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Cinematography
JMR Electronics Helps Douglas Trumbull Push HFR Limits
Douglas Trumbull wanted to make UFOTOG, a 10-minute short, to showcase his vision of immersive movie-going: 120 fps at 4K in 3D, on a curved screen. To shoot and present a movie in a never-before-seen format, he turned to JMR Electronics to design and build a server and storage system that could collect, manage, playback and edit the huge amounts of image data generated by 120 fps, 4K and 3D. In this story, we learn how Trumbull created an innovative pipeline and worked with JMR Electronics to come up with a tailored solution to his very demanding production needs.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
JMR Electronics Features Douglas Trumbull |
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Art of the Edit
Now You See Me: Modus FX Helps Create the Magic
Modus FX created 227 visual effects shots in Now You See Me, a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson and Isla Fisher about four young magicians who appear to rob banks during their performances, distributing the spoils to their audiences, while the FBI and Interpol pursue them. Launched in 2007 by co-founders Marc Bourbonnais and Yanick Wilisky, Modus FX is located in a 12,000 square foot facility just outside Montreal.
Modus was charged with many of the film's CG-heavy sequences, including the 5Pointz segment, which was almost entirely CG. In this article Modus FX visual effects supervisor Wayne Brinton takes Creative COW readers behind the scenes of the company's VFX magic.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Wayne Brinton |
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Film History & Appreciation
Star Trek Into Darkness & the Dolby PRM-4200 Monitor
On Star Trek Into Darkness, VFX producer Ron Ames was concerned about standardizing color information between production company Bad Robot and the VFX companies ILM and Pixomondo as well as DI facility Company 3. The solution was installing Dolby's PRM-4200, a professional reference monitor that can be calibrated so that every one shows the exact same color. In this article, Ames and Pixomondo VFX supervisor Ben Grossman talk about how the Dolby Professional Reference Monitor improved the workflow and gave them the confidence that everyone was seeing the same thing.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Art of the Edit
How Editors Shaped The Story of Star Trek: Into Darkness
The old saying is that the edit is the final version of the script. For editors Mary Jo Markey, A.C.E. and Maryann Brandon, A.C.E, their work on Star Trek: Into Darkness began far earlier than that -- when they were asked for their advice on how to shape the script in the first place! In conversation with Debra Kaufman, they describe the role they play in the storytelling process itself, in a way that far transcends the cutting of scenes.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Broadcasting
WorldStage Collaborates with ESPN Studios for LED Displays
WorldStage, of New York City, has recently designed and integrated 'First of It's Kind' Live, Moving LED display installation for ESPN's premier show, the KIA NBA Countdown, recorded at the Los Angeles Production Center.
This article describes the design and integration requirements implemented by WorldStage, including a unique systems design process and subsequent hardware and software integration coincident with a new studio upgrade for ESPN's studios at the Los Angeles Production Center in Los Angeles, California.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Nicholas Chase |
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Film History & Appreciation
Prime Focus Brings The Last Emperor into 3D
Rumors had buzzed for two years that director Bernardo Bertolucci was interested in converting his masterpiece The Last Emperor to 3D. That became a reality when the 3D version debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. The sensitive job of handling the conversion went to Prime Focus in London, which dedicated hundreds of rotoscope artists, proprietary tools and artistic intention to uphold the intention of the original version. The verdict? Bertolucci called it "beautiful and magical."
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Film History & Appreciation
Behind the Lens: Rachel Morrison Receives Kodak Vision Award
Cinematographer Rachel Morrison, who photographed the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner Fruitvale Station, was presented with the Kodak Vision Award at the 2013 Women In Film (WIF) Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles on June 12. The award is given annually to a female filmmaker with outstanding achievements in cinematography who also collaborates with and assists women in the entertainment industry. Fruitvale Station, directed by Ryan Coogler, tells the story of the 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who is killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) policeman on the Fruitvale Station platform.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Rachel Morrison |
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Film History & Appreciation
Restoring Richard III: VistaVision to 4K
When The Film Foundation decided to restore Richard III, the non-profit film preservation organization approached Grover Crisp, Sony Pictures Executive Vice President, Asset Management, Film Restoration & Digital Mastering, Sony Pictures Entertainment. The job was to return the film as close as possible to its original version, which involved restoring over 100 shots. Cineric in New York dug up the missing trims and provided the 4K wet-gate scan, and Crisp brought in MTI Film for much of the restoration, including creating missing frames. Sony Pictures' DI and restoration facility Colorworks finished the job with a careful DI, and the film -- which has been released on BluRay by Criterion -- is expected to have a theatrical release through Janus Films.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Film History & Appreciation
Behind the Lens: Peter Suschitzky & After Earth
British cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, BSC, ASC has shot an astonishing number of films that have become iconic: Privilege (the film that inspired George Lucas to ask him to shoot Star Wars), Star Wars Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and every David Cronenberg film since Dead Ringers. He got his career start as a child, fascinated by the dark room work of his father, cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky, who shot Get Carter among his other credits, and as a very young man shooting documentaries in Latin America. Most recently, Suschitzky was the first to get his hands on Sony's new F65 cameras, to shoot After Earth.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Peter Suschitzky ASC BSC |
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Film History & Appreciation
The Great Gatsby VFX: Iloura's Valley of the Ashes
In director Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, one of the more dramatic locations is the Valley of Ashes, a bleak, depressing rubbish dump that the characters pass through on their way between Manhattan and Long Island. Nearly everything there was created by Iloura, an Australian VFX company. Iloura Visual Effects Supervisor Julian Dimsey and Compositor Matt Omond speak with Creative COW about the work they did to create the Valley of Ashes.
Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Film History & Appreciation
The Great Gatsby VFX: Animal Logic Sets the Scene in 3D
Award-winning, Sydney-based VFX and animation company, Animal Logic delivered 590 shots for the gilt, luxurious and captivating film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. 175 people worked on Gatsby over the course of a year and a half. VFX Producer Ingrid Johnston and VFX Supervisor Andy Brown talk to Creative COW about their work on The Great Gatsby.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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AVID
CatDV Connects with Avid
Square Box Systems' has just unveiled a CatDV asset management system for integration with Avid nonlinear editors. Pegasus is a premium CatDV client that is based on the CatDV Enterprise product and, in addition to integration with Avid Media Composer, also offers metadata support for RED Epic. With this addition, CatDV now offers support for Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro.
Editorial, Feature
Debra Kaufman |
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Blackmagic Design
Arrested Development at Shapeshifter
Shapeshifter in Los Angeles most recently color-corrected and added VFX to ten of the new 15 episodes of the cult TV show Arrested Development. The job came to the full-service post facility almost accidentally, when colorist Randy Coonfield advised the production on how to best round-trip between the company's Avids and its DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design. Since all 15 episodes were released at once, Randy had his hands full, often color-correcting two episodes at a time to make the final push, turning out an entire season in a matter of days.
Here, Randy Coonfield talks to Creative COW about what it took to get this new on-demand season out and streaming.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Randy Coonfield |
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Cinematography
Behind the Lens: The Kings of Summer with Ross Riege
Ross Riege just finished shooting his first feature film, The Kings of Summer. Currently working on a feature-length documentary with director Greg Kohs, Ross took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with Creative COW about his career path as a young cinematographer and his experiences shooting Kings of Summer.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Ross Riege |
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Film History & Appreciation
VFX Titans Remember Ray Harryhausen
"When we grieve Ray Harryhausen's passing, we are at least in part grieving perhaps the last living link to the earliest days of movie visual effects," says Creative COW's Debra Kaufman. She spoke to many of today's VFX giants who were inspired by Ray, including Phil Tippett, Richard Edlund, Jeffrey A. Okun and ILM Animation Director Hal Hickel, who says, "Ray Harryhausen's impact on an entire generation (several actually) of filmmakers cannot be overstated, each of them trying again and again to reproduce the wonder they first felt as a child watching Jason fight those skeletons."
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Autodesk 3ds Max
Creating Animation for PBS - in High School
Lanier High School students work with 3D Studio Max creating a real world project thanks to a collaboration between Biscardi Creative Media Principal Walter Biscardi, Jr. and CDAT teacher Mike Reilly. Instead of just working on a class assignment, these students are creating something that will be part of a PBS documentary due to air in Fall 2013.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Michael Reilly |
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Apple FCPX Techniques
FCPX For Broadcast News
Michael Garber has spent hundreds of hours learning the ins and outs of editing broadcast news features with Final Cut Pro X. He describes a workflow that takes advantage of the best that FCPX's new approaches have to offer, while being honest about its limitations. Every editor already working with FCPX, or still just considering it, will benefit from Michael's experience.
Editorial, Tutorial, Feature
Michael Garber |
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Film History & Appreciation
Iron Man 3, Marvel & The Future of the Superhero
Victoria Alonso, Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Visual Effects and Post Production, began her career in the early days of the digital visual effects industry. We had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Victoria about the Iron Man movies, post production's evolution, remote dailies and coloring on set, 4K & HFR, and keeping the modern superhero movie fresh.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Adobe After Effects
GenArts Sapphire 7: Must-Have VFX Plug-ins for AE & Avid
Frequent COW Contributing Editor Kevin P. McAuliffe reviews the latest version of GenArts Sapphire plug-in effects filters for both Adobe After Effects and Avid AVX versions, with ratings for current and new Sapphire users. Kevin also observes Sapphire's ability to plug into other NLEs and finishing systems, and takes a closer look at its licensing options, including purchasing, monthly rental and site licenses. You'll definitely want to see the latest and greatest of what this must-have software package has to offer.
Review, Feature
Kevin P McAuliffe |
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MAYA
Iron Man 3: The Trixters Behind Tony Stark's Shiny New Armor
Seventy artists from Trixter worked an entire year to create a formidable 208 VFX shots for Marvel's Iron Man 3. Each new episode in the Iron Man saga details a slick new technology created by the ingenious Tony Stark, and the new installment does not disappoint! Combining the hard surface geometry of the Iron Man suit auto-assembly with the flexibility of the human body was one of the challenges that Trixter brought from previs to believable screen reality.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Alessandro Cioffi |
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Cinematography
PREVISUALIZATION Part FOUR: When to Use Previs
In this fourth chapter of Gare Cline's tutorial series on Previsualization, we focus on when is the best time to hire a previsualization artist. We begin by looking at the various stages of filmmaking and then concluding with making the decision as when is the best time to hire a previs artist.
Editorial, Feature
Gare Cline |
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