Archive for March 28th, 2008

Wild Plum Director Jan De Bont, Signature Productions and VFX company Ntropic recently completed two powerful PSAs for NoTerror.Info, an organization which campaigns against terrorism in Iraq. Heralding the tagline, “Terrorism Has No Religion,� the two spots are a heart-pounding cinematic journey into the heart of terrorist violence. more

Technology Eliminates Long-Standing Parallel Processing Roadblocks; Creates New Avenues for Industry Advancements

Cinnafilm, Inc., (www.cinnafilm.com) invites industry professionals at NAB 2008 to witness its innovative Cinnafilm HD1 real-time film look visual effects system transform HD digital video to the classic look of film at real-time speeds. Demonstrations will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resort, Tuesday, April 15th and Wednesday, April 16th. Cinnafilm is an emerging powerhouse in the development of polished video algorithms that leverage massively parallel graphics processing units (GPUs). Cinnafilm’s groundbreaking, industry-first solution is based on highly advanced, patent-pending true motion estimation vector analysis and massive parallel processing technology that minimizes the time it takes to process interlaced digital video by harnessing the power of modern 3D graphics hardware—at a rate that delivers 30x to 100x performance improvement on computational video tasks as compared with a modern CPU. This incredible leap in processing power means rendering is no longer an issue, freeing up countless hours of labor and re-work at a fraction of the price. more

Piccirillo Brings Directors Dick Buckley, Anibal Suarez and Stanley To Original

LOS ANGELES, CA – Veteran production company Original Film (http://www.originalfilm.com) has started off 2008 with some big moves — adding Cannes Gold Lion winning director Simon West and multi-award winning director Jim Manera to its already impressive roster of talent; and naming Joe Piccirillo, most recently Founder/Executive Producer of Joe Blow Films, Los Angeles, as Partner/Executive Producer. In addition, Piccirillo has brought former Joe Blow Films directors Dick Buckley, Anibal Suarez and Stanley into the Original fold. more

Brickyard VFX completed effects work for the latest campaign effort from Burger King promoting their new “Cheesy Tots.� Continuing their long-standing collaborations with the directors of Bob Industries, “Tongue,� and “Bed Buddy� were directed by Peter Care and Dayton/Faris respectively via agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Both spots follow a similar premise where the draw of Burger King’s new cheesy tots provides an irresistible draw in the wee morning hours. In “Tongue� a man wakes up to greet the day with an erect tongue led uncontrollably to Burger King’s new “hot crispy cheesy tots.� In “Bed Buddy,� a young man is taunted by his talking mattress as he swiftly abandons his cozy bed to feed his cheesy tot addiction. more

4K Playback, Grading, and Conform of RAW Footage in SpeedGrade

Munich: March 28, 2008 … IRIDAS, the industry leader in real-time RAW playback, today announced support for the DALSA RAW 4K format. This advance allows filmmakers using SpeedGrade to take full advantage of the pristine image quality of the DALSA Origin camera with instant real-time review, conform, re-framing, and grading of native 4K RAW footage. Unrendered RAW files offer more image data at one-third the size of an equivalent DPX file, greatly reducing throughput and storage requirements. more

New York/Los Angeles, March 28, 2008 – Human, one of America’s pre-eminent original music composition and sound design agencies specializing in unique and compelling music for the international advertising industry, has promoted Lauren Bleiweiss to the position of Executive Producer.

In her new position, Bleiweiss will continue to be integrally involved with client relations, will continue to oversee Human’s production department, and will work closely with Managing Partner Marc Altshuler to supervise overall company operations. She is based in New York. more

Music/Sound Design/Licensing House Provides “Stadium Energy” For College Basketball Campaign

For The Martin Agency’s, Richmond, VA, first campaign for ESPN – an on-going campaign spotlighting the network’s college basketball schedule entitled ‘The Bracket Beyond The Bracket’ — the company turned to award-winning music/sound design/licensing house Expansion Team to create a signature track that would both capture the stadium energy of a typical college basketball game and also provide a recognizable audio signature for the long-term campaign. more

New York: March 28, 2008—Bob Lipp opened his first ad agency when mechanical artists where still cutting up pieces of type to create a camera-ready ad.

“It seems like a former lifetime,� said Bob, when asked to remember the way it was. “Today, everything is digital, and with streaming video capabilities expanding on the web, more businesses, business magazine publishers, and trade show managers, are looking to video to deliver the message.� more

Bright Systems, Inc., developer of file server and infrastructure technology for the post production industry, has announced that Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel), Asia’s leading communications group and Singapore’s largest IPTV service provider, has purchased a BrightDrive media recording system. The new system will provide the primary workflow infrastructure for a new data-centric postproduction facility for SingTel’s IPTV service, mio TV. more

Older Than America and The Marconi Bros. Look To Minneapolis-Based Creative Post House For Solutions

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) Further broadening their foothold in the independent film community, the award-winning full-service post house Splice Here led by editor Clayton Condit, has completed work on “Older Than America” and “The Marconi Brothers.”

These are two highly-touted independent films that will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival (http://2008.sxsw.com/film/festival/films/), Austin, Texas from March 7-15. more