LA Comedy Festival to Convene April 4-7

L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival and Screenplay Competition  the largest comedy film festival nationwide  premieres in downtown Los Angeles April 4-7. Now in its fifth year LACS is a non-stop celebration of comedic short films with screenings industry panels red-carpet events cash prizes and many of today’s top comics including Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Comedy Central’s Key & Peele. The duo will be honored with LACS’ 2013 Commie Award said LACS Festival director  Jeannie Roshar and artistic director Gary Anthony Williams. The festival kicks off with screening blocks at L.A.’s Downtown Independent Theater. “We couldn't be happier ” says Williams. “Submissions are higher than ever before. Not only did we get great shorts from all over the US but we've been watching funny stuff from all over the world. I've learned to belly laugh in German and French. And yes I've even chortled a few times in Farsi. We're feeling real International over here! And with some new sponsors jumping onboard we anticipate this year's attendance to exceed last year’s 5 000. Yay comedy.” Winners of the weekend’s Film and Script competitions will be announced during the closing night festivities. Award recipients will receive cash prizes and the amazing opportunity to meet with some of Hollywood’s biggest titans dealmakers and influencers including agents managers studio executives and actors. “We are blown away by the level of talent in our filmmakers and so are the execs agents and companies that work with us says Roshar. We're proud to be the pioneer event for short comedies in the festival world and have been excited to watch the short comedy format become increasingly important to the industry throughout these five years. Visit www.lacomedyshorts.com for more information. ,3949
Movcam Cage Offers Support for Sony PMW-F5 F55 Cameras,2013-03-14,The new Movcam Cage system provides maximum accessory support for Sony’s recently released PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 modular 4K-capable cameras allowing camera operators what the company says is a near limitless ability to configure accessories specifically to his or her shooting needs—without a confining high price tag. The affordable intelligently designed Movcam Cage system—Top Plate Top Handle Kit Side Handles LWS Base Plate Shoulder Pad LWS Dovetail Plate and EVF Mount—ergonomically envelopes the F5 or F55 in a rigid framework of mounting options a veritable Swiss cheese of ¼-inch and 3/8-inch threaded holes if Swiss cheese was black futuristic and cooler looking. The Movcam Top Plate mounts appropriately enough on top of the camera and features numerous ¼-inch and 3/8-inch threaded holes to mount accessories. The front of the plate has a mounting bracket for 15mm mini rods which lock independently. The top of the Top Plate has a Weaver rail mount the same style of mount used for the precision mounting of scopes to rifles and compound bows. The Weaver rail mount secures the Top Handle to the plate allowing for incremental adjustment of the handle position for better balance. The Side Handles—again peppered with even more threaded holes—reinforce the Movcam Cage system to support the fully loaded F5/F55 camera. Stick other accessories onto the Side Handles without worry. Completing the cage framework is the LWS (Lightweight Support) Base Plate that mounts to the bottom of the camera. It provides locking 15mm mini rod supports as well as left- and right-side rosettes to affix accessories such as handgrips. The Shoulder Pad mounts to the LWS Base Plate via the 15mm rods which allows the pad to slide to best fit the camera operator’s shoulder positioning. The top of the pad has a flat aluminum surface that provides additional support to theF5/F55’s modular backend accessories such as an onboard recorder. The LWS Dovetail Plate like all dovetail plates allows the camera to be balanced properly on a tripod which is a good thing. The EVF Mount is for electronic viewfinder (EVF) mounting purposes. The EVF Mount may be positioned on the front or the rear stanchion of the Top Handle per operator preference. Available from 16x9 Inc. the Movcam Cage system MSRP is only $1 950. The Movcam Cage system will work in harmony with all existing Movcam camera accessories such as handgrips wood handgrips mattebox follow focus and battery bracket and converter. All items and accessories are made of high-grade aluminum. The wood handgrip of course is made of wood—highly polished wood. ,3950
MTI Film Releases Standalone Cortex::Convey,2013-03-14,MTI Film has released a new standalone transcoding application Cortex::Convey.  Cortex::Convey supports input of all popular camera file formats editorial files and intermediate file formats including DPX OpenEXR and H.264 for transcoding to review editorial and intermediate formats such as Avid DNxHD/MXF 1:1 DPX file sequences and QuickTime as well as fully-authored DVDs and Blu-ray discs. “More than five years ago we introduced this deliverables software as a sister application to Control Dailies Enterprise.  Even then customers wanted to purchase it as a standalone product ” said Belinda S. Merritt director of business development. “As we were developing the Cortex family we thought why not give them what they want? Cortex::Convey not only delivers on this need but as part of the Cortex platform offers a simple and intuitive user interface on top of an extremely powerful and versatile transcoding engine that can be used in every step of post-production not just dailies.” Cortex::Convey offers several advantages over other transcoding solutions ” said David McClure vice president of product development. “It’s comprehensive supporting all file formats in and out for dailies assemblies dubs VFX pulls and other applications. It’s also easy to use.  The intuitive project manager allows users to quickly set up professional-quality transcoding projects without the need for deep knowledge of each and every codec. For technical users it includes an XML API for integration into other render farms or workflow automation systems.” Cortex::Convey takes advantage of both CPU and GPU processing with Nvidia Cuda to transcode most files at real-time or faster many at over 100 fps. Template-driven automation removes the need for time-consuming repetitive tasks and ensures consistent results from job to job. As part of the Cortex::Convey launch MTI Film is offering free two-week evaluation licenses which can be requested at http://www.mtifilm.com/cortex-convey/.  ,3951
NCM to Host Second Annual Upfront Presentation,2013-03-14,Taking its place among the top national networks once again NCM Media Networks will host its second annual upfront luncheon presentation event at New York City’s AMC Loews Lincoln Square movie theater on May 15. At the event filmmaker Guillermo del Toro director of box office hits including Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy will give the audience an exclusive first look at his much-anticipated summer sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim including never-before-seen footage from the Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures movie. In an increasingly fragmented media environment NCM Media Networks offers blockbuster opportunities for brands to reach over 700 million moviegoers a year. NCM is America’s number one network on weekends consistently ranking higher than most TV and cable networks on Fridays and Saturdays. For advertisers NCM’s FirstLook pre-show program is a unique video option that features the reach of broadcast and the highest levels of DVR-proof big screen engagement. Coming off a year of record box office and movie attendance 2013 is poised to be another big year on the big screen. “Cinema rules the weekends when TV viewership is lowest ” said Cliff Marks president of sales and marketing with NCM Media Networks. “With some of the best engagement recall and likeability in the media business cinema is the one place where marketers know that their ads will be seen providing the perfect complement to their traditional TV media plans. After the spectacular turnout we had at our first upfront event last year I’m proud to present the sequel.” ,3952
NEC Europe Launches NC900C Digital Cinema Projector,2013-03-14, NEC Display Solutions Europe has launched the compact NC900C DCI-certified digital cinema projector.
 
The NC900C was the first projector to incorporate the new S2K chipset and use NSH lamps. Perfect for small cinema screens art houses and mobile and public cinemas the NC900C called for a lamp that was easy to implement and maintain lowered total cost of ownership and had unbeatable brightness color and reliability.
 
The NC900C runs with a 350W NSH Dual-Lamp system which uses almost half the power consumption of competitors. This puts the projector's power consumption at less than 1000W which translates into savings up to approximately €700 per year (at typ. 3 000h usage/year and 0.25 Euro/kWh). The choice of an NSH dual-lamp ensures one lamp still operates in case of any lamp problem and the defective can be swapped out while projector is working. Furthermore as the Lamp mirror is safely included within the lamp module there is no need to worry about potential mirror damage and because NSH lamp heat dissipation is lower than its Xenon counterparts no external projector exhaust is needed.
 
 “In the NC900C NEC Display Solutions has combined our compact S2K chip and the most suitable NSH dual-lamp technology to create an incredibly efficient projector. We are really pleased with the end result and how well received the NC900C is on the market ” said Dave Duncan business manager of DLP Cinema for Texas Instruments.
 
 With the combined powers of Texas Instrument's S2K chipset NSH lamps and our innovative easy-lamp system we were able to bring a high-end digital cinema solution to smaller cinema settings ” said Gerd Kaiser product line manager for large venue projectors at NEC Display Solutions Europe. “NEC engineers had our customers in mind to make the NC900C the most user-friendly digital cinema projector. This combination of lamp system and chipset helps lower the TCO and makes it easy for anyone to change the lamp as the lamp is not under pressure in the OFF-state.”
 
 NEC is partnering with digital video server provider Doremi to deliver a one stop solution of one manufacturer with a fully integrated true turnkey cinema solution.