Archive for August 26th, 2008

Flexible, Customizable Multi-Resource Scheduling Software Solution

WAYNE, Pa., August 26 2008 — Quintiq announced today that QVC, Inc., one of the largest multimedia retailers in the world, has selected its Multi-Resource Scheduling (MRS) solution to integrate the network’s scheduling and planning needs into one single system. more

Post Logic Studios, a division of Prime Focus Group, has completed a digital intermediate (DI), along with multiple post services, for the forthcoming war drama project from HBO Films, “Taking Chance.� Starring Kevin Bacon, the movie will air on the HBO network in 2009.

Directed and executive produced by Ross Katz and shot by cinematographer Alar Kivilo, “Taking Chance� is the true story of Marine Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who volunteered to accompany the body of a soldier killed in Iraq back to his hometown. Post Logic Studios performed the DI for the project, including film scanning, color correction, final conform and film out, with colorist Lou Levinson working closely with the director and cinematographer to maintain the range of looks sought by the production team. more

The Brief:
VFX Supervisor/Lead VFX Artist Nic Seresin of Smoke & Mirrors New York (SMNY) creates the stunning, yet purposefully retro VFX for two amusing :30 spots highlighting the Thinkpad and Ideapad of Lenovo’s line of products.
Troll features two men seated in an airport lounge fixated on their laptops. Curiosity impels the older man to ask his neighbor if he’s using a Lenovo Ideapad. The younger, more laid back man responds “yes” and demonstrates his one key recovery for lost work. Reluctantly, the older man presses a button producing an opening to another realm, beckoning a four foot troll. The grotesque figure offers condolences and a fruit basket for lost work. more

New York City, August 26, 2008 — 40 years after the August 30, 1968, release by Mary Hopkin of the international smash hit song “Those Were the Days,â€? Morgan Visconti continues his parents’ legendary musical heritage. Morgan, the son of Mary Hopkin and Tony Visconti, is a co-founder of– and composer with – NYC and LA-based HUMAN, one of the world’s most acclaimed original music production companies, with clients that include such major advertisers as Levi’s, Nike, Coca-Cola, Sprite and American Express. more

“The TimeFactor and ModFactor offer so much flexibility in a compact pedal.�
– Kevin Hunter, guitarist.

Looking for the perfect combination of versatility, performance and portability, guitarist Kevin Hunter has added the Eventide TimeFactor and ModFactor stompboxes to his repertoire. Hunter, the former guitarist for Jive Records recording artist Lesley Roy, is currently working on a project with producer Hal Willner (Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Marianne Faithfull). more

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation are using Autodesk, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: ADSK) Autodesk Maya software to create the upcoming television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, just as they did to create the feature-length animated film that is now in theaters.

These are the first animated Star Wars projects from Lucasfilm. The projects benefitted from a global production environment, with Maya as the hub for creating highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures, including Anakin Skywalker, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jabba the Hutt. more

Sometimes being hungry for a hot dog is no laughing matter. Thanks to Los Angeles-based DUCK, formerly Duck Soup Studios latest Wienerschnitzel campaign, craving a hot dog has never been more amusing! Helmed by live-action directors Docter Twins and animation directors Lane & Jan (Lane Nakamura and Jan Chen) the four laugh-out-loud spots, via DGWB of Santa Ana, CA, represent the fast food chain’s resurrection of their beloved animated character The Delicious One (TDO). more

The Brief:
Mark Pellington of Crossroads via Team Detroit captivates hearts in these optimistic Ford spots, supporting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. more

The Brief:
Patrick Sherman of Anonymous Content directs two farcical :30s for Hanes Brand via The Martin Agency.

Phone Toss exposes the exuberant basketball fan in Charlie Sheen as he spots Michael Jordan outside of his hotel. In hopes of grabbing some nosh with the past legend, who is obviously disinterested, Sheen tosses his own phone into Jordan’s extravagant ride. more

NVIDIA GPUs are contributing over 1 petaflop of processing power to Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing application as of last week, according to the statistics published by Stanford. Active NVIDIA® GPUs deliver over 1.25 petaflops, or 42% of the total processing power of the application which seeks to understand how proteins affect the human body.

NVIDIA’s petaflop contribution, nearly half of the processing power on Folding@home, is delivered by just 11,370 of the total active processors used in the project.  In comparison, 208,268 CPUs running Windows were active, contributing just 198 teraflops – just 6% of the total processing power in the project. more