Archive for March, 2011

LONDON— The King’s Speech, this year’s winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, went through final DI grading on FilmLight‘s Baselight at the post house Molinare in London. The project reunited DI colourist Gareth Spensley and Director Tom Hooper (the Oscar winner for Best Director) who had previously collaborated on The Damned United. Spensley had also previously worked with Director of Photography Danny Cohen (a nominee for Best Cinematography) on This Is England. more

Audio research firm to demo available technologies at GDC 2011

GDC – San Francisco, CA, Booth 1445 – iZotope, Inc., a research-driven audio signal processing company born out of MIT, is developing plug-ins designed to help game audio designers already using the FMOD® middleware engine integrate professional audio DSP effects into their game soundtracks.

“With the tools added to FMOD Studio, game sound designers will now have the kinds of features that movie and TV designers take for granted,� said Martin Wilkes, Sales and Business Manager for Firelight Technologies. “As part of those features, the platform supports pro audio effects from companies such as iZotope, bringing a higher level of expertise to the pro audio market for game development.�

Through the partnership, iZotope worked with Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios to integrate new DSP effects into the upcoming release of Forza Motorsport 4. As a long-time industry more

Digieffects Further Strengthens its Commitment to Supporting Academia, Making Entire Family of VFX Plug-Ins More Accessible for Students, Teachers

Wilmington, NC (March 3, 2011) – Digieffects® (www.digieffects.com), a developer of popular visual effects software plug-ins, announced today that it has formally launched the Digieffects Academic Discount Program, offering special pricing for educational institutions, film and design schools, students and teachers. Bolstering its commitment to academia, this new program is designed to make it easier for students and the academic community to invest in, and learn the valuable skills of visual effects design and their increasingly ubiquitous role in the post production workflow.

With this announcement, qualifying schools, students and teachers will receive significant discounts on the entire Digieffects family of VFX plug ins, including Delirium v2, Buena Depth Cue v2, Damage v2 and the entire range of a la carte offerings.

“Digital media artists today more

3D Film Factory’s popular hands-on 3D workshops teach the principles and art of 3D production.
The 3D Film Factory’s popular, monthly 3D training workshops are set to continue in both New York City and Hollywood in 2011. These comprehensive, hands-on sessions guide filmmakers thru the principles and art of stereoscopic 3D production, including 3D camera systems, real-time 3D viewing, and 3D post production.

Workshops are a full day and cover the following topics; HD 3D digital shooting, camera selection, genlock issues, lighting for 3D, beam-splitter vs side-by-side rig usage, rig calibration , 3D shooting ratios demystified, gauging depth and pop, convergence, perfect alignment, easy 3D post workflows, and all the other details you need to know to create superior quality 3D entertainment.

3D Training is geared for individuals preparing to shoot a 3D production, be it a commercial, short, documentary and/or feature film in the real world. more

Every month the 3D Film Factory receives dozens of calls from Canon 5D owners worldwide asking us how they can gen-lock their DSLR cameras to shoot “in sync� 3D. Unfortunately, we’ve had to tell them that it wasn’t yet possible to gen-lock any of the Canon DSLR cameras, or Nikons for that matter. And yes, you can shoot 3D without gen-locking your cameras, but the 3D will be misaligned and you can’t fix it in post. We’ve tried, trust us. As a matter of fact, we won’t take a 3d production job if the customer isn’t using gen-locked cameras. Why? Because the frames won’t match up, or align and we don’t want to be blamed.

But now, thanks to Peter Clark at Attic Studios, ingenuity has succeeded once again. Mr. Clark has devised a simple, field-tested method for gen-locking the Canon 5D mark II DSLR cameras, and thus creating more

Grass Valley Kalypso Video Production Center used at Oscars(r)

High-definition technology from Grass Valley™ once again played a starring role in the live broadcast and the numerous complementary activities surrounding the 83rd Academy Awards® telecast on February 27 on the ABC Television Network in the US. In fact, Grass Valley has supported the Oscar® ceremonies every year for the past several years.

Veteran production company NEP Broadcasting, based in Pittsburgh, Penn., had a total of five HD-capable production trucks on site at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Calf., each dedicated to a specific part of the world famous telecast, and each with Grass Valley HD cameras, switchers, servers, and/or routing equipment on board.

NEP’s “Denali Summitâ€? handled the main Oscar telecast, using a Grass Valley Kalypsoâ„¢ HD video production more

Principal Large Format produces ‘Carmen 3D’ for Royal Opera House and RealD.

When movie-goers across the UK take their seats for ‘Carmen 3D’ this month (opening March 5), they will be experiencing classical opera as they have never seen it before – thanks to the 3D production expertise of Principal Large Format (PLF).

Working in conjunction with experienced film director Julian Napier and Director of Photography Sean MacLeod Phillips, PLF’s Phil Streather has literally brought a new perspective to Georges Bizet’s much-loved opera, enabling movie-goers and opera fans alike to enjoy ‘Carmen’ in 3D for the first time.

Featuring an all-star cast from London’s Royal Opera House – with Christine Rice singing the title role – and 3D glasses technology from RealD, ‘Carmen 3D’ gives viewers the best seat in the house, taking them on a magic-carpet ride into the heart of the production and immersing them more

(London, UK) Digital Vision has today announced that its Nucoda Film Master system was used to grade three Oscar winning productions – In a Better World (Best Foreign Language), Toy Story 3 (Best Animated Feature & Best Song) and Inside Job (Best Documentary).

In a Better World was shot on location in Southern Denmark and Kenya on RED ONE and was graded and finished by Swedish post production facility Filmek Teknik. The statuette was collected by the film’s Director Susanne Bier at Sunday night’s glittering Hollywood ceremony.

Situated in Trollhättan, Sweden, Filmek Teknik is owned by Zentropa the producer of In a Better World. The film was graded by Colorist Peter Hjorth. He says, “The brief was quite simple as the producers wanted clear colors with a Kodachrome look – an old Kodak more

Kansas City, MO – March 2011 … Avlex Corporation, the name audio professionals turn to for world-class wireless technology and microphones, proudly introduces the MIPRO ACT-7 Series Wideband Wireless Microphone Systems. Consisting of the MIPRO ACT-717a single channel, ACT-727a dual channel, and ACT-747a quad channel UHF receivers, the ACT-7Ta wideband UHF bodypack transmitter, and the ACT-7Ha wideband UHF handheld transmitter, MIPRO’s new ACT-7 Series Wideband Wireless Microphone Systems feature, stellar sound quality, and the rich feature set MIPRO is well-known for. These systems are the ideal choice for use in live performance, churches, theater, presentations, and countless additional applications where bandwidth is restricted. more

Bove Audio Records Brilliant Brass Orchestrations with 788T and Wave Agent

NEW YORK, NY, MARCH 2, 2011 — When he needed to capture the rousing sounds of the renowned Metropolitan Opera brass section for its latest CD, Andrew Bove, owner of the music and recording production company Bove Audio (www.boveaudio.com), turned to Sound Devices. Bove relied on the Sound Devices 788T digital audio recorder to capture the performances for each track on the CD, titled The Metropolitan Opera Brass – Waltzes, Songs and Festive Scenes. The newly released CD showcases the talent of the MET’s brass section, bringing its trumpets, french horns, trombones and tuba — usually the supporting instruments for the rest of the opera orchestra — into the spotlight. The Sound Devices 788T played its part as well, lending its superior reliability to the flawless recording of a flawless performance. more