movie theater and experience the greatest line-up of heavy metal in the history of the world.”
The Big Four: Metallica Slayer Megadeth Anthrax digital event in cinemas is distributed globally by New York-based BY Experience. Presently over 800 cinemas worldwide will exhibit the program. Additional cinemas/territories may be added. Exhibition times may vary by territory. Fathom Events www.ncmfathom.com National CineMedia www.ncm.com ,1754
Metropolis,2010-06-14,I was fortunate enough recently to see the digitally restored complete version of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent masterpiece Metropolis at the Film Forum in New York City. Following its premiere in Berlin the 153-minute film was substantially edited and the complete film was thought to be lost forever. However in 2008 Argentine film archivist Fernando Peña found the newly discovered footage roughly 25 minutes in length in the archives of the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires. The film which will be available on DVD later this year has clearly stood the test of time and after 83 years merits its reputation as one of the great German expressionist works. I encourage everyone to see it while you can on the big screen. It’s playing around the country through the summer. There’s a link at the end of this article to the film’s website where you can find screening times and locations. But although I was caught up in the story throughout the screening as I sat watching it I couldn’t help think about what Metropolis says about the motion picture industry in the digital cinema era. First some background on Metropolis: The movie takes place in the massive sprawling futuristic mega-city Metropolis which was founded built and is run by the autocratic Joh Fredersen. In the city of Metropolis the culture is divided into two classes: the elite who live high above the Earth in luxurious skyscrapers; and the workers who live and toil underground. Fredersen's son Freder lives a life of luxury in the theatres and stadiums of the skyscraper buildings. One day as he is playing in the Eternal Gardens he notices that a beautiful woman has appeared with many children of the workers. She is quickly shooed away but Freder becomes infatuated with her and follows her down to the worker's underworld. There he experiences firsthand the horrors of the worker's life and is disgusted when he sees an enormous machine violently explode and kill dozens of workers. This sets off the movie’s two central plots a love story between Freder and the beautiful woman and the story of how Freder convinces his father to reconcile with the workers and treat them with more dignity. This summary does not begin to do the film justice and doesn’t touch on its interwoven subplots. Only by seeing it ideally on the big screen could a person adequately capture what a visual tour de force the movie is. There are story problems but they are minor in retrospect. The makeup is too heavy and the acting is broad as was typical in the silent era but they do nothing to diminish what are strong performances by virtually the entire ensemble. In short the film is breathtaking. At a cost of roughly five million Reichsmark (reportedly in one source I found as much as $200 million today) Metropolis was the most expensive silent film ever made. It was produced by Universum Film and nearly bankrupted the studio. The film was initially a moderate box office success in Berlin but outside Germany most exhibitors refused to book a movie that long and it was subsequently cut and re-edited to approximately 90 minutes. Perhaps even worse many theatres projected the movie at the already standard sound film speed of 24 frames per second rather than the standard silent film speed of 16 frames per second the frame rate at which the movie had been made. As a result few people outside Berlin ever saw the movie Lang envisioned. The missing footage restores the story in particular by amplifying the actions and motives of two supporting characters. And it’s very easy to see which scenes are the newly found clips because understandably they are seriously damaged with scratches and dirt. They stand out in sharp contrast to most of the rest of the film which is remarkably pristine and that was the first thing that made me think about our current digital era. Thanks to digital technology the shame of what happened to Metropolis need never happen again. In theory at least if not in actual practice there should always be a clean digital master of any movie made today. To take a $200 million gamble from our own time as an example regardless of what some distributors or future generations think of the story or running time of Avatar there will always be a complete copy of the film somewhere. But I also thought about the broader implications of Metropolis in what was a very similar transition era. And again it was Avatar that came to mind. Both films were made in a time when the movie industry was beginning to change; for Metropolis it was the end of the silent era; for Avatar it is the beginning of the digital 3D era. Both films are long technologically ambitious movies made by talented directors with enormous egos. Both films have similar classic good-versus-evil themes wrapped around a simple love story. Both films were huge financial gambles that were an enormous risk for their producers. But Avatar succeeded where Metropolis failed. Sync sound shorts had already become a staple of the movie business by the mid-1920s. In 1926 the year before Metropolis debuted Warner Bros. released its first feature length sync sound movie Don Juan with John Barrymore. And of course a few months after Metropolis was released Warner Bros. premiered The Jazz Singer in New York. As the saying goes the rest was history. Obviously Lang could have elected to shoot Metropolis in sync sound if he had really wanted to but I’ve not been able to find a reference that explains if it was ever a consideration or why he decided not to. One possible reason for the success of Metropolis in Berlin and its failure in the rest of the world was the fact that it became a favorite of the burgeoning Nazi party. Years later in an interview with Peter Bogdonovich Lang said he had come to hate the film. The experience seems to have contributed to Lang’s divorce from his wife Thea von Harbou who co-wrote the Metropolis screenplay. She later joined the Nazi party while Lang fled the country when he learned that the Nazis considered him to be Jewish. Would Avatar have failed if it hadn’t been shot in 3D? Would Metropolis have succeeded if it had been shot in sync sound? Who can say? By 1931 Lang had settled in Hollywood where he made M what is probably his true masterpiece and what was his first sync sound feature film. “It's very hard to talk about pictures ” Lang told Bogonovich in that interview which can be found in the book Who the Devil Made It. “Should I say now that I like Metropolis because something I have seen in my imagination comes true when I detested it after it was finished?” Click here to access the official web site for the restored complete Metropolis. There you can find times and locations of screenings. ,1757
Norrköping Visualization Center,2010-06-14,The dome theatre at the Norrköping Visualization Center is the most modern and technically advanced visualization space in Europe. ,1760
Vision On Makes the Grade,2010-06-14, New York post house Vision On’s first color grading of a feature film turned out rather well. Director/writer Alistair Banks Griffin’s Two Gates of Sleep had its premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. With the purchase of two Red digital cameras in 2007 Vision On expanded its capabilities from highly creative digital still capture and retouching to also include high-impact film and videos for the fashion industry with a client list that reads like a who’s who in Women’s Wear Daily. The boutique began using Assimilate’s Scratch digital finishing solution in August 2009 for the real-time conform color grading and finishing of imagery projects.
Dustin Bowlin senior editor at Vision On says “We’ve used the Scratch tools to color grade and finish numerous client videos including Red and other formats and knew it had the power and output quality needed for Banks’ film. I’d worked with him before as a colorist on [his film] Gauge and knew he would appreciate the hands-on manipulation and real-time creativity that Scratch enables.”
Director of Photography Jody Lee Lipes used a Red One digital camera for the Two Gates of Sleep shoot. The edit was done in Final Cut Pro and then the Quicktimes were transferred over to the Scratch system for the complete DI. “Banks was going for a very precise look and our colorist Nick Metcalf was able to translate that into Scratch and create versions that could then be quickly pared down to the kernel he wanted ” says Bowlin. “The DP and some of the producers were in the sessions as well and were amazed at the quality and speed of the grading process and what Nick was able to achieve.”
Metcalf says “We did a lot of research to find the right DI tool set for high-end grading and finishing. Scratch met our criteria with a streamlined real-time data workflow and the ability to easily deal with Red’s native R3D files. For this film we had a tight deadline and an even tighter budget. I was able to push through the grade experiment and finish within 40-plus hours. It’s exciting to see how far digital cinema has come today – we can be amazingly productive do great work and all while staying within budget.” “Like any new software as powerful as this there’s a learning curve ” Metcalf says “but with Scratch once we worked out a few back-end issues at our facility we were up to speed and working very quickly through projects. The power and ease of use make Scratch a very attractive software.”
The final output for Two Gates of Sleep was to 2K anamorphic DPX converted to a Digital Cinema Package for its premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight. Ultimately it will output to an anamorphic 239 print. ,1762
Resurrecting a Theatre Complex,2010-06-14, Southern Theatres has selected digital cinema projectors from NEC for its newly renovated and redesigned Theatres at Canal Place in New Orleans. The move by Southern Theatres extends its current relationship with NEC and master reseller Ballantyne Strong and positions the exhibitor to capitalize on the growing list of upcoming 3D Hollywood movies. “Investing in this community means a lot to us and the superb design of the facility continues Southern’s tradition of delivering the best movie-going experience possible ” says Solomon president of Southern Theatres. “NEC and Ballantyne Strong are great partners and they understand our mission of rebuilding the area to include simple luxuries people have missed since 2005.”
Solomon has been in the theater business with his family for more than 50 years and launched Southern Theatres to develop and operate state-of-the-art multiplex stadium-seating movie theaters.
Seeking to resurrect The Theatres at Canal Place Southern Theatres outfitted five all-digital auditoriums with over-sized reclining leather seats shared swivel-tables and drink holders in a stadium-seating configuration with reserved seating. The new amenities include an upscale café and premium bar in the foyer and a call button for in-theater food and beverage table service. NEC large-screen LCD displays give the concession areas added appeal and menu flexibility. “It is an honor to continue our work with George Solomon of Southern Theatres ” says Pierre Richer president and COO of NEC Display Solutions. “New Orleans is being restored one project at a time and we are very privileged to play a small role.”
Ballantyne Strong a master reseller for the exhibitor segment of NEC’s business is providing the hardware and installation services for the theaters. For this project NEC NC2000 projectors were selected which are 3D capable with advanced security features for digital content protection. The NC2000 also includes sophisticated technology for venting and cooling.
“Ballantyne Strong is grateful to have a role in revitalizing New Orleans and this major upgrade transforms The Theatres at Canal Place into a top entertainment destination ” says John Wilmers president and CEO Ballantyne Strong. “Our innovative solution of mounting the projectors in soundproof ceiling enclosures also provides more room for movie patrons to enjoy the ambience of the buildings.”
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Filming Horses in Saudi Arabia,2010-06-14,By Jo Franklin President SeaCastle Films Thundering hoofbeats echo then some of the most beautiful horses on earth emerge from the haze in the deserts of Arabia. Beduoin horsemen charge across the landscape jockeys today break from the racing gate cowboys gallop roping cattle show jumpers leap six-foot hurdles. That is what you will see in the film A Gift From the Desert: The Arabian Horse. If you ever get to see it. The government of Saudi Arabia is trying to block the film's release. The obvious question is Why in the world would they want to do that? It is not a simple answer. Perhaps the film is historically flawed? Brilliant a wondrous film! For joy as well as wisdom view this beautiful film writes noted Middle East historian Dr. Carney Gavin. Journalistically flawed or simply boring? A wonderful film! A fascinating and entertaining story writes Pulitzer Prize winner and former publisher of the Wall Street Journal Karen House. Somehow offends Islamic sensibilities? The film is good. It will win awards writes Amb. Turki Al Faisal director of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. So what is the problem? Certainly it is not the Arabian horse. They are one of the oldest and most beautiful breeds. Immortalized in portraits with Napoleon the prize of bedu and cowboys alike the founding sire of today's racing Thoroughbreds. The mystery seems to deepen with every answer unless you are familiar with Saudi Arabia. And therein lies the otherwise unfathomable answer. It is a part of the world I am indeed familiar with. I filmed my three hour series for PBS there in 1980 Saudi Arabia which had one of the largest audiences ever recorded for a PBS public affairs series. This was followed by the Emmy Nominated series The Oil Kingdoms next the controversial Days of Rage then the art history film Islam: A Civilization and Its Art. I calculated once that I had spent as much time filming the region as I had at the university here where I graduated and now sit on the board. The answer the dilemma lies in Saudi Arabia and the extraordinarily convoluted transition they are enmeshed in. Shooting the horses is fine with them; it is almost everyone they show up with that triggers alarm. One of the hottest buttons in this transition is women and what they can and cannot do. It may come as a surprise to people here that there are Saudi female endurance racers and show jumpers who are top competitors and you will see them in action in the film. This is at the same time the UN report basically deplores the lack of human rights for women. Which is also at the same time that the King's firebrand daughter Princess Adela campaigns for women's rights. This sounds contradictory and confused. It is. In the same week I was asked to please not film the women riders I was asked to please include them in the film. The bottom line is that the women you see in the film are groundbreakers and are being watched by the establishment with much trepidation. Women have come a long way in Saudi Arabia since 1980 when I first filmed there. At that time they were largely confined to home didn't work or attend college. Now many do within limits. But they've still got a long way to go to freedom and every step out of the box sends tremors through the hierarchy. Foreign workers are another hot button. I filmed King Abdullah's farm where he has some of the most beautiful Arabian horses in the world. An Irish vet is in charge; the head trainer is a Brit. And the Saudis wish it were not so. We shot the trainer giving an excellent display of the horses. And then were asked to please pitch it out. That foreign workers fill these positions is a fact they prefer to sweep under the carpet. (The vet and the trainer stayed in the film.) Which brings us to the media. They are aware that the rest of the world is appalled at the idea of government issuing orders about what can be shown or said. But they can't quite get away from it. It is certainly better than it used to be when foreign journalists weren't allowed in and the local ones simply carried out orders. But the concept has a ways to go before we'd call it exactly entrenched in the national psyche. Hopefully you will get to see the film broadcast not simply on DVD. You will see some spectacular riders and horses and along with them some people and a society in a very nervous transition that is the reality of Saudi Arabia today. Jo Franklin president of SeaCastle Films is an award winning filmmaker and frequent university lecturer on the Middle East. A Gift from the Desert: The Arabian Horse www.arabianhorsedvd.com ,1766
Searching for Amelia Earhart,2010-06-14, Peabody Award-winning director of photography Mark Smith is making his third voyage to the remote South Pacific island of Nikumaroro to document the Amelia Earhart Expeditions’ archeological research. Smith is part of a 16-member team that is traveling under the aegis of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery an organization that contends that famed aviator Earhart landed and ultimately died on Gardner Island – now known as Nikumaroro. He previously journeyed with the group in 2001 and 2007. American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circum-navigational flight in 1937. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross which she was awarded as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Intense public fascination with her life career and disappearance continues to this day as evidenced by the 2009 theatrical film release of Amelia starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere.
Nikumaroro a small deserted Pacific island located halfway between New Guinea and Hawaii is known for its oppressive equatorial heat and humidity razor-sharp coral dense foliage treacherous landing conditions and relentless lack of drinkable water. Abandoned remains of Nikumaroro Village castaway campsites and various elements from an 800-foot freight shipwreck evidence the difficulties of accessing and sustaining life on the uninhabited island. The mandate of 2007 16-day Nikumaroro expedition was to seek clues to Earhart’s presence there and persuasive circumstantial evidence was uncovered at the ‘Seven Site ’ the ‘castaways’ campsite that TIGHAR began excavating in 2001. Artifacts included shards of a make-up mirror that matched up with compacts sold in the 1930s in New York City (where Earhart lived); the bottom of a broken hand lotion bottle embossed with a Corning Glass Works logo circa 1933; a Talon zipper pull manufactured in the U.S. in the mid-1930s; and perhaps most dramatic a well-used jack knife that was an exact match of the knife listed in the inventory of the plane Earhart flew on her failed 1936 circum-navigational attempt.
Participants on the 2010 expedition will clear the jungle for an intense study of the Seven Site; personnel will also operate a video-equipment ROV for an underwater search for traces of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra.
Smith recently purchased Panasonic’s new AG-HPX370 P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorder to use as his primary camera. His equipment pack also includes an AG-HPX170 P2 HD handheld as his B camera an AG-HPG20 P2 Portable HD recorder/player an AG-HPG10 P2 Gear viewer/recorder and an AJ-PCD2 P2 solid-state memory card drive.
“The ability of the HPX370 to shoot full raster HD and record in AVC-Intra the highest-quality origination codec available for an in-camera recording system coupled with the flexibility of the camcorder for either handheld or tripod-style shooting made my choice of a main camera easy ” Smith says. “I wanted to select the best-quality acquisition tool I could to fit inside the relatively small working space I need to occupy for this project.”
“I’m will be shooting in AVC-Intra because of its superb image quality for the present and future ” he says. “I have been dealing with tons of legacy footage that is a part of the Earhart project's archive. Consequently getting the highest quality original material tops my list of priorities and is a central reason I'm using the HPX170.”
“The HPX370 also affords very low power consumption which translates into a two-pound battery powering most of a day’s shooting ” says Smith. “As an HPX300 owner I have enjoyed shooting in AVC-Intra with a fast P2 HD file-based workflow. The new HPX370 offers all those benefits plus even better imaging. The camcorder with lens and battery is sized and weighted ideally for this onerous assignment. An EX-series camcorder in contrast can be challenging to shoot with handheld and I’ll be doing considerable handheld work.”
Smith will shoot in AVC-Intra 100 at 1080/30pN on the HPX370 and in DVCPRO HD 1080/30p on the HPX170. He will utilize the P2 Portable’s HD-SDI input to record AVC-Intra 100 1080/60i from the remotely operated underwater camera. He will use the HPG20 and HPG10 as card readers with the PCD2 as back up. Smith is traveling with hard drives with 16TB of storage and will routinely offload footage to a CalDigit VR mini bus-powered two-drive RAID system. TIGHAR and Smith’s company o7 Films are currently negotiating a feature-length documentary profiling the Expeditions’ compelling findings that a major satellite/cable channel is expected to air late this year.
Smith has worked extensively for major broadcast and large cable networks in the U.S. as well as independent production companies. Smith gained recognition with award-winning stories including a Nickelodeon report on the hidden content of children's video games that received a Peabody an ABC News documentary for 20/20 about AIDS and its effect on the medical profession an Emmy-nominated profile of a Russian athlete training in the U.S. shown on TNT and the film Returning Mickey Stern which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival in 2002. More recently he was the recipient of a Clio Award for a long-form public relations campaign for communications agency Draftfcb and was DP for Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways which aired on the Smithsonian Channel and won the Director’s Choice Award at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival.
Mark Smith www.o7films.com TIGHAR www.tighar.org
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Transforming Brazil’s Soccer Museum ,2010-06-14,As the world turns its attention to the FIFA World Cup Soccer Games in South Africa it’s fitting to consider Brazil’s newly transformed soccer museum. Inaugurated in April 1940 the Estádio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho (colloquially known as Pacaembu) has been transformed by the addition of a new Museu do Futebol (soccer museum) which covers 6 900 square meters yet has been built without any alteration to the classical design of the arena’s exterior. The museum’s 17 rooms of exhibits tell the story of soccer in Brazil from its early days as a pastime for the educated elite to its contemporary status as a multi-million dollar industry. While the icons of the Brazilian game down the years are very much in evidence emphasis is also given to the nature of soccer as an everyday passion in city streets across the country. Video plays a key role in demonstrating both extremes –with footage of classic games and modern heroes contrasting with clips of youngsters kicking a ball around on improvised playing surfaces in backyards and wastelands. The museum’s video playback devices are as varied as its content. There are 117 flat-screen monitors from 15 to 60 inches in size and some 55 projectors from 2 000 to 15 000 lumens in brightness. Dataton’s long-term partner in Brazil KJPL Arbyte acted as systems integrator for the project and used over 9 000 meters of video and data cable to connect everything together. KJPL’s Peter Lindquist who worked with his colleague Bernardo Nicola to turn the museum designers’ creative vision into a technical reality admits that “the scope of the project and the technical challenges it posed were enormous”. KJPL’s approach however was that “whatever the client imagined we would find the technological solution to meet their requests”. With its ability to orchestrate all image sources blend projected images together and control shows in a user-programmable timeline Dataton’s Watchout software provided the museum with an open-ended solution that is as easy to update as it is to control. This is important because as Lindquist explains “the whole museum is controlled from a central data center making it possible to re-program any part of the museum from one location and for equipment status to be monitored from that same location”. In total there are 104 Watchout display stations used on the site interfacing with the museum’s Medialon Manager show-control backbone and using a number of new features provided by version four of Watchout. Nicola says “From the projection of 25 soccer stars ‘floating’ in mid-air through to clusters of multiple flat-panel displays and extensive visitor interactivity the museum had to have it all. We knew that Dataton’s Watchout would be the best solution and we were not disappointed.” Michael Engström director of sales Dataton says “Our long working relationship with KJPL really paid dividends at the Museu do Futebol. They trusted us and our software and the commitment of both our companies to long-term support has ensured a very successful relationship. Over half a million people are expected to visit the museum this year and I think it’s fair to say that success could not have been achieved without us.” Dataton www.dataton.com ,1777
Entertainment Technology Center Releases Metadata Whitepaper,2010-06-14,The Entertainment Technology Center at University of Southern California has released a white paper ETC Marketing Metadata 1.0 that provides a set of best practices for creating descriptive/marketing metadata based on the combined wisdom of the experts who produce and distribute digital media for the leading Hollywood studios. The ETC@USC is also announcing a new metadata online discussion group open to industry members who are looking to further the discussion around the distribution of metadata. Metadata is information that in this case describes what is contained in digital content files. Virtually every content creator or related service company creates metadata and each distributor/network has its own specification for the metadata it receives with the content. There are a wide variety of implementations and managing a consistent quality of data through distribution can be a challenge. “With the explosion and increasing importance of online content the need for sharing best practices for metadata has become essential. Your metadata is often all you have to get your content in front of the online consumer. The ETC@USC metadata discussion group will bring together those with the interest to further develop best practices for this data ” says KC Blake director of business development at ETC@USC. “ETC@USC’s metadata project has the support of many of the Hollywood studios and the companies that support them. We are therefore confident that the metadata discussion group will enable industry members to share information to work together and to ultimately save everyone in the value chain time and money. Best of all consumers will be able to find the content they want easier.” Click here to read the whitepaper. Those interested in signing up for the ETC@USC metadata online discussion group can do so by visiting http://etcenter.org/metadata. ,1780
Changing the way Exhibitors do Business,2010-06-28,As many people are already aware Cinedigm Digital Cinema’s co-founder A. Dale “Bud” Mayo has retired as chief executive officer and president of the company effective immediately. He will continue as chairman of the board of directors. A search for a successor has begun. I first met Mayo in person in the spring of 2005 at the midnight premiere of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The event was held at Cinedigm’s own Pavilion Digital Showcase Theatre in Brooklyn New York which has five 2K-digital cinema screens and at the time laid claim to being the largest 2K venue in the United States. Then and now that venue for that event seems fitting in so many ways for there is simply no question that Bud Mayo played a key role in changing the way exhibitors do business. The theatre is just across the street from Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in one of the most pleasant neighborhoods in all of New York City. Cinedigm (at the time AccessIT) gave the event the treatment it warranted and even included searchlights out front. The Pavilion is an old movie house that has been tastefully restored and converted into five smaller theatres. The Pavilion traces its history to the earliest days of movies and in fact began its life as a nickelodeon. That night for people who were interested Cinedigm executives gave a short tutorial on the business and technology of digital cinema and tours of the projection booth. Equipment in the theatre includes five Christie CP2000 2K projectors and support equipment from Dolby Doremi and QSC. Once we were seated Mayo thanked everyone for coming and said that Cinedigm had digitally delivered 13 features and 90 trailers since the previous June. He said that by the end of 2005 there would be 1 000 digital screens in the United States. He predicted that number would grow to 5 000 in 2006 and to 15 000 by 2007. They’ll receive “content that isn’t just movies ” he said. “Theatres are going to change the way they do business. Our company and our people are a key part of that evolution.” With that the theatre lights dimmed the familiar sounds of John Williams’s Star Wars theme filled the room and the digital era at Brooklyn’s Pavilion began. That Mayo was incorrect on some of his predictions about how fast digital cinema would be adopted was through no fault of his own. He was right about everything else and today thanks in large part to the efforts of Mayo and the rest of the people at Cinedigm the digital era is well underway around the world. In a prepared statement announcing his retirement Mayo said “When I founded Cinedigm my vision was to build an innovative and important company that was on the cutting edge of the transformation of the movie business to digital. Now ten years later I could not be more proud of what we have created. We have developed into the industry leader in providing the essential services content and technology that allow for the transformation of movie theaters into networked entertainment centers. We have steadfastly supported both our studio and exhibitor partners as they offer their customers a fantastic digital experience. With digital conversion accelerating and a strong fiscal year 2010 just completed I leave the company on a solid trajectory of growth and I look forward to my retirement.” Until a new CEO is named Adam M. Mizel who currently serves as the company’s chief strategy and chief financial officer and Gary S. Loffredo who currently serves as the company’s senior vice president-business affairs and general counsel will run the day-to-day management of the company. The board has retained Korn/Ferry International to assist in identifying candidates from which to select a permanent replacement. Mayo began his career at IBM in 1965 and founded several technology and financial services businesses. In 1994 he co-founded the Clearview Cinema Group and sold it four years later to Cablevision. He served as CEO and president of Cablevision Cinemas from 1998 to 2000. I spoke with Mayo on a recent sunny and beautiful summer afternoon and despite the weather he said he plans to remain busy. “I won’t be playing golf and tennis all the time ” he said. Mayo is still the largest shareholder in Cinedigm and continues to have a vested interest in its ongoing success and he is quick to praise all of the company’s employees saying “There’s no way I did this myself.” He points to Cinedigm’s long-term contracts with all the major Hollywood studios as just one of the reasons he’s confident the company’s success will continue. But he came to see the company’s ten-year anniversary as an ideal moment to step aside. “I’m thrilled to be retired. It’s the perfect time ” Mayo said. “Momentum has turned. You really need to have the guy that leads that next decade.” The question from the start of the digital cinema conversion is the same question that remains today he said: “How do we use all of this? That’s something I learned from my IBM days. It’s all about applications; it’s not about the technology.” He said he learned during his Clearview days that exhibition was an industry that was not performing as well as it could. At that time he looked at theatres that were often empty 90 percent of the time and realized it needed to be fixed. But the technology wasn’t quite there yet and Cablevision was not ready or interested in pursuing his ideas so he founded AccessIT. He recognizes that he ruffled some feathers especially in the early days. “I was an outsider ” he said and a large part of the exhibition community was resistant to change. It didn’t bother him. “There are always doubters but with folks like me that just spurs you on.” When asked what changes the next decade will bring he said “It’s pretty hard to tell. One thing is certain movie theatres will become destinations for a vast array of content.” He predicted that the content available at movie theatres and the way shows are scheduled would be similar to how cable television operates today. Movies and other content will be played at specific dates and times designed to suit target audiences. In some theatres one screen will play a feature film in English while the screen next door in the same theatre will offer the same movie in Spanish or some other language. Release windows will shrink as what is now called alternative content occupies a bigger space in exhibitors’ revenue streams. There could be lecture series in some theatres sports in others all of it built around groups of likeminded people. “People like to get out of their homes ” said Mayo. “They love the shared experience and that will always be with us.” Brooklyn’s Pavilion Theatre was a pioneering nickelodeon at the turn of the last century an era that saw movies inexorably supplant vaudeville as the world’s dominant entertainment choice. The differences in the movie theatre of a decade or so from now and the entertainment available there will be just as dramatic as that and one of the people we have to thank is Bud Mayo. ,1798
Preserving the Past,2010-06-28,The Pinewood Studios Group has established a media preservation restoration and archive facility and is in process of restoring film-based titles from the StudioCanal British Library archive. ,1804
Standing Ovation for Local Hero,2010-06-29, Santa Monica California’s Local Hero Post completed all the digital intermediate work and color correction on the upcoming summer release Standing Ovation. Standing Ovation is an uplifting dreams-come-true story about friends competing in a national music video contest. The movie was shot with a Red One camera and finished at Local Hero using their Assimilate Scratch system. “A feature filled with song and dance numbers performed by enthusiastic young actors screams for eye-popping visuals ” says Leandro Marini founder and DI producer at Local Hero Post. “The Red camera came through with richly saturated imagery and we were able to push the colors and details to the max doing the color grade in Scratch.”
“Scratch easily ingests and handles the native Red RAW data – no proxies no transcoding – and the conform goes very quickly ” says Marini. “Every project has its unplanned challenges but with Scratch we were able to work past those and focus on the primary and secondary color grading tracking masks keying and enhancing details.”
Writer/director Stewart Raffill and executive producer James Brolin personally supervised the DI sessions – the color grading and finishing – in Local Hero’s Scratch theatre. “We were grading and making changes in real time of course and both Raffill and Brolin were incredibly impressed with what can be done today using powerful digital cinema tools ” says Marini. “I think it’s safe to say that they were both blown away with the color grading and finishing process the ability to easily compare/contrast different versions and then make changes on the fly.”
Marini says “Raffill loves film and this is his first digitally shot feature. He was truly thrilled after thinking digital footage could never look this good. No doubt that’s extremely satisfying for us as well – to know a client is down right happy with our work.” Marini was an early adopter of the Scratch data workflow and has used it for the post-production of numerous features commercials and imagery projects shot in a variety of formats. “Scratch has evolved over the years to become a highly efficient and stable data workflow with powerful digital post tools ” says Marini. “The on-going updates keep it state-of-the-art. It will support any format but is a dream for Red 4K and Red MX. For us working in Scratch is almost a magical experience – we have all the needed DI tools at our fingertips to bring out the best in imagery no matter the format or size of the project.”
Local Hero Post www.localheropost.com ,1806
Central Europe Embraces Digital Cinema,2010-06-29, Palace Cinemas is working with XDC to install Barco's DP2K series projectors in both XDC screens and new sites to be opened over the next two years. Palace Cinemas currently operates 21 theatres with 180 screens throughout Czech Republic Slovakia and Hungary. V.J. Maury chief executive officer of Palace Cinemas says “At Palace Cinemas we are dedicated to creating the very best entertainment destination so that our customers can have a great night out at the movies. We decided on Barco after a very successful test with 12 projectors. We were looking for extremely bright digital cinema projectors – especially for the upcoming 3D releases. During the test period we learned that they can meet all our technological requirements and the DP2K series is even better.”
Serge Plasch chief executive officer XDC says “Palace Cinemas is the most dynamic exhibitor in Central Europe and we are excited to be able to deliver Barco's DP2K projectors for their sites. The new series offers one of the brightest and most cost-effective projection solutions available on the market today.”
“The digital cinema market in Central Europe is growing rapidly and Barco is pleased to be part of it ” says Wim Buyens vice president of Barco's digital cinema division. “Palace Cinemas is just one of the ongoing installations in this region and we are confident many more will follow.” ,1811
EUE/Screen Gems Atlanta,2010-06-29, EUE/Screen Gems has opened a studio complex with multiple stages and support services minutes away from the Atlanta airport. The new lot is located in the former Lakewood Fairgrounds site. One of the four sound stages is currently in production for a major entertainment brand. The quick booking of the property points to the need for the space in the city and the production climate the 30 percent Georgia tax incentive offers to film television and digital production companies and commercial agencies in the United States and other countries. “Producers directors and studios came to us and asked us to go into Atlanta. We chose this site so that producers and directors can book with us immediately. The need is here and we’re here ” says Chris Cooney chief operating officer and co-owner of EUE/Screen Gems. “Through our properties in New York City Wilmington and now Atlanta we provide coastal rural and urban settings to our clients as well as size and infrastructure needed to handle intensive special effects for film commercial and gaming needs. This urban location expands our portfolio in a powerful way.” EUE/Screen Gems is undertaking a $6 million dollar phased renovation for the property. The City of Atlanta agreed to the lease agreement with EUE/Screen Gems in May. The studio facility provider is moving quickly. In addition to the stage that is fully functional three other buildings exist on the property and another stage will build out soon. By August the company plans to update four other buildings on the property upgrading amps and updating grids. The existing buildings offer four stages ranging from 10 000 square feet to 35 000 square feet and more than 50 000 additional square-feet for lighting and grip mill shops and support services.
They also plan to start construction on a 37 500-foot sound stage which is expected to be ready in March 2011. Currently plans include a mobile soundproofed wall that can also split the space into two smaller stages if necessary.
Once all construction is complete the complex will offer more than 100 000 square feet of studio space.
Cooney says the company was also drawn to the attractive 30 percent tax credit to qualified production and post-production expenditures. The credit is available not only to traditional motion picture projects such as feature films television series commercials and music videos but also game development and animation. In addition to the incentive the city’s ethnic and cultural diversity in the talent base was a draw as well as the proximity to the airport and the number of direct flights to Los Angeles and New York. “The agreement between EUE/Screen Gems and the City of Atlanta could not have come at a better time ” says Bill Thompson deputy commissioner of the Georgia Film Music and Digital Entertainment Office. “Having a high-profile sound stage in the metro area will only add to the many assets Georgia offers for the film industry. We are building this industry in Georgia and EUE/Screen Gems locating here helps us achieve that goal. The new facility will create more jobs for Georgians and increase our competitiveness as a state for film and television productions.” Click here for more on the Georgia incentive and the sales and use tax exemption. ,1813
Nurturing New Talent,2010-06-29, Harman Professional has announced that it will supply technology for this season’s Sundance Institute Labs Feature Film Program that takes place from June through September at the Sundance Institute in Provo Utah. Reservoir Dogs Boys Don’t Cry and Requiem For A Dream are just a few of the now-classic movies that had their starts at the Sundance Institute Labs Feature Film Program which every year nurtures a select group of aspiring filmmakers in a workshop environment where they are mentored by some of the best minds in the film industry. This year — the program’s 12th season — Harman Professional will provide seven pairs of JBL LSR2300 monitors three Soundcraft M12 mixers and three Soundcraft M8 mixers for use in the program’s film editing and scoring projects. HP Marketing of Centennial Colorado the Harman Professional regional manufacturer’s representative and a long-time supporter of Sundance facilitated the equipment’s delivery to Sundance.
The Feature Film Program which also includes the Film Composers Lab in which young music scoring talent is cultivated takes place in the hills of Utah far from the high-tech sound stages of Hollywood. However thanks to Harman Professional’s commitment to the advancement of film sound the work at Sundance Institute Labs Feature Film Program benefits from the same technology platforms these students will be using when they begin their careers in Hollywood. The JBL LSR2300 Series Studio Monitors features the same stringent Linear Spatial Reference criteria used in the design of the acclaimed LSR6300 and LSR4300 Series for absolute accuracy at the mix position in any environment. The Soundcraft M Series mixers deliver a great-sounding reliable performance in any environment offering a familiar user interface with advanced design and construction including high-quality 100mm faders combined with signal and peak LEDs on every channel and high resolution output metering.
“The Sundance Institute Feature Film and Composers Programs are extraordinary undertakings ” says Ian Calderon director of digital initiatives. “Our visiting filmmakers composers and creative advisors expect to use the best technology resources while at Sundance. JBL and Soundcraft have consistently met those expectations and we are grateful for their continued support.” Scott Johnson technical director for the Sundance Institute Film Composers Lab Program says that the JBL and Soundcraft equipment are used throughout the summer for all the editing work and for the Film Composers Labs working first on documentaries and then on narrative features later in the summer. Now in his 11th year with the program Johnson says JBL and Soundcraft have been an integral part of the initiative for as long as he can remember. “The equipment is great – it really helps raise the technical and creative bar at the Labs ” he says. “Working with this kind of quality equipment in this remote environment gives the students an incredible advantage one that I’m sure will stay with them for the rest of their careers.”
Michael MacDonald Harman Professional executive vice president of marketing and sales says “Innovation comes in many shapes and forms. Organizationally Harman is deeply committed to creative and technological innovation in our culture and in the community. The Sundance Institute shares this commitment to innovation and education which is why support for the Institute labs is a natural step for Harman.”
Harman International www.harman.com ,1815
Seriously Advanced Visualization,2010-06-29,Its designers Visual Acuity are making the claim that the dome theatre at the Norrköping Visualization Center is the most modern and technically advanced visualization space in Europe. Patrons will be the ultimate judges of that but one thing is certain: when His Majesty the King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden opened the Norrköping Visualization Center in May the ceremony marked the end of an extraordinary three-year design and construction process. The technology consultancy Visual Acuity played a pivotal role in developing the new center. The company’s work included an early feasibility study to set budgets and outline the plan of how the technology would be used design of the digital dome and supporting spaces within the actual historic building writing of tenders and technical management of vendors through installation and finishing. Mark Matthews lead consultant for Visual Acuity and colleague Barrie Paveley began their work by producing a feasibility study in conjunction with the University concentrating on how the Dome theatre would be used and setting up some initial budgets. “Flexibility was core to the whole brief ” says Matthews. “The client wanted the venue to do anything and everything. For example the front row of seats are removable so that the stage area can be expanded if required and we have well-populated floor boxes at the stage and at dome centre which are useful for live theatre performances bands VJ performances and events that require multiple media sources to be brought into the dome simultaneously and events where operators of different aspects of the theatre may require to be positioned in different places.” The Norrköping Visualization Center is a public exhibition space focusing on visualization and interactive computer graphics and includes a domed projection space designed for academic research as well as for the screening of educational and entertaining 2D and 3D presentations for conferences live performances and for live presentations using state of the art datasets for astronomy and human biology. The dome theatre has three main functions: to be a great place for the local population to go and spend time to support and showcase the University of Linköping’s research activities and as a workplace for local industries. The project was a collaboration between the University and Norrköping City Council. The building in which the Dome theatre is housed is constructed over a river making it architecturally unusual and giving a number of unique engineering and technological challenges. Concealed within the 19th-century shell of a former turbine-driven power station that once supplied energy to the local textile industry the 14.8-metre diameter Dome theatre seats up to 102 people and is claimed to be the most modern and technically advanced visualization space anywhere in Europe. Matthew Cooper associate director of research for the center says All at the Norrköping Visualization Center have worked very hard on this project and are very excited at the forthcoming opening. As relative newcomers to domed display systems we have found the depth and breadth of Visual Acuity's experience quite invaluable in helping us to design and develop such a complex and multi-faceted project. The perforated aluminium screen has a 165° by 360° Field of View and is tilted by 27° effectively providing a ‘room within a room’ that’s situated inside the skin of the original building. Visual Acuity worked on the design of the dome and supporting spaces with Swedish architects ÅWL. Visual Acuity arranged for a three-dimensional digital model of the dome theatre to be created in order to help communicate the complex interdependencies involved in designing a tilted dome into a building. This model was used to assist with decision-making and communication with the construction company to explain complex areas such as the elliptical sloping knee wall that encloses the theatre. Reflecting on the project Björn Peters architect SAR/MSA at ÅWL Arkitekter says After four years of work we can now say that we are very proud of the results of the design of Visualiseringscentret and the digital dome in Norrköping. Thanks to the knowledge professional approach and the cooperative assistance from Mark and Barrie at Visual Acuity we were able to assist in the creation of this digital dome. In order for us to reach the very best visitor experience and immersiveness there were very high and specific demands. The precise and exact measurements we required for the dome to fit within the old 19-century Ströms power station. After necessary contact with the Visual Acuity team everything came together perfectly. Technology suppliers to the project include Spitz Inc. for the NanoSeam dome screen. HoloVis International the specialist visualization systems integrator designed and installed a six-projector fulldome stereoscopic display system with a seventh projector as a backup and for presentation use HoloVis integrated the entire solution using 7thSense Delta Media Servers and a Medialon control system with custom programmed user interface specific to the clients exact requirements for controlling all aspects of the entire dome experience. Swedish-based AV company Mediatec provided a 7.2-channel surround sound system from JBL and specialist LED cove lighting. The Dome theatre system uses an active stereo 3D solution from XpanD. It says much about the attention to detail needed for the project that Visual Acuity planned for a room to house the glasses washer so that the XpanD LCD active shutter glasses could be cleaned between presentations. Matthews says “While most domed projection spaces are new-build projects that offer you a clean slate the existing building imposed a lot of constraints on the design of the spaces within it. We are proud of our work in making this project a reality and having worked so closely with the University through the design and implementation of the project we are confident that great things will be achieved within the building.” Visual Acuity www.visual-acuity.com ,1817
Advanced Artemis Cine HD Pro,2010-06-29,Sachtler has introduced an advanced artemis Cine HD Pro for professional film and digital cinematography. The new artemis Cine HD Pro is a completely revised system which combines the traditional functions of the previous Cine and Cine HD systems with the updates of the artemis EFP HD Special Edition. Among other benefits the modular system offers a new 1.8-inch post and a matching gimbal. The artemis Cine HD Pro has Dual Video Processing which means HD SDI and SD Video signals can be used simultaneously. For the first time the Hot-Swap Technology a feature that only artemis systems offer is used in the Cine product range. Thus during a battery change electrical power is supplied continuously so there is no need to shut down the camera monitor and radio channels. Due to the HiCap wiring the artemis Cine HD Pro like the artemis EFP HD SE can provide more than 200 Watts to the camera. It is therefore also capable of supplying today’s digital cameras with optimal power. The HiCap wiring not only keeps power loss extremely low (voltage drop) but in combination with the Hot-Swap technology also allows for longer battery operating time. Thus depending on the type of battery used the operating time can be doubled. The new 1.8-inch carbon post offers a redesigned no-tool clamp and a newly shaped tortion-free inner post with a 1.5-inch diameter. Therefore monitor brackets and existing accessories based on 1.5-inch diameter can be used with the new post. To match the new post the new gimbal offers a refined design that includes a new diameter handgrip and yoke which offer more control and therefore higher precision and nicer handling. Because of the modular design of the artemis systems previous artemis systems can be upgraded with the new ACT2 1.8-inch post and the gimbal. The Cine HD Pro can also be expanded with modules like all of the Sachtler artemis products. The camera stabilizer systems are developed and precision manufactured in Germany. The new artemis Cine HD Pro will replace the Cine and Cine HD systems as of September. Sachtler www.sachtler.com ,1819
Panavision Unveils a New 3D Technology,2010-06-29,Panavision has announced the first 3D system compatible with all cinema screens – white or silver – and all cinema grade projectors – film or digital – used in theatres worldwide. The system was introduced and demonstrated last month at Cinema Expo International. “Our industry faces a challenge ” says Eric Rodli senior vice president Panavision. “With the unprecedented availability and popularity of 3D content studios need more 3D screens available while exhibitors need to use their screens more flexibly. This new 3D system offers a high-quality solution to address those issues. It enables exhibitors to show 2D or 3D content on the same screens and to convert back and forth easily without making major new investments in new screens or projection equipment.” Digital Cinema Report spoke with Rodli about Panavision’s new system. According to Panavision using spectral filtration technology to ‘comb’ the spectrum this system gives audiences the sensation of seeing the full color spectrum in each eye. Because the system uses the entire visible spectrum polarization is not required; so images can be shown on a white screen – and the system can be used with all projectors with the use of a special lens for film projectors or a filter mechanism for digital systems. The lens and filters are part of the Panavision offering which also includes high quality reusable glasses and a cleaning and sanitizing system. System set-up training and technical support are also provided. “The glasses are one key to system quality ” says John Galt senior vice president for advanced digital imaging at Panavision. “Ours have lenses with tempered dichroic-coated glass for exceptional color stability and consistent performance – although they are made at a very reasonable cost. And because our approach is based on splitting light we’re ‘technology neutral’ – the same glasses can be used with film or digital systems.” The Panavision 3D system will be available worldwide beginning in the fall. Digital Cinema Report: Does the industry really need another 3D system? Eric Rodli: Despite the number of 3D systems available there are still too few 3D-compatible screens available to meet studio release patterns. The worldwide market needs a 3D system that works with today’s white or silver screens film or digital projectors – and makes every screen easily 3D-capable. The market still lacks a system that serves the needs of the smaller and mid-size exhibitors who may be ‘investment constrained’ keeping them in control of their ‘pace of change’ but is ‘migratable’ as they convert from film to digital in the future. This new system meets those market needs. We expect the 3D conversion to take some time and we are in this for the long run. DCR: Why is Panavision entering the 3D game? ER: For years Panavision has been a respected leader in the entertainment industry providing precision equipment and supporting it with strong research and development efforts. The most successful filmmakers and most demanding cinematographers trust Panavision to help them capture images – and Panavision’s role in that area continues; this new system also extends the company’s reputation and technical expertise further down the imaging chain. DCR: What role is Omega Optical playing? ER: Omega Optical is a world leader in filter technology. Spectral filtration which is at the foundation of this new 3D process uses the world-respected technology Omega has developed. DCR: How does the technology work? ER: Spectral filtering in the lens or in the projector ‘combs’ the visible light spectrum slicing it into ten slim bands of even and odd wavelengths of light. High-quality dichroic passive glasses enable the audience consistently to receive a distinctly different image in each eye but each eye has the sensation of seeing the full color spectrum of the stereoscopic image being presented. No ghost-busting color correction or image processing are required. DCR: Why isn’t a silver screen required? ER: Because polarization isn’t required 3D images can be shown on white cinema screens with their more ‘even’ illumination -- and with brightness comparable to other 3D systems which require a silver screen. But the system can also be used with a silver screen. In fact the system is compatible with all current screens and with all cinema-grade projectors – film or digital – as well as with current 3D cinema packages. DCR: What other booth modifications will the exhibitor need? ER: For projectors using DLP-technology a filter wheel is installed between the lamp house and the light integrator; projectors using LCOS technology use static filters. Split lenses are provided for film projectors. Because no ghost-busting image processing or color correction are necessary there is no ancillary equipment to install and maintain Conversion – from 2D to 3D – is fast and easy therefore the exhibitor has the ability to move 3D prints quickly from larger to smaller screens as business dictates. DCR: Is this another attempt to protect film and slow down digital? ER: On the contrary one of the advantages of this system is that it offers an easy and logical migration path from film to digital. Whether the cinema is using a film or digital projector the Panavision system simply slices the projector light so the same inventory of glasses works for both. Despite current excitement the digital conversion will take time for our industry to complete; today the vast majority of screens are white and the vast majority of projectors show film. This system allows exhibitors to show 3D movies today with the systems they have – and to upgrade to digital systems at their own pace and as business needs require. DCR: How do the film version and digital version compare in terms of quality? ER: In terms of brightness and picture sharpness they are comparable. Industry experts customers and audiences who have seen either or both systems find them more than satisfying. One of the arguments against film is that it can be scratched or pick up dirt but it doesn’t have to. In a properly-maintained projector film quality can be outstanding over the life of the print – and that’s as true for 3D as it is for 2D. DCR: What is included in the system? ER: The system includes a full set of highly-durable reusable glasses with tempered glass lenses using Omega filter technology a commercial-grade washer/sterilizer with special trays for the glasses; a lens for film projectors; filters or installed filter mechanisms for digital projectors -- all with full site-survey installation and set-up training and technical support. The inventory of glasses can serve multiple auditoriums – and be used with either film-or digital-based systems. DCR: What’s your business plan? ER: An initial fee will cover technology licensing as well as the cost of the glasses-washer / sanitizer glasses inventory and – for digital systems – the cost of the filters or filter mechanism. For film-based systems the special lens may be purchased or leased. The only on-going fee will be a per-cap usage fee to cover the cost of the glasses but we expect that will be subsidized by the studios and other distributors. DCR: Who is your target audience? ER: Because this new solution enables exhibitors to get started with what they already own initially we expect it will have special appeal to exhibitors who have a film or digital projector and white screen and want to show 3D movies without investing in new equipment. It enables them the show 3D without the pressure – or expense -- of making a screen change or technology conversion. We think all exhibitors will find our system and business model attractive because it’s ‘future-proof.’ They can use the same glasses and 3D technology if they replace their projectors and/or screens in the future.” DCR: Why reusable glasses? ER: As 3D grows in popularity the industry is moving towards recycling all glasses – for economic and environmental reasons. But because these glasses are washed and sanitized on-site – and thus their use can be more easily controlled and managed – they can be higher quality with precision-coated tempered glass lenses for a more consistent viewing experience. DCR: How expensive are the glasses? ER: While we are still testing glass prototypes and are making final selections of our vendors we expect the cost to be less than $7 per pair. The system includes a full set of high-quality reusable glasses with consistent performance from their precision manufacture. Lenses are tempered glass with hard coatings for exceptional color stability safety and durability. The technology comes from Omega Optical a world leader in thin film coating technology. DCR: Will studios help pay for glasses? ER: We are working with studios and other distributors now and expect they will help the exhibitor pay for the cost of the glasses. Current discussions are in the range of twenty-five cents per use so the first 30 uses could more than pay for the cost. DCR: What’s the turnaround time on glass washing? ER: The glasses-washer provided can handle 1200 glasses per hour – so washing and sanitizing can be done in minutes therefore does not require shipping and receiving of new inventories – nor is there any unwanted plastic packaging to collect and dispose of. DCR: How many sets of glasses will be provided? ER: One set of glasses will be provided for each system installed – with the number of glasses in the set based on the number of seats in the auditorium where the system will be used. Even with the popularity of 3D movies – and with a small allowance for shrinkage –exhibitors will have more than enough glasses to accommodate their guests. DCR: When will the systems be available? ER: We expect both systems – film and digital – to be available in the fourth quarter of this year. DCR: Who will sell and support the system? ER: We are working with major industry distributors now and expect to make announcements prior to the system’s availability. But our goal is to market and support this system on a worldwide basis and we are selecting our partners accordingly. DCR: What are the benefits of this new system? ER: This system is compatible with all current screens – white or silver – all projectors – film or digital -- and with current 3D prints or digital cinema packages. It works with the vast majority of the equipment already in place in the industry worldwide today. And because it’s compatible with both film- and digital-based systems it enables smaller and mid-size exhibitors (especially) to get into the 3D game easily and economically today and to migrate at their own pace. The business plan is simple straightforward and studio-supported. And by every measure exhibitors and audiences use to judge on-screen 3D image quality -- sharpness brightness color lack of ghosting image synchronization – this new system is comparable to those having additional system requirements. DCR: How does this system compare to other 3D systems? ER: This is the only 3D system that works with both white and silver screens and with both film and digital projectors. It is also the only 3D system able to play current 3D prints or DCPs. Other film-based 3D systems require a silver screen. Other digital systems require a silver or high-gain white screen and electronic image processing for either color correction or ghost-busting. DCR: Can this technology be used in the home? ER: That’s our expectation but our initial concentration will be on cinema applications. We believe there are power and impact and great entertainment value in seeing a movie in 3D on a big screen with a shared audience and that is the focus of our efforts today. Panavision www.panavision.com ,1825
Reaching the Tipping Point,2010-06-30, Christie has recently announced three important milestones for the company: Christie has opened a new manufacturing facility in Shenzhen China to meet growing global demand; Christie is the first projector manufacturer to pass the full range of tests required by the compliance test plan for the DCI digital cinema system specification; and is the first manufacturer to sell 12 000 digital projectors worldwide. Digital Cinema Report spoke with Christie Digital Systems vice president of entertainment solutions Craig Sholder to get his thoughts about these developments and where Christie goes from here. Sholder believes the digital cinema business has reached the tipping point. Christie recently became the first digital cinema projector manufacturer to pass the full range of tests required for the DCI certification. CineCert which is the only organization in North America licensed by Digital Cinema Initiatives to administer the CTP conducted the tests. Digital Cinema Report: What was involved in that process and how long did it take?
Craig Sholder: The process started in earnest at the beginning of the design phase of our Series 2 DLP CinemaS projectors back in the summer of 2008. The CTP requirements were published at the time and became integral to our Series 2 projector development program. We engaged industry consultants to review our designs with respect to Digital Cinema System Specification requirements and we worked closely with Texas Instruments to ensure their designs were complimentary to our projector electronics. Christie also visited the accredited CineCert test facility to have our designs reviewed before we submitted a digital cinema projector for official testing. In March of this year Christie provided a Series 2 digital cinema projector for testing as well as Engineering and Product Management support on-site throughout the testing phase. The CTP process was conducted by CineCert in an efficient and timely manner.
DCR: What does that mean exactly for Christie? CS: It represents yet another “first” for Christie and the cinema industry. Our Product Management Engineering Quality and Operations teams worked diligently throughout the product design and development process to ensure we were meeting and exceeding DCI Compliance. The Christie team is very proud of this accomplishment and it’s a testament to our commitment to quality and customer value. Both the Studios and our cinema customers can move forward with confidence in converting all their screens to digital knowing that Christie digital cinema projectors meet and exceed the industry’s technical and security requirements. DCR: What effect if any will certification have on the thousands of already-installed projectors made by you and your competitors that technically don’t meet the DCI specifications?
CS: The recent certification will not have any effect on the “already-installed” base of Christie digital cinema projectors. Based on previous agreements with our partners Christie is in the process of retrofitting the installed base. Our Series 2 projectors were designed from the beginning to be DCI compliant and passed the CTP without any hardware modifications. This means that the thousands of Christie Series 2 projectors already shipped and installed are DCI compliant.
DCR: How important is the 12 000-projector milestone for Christie and what does it mean for the exhibition business as a whole? CS: Being the first projector company to reach this milestone is extremely important because it validates the confidence exhibitors have in Christie’s ability to support them now and into the future. Our success in reaching this milestone is a direct reflection of the loyalty and support of our customers. DCR: As I understand it the new Chinese factory will begin manufacturing projectors beginning this month (July). Is that correct and will those projectors specifically be targeted for the Asian market? CS: Christie’s new manufacturing facility in Shenzhen China is operational now and projectors are coming off the line as we speak. The projectors manufactured at this facility will be predominantly sold domestically into the Asia Pacific market with the ability to supply worldwide.
DCR: Exhibitors continue to press for the lowest possible prices for digital cinema systems. That isn’t likely to change soon. How does Christie respond to that challenge?
CS: Christie’s digital cinema projector product line is engineered and priced appropriately to provide exhibitors with the best value proposition of any manufacturer. Christie’s intense focus on engineering the brightest digital cinema projectors and offering the best Xenon digital lamps is recognized by exhibitors for delivering the “lowest” cost of operation. Our projector optics allow us to spec a smaller lamp than competing projectors and still provide the highest brightness. Over the long term this provides the exhibitor with major savings due to reduced lamp and electricity costs.
DCR: Where does digital cinema go from here?
CS: I think the cinema industry has reached the digital cinema “tipping point” and we anticipate full conversion in the next 3 to 5 years. Digital cinema is no longer an option it is a strategic imperative. With the incredible images the projectors can deliver and the creativity that the new tools allow we’re going to see a wider selection of alternative programming choices including gaming sporting events and music concerts and new ways for exhibition to build social engagement in the community. ,1826
Revitalizing the Vinton Palace Theatre,2010-07-14,Vinton Iowa is a town of some 5 000 people located on the Cedar River in the northern part of the state. In a story repeated in small towns all across the country Vinton flourished through much of the 20th century but over the years as the importance of the family farm diminished the town began to fall on hard times. Businesses failed people moved away and in the early 1970s in a story also repeated in too many small towns across the country the Vinton Palace Theatre closed its doors. Today thanks to the tireless efforts of a lot of people in the community the theatre is a viable business again and this month it successfully premiered its first digital 3D movie. The revival actually started more than a decade ago and its original purpose was to find a permanent home for the local community theatre group which is officially named Area Community Theatre Inc. The group is often referred to locally as simply Act One in part because the URL for the acronym ACTI was already taken when they wanted to establish their website so they used act1 instead and it stuck. Marcy Horst who has been the fulltime manager of the Vinton Palace for four years and her husband Gerald were both active in community theatre. They were part of the group that raised $450 000 to refurbish the theatre in 1999. At the time she says the goal was simply to create a space “as a home for Act One. That was how this all started. The local theatre group couldn’t always find space for performances on the dates it wanted. Once the theatre group was established in the Palace people thought it would be a good idea to run movies again.” “There are two separate sister entities involved at the Palace ” Horst says. “ACT I of Benton County is the local community theatre. They are a 501c3 and the original money for the Palace renovation in 1997-1999 was raised through them. ACT I owns the building and stages three or four shows a year at the Palace. The movie theatre is dark for one week for those dress rehearsals and then two weekends for their shows. They also run a six-week theatre camp for kids every summer.” “Both organizations have a Board of Directors ” she says “and those boards meet once a month separately and together a few times a year. It is a cooperative venture that works well in our community.” As a movie venue the Palace had its appeals. There was and is a real sense of community in the town associated with the theatre and ticket prices have stayed at two dollars for a decade. And Horst prides herself on not pricing concessions too high. As a result the movie venture did well for several years and they were able to pay off their initial debt but eventually she says “The newness just wore off.” In part this is because there are competing movie theatres in Independence 30 miles north or Waterloo and Cedar Rapids 40 miles north and south respectively and all of those theatres get movies sooner than the Palace can and many patrons prefer not to wait. To Horst digital cinema was inevitable so the next challenge was to determine what technology was needed and what it would cost. Her husband has a fulltime job with a telecom company but he also serves as an unofficial and unpaid co-manager and he understands technology so the two of them did the research together. “We've been studying digital cinema seriously for two years ” she says. “In the past six months it had become apparent to us because of a lack of 35mm advertising materials and prints that we really had no choice. Also we wanted to be able to show movies in 3D which has fast become an industry standard. After much study and shopping around we chose Sonic Equipment from Iola Kansas to usher us into the digital age. We've been thrilled with their overall knowledge and customer service as well as access to and knowledge of the latest and greatest technology in the industry.” Donations from the community enabled them to raise $80 000 for the conversion. Projectionist Roger Uthoff who is also a paid employee made the first donation to the digital cinema fundraising effort. Sonic Equipment installed a Christie digital cinema projector GDC digital cinema server RealD 3D technology a Dolby digital sound processor a silver screen and theatre management software to run the whole system. The community also raised an additional $30 000 for customized rigging to enable them to raise the silver screen. “The screen was a big challenge ” says Horst. “Because the new silver screen can't bend or roll as the original white screen did we needed to create a new method to move the screen out of reach.” The solution devised by Sonic Equipment is a special motorized rigging system to lift the screen out of the way for stage productions. For trivia buffs Letters to Juliet was the final movie projected in 35mm film at the Palace and volunteer Nancy Good purchased the very first ticket to the Palace’s first digital offering which was Shrek Forever After in 3D. “With the help of our all volunteer-run concessions and box office we have maintained a $2 ticket price for 10 years ” says Horst. “The Palace Theatre will continue to offer a $2 2D ticket and I believe we will be the only theatre in the world to offer a $3 3D ticket.” Volunteers get a soft drink popcorn and to watch the movie for free. The Palace is able to charge such low prices in part because of the volunteer workers and in part because they’re an off-the-break theatre and don’t get movies for three or four weeks after they open. “By then the price is low enough that we can afford it ” says Horst. The theatre has 196 seats including a balcony. They also have space in the rear for people in wheelchairs and if there’s a sell-out which happens often and if there’s room in the wheelchair space they have white lawn chairs that they can and do sell. Horst is also taking advantage of what digital technology can offer for ticket sales. The Palace uses a service that allows patrons to select specific seats when purchasing tickets online. There is an additional three-dollar fee for that but out-of-town patrons and regulars use it frequently. If specific seats are available walk-in patrons can purchase them for an extra dollar. Next on the agenda is a fundraiser to raise the money to update the theatre’s seating which has begun to show 10 years of wear. Horst has also purchased a DISH network commercial package and plans to show a wide range of alternative content. Marcy Horst seems excited about all the possibilities and she understands how vital her business is to her town. It sounds like a cliché but she really knows many of her regular customers by name. Could the Palace’s business model work in other communities? “I think it could ” she says. “It all depends on the number of volunteers they could get. Without our volunteers we probably couldn’t stay in business.” ,1832
Rethinking the Cineplex,2010-07-14,Today largely thanks to digital cinema technology movie theatres are evolving into community centers. How is that changing movie theatre design? ,1836
Industry Renaissance in Poland,2010-07-14, With a heritage as a film factory for world-famous directors and cinematographers Wroclaw Poland is reasserting its potential for homegrown and foreign film production and post. The city is now attracting significant projects in digital animation and post from around the world. This renaissance has inspired Divizion to open a film factory of its own providing in-house production resources a clutch of Red One cameras with Red Epic Stage 2 editing and Assimilate’s Scratch Digital Finishing Solution for the VFX and digital intermediates.
In less than a year since opening Divizion has completed the DI on seven features including Cookie (Ciacho) one of Poland’s biggest-budget productions directed by Patryk Vega. Next up is the big-budget 3D stereo horror-flick Charnobyl 2012 from the same director.
Divizion director and chief colorist Martin Kryjom says Scratch is helping to fulfill his company’s ambitions. “The paradigm of how films get made today and in the future has changed forever ” he says. “We don’t use digital technologies like Red and Scratch because they’re low cost but because they work. They let people shoot and finish productions to the very highest quality.”
“We evaluated many DI systems some cheaper and some more expensive than Scratch but they all had disadvantages. Some did not integrate so well with Final Cut or the U/I was too complex. Others lacked tracking and effective keying or would only let you work with proxies for projects shot using Red rather than the native R3D files. With Scratch the Red workflow is simplified.”
Kryjom says “High-quality grading is vital for me so I tested Scratch’s primary and secondary color grading capabilities tracking masks and keying. All fine. In fact they give you lots of creative opportunities. I also discovered the Red 4K workflow in Scratch was really smooth. It was amazing to upload Red data from disk import an EDL from Final Cut do the conform and be able to work on the full 4K resolution Red RAW files in Scratch – in real-time – within moments.”
Scratch was the hub for the post-production workflow on Cookie handling the best light and technical grades for 270 VFX shots including blue-screen 16 different conforms as well as the master grade and the finish to DPX for film-out ” Kryjom says. “We even constructed the title sequence in Scratch using animated masks and VFX mattes in the alpha channel to combine with the live action.” “Cookie generated 12Tb of Red RAW material from three cameras and each of these had different color temperatures ” he says. “The initial task was to balance the footage and apply a clean natural grade. This is fast in Scratch as you can compare shots on different constructs or trays and copy and paste grades between sequences. This would have taken far longer on any other system.”
“Scaffolds is perhaps the most important tool in Scratch ” says Kryjom. “Because of the tight production schedule on Cookie a fair amount of footage was either under or over-exposed. Because of Scratch’s optmized workflow and capabilities with Red RAW files we were able get the most out of the available data to isolate and track areas of the image and to salvage detail from the highlights or boost dark areas.”
“We’ve completed seven features since getting Scratch all shot on Red so we know the workflow inside out back to front ” Kryjom says. “We just finished Dance Marathon directed by Magda Lazarkiewicz (sister of famous Agnes Holland) and a spy thriller Recruited Love. We’re about to start on Charnobyl 2012 a big 3D stereo production for Patryk Vega.”
“We grade mainly on a 5.5m-wide screen and use the CineSpace color management tools that come pre-loaded into Scratch ” he says. “The CineProfiler and EqualEyes tools let us set up an accurate calibrated path for DI. Using the CineCube we prepare and apply 3D LUTs and can see an accurate preview of the final film print typically to Kodak 2383 or 2386 print stocks in our digital projection theatre. This gives both our clients and us reassurance and confidence. I'm very glad to have invested in Scratch. It makes us very competitive against other post houses on price and quality and paid us back after just one film! The software is never out of date. Assimilate’s R&D team is always looking ahead and quick to respond to fresh developments like the new Red Scarlet and Epic sensors. Scratch is a serious grown-up DI system and its best days are still ahead.”
Divizion www.divizion.pl
,1841
Movies at the End of the World,2010-07-14,The Packewaia Cinema in Ushuaia the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego (land of fire) and the southernmost city in the world has installed a Christie 3D digital projection system that is already playing to packed houses. With digital capabilities the system can now offer first-run screenings of the latest Hollywood movies. Packewaia Cinema is among the latest theatres in Argentina to embrace 3D. Gama Producciones whose partners Fabian Fiocchi and Pablo Drajner oversee diverse media promotional and event production ventures including the management of a local TV station operate it. Christie the brand they selected dominates the Argentinean market outselling its nearest competitor by more than two to one. “The Christie 3D digital cinema system has proven to be very popular. It is attracting enormous audiences providing Gama Producciones with an excellent return on its investment ” says Fabian Fiocchi. “Digital cinema also allows us to show the latest blockbuster movies right away instead of having to wait five or six weeks for a 35mm print.” “We recommended the Christie DLP cinema projector because it offers the brightest and sharpest image in the industry the two most important factors that ensure the best 3D viewing experience ” says Alex Mir a partner at Xenon Cinema Technology the company that installed the system. Founded in 1967 Xenon Cinema Technology is dedicated to the supply installation and service of movie theatres and auditoriums across South America. “Since not all prints are available in digital format yet the 35mm projector is still necessary but there was hardly any space to have the two projectors in the booth at the same time. We therefore had to improvise ” says Mir. “The chief projectionist designed an elevator system that allowed them to lower the Christie projector out of the way for a 35mm screening then raise it to its operating position for digital screenings.” “It seems appropriate that ‘the land of fire’ has embraced the hottest trend in the industry: 3D digital cinema ” says Craig Sholder vice-president of Entertainment Solutions Christie. “We are pleased to be a part of Gama Producciones’ transition to digital technology; and we look forward to working with Xenon Cinema Technology as they continue to bring the latest generation entertainment technology to Argentina and all of South America.” Packewaia Cinema is one of only a handful of theatres in a city of 65 000 and was built more than a decade ago inside a former naval station. Christie Digital Systems www.christiedigital.com ,1843
Striving to be China’s First All-Digital Theatre Chain,2010-07-14, Dadi Digital Cinema a subsidiary of Dadi Culture & Media Group is China’s first fully digital cinema chain. The company has built approximately 70 cinema complexes in the Chinese Pearl River Delta Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim regions with a current total of 266 screens. Within one year Barco will deploy 600 Series 2 digital cinema projectors in Dadi Digital Cinema complexes.
Digital Cinema not only pioneered the projection of blockbuster movies in Tier 2 and 3 cities but also introduced the world's leading 2K digital projection technology and chain building to the Chinese cinema industry. Dadi Digital Cinema has also entered Tier 1 cities nationwide and strives to be one of the largest digital cinema operators in China through progressive expansion – and a deep cooperation with Barco. “We have worked with Barco since 2006 and successfully installed over 300 Barco projection systems so far ” says Liu Kaijun general manager of Dadi Cinema Development. “The reason why we selected Barco for this project again is because its excellent product stability has laid a solid foundation for the good operation of our cinemas. We are also impressed by the company's superior after-sales services. As Dadi Digital Cinema is growing fast we look forward to an even deeper cooperation with industry-leading digital cinema system suppliers – like Barco.” “We're very pleased to see that this cooperation with Dadi has become a record project in China ” says Yan Fei managing director of Barco Greater China. “With its rapid growth in recent years Dadi has evolved into one of the largest domestic cinema chains in our country. We hope this cooperation will help drive the digital transformation in China's cinema industry.” Barco's Series 2 supports both 2D and 3D projection. ,1844
Harvesting the High Plains,2010-07-14, Producer Sydney Duvall and cinematographer Jay Kriss part of the production team at Inspirit Creative are currently in production on Harvesting the High Plains a feature-length documentary being shot for public television. A period piece focusing on the development of the wheat industry in western Kansas it tells the tale of how the great American desert was transformed into the breadbasket of the world. With 32 years of DP and camera experience cinematographer Kriss purchased a Fujinon HAe10x10 E-Series digital cinema zoom lens with this project and others like it in mind. He’s using the HAe10x10 primarily with the Panasonic AJ-HP3700 P2 HD VariCam. “With the Fujinon HAe10x10 we’re changing the way we produce our work for features and television ” says Kriss. “The glass is where it all begins and this Fujinon lens raises the production value our work by a factor of 100. For a project like this depth of field is very important along with the speed of the lens. The HAe10x10 is an extremely fast lens and it opens opportunities for us that are amazing.”
Duvall is enthusiastic about the dramatically different look the new lens is providing. “It’s unprecedented ” she says. “Hopefully with this lens we’re going to be a trendsetter and bring some new energy into the industry by getting back to what filmmaking is all about – the quality of the image.”
Inspirit Creative bought the camera package through Digital Video Group out of Mechanicsville Virginia. For Kriss and Inspirit Creative capturing the highest quality image is of paramount importance. “We want to adjust our image at the lens as opposed to using programs inside the camera – or worse fixing it in post production ” says Kriss. “The only way to do that is with an extremely high quality lens. Our goal is to develop a lens package led by the Fujinon HAe10x10 that allows us to take the image to the next level.”
In addition to documentaries and features Inspirit Creative shoots an enormous amount of stock footage for cinematic purposes. For the next two years Kriss will be shooting all over the country for stock clients including Framepool and Global ImageWorks. “The Fujinon HAe10x10 allows us to shoot images that can easily be integrated with 35mm film 16mm film or any of the HD formats that are out there in standard compression ” he says. “The nice thing about having this package is that is makes us independent. We don’t have to go down to the rental house for a lens. We’re set and ready to roll.” Digital Video Group www.digitalvideogroup.com Fujinon www.fujinonbroadcast.com Jay Kriss Film www.jaykrissfilmhd.com ,1845
Designing Film Stock in the Digital Age,2010-07-14, Kodak has just added two new films to its Vision3 family. The stock additions include a medium-speed tungsten-balanced color negative camera film and a color intermediate film optimized to work with digital post-production technologies. Digital Cinema Report spoke with Lauren Lung Kodak’s vice president and general manager of the company’s Entertainment Imaging Division in North and South America to learn more about the new film and also to discuss the future of film in an increasingly digital world. Digital Cinema Report: Kodak just added two new films to its Vision3 family. One is a negative stock for production and the other is a film designed specifically for digital intermediates. How long have the new products been in development? Lauren Lung: Depending on the level of complexity and the amount of new technology required the length of film development time is usually from about one to two years. These films fall within this range. To give you a specific Vision3 timeline: we first introduced our Vision3 film with the debut of the hugely popular 5219/7219 500-speed tungsten stock in November 2007. At that time we promised our customers that we'd continue testing and developing new stocks to add to the Vision3 family which overall offers increased exposure latitude and color detail with noticeably reduced grain even in extremely bright highlights and dark shadows. The 500T film was followed by the 5207/7207 250-speed daylight film in April 2009 which was equally well received. In keeping with our promise the 5213/7213 200-speed tungsten film and 5254/2254 digital intermediate films have joined the Vision3 family of films and more are on the way. DCR: In simple terms how does film designed for shooting differ from film made for post work? LL: The Vision3 family of films has been designed to provide advantages for both shooting and postproduction. The increased dynamic range of the Vision3 color negative films is useful to cinematographers because it allows for more exposure variation. One example is the finer grain in underexposures on Vision3 film which allows the cinematographers to rate the film at a higher speed when they find themselves in situations with less light than they expected. This same dynamic range provides advantages in postproduction particularly the greater ability to reach into the highlights and shadows to pull out detail. Drilling down into the evolving world of postproduction the increasing use of digital workflows today has resulted in a hybrid world with filmed or digitally-originated images feeding into a digital intermediate process which is then recorded out to produce film prints or a file for digital cinema display. Recording out to produce film prints typically requires an intermediate film. Kodak’s new Vision3 color intermediate film is specifically designed for/optimized for use in all of the digital recorders in the marketplace today. Together our Vision3 color negative and intermediate films are specifically tailored for today’s workflow; helping filmmakers to replicate their intentions from ‘scene to screen ’ while enabling increased efficiencies in post houses and labs. DCR: Several ASC cinematographers have tested it. When might we see the new film used in a feature film? LL: Rogier Stoffers is shooting the 5213 on a feature titled The Untitled Ivan Reitman Project and Guillermo Navarro is going to be shooting it on I am Number 4. Ken Zunder is using it on WWE’s The Chaperone and Dion Beebe is using it for a few scenes in The Green Lantern. The film just became available so we expect this list to grow quickly. The reviews of this new stock have been overwhelmingly positive and the cinematographers we’ve spoken to are eager to shoot with it. DCR: What post-production tests did the new stock undergo and where were they conducted? LL: Like all of Kodak’s film product the new Vision3 Color Digital Intermediate Film was designed with the input and collaboration of the people who will use the product. In this case film recorder manufacturers and other post professionals were consulted at every step of the way. A synopsis of the tests they performed and the conclusions they reached is available online (http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/VISION3_DI_%20Film_2254_Cus...). Simply put they recorded images out to the new film and compared the resulting images to images output using other films. They also compared the speed of the process. A short list of the companies involved would include Lasergraphics Celco Nordisk and Digital Pictures. DCR: What percentage of Hollywood feature films was shot on film in 2009? LL: The majority of feature films continue to be captured on film stock. Contrary to the digital hype that's out there film's superior ability to capture visual information still out-performs that of current high-definition digital/video devices. Producers directors and cinematographers demand the highest-quality most advanced technology to tell their stories and that technology is still film. The list of advantages that film offers is very long but to highlight a few: Films offers greater latitude than HD capture; It gives you the ability to move quickly without the need of excessive lighting; The details captured on film give filmmakers much more information to work with in post; and film is the only format with a demonstrated archival lifetime of 100+ years. With film there’s no creative compromise because what the director and cinematographer see is accurately captured. DCR: What percentage of episodic television programs was shot on film in 2009? LL: For TV’s high-end award-winning narrative productions film is still prevalent. Premium cable networks such as HBO which specialize in high-quality drama also shoot a majority of their original programming on film. Some examples of critically acclaimed favorites that shoot film include: this year's Emmy-winner Mad Men Glee The Mentalist Lost Treme True Blood 24 Entourage Grey's Anatomy House and Two and a Half Men just to name a few. DCR: How do those numbers compare with 2008? LL: Over the past 18 months digital capture has increased within the television segment. This is primarily due to the studios' decision to contract through AFTRA for many of their new shows hearkening back to the SAG labor issues of 2008-2009. Consequently digital capture increased during last year’s TV pilot season. Once shows started out with AFTRA contracts they were contractually obligated to stay on those contracts and therefore stay on digital.
DCR: Are the percentages similar around the world? LL: Over the last decade the popularity of filmed entertainment has increased resulting in the build-out of high-quality film infrastructures in many countries. Because of this film continues to be used in every region of the world. Of course digital capture is utilized globally as well – although that usage varies. In Japan for example there is a higher percentage of digital production which is not surprising since a majority of camera manufacturers are based in that area. DCR: Where are the growth opportunities for professional film production and post-production? LL: What we know is what we hear from our customers: they want to use film; they realize that it provides unparalleled image quality resolution dynamic range flexibility and archival qualities. And based on our R&D and the advances we've been able to incorporate into film technology we see a very bright future. Beyond film Kodak is exploring growth opportunities in workflow and data management. DCR: What's next for Kodak? LL: We are obviously very excited by the launch of our two new Vision3 products – the 200T color negative and our new digital record-out intermediate film. We also just added a new 100D color reversal film into the Super8 portfolio. And of course we continue to invest in enhancing the performance of all of our films. We are also evaluating growth opportunities to provide products and services that help streamline workflow and with the broad range of data management issues that are associated with both film and digital production. Kodak is firmly committed to continue to be the leader in film innovation and we are looking for ways to push the boundaries of what film can deliver. As industry technologies continue to change Kodak will provide our customers in the creative community with a full range of tools and services to help bring their vision to the screen more faithfully efficiently and at the highest levels of quality. ,1846
Modernizing the Moscow Planetarium,2010-07-14, Global Immersion has been awarded the contract by the Moscow Planetarium to design and integrate six digital displays into three theatres throughout the facility. The theatres are a key part of the large-scale modernization and expansion and are scheduled for completion in December 2010 when the building will reopen to the public.
Since opening in 1929 Moscow Planetarium has been a center for thousands of schoolchildren to gaze at the stars and learn about man’s place in the Universe. The facility closed in 1994 when building modernization talks first began. The new team in Moscow has now finalized renovation plans that will see an expansion of the historic building from 32 000 square feet to 182 000 square feet – making way for a Museum of Astronomy and History of Space Travel and the new theatre facilities and exhibits within it.
Global Immersion has also been asked to design and build a central production suite and render farm. Speaking about the multiple contract award Martin Howe chief executive at Global Immersion says “Our new partnership with Moscow Planetarium marks a true milestone in the continued expansion and development of our organization. We are delighted to be working with such an ambitious client who shares our ideals of pushing the boundaries of immersive theater and envisage each of the new displays and experiences at the Moscow facility as being some of the very best in the world.” The 82-foot planetarium will house a seven-channel/fourteen-projector Fidelity Bright digital full dome system. The dome periphery will feature a separate digital panoramic hybrid display - completely synchronized with a new optical star projector from Carl Zeiss. To expand upon the full dome functionality a third Fidelity 3D display employing the new Sony SRX-T420 4K projector will project a 17-meter giant screen 3D image from the rear of the theatre. The planetarium will seat up to 364 visitors at a time and will be managed entirely from the Fidelity Play media server and storage facility in the central server room.
In addition to the core planetarium facility Global Immersion will be installing two multi-dimensional experiences for visitors. A 47-seat Intensity 4D theatre will be integrated with motion seating from D-Box Technologies ambient sensory effects and special effect lighting and audio systems. Separately a 4.6-meter production dome will employ a full dome display with LED-projection technology and a further stereoscopic 3D full dome display system – complete with an additional D-Box motion seat installation.
A range of high-specification real-time playback and control solutions will support all of the new theatre. ,1853
Riffing on Reefer Madness,2010-07-29, Fans of the legendary show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and internet sensation RiffTrax.com are in for a hilarious night of live comedy on August 19th when NCM Fathom Something Awful and RiffTrax team up to present RiffTrax Live: Reefer Madness. The creative team behind Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Michael J. Nelson Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett – will reunite on the big screen for an evening of live riffing on the 1936 cult classic feature that warned generations of Americans against the horrors of excessive marijuana consumption. Audiences will also receive access to free digital goodies after the event including a downloadable short avatars and a digital photo of the guys.
“Reefer Madness is bizarre paranoid and hilarious everything we like in a movie ” says Nelson RiffTrax creator and former host of the Emmy-nominated Peabody Award-winning Mystery Science Theater 3000. “I've seen it a hundred times and I still find it funny—and I've never even smoked pot.” Originally titled Tell Your Children and financed by a church group Reefer Madness was intended as a morality tale about the dangers of cannabis use. The story follows a group of high school students who are coerced by pushers into trying marijuana which becomes the catalyst for an ill-fated party that soon descends into madness. Soon after Reefer Madness’ initial filming in 1936 notorious exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper turned up the intensity with the addition of salacious insert shots. The final piece offers scenes of accidental murder suicide and vehicular manslaughter.
Reefer Madness gained new life in the 1970s when recreational marijuana enthusiasts discovered it and circulated the piece as entertainment. The film’s over-the-top moralizing and wild exaggeration of the effects of cannabis make it a perfect target for the comic wit of the RiffTrax gang. For the first time ever fans have the chance to hear their own joke used in the live event by submitting a riff for one – or all ten of the short clips available for riffing from Reefer Madness. Riffs may be submitted at www.RiffTrax.com/contest through midnight Pacific Time August 18th. One winner for each clip will be selected by the RiffTrax guys and each winner will receive a RiffTrax Swag Bag and an on-screen credit in the event. “As fans have seen in our Fathom events before the RiffTrax guys are comedic geniuses and seeing them improvise this so effectively live on 40-foot screens is astounding ” says Dan Diamond vice president of NCM Fathom. “With its legendary camp Reefer Madness is the perfect platform for Michael Kevin and Bill to create yet another hilarious experience for fans in theatres.”
RiffTrax LIVE: Reefer Madness will be shown in select movie theatres. There will be an encore screening on August 24th. ,1858
Designing the 21st Century Multiplex,2010-07-29, In the past the goal of exhibitors was efficient turnover. They wanted to get patrons in the front door sell them concessions in the lobby move them into the theatre and when the movie ended funnel them out as quickly as possible to expedite more screenings per day. Today in part thanks to digital cinema technology movie theatres are evolving into community centers. As a result the modern multiplex is undergoing wholesale change and a critical element of that is the size and shape of the buildings themselves. I recently contacted architects and designers from around the world and asked them to participate in an online Q&A discussion about movie theatre design. Three men joined the discussion including: Paul Georges AIA associate managing partner JKR Partners architects/designers Philadelphia Pennsylvania; William H. Brunner AIA ICTA vice president Paradigm Design Grand Rapids Michigan; and John Sullivan partner Cinema Next cinema & leisure consultancy London England. Normal.dotm 0 0 1 28 163 Digital Cinema Report 1 1 200 12.256 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false
/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} What follows is that online conversation. I plan to revisit this issue periodically and would especially welcome feedback from exhibitors. Digital Cinema Report: To start and in a general sense in recent years how has theatre design changed? Paul Georges: Many theatre operators are creating venues that offer alternative uses for the auditoriums. Video conferencing simulcast showings and university lecture rooms are just some of the auditorium uses beyond movie presentation. To support these activities theatre lobbies are designed to include additional gathering and queuing space. Aesthetically theatres should be designed to reflect this growing trend of offering alternative uses by appealing to a more diverse group of guests/users. We are also finding that many of our new construction theatres are serving as a focal point to larger mixed-use developments which include retail restaurant office and residential uses. This further reinforces the idea of the movie theatre as community center. William Brunner: Movie theatre exhibitors are consummate entrepreneurs and competitors. As such they are constantly looking for ways to make their presentation more fun flashy and convenient than the theatre down the street. We are helping our clients explore many different ways that digital technology can be utilized to bring customers into the doors and to make the experience more rewarding once they have taken a seat.
John Sullivan: There is still a large consumption of traditional popcorn and cola items however changes in design and emphasis are as much driven on the ageing discerning affluent cinema demographic as it is digital technology if not more so. Village Gold Class screens being rolled out in the USA are still running on a 35mm platform with the odd digital for 3D however over fifty percent of the spend is on high end food and beverages. [As a result] kitchen/food preparation areas are akin to a large restaurant or hotel provision. I personally don't think digital has even begun to directly affect design because quite simply most operators have not started to see beyond 3D and the VPF deals. My take is that similar to iPhones the applications will follow the role out of digital technology and will then alter things dramatically. DCR: Digital cinema technology is smaller than traditional 35mm projection systems. What impact is this having on the size and shape of projection booths? PG: This depends on the comfort level operators have with the reliability of digital projectors. Digital projectors can be controlled from a remote location where access to the projector is no longer required at the start of each showing. For this reason a separate control room usually located on the ground level for easy access is provided. For projection equipment trouble shooting and maintenance purposes how convenient an operator wants access to the projector will dictate to what extent a projection booth is provided. For some the conventional full width booth over the promenade is still the norm. Other operators are embracing the opportunity to reduce construction costs by suspending the projector in each individual auditorium doing completely away with the projection booth. In these cases access to the projector particularly during a showing should be considered. We have a project on the boards now where the projector platforms and catwalk linking one platform to the next is a series of metal grates suspended over the promenade from the roof structure above. At select locations the platforms and projectors are visible from the promenade making them an architectural feature and part of the movie going experience. WB: We are seeing two major building impacts in our designs to accommodate projectors due to the change to digital. The first as you noted is the smaller area required due to the elimination of the film platter and related film-handling equipment. The reduced area requirement for the projection function allows the space to be programmed for other uses such as VIP viewing areas or to be eliminated entirely. Digital projectors do not need to be accessed by projection personnel for every show. The elimination of film removes a major logistic problem of carrying and assembling the heavy film cans. We now can design projection areas that are accessed by ladders rather than stairways. In some cases the traditional projection booth is eliminated entirely to be replaced by a box suspended at the rear of the auditorium. JS: Booths? What booths? With a theatre management system there is no need for a booth. Many refurbs being done now are also including new screens with heights of as little as four and a half meters and giving a full cinema experience. These are only possible without the booth. However larger screens even to full height are potentially deliverable without a booth that requires day-to-day access. DCR: Studies show that patrons sitting too far off-center may not have a satisfactory 3D experience. How can theatre design address this issue? PG: As 3D becomes more mainstream and specific information on this subject becomes available to designers we can look at ways to layout auditoriums that will improve seat position and/or orientation to the screen. WB: In addition to the type and quality of the projector the movie viewing experience is affected by the size of the screen projection format distance from the screen distance from the projection centerline type of screen material screen geometry and height of the viewer. We take all of these factors into consideration when designing an auditorium. 3D projection and the use of silver screens are especially sensitive to distance from the screen along the sides. Auditoriums designed for 3D recognize this by shifting seats near the screen closer to the projection centerline. DCR: Screens are getting bigger in many theatres as exhibitors seek a competitive edge over home entertainment and other exhibitors. How is this changing theatre design? PG: One of the major considerations with big screen formats is ensuring unobstructed views particularly to the bottom of the screen image. We are finding that to take full advantage of floor to ceiling screens the platform height from one row of seats to the next needs to be increased to maintain the unobstructed views. For existing auditoriums where larger screens are being installed it is not uncommon having to remove one or two rows of seats at the front of the auditorium to allow for the unobstructed views to the bottom of the screen. Auditoriums are also planned to avoid having to locate exits at the screen wall. Instead we are locating the exits along the sidewalls just in front of the screen. This allows the installation of wall-to-wall screens utilizing the full width of the auditorium to maximize screen size. As screens increase in size floor to ceiling heights in the auditoriums are also increasing. To accommodate the increase in height we are forced to either raise the building heights or dig down at the screen ends of the auditoriums. Local zoning ordinances and costs associated with excavation are two of the factors to consider how to address this issue. WB: Most theatres we design today include at least one premier large screen auditorium for the openings of major Hollywood blockbusters and wide-appeal alternative content events. Even smaller houses are designed with larger screens as the old bowling alley auditorium design is replaced with proper proportions throughout the multiplex. We continue to provide the best designs possible to our exhibitors so that a night out at the movies is the best choice for entertainment.
JS: As stated above screens are also getting smaller. Even Imax has now rolled their brand in to smaller screens using twin digital projectors. My feeling is that more operators will replicate the big screen experience using the same technology however more screens rather than bigger screens is the course that most operators are taking in Europe. DCR: Drive-in theatres hold a special place in the hearts of exhibitors and moviegoers alike. What if any design changes can enhance the viability of the drive-in? PG: Although it is more of an operational change introducing alternative activities for both before and after the show can promote a renewed interest in the drive-in theatre experience. Activities that will engage the audience and make the experience more than just going to see a movie as it is with the typical theatre multiplex can further encourage attendance. From a design standpoint drive-in theatres must offer an exciting and inviting environment making the customer feel special. The special experience should start at the entrance gate carry through to the concessions building and terminate at the screen. A unique and attractive design should be developed to strengthen the memorable drive-in experience. WB: Drive-ins are outside our expertise. If the technology is developed to show an acceptable presentation during daylight hours (not presently possible) we may see a resurgence. JS: We operate a fully digital drive-in at the Baneasa shopping center [just outside Bucharest Romania] using a Christie 2000 and beaming a brilliant image 28 meters wide and provision for 300 cars. It is very successful and as far as I know the only one in the world. We are currently under construction with a 13-screen 2 800 seat hard top cinema being incorporated in to a one-million-square-foot-plus shopping center. ,1863
Customer Relationship Management,2010-07-30,Christie Managed Services has implemented a new customer service capability that the company says has dramatically streamlined its customer response process strengthened its problem-resolution capabilities and increased the efficiency of its Customer Service Engineers. The new system from Amdocs is an integral part of the expanding range of products and support services offered by Christie to monitor and maintain the exhibition industry’s rapidly growing base of digital cinema equipment. A winner of many industry awards Amdocs provides software and services for billing customer relationship management and operations support systems. Its clients include AT&T Mobility Cablevision Sprint-Nextel T-Mobile Vodafone ComCast Bell Canada and Rogers Communications. “The service and maintenance of high tech digital cinema equipment is an increasingly critical consideration as more and more theaters go digital ” says Sean James vice president managed services at Christie. “We have invested heavily in the Amdocs CRM system as part of our ongoing commitment to provide our customers and industry partners with world-leading technical support.” Amdocs has enhanced Managed Services’ ability to address and rapidly resolve technical issues at every step of the process. From Christie’s high tech Network Operations Center supervisors can monitor all data being entered in the field and track precisely the engineer’s activities throughout the service call. They are aware when field service engineers start their jobs where they are en route what kind of equipment they are working with and what additional assistance and resources they might need. “With Amdocs field technicians can easily search for support data relevant to their specific case within Christie’s extensive knowledge base order any necessary parts assign them to the theater and track their delivery – all directly from their mobile device ” says James. “The Amdocs system has also greatly relieved the workload of our NOC supervisors by automating many repetitive processes so that more time is spent managing cases and resolving customer calls on the first contact. Our new system has proven so successful that we’re already being contacted by other major players in the exhibition community to assist them in better addressing their own customer service and staff management needs.” “Christie Managed Services is not only rewriting the book on superior customer service – we are forging a new path of innovation that raises the bar on excellence ” he says. Christie www.christiedigital.com ,1864
America’s First Digital Drive-In,2010-07-30,For almost six decades the Spud Drive-In has been one of the most popular local attractions in Driggs Idaho. Now it can lay claim to being the first true digital drive-in in America. ,1866
Discovering Explosive Results,2010-07-30,Filmworkers produced positively explosive results in its latest effort for the Illinois Lottery. The post house provided visual effects computer and motion graphics color correction and final post services for a new ad out of Energy BBDO promoting the Lottery’s two multi-state mega-jackpot games Mega Millions and Powerball. The spot Discovery shows a group of scientists conducting an experiment in a super high tech secret research facility. Sparks fly in a sealed chamber as a pair of robotic arms attempts to create an energetic reaction between levitating lotto balls representing the two games. A tremendous explosion ensues resulting in a jet stream of currency that shoots up through the roof of the facility and cascades onto the surrounding countryside. The tagline reads “Life changing jackpots. Four days a week.” The commercial was produced through a combination of live action visual effects and computer animation. The experimental chamber with the robotic arms was built as a miniature with the hovering lotto balls pyrotechnics and clouds of dollar bills added in post-production by the visual effects team from Filmworkers under the direction of visual effects supervisor Rob Churchill. For the initial explosion the artists approached their task as if it were based on real-world physics. “We tried to justify everything ” Churchill says. “We thought of the tiny energy particles as generating dollar bills and they provided the impulse for the aura of energy that arcs between the two lotto balls.” Following closely a scripted physics roadmap Churchill and the facility’s VFX artists created pyrotechnics energy and lighting effects and the millions of CGI dollar bills generated by the experiment’s intense “cash explosion”. To add even more realism all of those beautifully created effects are mirrored in the goggles worn by the scientists as they stare in gleeful amazement through a window at their handiwork. Filmworkers computer graphics artists created subtle touches that add to the spot’s fun. They included translucent heads-up display terminals used by the team of scientists. The final shot showing the exterior of the lab with currency festooning from the roof is fully a matte painting animated by numerous visual effects elements including just for fun a flock of CGI Canada geese glimpsed near the horizon. “We’ve developed a great rapport with the team from Energy BBDO ” says Churchill. “They really let us explore and riff off their ideas. We had a great team working on this spot; it was a lot of fun.” Filmworkers www.filmworkers.com ,1867
Welcome to Splitsville,2010-07-30, As the digital cinema era continues to evolve exhibitors around the world are trying innovative new approaches to encourage patrons to come to the movies and then ideally stay awhile. One such idea combines several of the favorite past times of people of all ages: dinner a movie and bowling. Muvico Village 12 a licensed initiative through Paragon Entertainment features 12 movie auditoriums in combination with Splitsville Bowling to create a combination entertainment venue under one roof. The 70 000-square-foot entertainment centre features a theatre portion with stadium seating licensed under Muvico and a Splitsville 16-lane bowling section that also includes the company’s signature gourmet restaurant. Harkness Screens 2D Perlux screens and 3D Spectral screens were recently installed in all 12 auditoriums.
Of the 12 auditoriums four are 3D and utilize Harkness’ Spectral 240 silver screens while the remaining auditoriums provide 2D content with Harkness’ Perlux 140. The three largest auditoriums in the venue have screens measuring over 65 feet each and feature VIP premier balcony access for 21-and-over guests with waiter service for cocktails and food. The other nine screens range in size from 30-48 feet. “The combination of movies and bowling has proven to be a great formula as our facility has quickly become the top entertainment destination for the entire area especially with the inclusion of 3D ” says Mike Wilson president of Paragon Entertainment. “We have been a long time Harkness customer and we have always been very satisfied with the quality and service the company provides.”
The Spectral 240 features a high extinction ratio and provides spectacular 3D images. The surface also supports 2D images and can be used successfully in auditoriums where 2D and 3D are both shown. The intrinsically high gain (2.4) overcomes light losses in 3D systems. The Perlux line of screens provides a choice of gain characteristics high contrast bright pictures generous viewing angles and excellent color temperature.
Paragon Entertainment recently opened a second location in Miami Florida that also features Harkness Screens. The company has plans to build several theatres over the next few years in Virginia Washington DC Chicago and Pennsylvania.
Harkness Screens www.harkness-screens.com ,1868
Making the Wildest Dream,2010-07-30,The seeds for The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest were planted long before director Anthony Geffen began filming Conrad Anker’s treacherous history-making ascent of the world’s tallest mountain. Geffen says British explorer George Mallory loomed large in his boyhood imagination and his fascination with the adventurer was rekindled after Geffen moved to Los Angeles as a young man and worked under legendary movie mogul and accomplished mountaineer Frank Wells. A top executive at both Warner Bros. and Disney Wells came close to achieving his goal of climbing the “Seven Summits”—the highest mountain of each of the seven continents. Wells reached six of the seven peaks and although bad weather forced his climbing party back before they could summit the 29 029-foot Mount Everest he retained a fascination with the mountain which was contagious. “He sparked my interest in Mallory and Everest again ” Geffen recalls. “One day after we’d been talking about climbing he called me into his office and said that I had to make a film about Everest. I knew I didn’t want to make an ordinary climbing film or a straight drama or documentary about Mallory. It would have to be something different.” Decades later in 2004 Geffen came across the book The Lost Explorer while stuck at the airport in Washington D.C. Co-written by acclaimed mountaineer Conrad Anker the book tells the story of how in 1999 Anker found Mallory’s remarkably preserved body high in the “death zone” on Everest. Geffen was hooked by the first few pages and read the entire book right there in the airport. “I knew this was my film ” Geffen says. “I wanted it to be a personal story and I wanted Conrad to go back in Mallory’s footsteps to bring alive his journey for a modern audience. In some ways Mallory’s story is a very modern one. We all have aspirations and wildest dreams. I knew the film was in many ways a love story and a story about people pursuing their dreams. Before the flight back to London had taken off I’d got Conrad’s number from a contact in New York and made the call.” Anker who has been described by Outside magazine as the world’s greatest adventurer says he’s been approached by several people to work on this film in the past. But he was deeply impressed by Geffen’s work as a filmmaker and recalls that as the two of them talked about the project in 2004 and 2005 a shared vision emerged for what they wanted to accomplish. “To do a film of the highest possible quality that would really honor Mallory. That was our basic goal ” Anker says. For both men the inspiration for the project was largely George Mallory himself. “I like the fact that he wasn’t just a climber ” Anker says. “He was this person of depth and character and he reflected the times in which he lived. Perhaps naïvely I see myself that way.” “This isn’t just a film about conquering a mountain ” Geffen adds. “Mallory himself is fascinating. He’s a fearless explorer but also a writer and very much in love with his wife Ruth. I was fascinated by their relationship. … I wasn’t just interested in answering the question ‘Did he or didn’t he make it to the top?’” The context of Mallory’s era was also a compelling factor for Geffen. “I wanted to look at what it meant to be doing this at that exact moment in history ” he says. “It’s the end of the Empire the time of the Paris Olympics which gave us Chariots of Fire when Everest is unexplored territory.” Geffen says he was especially intrigued by the “parallel story” between Mallory and Anker. “Both were risking everything both had wives and children at home and their lives intersected on the mountain ” Geffen says. “The mountain is the backdrop that draws these two men and it’s an amazing backdrop but the real story is about a human journey and its consequences.” Mallory and his wife Ruth had three children. Anker lives with his wife Jenni and their three sons. Adding poignancy and resonance to the story is the fact that Jenni had suffered a tragedy similar to Ruth’s before production began on The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest. Her first husband mountaineering legend Alex Lowe was killed in an avalanche in Tibet in 1999—the same year Anker found Mallory’s body in an earlier expedition. Anker who was Lowe’s best friend and climbing partner survived the avalanche but not without injuries both physical and in the form of survivor’s guilt. Geffen says he was fascinated by what it is that makes some men put themselves in such danger even knowing the risks. “Everest has this weird way of attracting people despite what it can do to them ” he observes. Providing further parallels to the 1924 expedition Anker chose young British climbing prodigy Leo Houlding as his partner and not just because of his world-class rock-climbing skills. “The main thing was the parallel between us and Mallory and Andrew Irvine ” Anker says. “There was the same age spread the same difference in experience levels. Like Irvine Leo had never been to Everest before. I had summited Everest in 1999. Mallory although he had never successfully climbed it had been on two previous Everest expeditions.” It took three years to bring the project together but in 2007 Geffen was finally able to achieve his dream of shooting a film on Everest. That was when Anker returned to Everest with Houlding with the objective of replicating as closely as possible Mallory’s ill-fated 1924 expedition. The men retraced the North East Ridge Route taken by Mallory and risked frostbite by testing replica 1920s-era clothing and equipment for portions of the climb. Perhaps most remarkably they removed a ladder from the infamous Second Step near the summit restoring the mountain to its pristine state and “free climbing” this terrifying 90-foot section of mountain as Mallory and Irvine would have had to do 83 years earlier. Geffen himself is no stranger to danger. When he worked for the BBC he made films in war-torn Lebanon; shadowed former Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat during a year when he was considered a terrorist and had survived several assassination attempts; and was in Tiananmen Square when Chinese troops rolled in. “I’ve been on filming expeditions in the world’s remotest jungles ” the director says. “I know what it’s like to push yourself to the edge. But this did feel riskier in a way because mountaineering is a field in which I’m not a professional. In a war zone you might be able to find shelter behind a wall when the bullets start flying but on Everest there’s nowhere to hide. You realize how fragile you are. You can fall down a crevasse or be hit by a storm at any moment. You feel constantly close to catastrophe.” In directing the film Geffen did a lot of climbing in the end getting as high as 26 000 feet—just 3 000 feet from the summit—a feat Anker calls “quite respectable.” “He wanted to get up there to see what it was like ” the climber says of Geffen. “I think he dreamed of making it to the summit but there was a point at which we said we’re either going to put our efforts into guiding you up the mountain or we’re going to make this film. He did the right thing and we made the film.” Geffen who had very little formal climbing experience prior to the shoot says the potential dangers of the expedition only really hit him days before it began. “I had piles of gear in my office huge summit suits and other gear and it suddenly dawned on me what I was doing ” he recalls. “I was definitely worried. You start to think about wills and saying goodbye to people you love. I heard that there was a one in six chance of dying just on the way down. I’m fit and I did some training though I wished I’d done more. But above all I was just very lucky. You either adapt to the lack of oxygen on Everest or you don’t. Luckily I adapted.” The production team itself was a lean one consisting of 10 Westerners and a support staff of 10 climbing Sherpas and 10 camp Sherpas. But as is often the case on Everest things didn’t go according to plan and it looked at times as if the ascent was a lost cause. Geffen recalls that around five of the film crew members didn’t make it up the mountain and the six climbers that made up the summit team were not those originally intended to complete the ascent. One of the main cameramen Peter Allibone developed serious altitude sickness. The line producer who had hoped to get to 22 000 feet didn’t get beyond Base Camp. “With altitude sickness if you hit the wall you’ve hit it. There’s nothing you can do ” Geffen says. Days before the final push to the summit two of the six summit team members also dropped out. High-altitude second cameraman Jimmy Chin had to leave to be with his terminally ill mother; then the main high-altitude cameraman Ken Sauls caught bronchitis which can be fatal on Everest. “Both men were experienced climbers absolutely key to the final stage of the shoot ” Geffen says. “They were also close friends of Conrad. It was a huge blow to him—he’d basically lost his emotional support team. “Trying to make a top-level film at the top of a mountain is a massive challenge in itself ” Geffen says. “But making it without our most experienced crew members—I thought we just couldn’t do it. If we couldn’t capture the images of the summit climb we didn’t have a film. I was within hours of calling the whole thing off.” But all was not lost. The director of the local guiding company in charge of the expedition Russell Brice of Himalayan Experience suggested that two of his mountain guides step in to help. Although neither of the guides had any experience operating professional cameras and had just returned from guiding a team to the summit they offered to try and capture Anker and Houlding’s groundbreaking free climb of the Second Step on camera. Geffen ran with it. “We’d come this far; I couldn’t face giving up now ” he says. “One of the sick cameramen was able to lie in his sleeping bag at camp and give Mark Woodward and Dean Staples five days of basic training in how to use the camera equipment. Against all odds we did it.” Pulling off the film production on top of climbing the tallest mountain in the world made for an immense logistical challenge. In addition to scheduling Sherpas and making sure there was food fuel and oxygen for higher up the mountain the team also had to ensure it had cameras and sound equipment in position and batteries to make it all work. “If one part of that equation is not in place you could miss the boat ” Anker says. “Every evening we would sit down and figure out what we were shooting the next day and get the batteries lined out.” Cameras and other film equipment had to contend with the icy temperatures and the omnipresent wind-blown dust that finds its way into everything on the mountain. The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest was shot on high-definition cameras equipped with special cladding for insulation and with a special kind of grease coating for protection against the cold. To Geffen’s relief the protection worked flawlessly. “Not a single camera broke even in temperatures of minus 40 degrees ” he says. “Sometimes your hands are so cold you can’t bend them to hold the camera but it still keeps working.” Of course the sparse atmosphere on upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain also presented a challenge to the filmmakers. “At high altitude we all had to wear oxygen masks too. The crew looked like a bunch of scuba divers. They’d have to take their masks on and off in order to actually film.” Production challenges aside climbing the mountain was potentially lethal in and of itself. Geffen recalls a particularly terrifying episode during the ascent of Everest’s North Col. “It’s a horrendous climb and we had to get off the ropes so that we could film Conrad and Leo from different angles ” he says. “This meant crossing what is basically a field of crevasses. The Sherpas could mostly tell where they were but even so I knew I could disappear into one at any moment and that would probably be it.” On another occasion Geffen was exhausted after climbing and filming all day when he and a Sherpa were caught in a sudden storm with winds of roughly 60 mph temperatures around minus 35 degrees and darkness approaching. The director recalls: “My hands were frozen and I could hardly move so I said to the Sherpa Mingma ‘Why don’t we just sit down here and wait?’ He said ‘If you sit we’ll die.’ We had to go on. We played number games just to keep ourselves going. Usually there’s still some juice in the tank but at that point there was no more juice. I was a zombie. I knew that we could walk off the edge of the mountain at any moment. Everything races through your mind: You think about home and loved ones and you ask yourself why you’re doing this. That was probably the closest I got to the edge.” Reminders of the high level of risk are especially apparent in the so-called “death zone”—the region above about 23 000 feet where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life. At one point the crew heard about the deaths of a group of climbers ahead of them on the mountain. “Morale just shoots through the floor ” Geffen says. “You ask yourself ‘Is it worth it?’ Hearing about those deaths was hard for us all to take.” And then there are the corpses of mountaineers past that litter the slopes and are left in place by tradition. “At first when you see a body up there it freaks you out ” Geffen says. “They’re just like you only they didn’t make it. But worse than this you almost become used to it. You’re so out of it up there that it almost becomes natural to see dead people. I remember someone said to me ‘Turn left at green boots.’ It was only when we saw the boots that I realized what they meant.” Geffen says he lived in constant fear of making a decision that might lead to the injury or even death of other members of the team. “I questioned myself all the time ” he says. “Up there you feel totally cut off from the world. Talking to people at home on the satellite phone is like talking to a different planet. You’ve lost your appetite; you’ve almost stopped eating. You hardly sleep. It’s extremely hard just to think straight. I’d sit for hours trying to think through my decisions. I knew I could be sending us all to our deaths if I made the wrong call or pushed for something I wanted.” The decision to have Anker and Houlding don replica 1920s-era clothing for parts of the climb was a source of severe concern for Geffen. “We had to shoot some key drama scenes on the mountain which meant struggling into freezing costumes ” the director says. “Mallory’s clothes were the best gear available at the time but they showed just how vulnerable he and Irvine were up there. When Leo and Conrad were in period clothing I was constantly monitoring them. I wasn’t prepared to risk people’s health to prove a point. And I wasn’t going to force them all the way up a mountain in these outfits. At one stage after wearing the hobnail boots at 26 000 feet Leo was worried his toes were almost frozen. It took about an hour to get the circulation going and that was awful. He knew his career would be over if he lost a toe.” The fact that Mallory and Irvine got as high as they did wearing the clothing they did is the most remarkable aspect of their achievement Anker says. Add to that the advances in training techniques that have occurred since 1924 such as the way modern-day climbers hyperhydrate and the psychological advantage modern climbers have of knowing that people have climbed the mountain before. But the most heart-pounding incident on the mountain is the one that supplies the climax of the movie itself where Anker and Houlding free climb the infamous Second Step after removal of the ladder affixed to that portion of the mountain in modern times. With the summit not far above and a 6 000-foot drop awaiting the slightest misstep there was a moment when Anker slipped. “There was a yelp and Conrad just disappeared ” recalls Geffen who was directing this portion of the climb from below with binoculars and a two-way radio. “Then silence. Nobody knew what had happened. I didn’t want to use the single radio channel in case Conrad needed it. We all just stood there waiting for his voice. After what seemed like an eternity there was a second yelp and this time it was elated. He’d made it. He was over the Second Step. It turned out that he’d fallen behind a rock but had managed to get himself up and keep climbing to the top.” Just as challenging as the Second Step says Anker was the psychological stress of climbing so late in the season with the impending monsoon threatening to engulf the mountain in deadly snowstorms. “We didn’t summit until June 14 ” Anker says. “Only one or two expeditions had ever climbed it in June. May 10–29 is more typical. Mallory and Irvine disappeared on June 8.” But the late ascent was all part of the plan. “We wanted the expedition to go at the exact time of year that Mallory went and we needed to clear the mountain to attempt the free-climb of the Second Step both of which meant going at the end of the season—hopefully before the monsoon arrived ” Geffen says. “There was a huge time pressure. In the end if we hadn’t got off the mountain exactly when we did literally a matter of hours we wouldn’t have made it off at all.” As grueling and stressful as the expedition was it also had its moments of unparalleled sweetness. For Geffen the point at which Anker and Leo made it over the Second Step and went on to the summit was one of the most moving moments of all. “It showed that Mallory and Irvine could have made it ” he says. “This was a moment we’d talked about for years.” At other times Geffen found it tremendously uplifting to literally walk in Mallory’s footsteps. “It was amazing having read so much about someone to be exactly where they were on Everest ” he says. “Sitting in the very place where Mallory sat reading his letters and looking out at what he saw was an incredible feeling.” And then there was the experience of being just 3 000 feet from the top of the world. “You can almost see the curvature of the earth and that’s mind blowing ” Geffen says. “It’s overwhelming and awe-inspiring. Everest is bigger than anything you’ve ever imagined. I came back a different person. It puts things into perspective. I don’t worry about many of the smaller things that used to bother me.” Geffen has the highest praise for the Sherpas who kept the team safe and without whom the film could never have happened. And then after reaching the summit there was the incredible elation of getting everyone safely down off the mountain. “There’s a tradition that when you see people coming down the mountain you bang pots ” Geffen explains. “We knew the monsoon was coming and we were waiting for Conrad Leo and the crew to get back. We were all very frightened that they weren’t going to make it in time. I kept thinking that one in six people who summit Everest don’t make it down. We had six climbers up there and our Sherpa support team. Then they began to emerge from the darkness. We started banging pots and making a clamor and people broke down. These are big strong men but there’s this huge release of tension. It was very very emotional. The monsoon hit in strength just hours afterwards.” Much of the production of The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest took place continents away from the icy vastness of the Himalayas. In addition to being a breathtaking mountaineering film it is also a dramatic love story told through letters between Mallory and his wife Ruth. Interwoven throughout is a treasure trove of previously unseen photos and film archives of Mallory his family and others. To pull together these more personal aspects of the film Geffen says he turned to researchers to mountaineering writer Peter Gillman and to Mallory’s family. “They were quite wary of anyone trying to make a film as people approach them all the time ” Geffen says. “But once we had their agreement we discovered amazing things in the archive. There were cans of film that nobody had ever opened as well as old photographs and letters.” Gillman who co-wrote what Geffen believes to be the best biography of Mallory was the film’s consultant and was extremely helpful in finding incredible moments for the film about 20 percent of which consist of dramatic reenactments of Mallory’s 1920s expeditions and his life. Adding to the quality of the production is the film’s voice-over cast which includes narration by Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson (Taken Batman Begins); Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes (The Reader The Hurt Locker) as Mallory; Neeson’s late wife Natasha Richardson (Wild Child The White Countess) as Ruth; Hugh Dancy (Confessions of a Shopaholic Adam) as Irvine; and Alan Rickman (Harry Potter Bottle Shock) as Noel Odell the English geologist and mountaineer who was the last person to see Mallory and Irvine alive just 800 feet from the summit before the clouds closed in and they disappeared into legend. Geffen who had worked with Neeson several times in the past had floated the idea of having him narrate the film long before it went into production. When the film came together Geffen says Neeson liked it so much that he suggested his wife for the voice of Ruth. The couple’s enthusiasm for the project also persuaded Fiennes their mutual friend to come aboard. Dancy joined the project after Richardson recommended him for the voice of Irvine. Geffen had previously worked with Rickman who had always been intrigued by the story of Mallory. “In the end it turned out that all the actors knew each other ” Geffen recalls. “And all of them have amazing voices.” The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest was one of the last projects Richardson worked on before her unexpected death in March 2009. “I was with Natasha at the final recording session last January ” Geffen recalls. “She was passionate about Ruth. She really related to her. At the last session she had to read the telegram that came to Ruth announcing Mallory’s death. Halfway through reading it she broke down in tears. I rushed in to see why she was so upset and she said ‘If it was news about Liam or about me I couldn’t bear what it’d mean for my children.’ We had a coffee and chatted and then she did the reading again. Soon afterwards she emailed me to say how excited she was about the film. Her death obviously was a huge shock.” Once Geffen had finished shooting on Everest and had assembled an early cut of the film he showed it to veteran Hollywood producer and former studio chief Mike Medavoy (Zodiac All the King’s Men) in hopes of getting input from someone with extensive experience in cinematic storytelling. The two men had known each other for a few years and had talked about collaborating on a project. Excited by the film’s potential Medavoy came aboard as executive producer. “I became involved with this film because I was fascinated by the story and by Anthony’s approach to it ” Medavoy says. “It isn’t just a film about mountaineering; its resonance reaches much further than that. It’s a passionate love story between George and Ruth Mallory and an extraordinary tale of man’s curiosity and courage. I also liked how the film weaves together Mallory’s expedition and Conrad Anker’s journey with extraordinary parallels eight decades apart.” For Geffen there was poetic justice in Medavoy’s involvement. “In a funny way it feels to me almost like the project has come full circle ” the director says. “Mike was a close friend of Frank Wells [who died in 1994] who started me on this road 25 years ago. … I’ll always be grateful to Frank for sowing the seeds of the idea. I just wish he could have seen the film.” This article is reprinted courtesy of National Geographic Entertainment. ,1871
Filling the World’s Largest Screen,2010-07-30,The Chinese film group Huayi Brothers premiered its latest production Tangshan Earthquake at an outdoor venue in Tangshan. The movie reflects the devastation caused by the earthquake 34 years ago. With a width of almost 33 meters the screen used for this event was 10 meters wider than an Imax screen making it the largest screen in the world. Zhonglei Wang CEO of Huayi Brothers says “Tangshan Earthquake bears great significance for the Chinese people in particular for the citizens of Tangshan. We chose Tangshan as the location of our premiere because the film shows the inspirational moral character of the people of Tangshan. We hope that their resilience and perseverance will serve as an example for the whole nation.” “This is why we selected Barco since only Barco's ultra-bright DP2K-32B solution could meet the expectation of broadcasting the movie live to ten thousand viewers. Additionally Barco's high-performance projectors assured the audience a first-class viewing experience through consistent graphics color contrast and vivid imaging.” The event incorporated two Barco DP2K-32B digital projectors. After the premiere many members of the audience commented that it was the first time they had watched a movie on such a huge screen along with thousands of other people. They also reported that being able to experience something so true to reality had affected them deeply. The true-to-life visual effects on the ultra-wide screen touched the hearts of many. Barco's managing director in China Yan Fei says “As Tangshan Earthquake was one of the most anticipated movies this year Huayi Brothers had specially tailored a movie premiere for ten thousand people. This premiere carries great meaning not only for Tangshan citizens but also for all Chinese. To ensure that the movie could depict the shocking scenes that took place 34 years ago we were the first in the industry to introduce the DP2K-32B digital projector thus allowing the Chinese audience to visualize the level of destruction brought about by the earthquake.” “We are honored to announce that the outstanding performance of the Barco DP2K-32B at the premiere has increased our potential and our expertise in the area of Digital Cinema and that this has strengthened Barco's leading position on the Chinese digital projection market.” ,1874
Building a White Tiger Legend
,2010-07-30, White Tiger Legend tells the story of the origin of martial arts through action and insight. As visual effects artist director and producer Kori Martin Juul says “The film is ultimately about the heart of martial arts and the many different lessons that martial arts teach us.” The story of how he is making the film is equally compelling.
Scheduled for release by early 2012 motion capture on the independent film was completed in two phases. Juul says that the first pass involved facial motion capture during the voice track recording. Shot at San Francisco-based audio post house The Tone Lab facial capture was done using a 10-camera configuration in a seven-by-ten-foot sound booth while the actors recorded their audio takes. Almost literally a one-man army Juul relied extensively on the PhaseSpace motion capture system for production on his new animated martial arts film White Tiger Legend. Through creative use of the system and his own martial arts training Juul was able to capture 572 shots for the film on a tight schedule using a skeleton crew with only a shoestring budget.
Juul has a wealth of experience with computer graphics and motion capture having worked as a visual effects artist on long list of blockbuster films including Avatar Star Trek Speed Racer Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Spider-Man 3 King Kong Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Juul says that when it came to making his own film “We needed a motion capture system that produced really clean data because we didn’t have the budget for hundreds of hours of clean-up. PhaseSpace allowed us to capture data that was so good we could use it immediately for cutting the film and then later with minimal cleaning use it for final animation.”
“A typical recording session records only audio but we were able to collect both the audio and the facial capture at the same time ” says Juul. “That allowed us to get both the expressions on the actor and the lip synch in one pass instead of the arduous task of matching the data manually. This saves us money and saves the animators a lot of time and trouble.” As Juul points out an added benefit is that animators also have video references for the actors’ performances – such as eye movements and any other subtle gestures that can be brought back later in the process.
Joe Sigretto sound recordist at The Tone Lab says “The PhaseSpace system is amazing because it allows us to do motion capture in such a small space. There’s nothing else out that can do that.”
“Since the data is so clean we were watching it in real time ” says Juul. “We knew if we needed to do a take again because of an audio pop a bad marker or the actor just needed to do another take... all that is immediately available to us without any long processing time for computer calculations.”
The PhaseSpace motion-capture system uses active visible or infrared LED lights as markers which flicker at specific frequencies producing a unique ID for each marker. The result is a system that delivers clean motion-capture data in real time without the occlusion and marker swap errors of passive systems.
When the audio tracks were edited the facial motion-capture data was combined with performance captures done on a full forty-by-forty-foot volume PhaseSpace motion capture stage with 32 cameras. With the exception of the female roles Juul a black belt in a martial art called Bok Fu delivered all of the performances himself. In total he shot 20 days of motion capture over the course of a 20-week shooting schedule. The 572 shots in the film include nine major fight scenes and over 30 different characters. For most of the motion-capture sessions Juul was able to run the system and deliver the performances entirely by himself listening to an edited audio track playing in the background for timing. “Even though my body was providing the movement for each actor my performance was propelled by the different voices which allowed me to move ‘in character’ for each part ” he says.
For the fight scenes Juul would record one character and then go back in and perform his opponent often using different martial arts styles. “I could hit record walk in do the performance and then go back and review it. With other systems if you walk in and out of the space you mess the whole thing up and you’ve got to start over. And as the director I knew exactly what I wanted so it was kind of fun. The nice thing about the active markers is they all have their own identity so the computer always knows that’s a shoulder that’s a wrist that’s your finger. As long as the computer can see your shoulder it knows what it’s looking at. That’s one of the key advantages of the system. It’s not like you need 100 people in the back room to clean up the data.”
“We’re delighted to see talented young filmmakers like Kory using our system or Oliver Hotz at Origami Digital who used it two years ago with a then unknown director Niels Blomkamp ” says Tracy McSheery CEO of PhaseSpace. “Empowering artists in this way is what we envisioned when we started this company in 1994.” PhaseSpace www.phasespace.com ,1878
Quality Control,2010-08-13,In recent weeks the creative community and the movie-going public have voiced growing concerns about the poor quality of some of the latest 3D movies. This is particularly true of movies that were shot in 2D and converted to 3D. An article in The New York Times quoting an online joke currently making the rounds said “If you can’t make it good make it 3D.” Meanwhile considering the studio’s perspective The London Telegraph said “Hollywood's faith in the power of 3D movies to deliver a bright future of packed cinemas and spectacle-wearing audiences has been jolted by figures that show the high-tech format may already be floundering.” If we are to see the full creative and economic potential of stereoscopic 3D it’s time for executives at the Hollywood studios to exert serious quality control. The reaction to two recent movies begins to tell the story. USA Today film critic Claudia Puig wrote this about Step Up 3D which was shot in stereoscopic 3D: “Nobody goes to a dance movie for an intricate plot or clever dialogue. It's all about the moves. Rhythmically athletically and energetically Step Up 3D does not disappoint. Fans of the first two movies in this series should be more than satisfied.” Meanwhile Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips wrote this about the other movie one of a growing number of features that was converted too quickly from 2D to 3D: “According to The Last Airbender — the latest 3D offering in theatres yet barely functional in 2- or even 1- — the world's separate kingdoms are built around fire air water earth and impenetrable rock-hard exposition. Bringing those first four to the screen no doubt intrigued writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. But the fifth keeps messing him up as he struggles to find a rhythm for the quest involving a young leader's date with destiny.” The result? Step Up 3D held its own and finished in third place its opening weekend and continues to generate decent box office in worldwide release. The Last Airbender which cost an estimated $150 million to make has generated worldwide revenues of just over $180 million. The fallout from movie experiences like these has already begun to lead to at least two interesting developments. One seems positive at first but in a classic example of the risks of unintended consequences it may backfire. The first development is that some talented filmmakers are on record saying they won’t consider shooting in 3D under current circumstances. This is troubling for those of us who champion 3D as a creative tool with amazing story telling potential. But it is also understandable. Many filmmakers are concerned about the fact that in some theatres movies in 3D are dramatically dimmer than are 2D movies. They’re also rightfully wary of the fairly steep learning curve that’s involved in making a good 3D movie. Nick Allen wrote in The London Telegraph that “Christopher Nolan the British-born director of The Dark Knight and Inception refused to use the new technology in his latest film because he found the dimness ‘extremely alienating.’” And this is how The New York Times’ Michael Cieply described a conversation among filmmakers in a panel discussion about 3D at this year’s Comic-Con: “When you put the glasses on everything gets dim ” said J.J. Abrams whose two-dimensional Star Trek earned $385 million at the worldwide box office for Paramount Pictures last year. Joss Whedon who was onstage with Abrams said that as a viewer ‘I’m totally into it. I love it.’ But Whedon then said he flatly opposed a plan by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to convert The Cabin in the Woods a horror film he produced but that has not yet been released into 3D. ‘What we’re hoping to do ’ Whedon said ‘is to be the only horror movie coming out that is not in 3D.’ A spokesman for MGM declined to discuss The Cabin in the Woods. But one person who was briefed on the situation — and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the studio was in the middle of a difficult financial restructuring — said conversion remained an option.” The last thing this industry in general – and stereoscopic 3D in particular – needs right now is for the major studios and prominent filmmakers to do public battle over the issue. But that now seems increasingly inevitable. Recognizing the audience’s unhappiness with converted 3D movies some exhibitors have begun to lower ticket prices across the board and are reducing the premium for 3D. This is the second development but while it sounds positive it carries ramifications along with it. It’s good for their patrons but it could lengthen the time it takes the exhibitors themselves to amortize the technology investment needed to present 3D. More troubling than that if other 3D-enabled exhibitors follow suit it could have the effect of eliminating the premium altogether and force the exhibitors who haven’t yet converted to 3D to delay – or worse – defer that decision. That could harm everyone in the business. Hollywood is beginning to take notice. I’ve already seen television commercials for movies touting the fact that they were shot in 3D and not converted. This seems likely to continue and is a promising step. It could ward off demands from some consumer groups calling for a labeling system. While I don’t immediately see any harm in a labeling system it would at best prove unwieldy to instigate and manage. In the meantime with the Internet and other channels of word of mouth consumers are already doing a pretty effective job by voting with their dollars for good 3D movies and against bad ones. Exhibitors need to be made aware that unlike film projection or even 2D digital projection 3D requires a greater attention to details. And studio executives in Hollywood need to recognize the limits of 2D conversion. History suggests the situation will get worse long before it gets better. Sadly many of these are the same people who just a few years ago saw nothing wrong when thanks to poorly maintained and manned projectors audiences were forced to pay for the privilege of watching films that were smudged and scratched and torn. ,1889
Republic Pictures,2010-08-13,The legendary movie studio turns 75 years old. ,1893
Stockholm Post Upgrades,2010-08-13, Swedish post house Stockholm Post (Stopp) has upgraded its front-end lab with a new Scanity high-speed film scanner from DFT Digital Film Technology. Stopp is Sweden’s only full service creative facility to offer an end-to-end workflow including CGI sound design film scanning and digital post-production for commercials and long-form projects. Their Spirit datacine (SD HD Data) has served them well since 2002 yet it was time to upgrade to a next-generation film scanner.
After conducting rigorous evaluations of high-end film scanners Stopp opted for the Scanity based on its extremely high-speed scans (2K up to 25 fps) image steadiness and its ability to produce the sharpest images on the market.
Scanity will serve as the only 16mm and 35mm film ingest unit for the Stopp facility for both dailies and final scans. Stopp took delivery of their new Scanity in July and was scheduled to be installed this month. Production was supposed to start immediately after installation.
“We look forward to taking advantage of Scanity’s extremely fast 1K scanning capabilities in our front-end lab Dailies workflow ” says Pasi Johansson CEO and partner of Stopp. “For final high resolution scans Scanity provides unparalleled speed resulting in massive time savings as well as superior image quality. We pride ourselves in being new and improved technology adopters and for us there was no other option than the Scanity.”
“Stopp is known among the European post production community for their extremely high quality requirements ” says Michael Schneider sales manager DFT Digital Film Technology. “The fact that they chose Scanity validates that our new film scanner offers the high quality feature-set and range of options to help them streamline their dailies and long-form DI workflow.” ,1896
Drive-Ins Enter the Digital Age,2010-08-13, For more than half a century the Spud Drive-In has been a local landmark in Diggs Idaho. Last month with screenings of Despicable Me and Robin Hood it became America’s first true digital drive-in. While other outdoor theatres have used digital projectors to show DVDs to large outdoor audiences Spud is the only drive-in to date to actually employ digital cinema projection and surround sound audio. They plan to install 3D technology this month. When Spud made the decision to go digital timing was of the essence. Since the drive-in movie season is relatively short in Idaho it was important to get a projector online quickly for the July opening. Barco was able to provide a projector within a few weeks. “We looked at a lot of options but the Barco projector was the ideal fit for the drive-in movie environment because of its low power requirements liquid cooling and of course incredible image quality and reputation for reliability ” says Spud's chief operating officer Keith Zednik. “It's just amazing – like nothing I've ever seen before. With the Barco projector we'll be able to continue for another 50 years not only as a movie exhibitor but as a total entertainment provider.” Spud plans to offer alternative content packages to customers including wedding receptions non-profit club and community functions and even live simulcast sports events and concerts. John Fithian president of the National Association of Theatre Owners says “Drive-ins are an important part of the theatre business. At NATO we are pleased to see Barco providing a digital projector solution capable of illuminating drive-in screens. We are confident that drive-ins will continue to flourish in the digital age and congratulate the Spud on being the first of many drive-ins to offer their customers the digital experience.” United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association president Paul F. Geissinger says “We congratulate the Spud Drive In and their digital partner Barco in providing their patrons and the motion picture industry with the first digital projection system at a traditional drive-in theatre. This is an historic event for drive-in theatres a true icon of Americana which we view as only the beginning of what will be a huge transition to the digital age by drive-in motion picture theatres.” Spud Drive-In Theater is one of the last American drive-in theaters and one heck of a roadside attraction. It is most famous for Old Murphy a 1946 Chevy cab-over truck that carries a two-ton potato. Old Murphy sits in front of the screen and has been photographed by travelers from all over the world. The Spud was built in the spring of 1953 by Ace Wood and opened its doors that July. It was a state-of-the-art facility back then using mono-speakers that hung in the windows to broadcast the audio and twin carbon ark real to real projectors. Today the audio is transmitted through FM stereo. Some things have been updated at the drive-in but the spirit remains the same. The exhibitor launched its digital premiere with a double feature on Friday July 9th showing Despicable Me and Robin Hood. Attracting hundreds of moviegoers from around the county Spud enjoyed its largest crowd of the season breaking records for its Monday night “$15 Per Car” promotion. “The image quality was picture perfect and it was so easy to use – no technical problems at all. The Barco has made my life a million times easier ” says Zednik.
Roger Bockert owner of Heartland Theatre Services who installed the new system says “If anyone out there is still uncertain about putting digital in a drive-in Spud's experience will put their mind at ease. The results have been even better than expected as far as picture quality light output and reliable image.” In business for more than 20 years Bockert has installed hundreds of digital projectors throughout the Midwest in traditional theatres and looks forward to additional business in the drive-in market based on the success of Spud's deployment. “We're honored to work with Spud Drive In to pioneer the first true digital cinema drive-in theatre. This opportunity demonstrates the power and versatility of Barco's products. We applaud Spud's entrepreneurial spirit and desire to extend their entertainment options with alternative content which will showcase the Barco projector's features and delight patrons for years to come ” says Todd Hoddick vice president digital cinema North America. ,1898
West Bank Cinema Reopens,2010-08-13,The only movie theater in the West Bank town of Jenin finally reopened its doors on August 5th with a three-day film festival. And the resuscitated Cinema Jenin is set to be far more than a source of entertainment for the area’s residents. Its intended role is as the town’s new cultural heart promoting peace an intercultural dialog education and social integration. The revival of Cinema Jenin was prompted by an exemplary gesture of peace. When 12-year-old Ahmed Khatib was killed in 2005 his father donated his son’s organs to Israeli children. German film director Marcus Vetter turned this into the internationally acclaimed movie Heart of Jenin which was recently picked in Berlin to receive the 2010 LOLA award for the best German feature-length documentary. Vetter also initiated the Cinema Jenin project devoted to reconstructing the town’s only cinema. Because Cinema Jenin had been closed since the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987 the theatre was in sad condition when work to renovate it began. But local professionals and foreign volunteers lovingly labored to restore the derelict building and repair the still-serviceable projection equipment. A large number of international supporters contributed generously to this cultural relief project. Kinoton GmbH donated a new film spool tower in addition to providing substantial input and advice to ensure professional planning of the electrical systems as well as stage audio and projection engineering for a high standard of cinematic quality. ,1900
Shooting The Outdoorsman,2010-08-13, Buck McNeely considers himself to be one of the luckiest guys in the world. For the past 20 years he has been able to combine his passion for hunting and outdoor activities with his vocation of producing adventure-based television to create his internationally syndicated TV series The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely.
Over the last few years McNeely has organized and shot elk hunts in Colorado bird hunts in Mexico a fishing trip in Costa Rica and several deer hunts on his ranch in Missouri. McNeely has led expeditions in Siberia New Zealand Argentina Africa Brazil Iceland and all over North and South America. In 2007 the series began producing its episodes in HD and now shoots using a Panasonic AJ-HDX900 DVCPro HD camcorder with Fujifilm's HA22x7.8BERD and HA25x11.5BERD HD ENG-Style lenses.
“For most hunting applications the Fujifilm HA22x7.8BERD HD ENG-Style zoom lens is perfect ” he says. “It has a smooth zoom that is strong enough to get the glass on anything under 200 yards with good images. The 2x extender certainly helps when you’re filling the frame with something at that extreme range.”
For a recent fishing expedition to Costa Rica McNeely found the HA22x7.8BERD was a versatile lens that could quickly accommodate changing shooting requirements. “I was able to get good footage of me standing five feet away from the camera catching a fish and then zoom to a fish breaking the water 40 yards away from the boat ” he says.
McNeely’s expeditions usually include one or two cameramen. On occasion he’ll also be joined by his two sons Max and Rex or a celebrity guest. “I’ve had Ollie North Gen. Chuck Yeager Barbara Mandrell Frank Stallone Gov. Jesse Ventura Kurt Warner and other football players politicians and actors on the show ” says McNeely. “We film what happens come back look at the footage then I’ll write the script around the footage and tell the story of that adventure.”
The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely was launched on a Missouri cable access station in 1985. As a mass communications major at Southeast Missouri State University McNeely started the show as a college project. Over the years it has aired on ESPN USA Fox Sports and other networks.
“We built the distribution base on over 530 TV stations in the U.S. and internationally into the largest syndicated adventure series in the world ” says McNeely. “The best part is we’re not done yet. We have future productions in various worldwide locations. As we build out our next generation of HD content Fujifilm lenses are an integral part of my camera package.”
The Outdoorsman with Buck McNeely www.outdoorsmanint.com ,1902
Pre-Production Tests on the 3DA1,2010-08-13, Director Fred Blurton principal of Fred Blurton Productions in Chicago recently used a pre-production model of Panasonic’s AG-3DA1 HD 3D camcorder to shoot a music video with bluegrass musician Brian Hilligoss demo stand-ups with investigative journalist Bill Kurtis and several Chicago scenics. “The ability to shoot 3D quickly and affordably with the 3DA1 is amazing ” Blurton says.
Blurton is an award-winning media director whose work has been recognized with such honors as a Telly and New York Festivals Advertising Awards. For the past two years he has offered his clients a service called zspace 3D whereby he has delivered 2D to 3D conversion of graphic material. “Prior to working with the 3DA1 I stayed away from shooting 3D because of the requisite cost and complexity and my clientele’s reluctance to spend big bucks on it ” Blurton says. “The Panasonic 3DA1 will be a genuine game-changer.” The AG-3DA1 available this month is the world's first professional fully integrated HD 3D camcorder recording to SD card media. In the AG-3DA1 the lenses camera head and a dual Memory Card recorder are integrated into a single lightweight body. The camcorder also incorporates stereoscopic adjustment controls making it easier to use and operate. Blurton shot the Chicago scenes and the Kurtis stand-ups single-operator style equipped with just the 3DA1 and a tripod. The music video with bluegrass musician Hilligoss and his eight-piece acoustic band was shot full production style with the 3DA1 operating on a dolly and jib arm at Chicago’s Resolution Digital Studios with Sid Lubitsch as director of photography and Mark Markley as gaffer. He shot B roll footage for the Leave Your heart at Home video in a small city apartment. Shooting time for the production encompassed one day in the studios and six hours on location. Having worked with the 3DA1 for little more than a week Blurton now has four minutes of 3D travelogue minutes that he will use to promote his company’s 3D capabilities; Hilligoss will have a 3.40 minute 3D music video for demo purposes; and Blurton was able to demonstrate to Kurtis the television journalist and former CBS News anchor is the current host of A&E crime and news shows that the 3DA1 was well-suited for his streamlined documentary work. “Bill can’t take a mirrored rig on far-flung locations ” says Blurton who has often worked with Kurtis in the past. “We shot for two hours at the Illinois Rehabilitation Institute and he could see it was as seamless as shooting 2D material.” “Typically on jobs I function as the producer/director and don’t usually shoot ” says Blurton “but when I take delivery of the 3DA1 I have the confidence that I can shoot material myself that looks so so good. I can essentially work as a one-man crew; I won’t need three guys on a rig.” “The 3DA1 is very easy to use very quickly ” Blurton says. “Basically you set the convergence and away you go. You can achieve really good convergence by using the camcorder’s mix function. In terms of depth and convergence I think the 3DA1 delivers as good as what anyone’s shooting in 3D today.” “With a mirrored rig aberrations are inherent ” he says. “You expect to see some vertical shift and rotational misalignment and simply plan on dealing with that in post. What’s really amazing with the 3DA1 is that the dual lenses and two imagers are aligned internally and line up perfectly. In terms of editorial there’s no need to ‘fix it in post.’” “Because I’ve done plenty of work with 3D graphics I tried out in-camera effects and was very impressed with how crisp and clean the video is ” he says. “There’s no artifacting in 3D mode.”
Experienced as he is with 3D post-production and assured that the 3DA1 is totally aligned vertically and rotationally Blurton says he is able to do “pretty traditional” editing in Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro. “During the music video shoot I was working with a pre-production model of Panasonic’s 25” 3D monitor in the video village area. I’d look at the convergence through the camera then come back and confirm on the 3D monitor. One of my colleagues said ‘That’s the best 3D I’ve ever seen!’ My sentiments exactly.” Fred Blurton Productions www.fbptv.com ,1906
Rising to the Challenge ,2010-08-13, Attracting over two million visitors in its first two months of operation the USA Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai China delivers its Rise to the Challenge theme in a series of Hollywood-style multi-dimensional presentations created by BRC Imagination Arts that tell the story of the American spirit of perseverance innovation and community building. BRC rose to the challenge as the show designer and producer and created all content for the USA Pavilion. The company also coordinated the installation of the exterior custom-framed Panasonic LED video display that showcases clips.
Upon entering the pavilion visitors are ushered into the Overture section which functions as a welcome lobby. There in an informal and fun environment they view a four-minute montage of the American landscape intercut with everyday people and celebrities – including Kobe Bryant and Tony Hawk – attempting to welcome visitors with Chinese words and phrases with sometimes hilarious results.
Electrosonic supplied the Overture with four elevated projection screens four Panasonic PT-DW6300 HD projectors Extron JMP9500GL video playback and a 70 volt distributed overhead audio system featuring JBL speakers.
The Preshow or Act I follows. Visitors are seated on benches in a theater outfitted with a trio of side-by-side large projection screens measuring approximately a total of 78-by-15 feet. The eight-minute presentation which displays huge images spanning the three screens or three discrete images addresses the important US-China relationship with comments from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. HD projection was accomplished with three Panasonic PT-DW10000 projectors; Extron JMP9600s provided synchronous HD video playback. A multi-track surround sound system was also installed.
The Mainshow or Act II showcases the story of The Garden told with live-action imagery CGI and 4D effects such as vibrating seats mist and lighting. The creative film illustrates how a 10-year old girl dreams of turning a vacant lot into an urban oasis and inspires her neighbors to make her dream come true.
The show is displayed on five 30-foot tall screens each with a unique trapezoidal or hourglass shape oriented in portrait mode. They are rimmed with LED light frames choreographed to change color and mimic the beat and mood of the content—833 lighting cues in less than eight minutes. With no dialogue the film’s visuals lighting and music combine to deliver the message of community to the visitors. “It was quite a challenge to rig and install the screens with their height different shapes and proximity to each other ” says senior project manager Thursby Pierce. “Although the content had been masked for display on the screens we also had to handle masking in the five Panasonic PT-DW10000 projectors too.” Electrosonic also furnished the dynamic multitrack surround system and tactile transducers under the seats for sub-frequency vibrations.
All show control is accomplished via Medialon. Operator control consoles throughout the pavilion utilize 12-inch touch screen computers instead of traditional button panels.
Visitors exit the Mainshow into Act III where 22 corporate pavilion sponsors spotlight the best in American business and technology. Electrosonic provided the distributed audio system for background music in this area as well as three ceiling-mounted Panasonic PT-DW6300 projectors for three of the sponsors. Electrosonic performs the equipment maintenance and service for not only the pavilion but for each of the sponsors’ exhibits as well.
Electrosonic also supports the USA Pavilion’s outdoor stage system where live shows and podium-style presentations are held with front of house audio mix control wireless mics and JBL speakers. Cameras may be hooked to the video system and feed the exterior LED display if desired.
In the pavilion show equipment is divided between two linked equipment rooms: The primary room contains four racks three dedicated to all AV and control head-end equipment necessary for the attraction and one dedicated to the Preshow amplifiers. A secondary room on the second floor houses all the amps for the Mainshow. As a temporary attraction the pavilion’s design complexity was kept to a minimum and the focus was on using quality stable and readily-available components and equipment. “Since power can be unstable in China each show room and the equipment rooms have temperature humidity and voltage monitoring equipment to alert us to any potential problems ” says Pierce. “A server system emails status reports to us – associate project manager Matt Sweeney and audio engineer and lead tech Phil Shaw remain onsite – and remotely to BRC.”
At Electrosonic Steve Calver was project manager for the pavilion with Clay Fullen as site supervisor and Gary Belshaw handling show control programming. Electrosonic www.electrosonic.com USA Pavilion www.usapavilion2010.com ,1909
Coming to You Live from the Sydney Opera House,2010-08-30,CinemaLive has announced an association with Opera Australia and Sydney Opera House to deliver the performances from the iconic Sydney Opera House to cinemas and big screen venues around the world. The long term deal will enable opera enthusiasts from all over the world to experience the magic of some of Opera Australia’s grandest productions performed in one of the world’s most iconic opera venues all from their local cinema. “Opera Australia is thrilled to enter into an association with CinemaLive and Sydney Opera House to film a number of its productions for release in both Australian and international cinemas ” says Adrian Collette chief executive Opera Australia. “It has long been our aim to bring quintessentially Australian interpretations of much-loved operas to a wider audience via cinema and we are delighted that many more people will be able to experience Opera Australia’s performances.” “Sydney Opera House is committed to using technology to broadcast the shows that are staged here to a wider audience beyond those that can visit us on Bennelong Point ” says Richard Evans chief executive Sydney Opera House. “We are creating an infrastructure that can enable this distribution including our world class recording studio and multimedia facilities. We are delighted to partner with Opera Australia for these cinema releases.” “We're incredibly excited not only about bringing quality opera performances to audiences around Australia and New Zealand but presenting these two prestigious icons whilst showcasing the outstanding talents of the creators and performers internationally ” says Janelle Mason director CinemaLive. “The world has an appetite for the Arts and Aussie's have a reputation for excellence. Presented in glorious high definition with magnificent 5.1 sound cinema really is a wonderful environment to experience these world class performances.” CinemaLive www.cinemalive.com Opera Australia www.opera-australia.org.au ,1915
Are You Ready to Create in 3D?,2010-08-30,Are You Ready to Create in 3D? Not Tomorrow. Today: Is the theme of a 3D panel to be held later this month in New York City at the upcoming Createasphere. There are now some ten thousand movie screens in mainstream theatres worldwide that are capable of showing stereoscopic 3D movies. This is creating a demand that the major Hollywood studios simply can’t satisfy. The result is a tremendous opportunity for independent filmmakers around the world and they are embracing it in growing numbers. The goal of the panel discussion which I’m pleased to moderate is to give independent filmmakers some real world answers to questions about shooting editing and distributing in stereoscopic 3D. In 2001 Kristin Petrovich founded Createasphere (it was called HD Expo until recently) and she has continued to direct the company as a leading entertainment technology exhibition and conference for content creators. Prior to that Petrovich gathered international experience in production and post-production in management roles at a number of companies and studios. At Spitfire Television in London she managed global production and came in direct contact with the latest production and post-production technologies. Upon her return to the US Petrovich served concurrently as the director of operations and marketing for Yeah Studios and as production manager of network programming for TriCrown Productions. At TriCrown she worked on a number of reality sports and documentary programs for ABC and Fox networks. Petrovich then joined the renowned documentary company ABC Kane where she served as the international political liaison for a global documentary sports show. In 1997 Petrovich formed KMP and Associates a marketing and management team. Leading KMP put her in direct contact with emerging post production and production talent as well as every major network studio and production company. During that time she recognized a need for education and community building in a period of revolutionary technological change in the entertainment industry. That recognition led her to found HD Expo which has successfully met that need and connects with over 15 000 attendees at the expos and workshops annually. Today Createasphere is a global community builder for the entertainment technology industry. Its goal is to build and connect communities and advance technology and careers through expos conferences education and online offerings. The 3D panel discussion is a part of that effort. Today's content creator must be well versed in 3D; it’s a key factor in theatrical releases and now it’s headed to screens of every size and dimension. 3D isn’t a mystery but rather art and science fully impacting the workflow and story from the emotional to the pragmatic. New tools new possibilities and new expectations are hitting the market with dizzying speed as broadcasters game developers feature films education spots photography and visual effects creators hurry to revolutionize pipelines to deliver 3D content now. The panelists include Dimitris Athos 3D stereoscopic producer UVPhactory; Jan Crittenden Livingston product line business manager for AVCCam and 3D camcorders Panasonic Broadcast; Christopher Crescitelli Hello! 3D creative director; Mark L. Pederson OffHollywood; Geoff Boyle cinematographer; Robert Willox director of 3D business development Sony; and Jerome Thelia colorist visual effects artist stereographer. The panel will be held in New York City on September 22nd. Click here for more details and to register. http://createasphere.com/En/ete-ny-panelskeynote.html ,1916
Introducing Yahoo,2010-08-30,In an effort to fortify its already formidable brand for the past month Yahoo has tested a promotional effort in ten select National Cinemedia theatres in five American cities: New York San Francisco Cleveland Dallas and Portland Oregon. According to Emily Walling senior manager integrated marketing for Yahoo the goal of the campaign which started July 30th and ends September 2nd is to make moviegoers more aware of Yahoo’s capabilities. The program featured customized hands-on kiosks in each lobby that were designed in the shape of a mobile phone. The kiosks were 40-inch LCD touch-screens rotated and wrapped to look like a smart phone. These were in the lobbies 24/7 for the entire period of the program. The content was four video vignettes and an interstitial that ran on a loop if no one touched the screen. The videos showed everyday users in contexts where they are getting info from Yahoo! on their mobile phones. Yahoo Brand Ambassadors were on hand in the lobbies for roughly twenty hours each weekend during peak movie-going hours with handheld devices to demo apps and chat with users about Yahoo! products. Also during the NCM Fathom pre-show Yahoo ran a series of three :30-second commercials that featured different Yahoo offerings: Flashing Lights focused on Yahoo! Entertainment. Home Sweet Home focused on the Yahoo! Homepage. Hello focused on Yahoo! Search. Walling says the effort will be deemed a success if the moviegoers who interacted with the kiosk or viewed the commercials left the theatre with a better understanding of what Yahoo has to offer. “You’ve seen Yahoo and learned something about Yahoo ” she says. She says Yahoo worked in conjunction with Monster Media to track results and together they will assess the value of the program. If the results are positive Yahoo may try the effort again possibly in more theatres. “This is our first run at it ” says Walling. “We’ll see how it goes.” ,1917
Hurricane Katrina’s Aftermath,2010-08-30,The Spike Lee-directed documentary If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise revisits New Orleans five years after Hurricane Katrina to look at how the city and its residents have changed. ,1920
Following the Workflow of Zou Shan Ren,2010-08-30, Hong Place Vision is the biggest rental company of Red Digital Cinema cameras in Beijing and has built a post-production studio to meet the demand for the rapidly rising number of digital film and TV productions in China. Chief technician Yang Liu says one of their latest film projects Zou Shan Ren offers a good example of the digital workflow as well as their business model of offering cost-effective digital tools to filmmakers TV producers and broadcasters throughout China. At the hub of their data workflow and DI tool suite is Assimilate’s Scratch digital finishing solution. According to Yang Liu at Hong Place Vision more and more cinematographers and film directors in China are choosing to shoot projects with digital cameras and most often Red is their camera of choice. Crews using film to shoot commercials or MTV videos are rarely seen in the studio with 60-to-70 percent using Red or other digital cameras. For the post-production projects at their facility 99 percent are Red R3D file-based. Liu says “Digital cinema is revolutionizing the filmmaking industry worldwide and it is very apparent here in Beijing and throughout China where the entertainment markets are exploding. In just the last year over 70 production crews have rented our Red One cameras and we believe this number will dramatically rise in the near future. Symbiotic digital tools like the Red camera and the PC-based Scratch DI tool suite are definitely a driving factor in this growth. Together they offer a highly efficient powerful real-time and cost-effective methodology for filmmaking while enabling quality results comparable to 35mm film.”
The digital workflow for the 2010 feature film Zou Shan Ren by director Jia Xiao Tie and DP Yu Xiao Qun is a good example of digital cinema today. Liu says “Yu Xiao Qun used the Red One 4K camera for the shoot. We copied all the footage to our RAID system used Final Cut Pro for the editing and uploaded the EDL to our Scratch system. We have Scratch loaded on an optimized PC workstation that includes the Red Rocket card to hyper-accelerate processing functions.”
“Our colorist Ming Lu did all the color grading and finishing in Scratch – in real time – which is a huge benefit. To see the film take shape and instantly react to subtle or dramatic changes is exciting and from a practical standpoint it’s a tremendous timesaver. No time is spent rendering massive files. The output was to Black Magic 8-bit HD resolution QuickTime files. We then rebuilt a new timeline for titling and audio.”
A key advantage of Scratch is easy output to DPX MOV and Tiff files at any resolution and its easy interface to other software we use in the studio. Again this offers considerable savings in time and money and gives us a streamlined workflow that greatly reduces any hassles.”
“Scratch is like a short cut to the top of the mountain ” says Liu. “Our post artists are working in real time and within a streamlined data workflow which makes for very high productivity and more time for creativity. This gives us a competitive advantage because we can be responsive to the tight deadlines and budget constraints of our clients while achieving high-quality results.”
Liu says “Scratch can be used for other formats including film and ArriRAW and is the bridge to other software and platforms. It also offers the ideal workflow and DI tool suite for the native RedCode footage. We’re using Scratch v5.1 which includes the new Red Color Science that easily reads the Red One camera 30.5.0 firmware. Again this gives us huge time savings and is one of our favorite Scratch features.”
“Another favorite feature is the Scratch output node ” says Liu. “From one master or template we can output to several formats such as a Digital Cinema Package film or HD.”
“The common elements for our Red/Scratch approach to digital cinema are time and cost savings high productivity and creativity and high-quality output to a range of formats ” says Liu. “This approach has great appeal to the filmmaking and TV production markets in China today.”
Liu says “We also share our knowledge and experience with directors and DPs about correct camera settings exposure as well as other tips to get the most out of their Red shoot and footage. This makes for positive working relationships which is good for their business and ours.” ,1922
Digitizing Hoyts Cinemas,2010-08-30, Hoyts Cinemas is converting to digital with assistance from Arts Alliance Media Christie Digital Systems and Doremi Cinema. The effort encompasses the entire Hoyts circuit in both Australia and New Zealand. The effort is part of Hoyts relationship with the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners Australia group. Christie will convert the entire cinema circuit of over 400 screens across 49 locations to 2K and 4K-ready Series 2 Christie Solaria projectors over the next three years. The agreement is a testament to the 25-year relationship between Christie and Hoyts and makes the deal the largest of its kind in Australia and New Zealand. The deal was made official at the Australian International Movie Convention in August Adam Wrightson Hoyts group technology director says “We’ve been installing digital systems throughout our circuit since 2003 and have kept pace with the demand for 3D. Now we are taking the final steps toward offering excellent digital presentations to all our patrons. We are in the midst of creating a whole new cinematic experience in our entertainment complexes which when completed will include 3D movies as well as alternative content such as live 3D events premieres and sports broadcasts.” “The Christie Solaria Series offers a significant advantage in image clarity brightness and ease of operational adaptability. With the rising popularity of 3D movies and increased flexibility in content and screen management exhibitors need projectors that show every available content in the best possible light and with the lowest cost of operation ” says George Scheckel director of international business development for Christie Digital Systems USA. “We are delighted to support Hoyts as they continue converting their entire circuit to digital ” says Lin Yu vice president of Christie Asia Pacific. “It is our goal to deliver on the unique entertainment experience for every moviegoer. This exclusive partnership with Hoyts will provide a great benefit to their patrons.” Doremi Cinema will supply all the playback server technology for the next phase of its digital cinema deployment. The deal also includes delivery of Doremi’s CaptiView Closed Caption Viewing Systems for hard of hearing patrons. The installations are set to begin immediately and are expected to be complete by the end of 2013. Delfin Fernandez Hoyts chief executive officer says “Our goal is to have 100 percent of our circuit converted to digital cinema over the next 36 months. Having already installed over 80 Doremi servers we are comfortable knowing Doremi will deliver reliable products along with the innovation necessary to keep Hoyts at the forefront of technology as digital cinema advances into the future. Doremi's expertise in large international deployments as well as their capacity to meet installation deadlines makes for an excellent partnership. Wrightson says Doremi has provided outstanding service to us over the last few years since our first round of installments of their server technology. For this next phase the 2K/4K option on the Doremi IMB/ShowVault is essential to our expansion as it allows us the flexibility to convert to 4K when the time is right. The IMB also provides us the benefit of its alternative inputs and full scaling capabilities for alternative content. We are thrilled to secure our ongoing partnership with Doremi. “We've enjoyed working with Hoyt's since their initial installation of our servers says Michael Archer vice president of Doremi Cinema. They represent the next generation of exhibition with their commitment to the latest technology and patron satisfaction. Their commitment to deploying three of Doremi’s products solidifies Doremi’s position as an innovative product company that meets the needs of digital cinema. We are dedicated to exceeding Hoyts’ expectations on this next deployment. AAM will be working closely in partnership with Hoyts to further develop its software calling on Hoyts’ experience in cinema advertising services (via its sister company Val Morgan) and its skills and knowledge in cinema operations. In true partnership form Hoyts will provide ongoing input and feedback to ensure that AAM’s TMS continues to best meet the needs of all exhibitors. The partnership follows AAM’s announcement in March this year of a deal with Broadmedia to licence its TMS in Japan. The agreement is the first that Arts Alliance Media has completed for a cinema outside those it has equipped as part of its own digital cinema rollout. Furthermore this is the first deal of its kind where a major exhibitor has committed to a TMS solution that is independent from the equipment selection and the integration company involved. Wrightson says “For an exhibitor choosing the right TMS is an important decision. It will become the foundation for workflow and management of our entire digital cinema network. An effective TMS will enable us to achieve the operational efficiencies and real revenue opportunities that digital conversion promises. After reviewing all the products in the marketplace we found the AAM TMS to be the most flexible and the most suited to our needs. As we continue to expand our digital cinema platform we see AAM as a strategic partner to achieving our goals moving forward.” Fiona Deans chief operating officer of AAM says “Although our rollout business is focused in Europe our content and software businesses are worldwide. We see Hoyts Cinemas as a key customer adding to our worldwide portfolio. Their operational and technical expertise is second to none around the globe making Hoyts a very welcomed client.” AAM’s vice-president technical development Matt Sullivan says “We have been working with Adam and his team for over six months gathering their input on our TMS which has been invaluable in improving our product. Our relationship is a true partnership and we look forward to continuing to work with them.” Arts Alliance Media www.artsalliancemedia.com Christie Digital Systems www.christiedigital.com ,1928
Documenting Honor Killings,2010-08-30, “It seems so-called honor killings and related attitudes and threats of violence have come to our part of the world ” says Deborah Parks producer of Shelley Saywell’s award-winning documentary In the Name of the Family. “It’s frightening and these girls have nowhere to tell their stories. That’s why we made this film.”
The film recently won the Best Canadian Feature Award at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival. Fearless Films provided complete finishing services for the project including online editorial compositing color grading titling closed captioning and versioning.
Shot primarily on Sony HDCam the film incorporated footage from a variety of sources including cell phone cameras and home movies. Paul Hili and Andrew Mandziuk at Fearless Films took the lead on post-production. “As is often the case with documentaries the challenge was combining the footage and matching color spaces and frame rates ” says Mandziuk. “This film is going to a lot of different places so we had to prepare for a variety of different output formats.”
Editor Deborah Palloway did the offline edit on Final Cut Pro. The material was then ingested into an Avid Symphony at Fearless. “The online edit process is a lot more involved these days than it used to be ” says Mandziuk. “There is never just one deliverable and you also have to figure what the shelf life of the product will be. Are you going to go to festivals? Do you need a PAL version for Europe? You’ve got to talk this stuff out with the client and guide them through the process.”
“I like to stay very involved in the post-production ” says director Saywell. “It’s the time when I can finally relax and let others add their creativity to make the film better. I loved working with Fearless. I felt that they really understood what we were trying to do and became involved in the storytelling as opposed to just working on images.”
“The different requirements for broadcasters and theatre soon evolve into creative decisions ” says Mandziuk. “For the theatrical release the director doesn’t want to blur things if she doesn’t have to but for legal reasons broadcasters often need to hide identifying details.” “When you blur someone or black out their eyes that in itself becomes part of the story ” he continues. “There are different ways to hide parts of the image and as editors we need to be sensitive to audience’s emotional responses. For example if you blur out somebody’s face with a black bar it can suggest that the person has done something wrong. An alternative might be to blow up the shot a bit and reposition the frame so that the speaker’s head is off-camera. The impression is quite different then and feels more respectful to the subject. Our challenge is to get these kinds of details right so that they support the story.”
The focus is always on the story. “I believe the best documentaries are deceptively simple ” says Saywell at the Toronto office of Bishari Films who produced the film. “I’m always going for lean understatement to let the power of the subject matter speak for itself. I want the film to get out of the way of the issues of the heart.”
Color correction is another area where technical and artistic criteria are merged in support of the story. “Fearless did the first color pass when I was not there ” Saywell says. “When I went in to look at it the film was beautiful – too beautiful actually. I wanted to capture the mood of the story and the subject matter which is definitely not beautiful. Color grading is a bit like the soundtrack. My films need music in a minor key and it’s the same with the color palette. Andrew Paul and I talked about that and they really nailed it.”
Review sessions were conducted in Fearless Film’s own 12-seat screening room which is equipped with a Christie HD digital projector. “It’s been fabulous working with Fearless ” says Parks. “They listened closely and offered great technical suggestions and I love their screening room! I’ve done several films with them now and I look forward to working with them again in the future.” Produced by Bishari Films for CTV In the Name of the Family debuted at Hot Docs in May. Parks and Habiba Nosheen produced it. The cinematographer was Mike Grippo and Peter Sawade recorded sound. In the Name of the Family will continue on the festival circuit this year and will air in Canada this fall on CTV.
The Fearless Film & Video Corporation www.fearlessfilms.ca ,1929
Digital Cinema and Data Workflows in China ,2010-08-30, Well-known director and cinematographer Wu Chiao is at the forefront of digital cinema in China. He has been immersed in the filmmaking process since his first day as a student of cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy. He has been the director and/or cinematographer of numerous films setting a standard of excellence within China. George Lucas’ Star Wars II the first motion picture to be shot using an HD camera planted the seed with Wu Chiao that quality movies could be made outside the realm of traditional film methodology. Since then he has amassed a good deal of experience and knowledge about the digital cinema process including the quality and performance of digital cameras and data workflows as well as their contribution to the art and craft of cinematography. Digital Cinema Report: Before digital cinema you were using film. What was your impetus for choosing to work in the new medium of digital cinema? Wu Chiao: When I was studying cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy film was the only option for making movies. At that time China's film production and post-finishing process was very unsophisticated so in order to achieve high quality for the film master and copies we most often had to go abroad for the film processing and photo prints. At the beginning of 2002 I learned that the American director George Lucas filmed ”Star Wars II” with HD cameras. This was hugely inspirational for me -- I realized that if quality cinematography could break the boundaries of film this would cause a great revolution giving the creation of cinema much more freedom. This strong belief and sense of purpose was the impetus for my exploration and deployment of digital cinema. Although I experienced innumerable setbacks and difficulties during this quest I have no regrets. I believe the future of cinema must be in the digital era.
DCR: Why have you embraced digital filmography? WC: I used the F900 in 2002 to shoot the first Chinese digital film The Coldest Day and won the Best Cinematography category for the Golden Rooster Award. From then on my focus has been digital film technology and how to perfect the shooting as well as the associated post and finishing processes. I have now finished over twenty digital films while experiencing the spectrum of new digital technologies from digital film development the initial stages of each digital technology – HDCam to Film Stream – and now the RedRAW data. I believe I am one of the most progressive comprehensive thorough and active filmmakers in the field of digital film technology in China.
DCR: You're at the forefront of digital cinema in China using the workflow combination of the Red One 4K camera and Assimilate's Scratch Digital Finishing Solution for post-production. What projects have you completed using the Red/Scratch combination? WC: Illusion Heavenly Man Right And Wrong Red Strawberry and Escape The Crisis. We have other projects in production now.
DCR: How long have you been using the Red One cameras for your films? WC: Early in the 2008 we purchased a Red One 4K Camera but as a new technology it required some time to test and adjust the workflow. In 2009 we set up a Scratch data workflow and mastered the use of its digital intermediate tool suite. Once we knew that Scratch could easily handle the RedCode data and we had very satisfactory results for the conform color grading finishing and quality output we began using the Red camera for filmmaking.
DCR: What major differences or advantages are you seeing in the use of the digital cinema workflow? WC: In 2004 I proposed that the nucleus of the digital filmmaking workflow was the integration and optimization of digital technologies which is the most significant feature of and biggest difference from traditional film. This premise is based on the integration of the digital-photography application features and the digital intermediate process. From the creative development to the technical principles all filmmakers need to consider the fluid flow of pre-and-post production data orchestrating a streamlined workflow for the entire production process. Exploiting digital technology to its fullest advantage ensures the best image quality and guarantees the narrative for the film. Integration is a prerequisite while optimization is the goal.
Currently the trends in digital film technology are a diverse selection of formats and flexible pipelines; seamless workflows and easily integrated DI tools; varying levels of technical complexity; increased productivity; and cost-effectiveness. The ultimate quality of the film depends on not only the talent and skill of the creative and post artists but also the technology level of their tools. This differs from the past era of film which has a defined repetitive time-consuming work process that relies on costly single pieces of equipment and fixed production methods.
DCR: Do you think digital cinema will become the mainstream medium in China for feature films and TV productions in the future? WC: In China cinema has always been the high-end product of media entertainment and always at the top of value chain. The swift development and broad application of digital technologies are bringing about a great revolutionary change to the filmmaking industry now dominating present-day productions and this will continue into the future. The digital era is here and it is changing the way movies are made in China and throughout the world.
DCR: What other digital tools are you using in conjunction with the Red camera? WC: Fortunately there are numerous choices and options now for building a digital pipeline. We use a digital field recorder Final Cut Pro Scratch plug-ins and so much more.
DCR: How are you using Scratch? WC: Scratch is at the hub of our digital pipeline. We use it for data management conform color grading compositing reviewing dailies client reviews and finishing. Visual effects can be easily dropped into the timeline.
DCR: What contributions does Scratch make to the digital cinema process? WC: One of the important capabilities of Scratch is its ability to easily process the native Red R3D files so that post artists can get the most out of the imagery with the color grading and finishing. The analytic reduction of color space in Scratch is still the best within the variety of available DI products. The Scratch workflow includes the most effective DI tool suite for post-production of Red-based imagery including conform color grading and finishing as well as the best quality results for filmmakers.
DCR: How have the digital cameras and other digital tools changed the way you approach your work? WC: Profound changes have occurred during the evolution from the HD era to the digital era of filmmaking. The present Red workflow is more like working with film. During the pre-production we can control the exposure based on the exposure and temperature meters we’re familiar with while with an HD camera we must rely on the standard and waveform monitors. In contrast to the HD equipment we use Scratch in the post-production where we can immediately “process” the digital negative and do the color grading. We’re able to hold a huge adjusting space for dynamic range shadow and brightness levels hues and so forth. It is much more convenient to use the disk-based and flash memory-based storage compared to using the videotapes and film reels of the past. With the innovations and rapid progression of digital technology the art of cinema is making a huge leap forward in ease of use while maintaining high-level quality standards.
DCR: What testing of digital cinema technology are you engaged in now? WC: We are currently doing a comparison test between Red MX Epic and the Arri Alexa cameras. In all our testing we have found that the present digital cameras have completely surpassed the film camera in the aspect of photosensitive characteristics and mechanical properties. The high-quality results have reached and often exceeded that of film in resolution sensitivity dynamic range frame rate and color reduction.
We are also researching the integration and optimization of workflows by which the digital negative can reduce and replicate three channels of RGB within the smooth transition of 10-bit color gradation. This is the only problem caused by the photosensitive characteristics of the Bayer filter in the digital cameras and this needs to be resolved quickly.
DCR: What is your vision for future digital cinema technologies?
WC: The speed of technical progress and innovation for digital cinema will continue to move forward at a rapid pace. This is good news for filmmakers and all creative and post artists as well as the viewing audience. As the digital negative replaces film the quality output will reach even higher levels of clarity and sophistication. The focus should be on how to apply these new technologies in an integrated and optimized workflow. Only in this way can we put more power and performance into the hands of the creative communities and markets. ,1935
Hollywood’s 3D Miscalculation,2010-09-14,This is not another one of those articles predicting the death of Hollywood and its influence on the worldwide cinema scene. Hollywood after all is still capable of releasing movies such as this summer’s well deserved critical and box office successes Toy Story 3 and Inception. But this is an article suggesting that some of the decisions made of late by current studio executives seem certain to backfire sooner rather than later if they haven’t already. How else to account for the twin facts that as has been widely reported summer movie attendance fell to its lowest number since 1997 yet revenues set a new record at $4.35 billion? The reason for this as has also been widely reported is the fact that Hollywood released a record number of movies it said were 3D and theatres charged a higher price for those movies. I said that many of these were called 3D but as anyone who has been paying even the slightest attention knows most of them were shot in 2D and converted in post-production to something like 3D. Audiences are beginning to notice the difference and are voting with their limited dollars. Hollywood.com estimated that the number of tickets sold from the first weekend of May through the U.S. Labor Day holiday was expected to drop 2.6 percent to 552 million the lowest attendance since summer moviegoers bought 540.3 million tickets in 1997. In turn summer box-office revenue was expected to rise 2.4 percent to a record $4.35 billion in the U.S. and Canada as higher prices more than made up for the lower attendance Hollywood.com estimated. The average ticket price increased 5.1 percent to $7.88 from last year’s $7.50 the biggest gain since a 6.3 percent jump in 2000. Studios released seven sequels this summer fewer than the 10 that came out during the summer of 2009 according to Hollywood.com. This year 13 films generated more than $100 million in domestic ticket sales down from 15 a year earlier. Undoubtedly Hollywood studio executives are making the case to their corporate bosses that the poor numbers are a reflection of the bad economy. They are not. The economy was even worse last summer and although it was admittedly thanks in large part to Avatar last year was a record year in both box office attendance and revenue. Which makes my point. Audiences will pay for good movies and will pay extra for well-made stereoscopic 3D movies. Avatar proved that last year and Toy Story 3 and Inception proved it again this year. Undoubtedly there are factions inside Warner Bros who are cursing writer/director Christopher Nolan for refusing to allow the studio to convert Inception to 3D. Would that have enabled the movie to make more than the $277 million it was estimated to have earned? That’s a question that can never be answered definitively but I suspect not. It most certainly would have contributed to higher opening weekend revenues but audiences have demonstrated in recent weeks that they don’t find converted 3D movies nearly as compelling as movies created in stereoscopic 3D. Personally I applaud Nolan’s decision and I don’t think a converted-to-3D version of Inception would have continued to attract sizable audiences months after it opened. Even those people who are the most careful at converting a film from 2D to 3D will concede that the laws of physics will only allow them to go so far. The results can be very effective but they pale next to a movie that was skillfully shot in 3D. And as this summer’s box office shows the public at large is aware of the difference and are not willing to pay extra for it. The question remains: have studio executives in Hollywood learned a lesson from this? A show of hands: who agrees with me that the likely answer is No? ,1947
Penguins to the Rescue?,2010-09-14, The plotting penguins of the Madagascar franchise from DreamWorks Animation SKG get their wily wings on a top secret Intel Core i5 processor in a new ad that marks a theatrical debut of sorts for Intel Corporation. The spot was shown across the Screenvision Network starting September 3rd and was the first ad by Intel to appear in cinemas. The 30-second ad will air through September 30th on more than 15 000 screens across nearly 2 400 theatres in Screenvision’s Premium Pod placement immediately preceding the movie trailers. Penetration covers all 50 states and 93 percent of DMAs nationwide. The penguins are popular characters originating in DreamWorks Animations’ blockbuster features Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
“By partnering with Screenvision Intel is using the power of cinema to reach consumers in a creative innovative and extremely entertaining way ” says Mike Chico Screenvision’s executive vice president of sales marketing and research. Intel has created a spot staring the penguins of Madagascar that will not only introduce moviegoers to their product but give them a true visual experience that can only be truly appreciated in a movie theatre.”
In the commercial the penguins make the case that the Intel Core i5 processor delivers unprecedented integration and smart performance for laptops desktops and embedded devices. It’s these features the penguins are after in the whimsical in-cinema ad.