International visual effects company Pixomondo completed 546 shots on Red Tails about a third of the film’s 1524 total VFX shots. A passion project of executive producer George Lucas more than 20 years in the making the tale of World War II Tuskegee Airmen features explosive VFX work from five of Pixomondo’s eleven global facilities a network of companies located across the US UK Germany Canada and China. ILM’s Craig Hammack the film’s overall visual effects supervisor says Pixomondo was an integral part of the effects team and were burdened with some of the most complex scenes in the movie. They were great collaborators that were able to go beyond the execution of the shot work and contribute to the creative design of their scenes. This is my third collaboration with Pixomondo and second with Bjørn. He and Boris did a fantastic job of supervising their team through the many challenges that come with complex high-end effects work on a film such as Red Tails.” Awarded the project in late August 2010 by Industrial Light & Magic which supervised all of the visual effects work on the film Pixomondo spread the work across their facilities allocating shots based on artists’ strengths and studio resources. Pixomondo VFX supervisors Bjørn Mayer and Boris Schmidt oversaw the project internally. “Working on this film was a pleasure from beginning to end. Craig Hammack pushed our teams to deliver their best—always with clear feedback and direction. We are especially proud of our work on the train crash which is also our most complicated sequence in the film ” says Mayer. “There was a lot of engineering research that went into how the brakes would impact the movement and how the train would jump the tracks. We collaborated closely with Craig on how to set up the camera angles adding more close ups and in the end were able to make the crash even bigger that originally envisioned.” Pixomondo contributed 546 VFX shots to the film with their Los Angeles facility completing 328. Mayer and Schmidt developed set-ups for the remaining shots completed by the studio before sending them to other Pixomondo facilities to maintain a cohesive look. Some of the visuals completed by the LA Pixomondo team were the destroyer sequence digital construction of the 1944-era Pentagon as well as the development of clouds airplane shaders cockpits and rigging of planes. Pixomondo Stuttgart completed 88 shots including many of the aerial bomber sequences and airplane crashes that appear towards the end of the film. Most of the matchmove and rotoscoping work was done at Pixomondo Beijing along with the majority of the cockpit shots about 80 total. Pixomondo Shanghai contributed 25 shots mostly of the airfield when the pilots are going to or coming out of planes. The train crash sequence was created by the Pixomondo team in Berlin. Red Tails which features scenes with hundreds of CG airplanes posed serious rendering challenges. Pixomondo was well equipped to tackle those challenges with their global 24/7 workflow enabling the company to tap hundreds of render cores and artist workstations around the world to maximize their rendering bandwidth. “Working with ILM was great on this project as it was a very back and forth process ” says Schmidt. “Our global company structure enables us to tap different creative strengths at Pixomondo facilities around the world—key on a project of this scale to working cost-effectively and across time zones allowing us to execute these amazing sequences. ILM upholds very high standards and we really learned a lot from this experience.” Set during World War II Red Tails tells the racially charged story of a crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program. Red Tails opened in January and stars Terrence Howard Cuba Gooding Jr. Nate Parker and David Oyelowo and is the feature film directorial debut of Anthony Hemingway. Pixomondo http://www.pixomondo.com ,3081
Underworld Awakening Gets Creature Effects,2012-02-14, Effects company MastersFX supervised and created Lycan vampire and the creature FX that are prominently featured in Underworld Awakening. The project marks the first time that Lakeshore Entertainment employed a new creature FX team for the Underworld series. The vampire warrior Selene (played by Kate Beckinsale) leads the battle against humankind.
Todd Masters and his team at MastersFX produced several full-scale animatronic Lycan character FX suits as well as the rest of the practical creature FX featured within Underworld Awakening. Throughout the course of production of this film Masters and his team regularly consulted with original Underworld contributors Patrick Tatopoulos creature FX designer/supervisor and Steve Wang creature FX designer. Says Masters “Although Patrick Tatopoulos was in the midst of his work as production designer for Total Recall it was amazing to us the amount of effort and care he was nevertheless able to lend us during our pre-production on Underworld Awakening. He not only assisted us in continuing the classic design style he established for the Lycan creatures but he also somehow found time to knock-out several amazing illustrations of the new characters which first appear in this film: the Tunnel Lycan and the Uber.”
Masters says “From there Steve Wang took Patrick’s illustrations on a few of these new characters and transformed them into these incredibly detailed maquettes – just beautiful. I’ve been fortunate to know Patrick and Steve for nearly two decades now and have always enjoyed their art. But this project was a real treat for me and it was still amazing to watch these two creature ‘maestros’ work out such intricate designs. Their brilliance made it so much easier for our Vancouver team to then create these critters in full-scale.”
Regarding MastersFX’s contributions to Underworld Awakening James McQuaide the films’ visual effects supervisor and executive producer says “Underworld Awakening is by far the most creature intensive of the UW movies. And to make it even more of a challenge the picture was shot in 5K and in stereo which demanded that everyone up their game a notch or three. Many of the tricks that we have all come to rely on simply no longer work the image now being so unforgiving leaving absolutely no margin for error. The work that Todd Masters and his team at MastersFX delivered was exactly what this way of working required: perfection.”
Underworld Awakening also represents the first 3D project to which MastersFX has made a significant contribution. Masters says “Since this was our first major 3D project we had to discipline ourselves into a quick learning curve while we figured out just exactly how our practical FX work was going to appear on-screen. This process involves such an amazing level of data every detail of our work was going to be suspect—it was like looking at our work under a magnifying glass. Every detail was heightened and we even had to modify the coloring and design of some of our creatures to satisfy the discerning eyeball of the 3D camera.”
Masters says “Even before confronting the 3D issues we knew that we were the ‘new kids on the block’ in the ‘Underworld’ series and as such couldn’t just deliver work that was ‘as good’ as what came before. We had to deliver work that was better than ever. So right at the start of this project the bar was extremely high and adding the 3D aspect made this task even more challenging. It certainly elevated our game in the delicate art of monster-making.”
Underworld Awakening was released on January 20. The film is from Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment in association with Sketch Films. The film was directed by Mans Mårlind and Bjorn Stein and was based on characters by Kevin Grevioux and Len Wiseman & Danny McBride with story by Len Wiseman & John Hlavin. The screenplay is by Len Wiseman & John Hlavin and J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett. Underworld Awakening trailer http://www.entertheunderworld.com/ ,3084
Connecting with Audiences: Sundance 2012,2012-02-14, By Valentina I. Valentini West Coast Correspondent “Here in Park City we have 10 days where things can happen for filmmakers that can’t happen anywhere else ” said John Cooper festival director at the opening day press conference of Sundance 2012. Sitting next to him was Robert Redford the festival’s founder who made sure the press in the seats at the iconic Egyptian Theatre were reminded that when Sundance started it was all about the filmmakers and that he and Cooper remained steady in that goal no matter how big the fest might get. “Success has two sides ” says Redford. “The biggest challenge has been to remind people who we are and what we’re about as a festival. This is about the filmmakers.” On the technology front it was exciting to see all different HD formats being used and even some indies still sticking with 35 mm and Super 16. Not once did it feel like a film was limited visually because of its choice in medium. Destin Cretton’s I Am Not a Hipster – which took audiences by surprise with its sincere look at dealing with depression over the loss of a parent back-dropped by San Diego’s Hipster-Indie-Music scene – was shot on the Red MX and had complex and intricate visuals with some impressive primary color-saturated scenes almost hipster-like in his approach which included lots of blurry moments and shaky handheld scenes the film was expertly shot by the young up-and-comer Brett Pawlak a Los Angeles native. Aurora Guerrero’s Mosquita y Mari a Latina coming-of-age story that takes place in LA’s Huntington Park was exquisitely shot on a mix of Canon DSLRs (1D 5D and 7D) by Magela Crosignani. Whereas the fest’s sleeper hit Beasts of the Southern Wild looked just as stunning and was filmed on Kodak Super 16 by British DP Ben Richardson. And then there was Reed Morano’s wintry palate of grays and browns in So Yong Kim’s For Ellen which Morano used Kodak 35 mm to capture. As for the industry’s newest love affair with the Arri Alexa – DP Julie Kirkwood used it on Hello I Must Be Going Bridger Nielson used it for The Pact as well as David Lanzenberg on Celeste & Jesse Forever Wyatt Troll on Goats Morano on Shut Up and Play the Hits Michael McDonough on Lay the Favorite Lubomir Bakchev on 2 Days in New York Matthew J. Lloyd on Robot and Frank Joe Anderson on Simon Killer and Tobias Datum on Smashed…just to name a few. No longer can it be said that film is the best or that digital is the way of the future. Today those statements seem to be irrelevant. If beautiful cinematography can come in the shape of a Canon 7D or an Alexa or Super 16 so be it. It allows for a greater palate in the discipline and for more people to experiment in more ways with visual aesthetics in cinema. Now if we can only get 3D into Sundance more than once in a blue moon… (U23D Cane Toads and The Park all screened in 3D in previous years). Technology is a hotbed of innovation for storytelling right now and Sundance really wants to be at that crossroads as made clear by the New Frontiers Story Lab which makes it possible to show work beyond the single screen. This year they also launched Artists Services which is designed to help filmmakers in their community who want to pursue a self-distribution strategy. As festival executive director Keri Putnam put it: “Success in distribution takes many forms today. Whether it’s high profile acquisition through a festival a television premiere or an innovative self-distribution strategy what matters to us at Sundance is great independent movies connecting with audiences however that happens.” ,3089
A First for FirstLook,2012-02-29, Call it a different kind of FirstLook. For the first time a major exhibitor is taking part in the annual advertising upfront event that has been a staple of the television broadcast world for generations. This May National Cinemedia’s NCM Media Networks – and its pre-show program FirstLook – will be taking its place among the top national TV networks with the premiere of its upfront presentation event at New York City’s AMC Loews Lincoln Square movie theatre. In the North American television industry an upfront is a meeting hosted at the start of important advertising sales periods by network executives and attended by the press and major advertisers. Its main purpose is to allow marketers to buy TV commercial airtime up front months before the fall television season begins. That NCM is taking part in this year’s upfront is a major first step for that company in particular but – and this is even more important – for the exhibition business as a whole. In the words of Cliff Marks president of sales and marketing with NCM Media Networks “We think our time has come.” The upfront events traditionally take place in Manhattan during the third week of May the last full week of that month's sweeps period when TV ratings are measured. At the event the networks announce their primetime schedules and introduce tentative launch dates for new shows. The programming announcements themselves are usually augmented with clips from the new shows extravagant musical numbers comedic scenes and appearances by network stars and take place at grand venues such as Lincoln Center Radio City Music Hall or Carnegie Hall. Last year according to the ad consultancy eMarketer upfronts produced $9 billion in ad sales for the networks which equated to more than 15 percent of their $60 billion revenue for the entire year. Cinema advertising is a relatively new idea that is finally starting to take a serious hold as digital cinema enters the early years of its second decade. Since the Cinema Advertising Council was founded in 2003 and began tracking numbers the industry has experienced healthy year-over-year growth. This upward trend continues as cinema advertising delivers advertisers a premium marketing opportunity in a unique environment with an attentive audience multiple consumer touch points and new technologies-including digital capabilities delivering flexible and entertaining pre-shows according to the CAC.
John Fithian president of National Association of Theatre Owners speaking at the recent CAC Marquee Marketing at the Movies event noted that cinema advertising has become part of the core business of theatre owners citing that cinema advertising income ranks third in revenue streams behind ticket sales and concessions. And regarding audience acceptance Fithian said that patrons are not just comfortable with the pre-show but that they actually like it.
The cinema audience is unique in that it is attentive engaged and comprised of highly desirable young affluent and well educated consumers who aren't distracted by telephones remote-control devices electronic media or simply performing household activities away from broadcast media during commercial breaks.
The CAC announced that in 2010 – the last year complete numbers are available – despite a year that saw spending in other traditional media decrease significantly cinema advertising revenue grew to $658 255 000 which was a 12.7 percent increase over 2009. The medium's impressive growth can be attributed in part to the advancement of the digital platform. In recent years a primary contributor to the rapidly increasing use of the medium by national advertisers has been the shift from analog to digital projection systems easing barriers to entry driven by production and flighting practices. The shift to digital production systems has also led to the development of digital pre-shows which enable cinema advertising vendors to project advertisements in a seamless presentation of motion advertising and long-form entertainment-based content. NCM’s FirstLook was the first preshow to take full advantage of all of the capabilities of digital technology. “The NCM network is one of America’s top rated networks on weekends as well as one of the top 15 national networks overall so it makes perfect sense for us to participate in the TV upfront process ” says Marks. “While NCM has always done a meaningful amount of our business upfront we are officially becoming a part of the upfront season for the first time this year. This will allow advertisers to get a first look at the upcoming feature film slate and have special access to premium inventory and our unique integrated cinema programs.”
NCM Media Networks’ World Premiere Upfront Event will feature a sneak peek at the upcoming Hollywood 2D and 3D film slate and the unique ways that marketers can reach movie-going audiences. Movies are the engine that drives an important part of the entertainment world. NCM Media Networks will be offering advertisers and media buyers the chance to plan upfront to take full advantage of the power of cinema.
NCM consistently ranks among the broadcast and cable TV networks as one of the top three networks in America reaching adults 18-34 in prime-time on Fridays and Saturdays according to Nielsen and is also ranked among the top 15 networks in prime-time overall. Nearly 700 million moviegoers enjoy NCM’s FirstLook pre-show program and walk through its theatre lobbies every year. “In most months we’re a top ten network ” says Marks but “on weekends we’re the top engaged network for teenagers. There’s something about a forty-foot screen that’s unique. And we don’t offer a Tivo.” One of the challenges exhibitors continue to face is that advertisers have not figured out how to categorize cinema advertising. “We don’t fit in any box ” Marks explains. For now cinema advertising is often lumped into budgets for advertising as diverse and random as billboards and airlines. As a result there’s no time or money devoted directly for cinema. Marks hopes the upfront event can serve to help start to change that situation. Marks and his staff have spent years calling on the creative community and when possible advertisers directly to make the case for cinema advertising. Some ideas that are beginning to gain more traction include the fact that advertisers can use the same campaigns they create for television in cinemas. Or create longer versions of those ads. Or use cinema to launch a new campaign. These ideas require minimal additional expense for advertisers but can return significant results. Marks gives the example of Kia which launched its new advertising campaign in theatres prior to its network TV premiere during the Super Bowl game. In what was a Super Bowl advertising first Kia Motors America’s complete Drive the Dream ad premiered on February 2 on more than 18 000 movie screens nationwide in National CineMedia’s FirstLook pre-show program before airing in the game. Kia’s new 60-second commercial taps into the idea of dreams revealing true desires and portrays the new 2012 Optima Limited amid a Gen X couple’s wildest thoughts as they sleep – including supermodel Adriana Lima waving the checkered flag at a race track an in-your face Mötley Crüe concert MMA fighter Chuck Liddell battling in the octagon a heroine and hunk riding a horse in a storybook setting and champion bull rider Judd Leffew taming a bucking rhinoceros – before concluding with a romantic ending. The spot was created by David & Goliath and directed by Noam Murro director of the upcoming Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ 300 prequel. To build anticipation for its Super Bowl spot’s big screen debut Kia kicked things off with 15-second teaser ads featuring Adriana Lima on TV and in movie theatres on January 27. Kia’s cinema advertising strategy is part of a fully integrated marketing campaign incorporating TV cinema digital print social media and in-dealership components. “The Super Bowl is the marketing event of the year and as an advertiser we are always looking for new and innovative ways to raise awareness and generate excitement before during and after the game and being the first advertiser to debut a spot before it airs on Sunday is a huge opportunity for the Kia brand ” says Michael Sprague vice president marketing & communications KMA. “Super Bowl spots are the blockbusters of the advertising world so the big screen is an ideal way for Kia to generate major buzz in advance of the big game ” says Marks. “This historic advertising first really scored with Super Bowl weekend movie audiences. Not only can cinema generate great brand awareness it can significantly boost the return on investment.” ,3098
Growing Exhibition Via the Web,2012-02-29, By Melissa Keeping European Correspondent In its most basic terms a good website is rather like a pantomime horse; it’s all about the synergy between the front end and the back end. If neither end are communicating effectively the horse or the website crashes. The people behind Peach Digital a Glasgow-based web development company know all about this synergy specializing as they do in cinema websites where effective functionality is fundamental to its success as a marketing and sales platform. Malcolm MacMillan business development director at Peach told me that the secret of their success lies in targeted marketing and understanding the importance of this synergy. The ability to buy tickets online has been available for a while now but hasn't always been an easy process. So one of the most important things is to making the buying of tickets clear easy and hassle-free. Our experience over the years has shown that this will significantly increase your ticket sales he says. “In the past websites have been more like a brochure-led website and were used as a way of showcasing the films available. They were less about e-commerce ” MacMillan says using his recent success with the UK’s Apollo Cinemas as an example. Buying tickets has always been available but hasn’t been as easy and with customer attention-spans becoming ever shorter and competition becoming ever more fierce the potential to lose business through sheer frustration more of a threat than ever before so one of the most important issues was making the buying of tickets clear easy and hassle-free. It would seem that Peach did exactly that. In just over two years Apollo Cinemas and Peach Digital have worked in partnership to create a website that has delivered online ticket-sales growth of 90 percent. This far exceeds any natural growth that was experienced across the same period; Apollo experienced an increase in overall ticket sales of 18 percent across the same period. Let’s look at those figures again: Ninety percent growth in two years. That’s almost doubling their sales. In a recession. Rob Arthur managing director of Apollo Cinemas says that Apollo’s sites are often in rural destinations where advance booking is essential if a lengthy wasted journey is to be avoided. This practicality was taken in to consideration in talks with Peach Digital which understood the importance of online booking in this regard. The pathway from viewing show times to buying tickets which you would think would be child’s play is often made frustratingly difficult. Peach’s philosophy is all about making the process of buying tickets which is after all what keeps the cinema in business as easy and user-friendly as possible. It’s not just website functionality that makes a success of an e-commerce website however. Peach attributes a lot of the growth a healthy agency/client relationship – a clear understanding of what each party brings to the business and an open honest relationship based on shared understanding of the vision and the customer. Arthur says “I trust Peach’s judgment when it comes to cinema websites and online marketing. Their understanding of our audience and how they behave online has been invaluable in the development of a digital platform that has seen extraordinary growth over a busy two years at Apollo Cinemas.” He adds that in the niche area of cinema website design they are the clear front-runners and he trusts their judgment completely a sentiment gained from years working effectively together. The synergy of the front and back end of the pantomime horse again springs to mind. If only all websites worked as effectively as this. Peach Digital also has a long and successful 10 year partnership with VUE cinemas in the UK to be proud of and the chain have long been supportive of Peach’s stateside plans. Says MacMillan “We have a lot to thank them for giving us the opportunity to develop our expertise and sector insight and this provides us with good context for our US ambitions.” Peach has cut its teeth on companies like Vue and Apollo and this experience has been invaluable as they are poised to go west. Apollo currently resides in the number one position in the cinema category of Top 5 Websites a UK listings site voted for by the consumer. Until now Peach has had more than enough work to handle in the UK but the company has aggressive plans for expansion and is looking to the US for its next challenge. Macmillan explains the move as logical. “The US cinema network is a huge untapped market for us and our methodology is tried and tested. We have conducted substantial research and feel that the scope and potential for growth in the States more than justifies opening a US branch ” he says and as if to prove a point showed me a website for a small US cinema network that clearly needed a facelift. Badly designed cumbersome and counter-intuitive I was bored before we even got to the ‘buy ticket’ button buried somewhere under an article about the Oscars. And then the pantomime horse fell over. The website crashed. Peach Digital also has the secret weapon of Jack Porter-Smith in its arsenal. Head of marketing and crucially a top contributor to the Google Ad-words Help Forum he is knowledgeable about marketing a website to a fault. The company’s vision for the future is based firmly on a mantra of Acquisition Conversion and Retention referring to their customer-focused beliefs especially as ticket booking online is becoming a vital revenue stream for exhibitors anywhere. “A critical element of being able to deliver successful online marketing campaigns is understanding how Google works ” Porter-Smith says. “Nobody knows this for sure but as Google moves towards rewarding page speed there is an increasing need for marketers to appreciate things such as semantic markup and micro formats. There is a massive benefit to understanding page structure and the interaction between browser and server – and the more you understand search engines the more you can service client’s sites to this understanding. This is of particular relevance to websites in the entertainment industry as cinema websites contain vast volumes of ever changing information that search users want and need to find with ease.” ,3099
Boosting Production Values,2012-02-29,When Texas grocery chain H-E-B wanted to do a spot in which aliens invade the Lone Star State in search of tasty store-brand food the company turned to Chicago's Filmworkers for post-production services. Matt McClain performed final color correction for the 60-second commercial which debuted in Southwest markets during the Super Bowl broadcast. It also aired during the Academy Awards. An extended version is featured on the H-E-B Facebook page. The commercial’s production values are more than on par with Super Bowl spots airing nationally in fact they are positively Spielberg-esque. It features a large cast numerous locations and oversized props (including an H-E-B truck parked on top of a building and 160 stacked shopping carts) elaborate movie makeup and animatronics. Conceived by The Richards Group the spot plays like a trailer for a science fiction movie as a Texas community braces itself for an alien invasion. A farmer inspects a ruined cornfield. Fans at a sporting event spot a green light in the sky. Rocket scientists nervously monitor satellite images. Most mysteriously H-E-B food products shopping carts and even a big rig disappear. The drama culminates in a supermarket where a pint-sized alien in a ten-gallon hat buys milk bread and other items before disappearing in a puff of smoke. “H-E-B brand products ” says the voice-over “everybody wants them. Only Texas has them.” It was shot with an Arri Alexa camera system and presented in cinema-style 2.4-aspect ratio. Post-production work at Filmworkers was carried out with a similarly theatrical flourish. McClain’s role was to give the imagery a rich cinematic look. “Our aim was to give the spot a dark contrasty look similar to an action-packed movie thriller ” he says. “My style of contrast with warmer highlights and cooler mid-tones and blacks really worked well for this. We had a lot of night scenes with high contrast breaking through.” McClain also made H-E-B products stand out by using his Baselight color grading system to apply subtle color and light adjustments to packages cans and bottles. “I can create unlimited layers to separate and track individual features of images ” he explains. “I can color those aspects in real time and work with my clients interactively. That ensures that they are happy not only with how the spot looks as a whole but also with the product placement.” Credits Title: Out of This World Taste Client: H-E-B Agency: The Richards Group Dallas. Debbie Koppman producer; Chris Smith creative director; Wendy Bouis art director; Brittany Sarrett copywriter; Production: Sugar Film Production. Chris Smith director. Editorial: charlieuniformtango. Deedle Lacour editor; David Hannah VFX supervisor; Joey Waldrip; Flame artist Lola Lott executive producer; Jeff Elmore senior producer. Filmworkers www.filmworkers.com ,3101
Lobbies Take Center Stage,2012-02-29, Real Digital Media and Rave Cinemas have announced a strategic digital signage initiative to create a digital experience for moviegoers throughout the Rave theater chain. The network has been operating since early 2011 and was first deployed at Dallas-based Rave’s North East Mall 18 location in Hurst Texas an 18-auditorium movie theater. Rave has since expanded the roll out of its digital signage network across the 66-location Rave circuit with the latest deployment at the Las Vegas Town Square 18 location. This installation includes over sixty-five displays serving several different applications. The Rave Cinemas network replaces traditional signage in the box office and on concession stand menu boards with networked digital displays. The digital signage network will also be employed for theater wayfinding auditorium marquees and for coming attraction promotions. All theater locations will be programmed and monitored from Rave’s Dallas headquarters using the NEOCAST Media Server management software. This web-based application monitors network health and performance and communicates content and playlist instructions to the networked players powering the displays. Rave selected the NEOCAST Media Player Z to power the high-definition and rich media content showcased across the network. The content includes Silverlight applications designed to provide theater visitors with real-time information regarding showtimes ticket availability concession items and pricing as well as wayfinding. Bryan Rakowski SVP Technology at Rave Cinemas commenting on Rave’s digital signage initiative and their decision to partner with Real Digital Media states “Rave has built its business and its reputation by focusing on the movie-going experience and pioneering in the use of new technology and alternative programming. It makes perfect sense for us to extend our digital footprint from the box office through the lobby and into the auditoriums using digital signage. Real Digital Media separated themselves from the crowd by showing us a platform that easily adapts to our various content needs and use cases while scaling easily to meet our expansion demands to serve communities enjoying movies and film on nearly 1000 screens across 20 states.” Ken Goldberg Real Digital Media CEO adds “The breadth of digital signage applications Rave employs in a single theater location using our NEOCAST platform is a testament to their ingenuity and the sophistication of their content strategy. Through a combination of video rich media and real-time data integration visitors to Rave Cinemas are being exposed to an engaging visual experience that is timely in the delivery of relevant information. Rave has truly maximized the flexibility inherent in our software platform and we look forward to helping them continue to advance digital signage applications across their theater circuit.” Rave Cinemas http://www.ravecinemas.com/ Real Digital Media http://www.realdigitalmedia.com/ ,3103
Capturing the Horrors of War,2012-02-29,Cinematographer Antonio Riestra worked on Agustí Villaronga's successful drama Pa negre to capture an eerie atmosphere and mysterious events. Pa negre (English title: Black Bread) is a suspenseful cinematic event. The drama shows the disastrous results of the Spanish Civil War for the poor Catalan rural population as a village’s inhabitants are entangled in dark deeds and deadly secrets. The film which takes the audience back to the early 1940s is mostly set in the dark Catalan forests and has already won several awards. Director Villaronga begins his film with a horse and cart that are rapidly falling down from high cliffs into the forest. Capturing such a scene is a technical challenge and can be accomplished only with professional equipment. Riestra has relied on OConnor fluid heads for all his shoots and used the OConnor 2757 for this project. Without the absolutely smooth and even panning of the OConnor fluid head this wouldn't have been possible ” he says. “Whether I'm shooting from the top-shot or low-angle camera perspective the other outstanding feature of OConnor equipment is the 180-degree tilt angle. Riestra says I have already filmed under every imaginable condition. Whether outdoors or in the studio – OConnor equipment has always been completely dependable. I have been in the film industry for 19 years and have been able to follow the development of the OConnor fluid head. OConnor is always adapting its fluid heads to new cameras on the market so that users always have state-of-the-art technology. Riestra's high demands on the equipment are reflected in his film. So it is not surprising his work has already been honored with numerous awards. In 2010 Pa negre was celebrated as the big winner of the evening at the Spanish film awards Premios Goya. The film which was made in the Catalan language won in nine categories among them Best Film Best Director and Best Cinematography. Riestra says Out of all the films I have made I enjoyed shooting Pa negre the most. The director the story of the film the actors and the crew were fantastic. It was a unique experience. Last but not least are the great people whom we met during filming and the special shooting locations. ,3109
National Geographic to Release Meerkats 3D,2012-02-29, National Geographic Cinema Ventures has announced the release of Meerkats 3D the first in a series of films developed for digital cinemas in museums worldwide. Meerkats 3D which will roll out to theaters internationally this spring and summer was developed through a partnership between National Geographic Channels International and Sky3D in the U.K. NGCV will distribute a 40-minute and a shorter version of Meerkats 3D both adapted specifically for the cinema.
Meerkats are squirrel-sized members of the mongoose family known for their upright posture. When perched on their hind legs as they are famed for doing they stand 10-12 inches tall allowing them to keep watch for predators across the southern African plains where they live. Their strength lies in their unique solidarity which comes in handy for both hunting and protection and there are 30 distinct calls in meerkat “vocabulary.”
Narrated by Oscar-nominated actress Emily Watson Meerkats 3D takes audiences on a journey with a family of meerkats as they cope with the twists and turns of life in the Kalahari Desert. The film begins as matriarch Klinky’s most recent litter emerges from the burrow for the first time. Klinky and her family including elder children and regular babysitters Ms. Bean and Harry must endure turf wars from rival families attacks from vicious predators big and small and internal family turmoil. The survival of this clan hinges on the meerkat golden rule: Stick together and keep calling.
“We are excited to bring another wonderful natural history story to life in 3D for digital theaters in museums all over the world ” says Lisa Truitt president of NGCV. “This truly entertaining family film is the first of many we look forward to bringing to audiences in response to a growing demand for digital content in the institutional market.”
Oxford Scientific Films produced the film in association with Principal Large Format with the assistance of Cambridge University for NGCI. Andrew Graham-Brown and Anne Sommerfield directed with Caroline Hawkins as producer. Robin Cox was the cinematographer and Phil Streather and Ralston Humble were stereographers. Renoir Tuahene was the film’s editor.
“As the film shows so eloquently the strength of the meerkat species lies in its selfless co-operation ” says Clare Birks the film’s executive producer for Oxford Scientific Films. “The story of Klinky and her brood and their tenacity as a group is one that will not only delight audiences but might also remind them of their own families.” National Geographic Cinema Ventures http://www.nationalgeographic.com/movies ,3112
Rejecting Limbo,2012-02-29, As an independent filmmaker Jesse Griffith understood that doing things for himself was the only way he could get his movie made. As a life-long fan of sci-fi movies he says he always wanted to create a Star Wars-level film with his home computer. “I don’t have a big studio paying my bills so I always have had to look for ways to do more with less ” says Griffith. “DAZ is perfect for that which has always made me think it would be a great tool for filmmaking.”
Inspired he decided to write a script. He called it Cockpit. His story which focuses on the struggles of a stranded crew of pilots against mind controlling aliens became a finalist in numerous screenplay competitions and even won four awards. This recognition couldn’t overtake a singular problem though: movie studios don’t trust inexperienced talent with big budgets. All outside projections of his script suggested a big budget which meant Griffith’s film looked like it might be stuck in a perpetual state of limbo.
What the studios didn’t count on was Griffith’s tenacity and ability to create new opportunities out of 3D graphics tools. In his day job as a graphics animator for Jimmy Kimmel Live Griffith had found great results for eye-catching backgrounds and 3D models with DAZ’s software packages. And since he now needed to prove that his story could be both visually striking and affordable he became convinced that DAZ’s huge catalog of online assets was going to be the way he could satisfy both goals in spectacular fashion.
Griffith decided to make a 10-minute teaser to Cockpit which he entitled Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement. Today this short has won 14 awards at many notable sci-fi film festivals but at the time it was simply a way to show the studios that his screenplay could and should be made. DAZ’s software became his go-to tool. Beginning with concept storyboards and extending into green screen visuals DAZ’s highly adaptable models proved integral to the CG needs of this DIY production.
“How would George Lucas start a film like this?” Griffith asked himself as he started. “He would request that ILM design a bridge. They would sketch up five or ten versions and he would choose his favorite. In my case DAZ is my low budget ILM. I type in bridge or sci-fi in the DAZ search engine and I see products like Kibaretto’s The Commander or Stonemason’s Dark Star. I decide which best fits my story plop down 30 bucks and get to work.” This access to resources like 3D depictions of bridges allowed Griffith to construct sets and those sets also became malleable environments that he can stage his characters in. He was able to share these visual storyboards with his crew which enabled everyone to get on the same page quickly. This was key due to the project’s bare bones $3 000 budget.
“The last thing I wanted to do was draw people out of the film ” says Griffith. “I wanted them to feel like they were there with the actors not snickering at some shoddy graphics. With DAZ I was able to transport them into this world I had created without diverting their attention away from any of the drama I had built into the scene. DAZ was a big reason for that feeling.”
Griffith has shown that independent filmmakers don’t need elaborate multi-million dollar VFX houses to make stories come to life and to this day he still encourages other burgeoning directors to use the same tools he does. “Don’t let the lack of an FX team keep your movie from being made ” he says. “There are too many routes around this problem for you to get stuck. And if you are doing most of the production yourself your friends and family will thank you for choosing DAZ. It helps you see them again a whole lot faster.”
Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement Trailer http://cockpitthemovie.com/TRAILER.html Cockpit: The Rule of Engagement Short Film http://vimeo.com/37074176 Digital Art Zone www.daz3d.com ,3115
Giving Films Needed Support,2012-02-29, With a legacy of supporting quality films Final Frame was again instrumental in finishing Academy Award documentary contenders Hell and Back Again and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Located in Chelsea New York Final Frame is a full service post production facility with a history of helping filmmakers create Oscar winning projects including Inside Job and The Cove as well as a number of high profile docs including Murder Ball Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Sons of Perdition and more. Director Marshall Curry returned to Final Frame with If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front after working on Sundance competitor Racing Dreams at the facility. The Oscar nominated If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of an activist cell of the Earth Liberation Front the environmental activists whose radical tactics are considered domestic terrorism by the US government. The film featured diverse elements including archival footage digitally acquired shots and graphical elements. “The DVO image restoration and enhancement tools along with the Nucoda Film Master were invaluable in helping us achieve the look and images that Marshall was hoping to get ” says Will Cox senior colorist and founder of Final Frame. “It made a crucial contribution to the film and our ability to deliver a beautiful image flawlessly.” Charlie Rokosny was the colorist on this project. Hell and Back Again is the feature debut of filmmaker and photojournalist Danfung Dennis. The film was up for the documentary Oscar and is the winner of the Sundance Grand Jury prize among many other accolades. From his embed with the U.S. Marine’s Echo Company in Afghanistan Dennis reveals the devastating impact a Taliban machine-gun bullet has on the life of 25 year-old Sergeant Nathan Harris. “It’s simply one of the most compelling visual stories I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on ” says Cox. The colorist for this project was Stewart Griffin. To tell the story in the midst of war-torn Afghanistan and back in the States with Harris Dennis built his own rig for a Canon 5D. Production took place before the firmware update for the camera which meant that postpproduction was the place to manage the issues arising from the complex production. “The footage was challenging. There was very fast action a rolling shutter in a war zone missiles blasting around Danfung rapid movement by the unit and more ” says Cox. “That made frame rate conversion absolutely crucial. DVO’s Twister made it happen and the complete set of DVO tools proved once again to be the very best. Another powerful feature in Nucoda is the ability for the conforming of picture to stay live during the whole grade. That meant that if we needed to adjust the conversion we could conform and grade at the same time. That’s not possible with other tools and that functionality helped us get where we needed to go in the time that we had to finish.” Cox considers Hell and Back Again a visual accomplishment. “There are shots out of the back of military helicopters that any DP working at any budget would be extremely proud of ” he says. “So much of this movie is stunning especially when you consider what Danfung was working with in the environment where he was shooting.” Cox believes he is witnessing an evolution in storytelling impacted by improved tools in production and post. “It is staggering to me how critically the tools of acquiring and finishing are impacting the creative process ” he says. “The production value of the films and documentaries we are working on is getting better and better. That impacts us and it impacts everyone who works in the industry. More than just image quality we are seeing a fundamental change in the way stories are told. When a filmmaker is free to stay on shots longer and longer shooting uncompressed high quality raw imagery it naturally affects the way he tells his story. When filmmakers have the ability to work with images in a system like Nucoda they start to incorporate that into their thinking. In the documentary world which is often very stretched by budget they can shoot on a reduced budget but end up with world class visuals. We’re delighted to be part of the process and appreciate the work that Nucoda does to support the powerful imagery of documentary filmmakers. “ Martin Bennett head of the media business unit of Image Systems says “We are honored to support the work of Final Frame Danfung Dennis and Marshall Curry. They are telling important stories and we are dedicated to helping them to create images that will change the world. It is and has been for many years our distinct pleasure to work with Will and the team at Final Frame as they continue to push the envelope for their clients.” Image Systems Media www.imagesystems.tv ,3122
Imagining Centuries of Dutch Maritime History,2012-02-29, Reopened by the Queen of the Netherlands last October Het Scheepvaartmuseum the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam now features a series of themed and interactive exhibits all of them featuring AV lighting and network design by local integration firm Rapenburg Plaza. Most impressive among these exhibits is the Voyage at Sea – a five-room 20-minute immersive walk-through cinematic experience in which museum visitors are taken on a journey through five centuries of Dutch maritime history.
The centerpiece of Voyage at Sea is a 360-degree oval-shaped projection which uses ten edge-blended projectors with wide-angle lenses along with snap-on cartridges custom-designed by Rapenburg Plaza for additional image filtering.
“Because of the way they had to be mounted and distributed in the room it was impossible to create an equal physical overlap between each of the ten projectors ” says Jorinde Wiegel of Rapenburg Plaza. “So the edge-blending required a great deal of tweaking including some adaptation of the actual content itself.”
That content was provided by Amsterdam-based Tungsten to an original design concept by Tinker Imagineers of Utrecht. The movie is played back through QuickTime ProRes software and is run through five dual-motherboard PCs each running two licenses of WatchOut. The WatchOut machines which are located in the museum’s central server room alongside the content servers lighting controllers andnetwork switches also provide eight tracks of audio; these are routed through a Richmond SoundMan server to create the soundtrack for the room’s 12.2-channel surround-sound system. “The whole show is controlled by a Medialon show controller with WatchOut controlled as a cluster within the Medialon system ” explains Wiegel. “We made extensive use of the edge-blending and geometric-correction tools within WatchOut and the system performed faultlessly proving both technically extremely accurate and alsovery easy to use.”
Jan Breel at AV Trade who supplied WatchOut to Rapenburg Plaza says “We deliver WatchOut to many exciting projects in the Benelux and this project is one we are very proud of. The technology worked very well and was delivered on time and within budget.”
Fredrik Svahnberg marketing director Dataton says “The Voyage at Sea is a great example of how our WatchOut technology can be used not only to create a wonderful immersive visitor experience but also to tame a less-than-ideal projection and display setup when such an arrangement is necessitated by the nature of the original space. It has been a pleasure for us to be involved with this project and with ISE 2012 coming up soon in Amsterdam we look forward to showing contacts from all over Europearound this exciting installation at Het Scheepvaartmuseum.” Dataton www.dataton.com ,3126
Game Changer,2012-02-29,“I call the Canon 5D Mark II a game-changer for several reasons ” says DP Shane Hurlbut after using the DSLR to shoot Act of Valor. ,3132
Cinedigm Signs Dave Stewart,2012-03-14, Cinedigm Entertainment Group has signed rock icon Dave Stewart to bring a series of documentary films to movie theatres in a recurring time slot. Produced by Weapons of Mass Entertainment the films in the Dave Stewart Presents ... series will feature Stewart and a variety of musical guests from all backgrounds including rock pop country blues and more focusing on the art and process of songwriting and culminating in a unique performance showcasing newly created songs. Stewart’s track record as a musician producer author entrepreneur filmmaker and innovator bodes well for this cutting-edge on-going theatre series. The British artist’s music career spans three decades and more than 100 million album sales highlighted by his collaboration with Annie Lennox in the iconic pop-rock duo Eurythmics with Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).
Additionally Stewart has produced albums and co-written songs for Stevie Nicks Tom Petty Bono Sinead O’Connor Mick Jagger Katy Perry Jon Bon Jovi Joss Stone Stevie Nicks and a host of others racking up multiple song writing and producing awards including a Grammy and a Golden Globe. With Jagger Stewart recently formed SuperHeavy the aptly titled super group with Joss Stone Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman.
“Having made a number of music documentaries and videos over the last 12 months with such greats at Mick Jagger Joss Stone Stevie Nicks and others has really whet my appetite for capturing and putting amazing songwriting collaborations on cinema screens ” says Stewart CEO of Weapons of Mass Entertainment. I'm excited to work with Cinedigm’s great team to share with movie-going audiences the personal and magical creative moments that lead to unique performances.” Dave Stewart Presents ... will be Cinedigm's first series of recurring alternative programming distributed into theatres using the company's highly efficient digital cinema model – in essence programming a movie theatre screen like a cable channel but with all the excitement and energy of a concert venue. Cinedigm is currently vetting appropriate sponsors and partners to take part in this groundbreaking venture. “We’re confident that music fans will relish the opportunity to see and hear Dave interact with music’s biggest names and promising newcomers on the big screen with big sound surrounded by their friends ” says Cinedigm chairman and CEO Chris McGurk. We know Dave Stewart – who is prodigiously talented and incredibly innovative - will drive music lovers of all genres to theatres with this regularly occurring program.
Pixomondo Helps Bring Red Tails to Life
