Featured Stories

Showcase Cinemas Upgrades its Digital Signage

Mon, 03/04/2024 - 09:18 -- Nick Dager

Technology impacts almost every aspect of business at the 22 venues that Showcase Cinemas operates in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island. This includes optimized ticket sales via the company’s free smartphone app, e-ticketing, contactless payments, the online pre-ordering of food and drinks via its Xpress Pickup service, as well as a wide range of perks and services via its choice of membership and loyalty reward programs.

DP Trevor Forrest on Making MLK/X

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 12:19 -- Nick Dager

With its fourth season, the National Geographic series Genius presents a dual portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, inspirational leaders who paved parallel paths as pioneers in the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s. Genius: MLK/X traces their journeys from their formative years through their rise to prominence, as they each shaped a legacy that remains vitally important. Trevor Forrest, the lead director of photography for MLK/X, worked closely with Panavision to select an equipment package based around Panavised Arri Alexa 35 cameras and Primo spherical lenses, with modified Anamorphic Flare Attachments used for key moments.

Motion Picture Academy to Honor Laser Projection

Wed, 02/21/2024 - 11:40 -- Bill Beck

Ten years after the initial rollout of laser cinema projectors, the technology and the people who developed it are being honored with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Awards. Sixteen people from seven companies will be recognized on February 23. I am humbled to be recognized for my pioneering utilization of semiconductor lasers for theatrical laser projection systems. My advocacy and education to the cinema industry while at Laser Light Engines contributed to the transition to laser projection in theatrical exhibition. The other honorees are:

Creating the End of the World

Mon, 01/22/2024 - 09:37 -- Nick Dager

Phosphene, the award-winning visual effects and design studio, served as the principal visual effects house for FX’s critically acclaimed mystery series A Murder at the End of the World. Created, written, and directed by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, A Murder at the End of the World centers on a Gen Z amateur sleuth, Darby Hart (Emma Corrin), who is working to solve a murder at a secluded luxury hotel in Iceland during a furious snowstorm. The series also stars Clive Owen, Harris Dickinson, Alice Braga, and Marling, herself.

Shaking Up Cinema Advertising

Wed, 01/17/2024 - 11:44 -- Nick Dager

In the UK, a media first, the Royal Air Force has become the first advertiser to partner with Cineworld as the sole sponsor of the cinema chain’s 4DX format. The spot has been specially adapted into CJ 4DPlex’s 4DX format, which is available across 34 Cineworld cinema sites. The enhanced version of the ad will run in the Gold Spot premium position across all 4DX enabled screens. The non-4DX ad will run simultaneously across the rest of Digital Cinema Media’s estate.

Strategies for Future-Proofing Media Archives

Tue, 01/16/2024 - 09:23 -- Jonathan Morgan

Preserving media assets is critical. Archiving media content not only enables assets to be remonetized, but it also empowers content creators to maximize viewer engagement and drive consumer satisfaction. Historically, the cinema industry has found media archiving challenging, with real-world instances of movie libraries on tape going up in flames, the wrong files being deleted, and critical security issues.

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SOC Exhibit Goes Behind-the-Scenes

Mon, 01/15/2024 - 09:01 -- Nick Dager

The Society of Camera Operators has announced the premiere of its photography exhibition, Delivering the Image: Operators and Crew Answering the Challenge. The showcase will take center stage at the upcoming SOC Awards Show on February 24 at the Directors Guild of America, Hollywood, California providing an exclusive opportunity for attendees to personally view and acquire one-of-a-kind works by renowned photographers and past SOC Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees Phillip V. Caruso, Peter Iovino, Bruce McBroom, and JoJo Whilden.

Sphere Discusses its Unique Camera

Thu, 01/11/2024 - 11:45 -- Nick Dager

Sphere Entertainment today revealed new details on its work with STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, to create the world’s largest image sensor for Sphere’s Big Sky camera system. Big Sky is the groundbreaking, ultra-high-resolution camera system being used to capture content for Sphere, the next-generation entertainment medium in Las Vegas.

Creating the World of The Marvels

Wed, 01/10/2024 - 12:07 -- Nick Dager

For The Marvels, the new superhero adventure from Marvel Studios, Rising Sun Pictures was tasked with creating a vast city on the planet Hala, home to the Kree Empire and its artificial intelligence ruler, the Supreme Intelligence. Artists created both a representation of the futuristic city at the height of its power, and as a devastated ruin. The studio also produced the film’s awe-inspiring opening and closing sequences showing the luminous implosion and miraculous rebirth of Hala’s sun.

Animating Miss Minutes

Tue, 01/02/2024 - 09:52 -- Nick Dager

Rising Sun Pictures was a key visual effects provider for season two of Loki, the hugely popular series from Marvel and Disney+. The studio’s primary role was to animate Miss Minutes, an artificial intelligence driven character in the form of an orange clock who appears throughout the series, spreading propaganda on behalf of the Time Variance Authority, the organization that monitors timelines in the multiverse. RSP worked under the supervision of Marvel visual effects supervisors Christopher Townsend and Sandra Balej and visual effects producer Allison Paul.

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