NATO’s CBG Signs More Than 3 000 Independent Screens for Digital Conversion

The National Association of Theatre Owners' Cinema Buying Group has announced that it has now signed over 3 000 independent CBG screens for conversion to digital cinema. Cinedigm is the digital cinema integrator partner for the CBG a buying program for NATO's independent theatre operators in the United States and Canada and is responsible for deploying nearly 40 percent of all digital cinema screens in North America. “NATO and the CBG congratulate Cinedigm on the momentous 3 000 screen milestone ” said NATO president John Fithian. Cinedigm’s efforts and leadership have brought all the benefits of digital cinema to the local communities these theatres serve and we are tremendously proud of the outcome.” “When we implemented the virtual print fee program nearly eight years ago our goal was to help convert as many theatres as possible – both large and small – to digital cinema.  We are so proud that Cinedigm has delivered on that promise and is without question the number one choice for exhibitors to entrust with their digital cinema program ” said Gary Loffredo president of digital cinema & general counsel Cinedigm. The Elkader Cinema a historic movie theatre in a town of less than 1 500 people is a perfect example of a theatre not left behind by Cinedigm. Built in 1941 closed down in 1993 and vacant for 10 years the Elkader Cinema's present owners Lee and Diane Akin refurbished it complete with original marquee with a volunteer group and some community grants. Cinedigm helped the Akins self-financiers and CBG members to keep the theatre open as the industry transformed to digital.   ,3659
Shooting at a Slow Frame Rate,2012-10-31,Aerial cinematographer David B. Nowell has been spending a lot of time in the air recently shooting for major motion pictures and while there is a lot of discussion about high frame rates for a recent shoot he elected to go in the opposite direction. “One of my most recent assignments was over the sand lava fields mountains and glaciers of Iceland ” he said. “We needed to get plate shots for a special helicopter/jet aircraft that is flying through the country’s very narrow canyons. The director liked the look of cutting the frame rate to 12fps so the look of the aircraft would be twice as fast as normal.” Nowell usually counts on Pictorvision’s Eclipse to capture gyro-stabilized images. “With the canyon as narrow and tight as it was it became impossible to increase the speed of the camera ship ” he explained. “Now that we were dropping the frame rate the stability of the Eclipse became vital. Any instability in the camera platform would show up two fold. We had to shoot two different types of plates. One would be the horizon level during the entire flight through the canyon and the other banking the platform’s horizon as we flew around corners simulating the look of a banking aircraft. The Eclipse worked perfectly.” Nowell’s task included capturing plates similar to the canyon shots but up above the clouds simulating the look of a jet aircraft at 600 mph flying through and around them. “This meant dropping the frame rate even less to 4 frames per second or eight times normal flight speed ” he said. “With the precision of the Eclipse controls I was able to operate the system very very slowly to simulate the effect I needed. The stability of the Eclipse was perfect. “The other advantage of the Eclipse is its ability to use a rain deflector ” Nowell added. “Because the weather was so unpredictable in Iceland we ended up using the spinner half the time which allowed us to continue shooting. Other systems would have had to stop when raindrops hit the lens. But with the Eclipse rain deflector on we could change to different lenses during the shoot and it simply adapted to our lens of choice. Nothing ever stopped us we just kept shooting.” Nowell’s shots were for a major feature to be released mid 2013. He has also shot aerial footage for recent releases such as The Avengers Savages X-Men: First Class Green Lantern and Air Racers 3D. ,3661
Rooftop Films Holds First Horror Movie Marathon,2012-10-31, Rooftop Films held the first ever indie-horror-film marathon last month at the Brooklyn Lyceum. There was no charge for admission and the event included music prizes and complimentary drinks and food. The film marathon began at 4 pm and continued until midnight.

The event kicked off with a reception featuring music projections and complimentary food and drink. The films started at 5 pm with a special screening of Jeremy Saulnier’s Brooklyn-based slasher comedy  Murder Party. Saulnier a recent winner of a grant from the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund introduced the film and talked about his latest thriller  Blue Ruin. Following Murder Party there was a program of new horror shorts from around the world. For the first time Rooftop Films screened the entire movie marathon off of a single tablet computer an Nvidia-powered tablet. Making use of Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core chip the tablets can play back more than eight hours of HD video on a single battery charge. ,3665
Principal Photography Wraps on Space Station 76,2012-10-31,Principal photography has wrapped on Space Station 76 a dramatic comedy directed by Jack Plotnick starring Liv Tyler Matt Bomer Patrick Wilson and Marisa Coughlan. Producers are Rival Pictures’ Ed Parks and Rachel Ward along with Dan Burks from Om Films in addition to Joel Michaely and Katherine Ann McGregor. Executive producers are Niraj Bhatia Frank Mele and Jack Plotnick. Space Station 76 was filmed in Los Angeles. Space Station 76 is a character-driven dramedy set in a 1970's version of the future where personalities and asteroids collide.  Part kitchen sink drama part science fiction comedy  the film is about what’s happening behind the scenes on a space station – the daily routine the domestic disputes and all the realities of the suburbs – set in space. I created Space Station 76 as a way to explore what it was like growing up in the suburbs in the 70's ” said writer and director Jack Plotnick. “It's also an homage to the child I was who felt that moon colonies and flying motor homes were surely right around the corner.” “We’re thrilled to have assembled an amazing crew and extremely talented cast who’ve brought life to outer-space in Space Station 76 ” said producer Ed Parks.