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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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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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Archiving and Back-Up
NAB 2013: Bob Zelin: The Evolution & Revolution
Calling Bob Zelin one of the industry's most respected voices of engineering and systems experience is an understatement. (We might also have to add "most feared.") For over 20 years, he has been at the leading edge of building next-generation post houses and broadcast facilities using the latest, greatest, and most affordable new technology. He's also been around long enough to have seen through an awful lot of hype, so when Bob drops the "R" word, it's because he really believes it's revolutionary himself. His coverage of the 2013 NAB Show is once again don't-miss reading.
Editorial, Feature
Bob Zelin |
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Art of the Edit
Sony Launches Media Cloud Service Company
Sony Corporation unveiled a new subsidiary - Sony Media Cloud Services - which brings Ci, a new platform and tools to collect, produce, share, manipulate and archive content. This brings Sony not just into the cloud but also into the Software as a Service business model. NBCUniversal is an alpha customer for the Ci MasterSuite tools, which enters beta today.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Film History & Appreciation
VFX Crossroads Pt. 2: Can The VFX Business Be Saved?
In VFX Crossroads, Part 1, we took a close look at how the seeds of the VFX industry’s dysfunctional business model were planted in its earliest days. Although outsourcing and tax incentives/subsidies are the culprits most often cited in today’s news, we saw that the financial picture for VFX houses is far more complex than that. Here in Part 2, we look at some of the solutions proposed by leading voices in the VFX industry, including a VFX facility trade associations, a union or guild, and ending subsidies. The question is, is it all too little too late?
Editorial, Feature
Debra Kaufman |
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Film History & Appreciation
VFX Crossroads: Causes & Effects Of An Industry Crisis
The VFX industry is in a crisis. As Life of Pi won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the venerable facility that created those effects - Rhythm & Hues - declared bankruptcy, and they're hardly the first to close their doors due to financial problems. Debra Kaufman pulls from her 25 years of experience covering the industry to take a close look at how the creators of some of cinema's indelible images are falling prey to dysfunctional business models. Their deep historical roots have also led to visual effects becoming one of the least-profitable areas of film and TV production. How did we get here?
Editorial, Feature
Debra Kaufman |
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NAB Expo
Tips for Attending NAB 2013 From A Convention Veteran
Walter Biscardi tells us, "Once again, springtime is upon us, so of course, it's time for the annual National Association of Broadcasters convention. Last year y'all seemed to like the before you go tips, so may I present the 2013 edition of 'Tips from an NAB Veteran to make the best use of your time'."
Editorial, Feature
Walter Biscardi |
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Business & Marketing
Suck It Up, Buttercup
The Best Excuses from New or Underemployed Filmmakers and Freelancers: "You've really really got to stop being lazy and making excuses for not getting what you want," says Creative COW Contributing Editor Kylee Wall. "Seriously. It's sad and it makes me sad for you. So sad in fact, that I've created this BEST OF compilation of stupid excuses. It's perhaps a little more brash than my usual fare. Don't mistake this for arrogance. I'm young and stupid too, but I'm still allowed to almost rant. Pseudo-rant. Pretend I made you cookies and you're eating them as you read this."
Editorial, Feature
Kylee Wall |
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Business & Marketing
Get Hired! Be Professional and Pay Attention to Detail
"As technology gets better, communications skills seem to get worse." So says Creative COW leader and Contributing Editor Walter Biscardi, one of the industry's most respected business owners. "The same talented people who can create amazing things on screen have absolutely no idea how to represent themselves via a resume or online demo. Most of what I'm about to say seems to be common sense, but apparently it isn't."
You definitely don't want to miss this potentially career-changing advice from an industry luminary!
Editorial, Feature
Walter Biscardi |
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Cinematography
The Aesthetics of High Frame Rate Cinema
Any change in the way we watch movies creates a heated debate, from the introduction of sound and color to digital acquisition and stereoscopic 3D. Now, the subject of debate is High Frame Rate cinema and, naturally, the debate is emotional. From watching hundreds, maybe thousands, of movies, we all have an idea of what a movie ought to look like, and for some people, HFR doesn't fit into the picture. Other moviegoers are excited about HFR's potential -- but to fulfill it, filmmakers and technologists have a lot of work ahead of them.
Editorial
Debra Kaufman |
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Cinematography
The Hobbit & The Dawn of High Frame Rate Cinema
The technology wizards of the film/TV industry have been talking about High Frame Rate cinema for a long time; indeed, Douglas Trumbull's Showscan at 60 fps presaged the current interest over 30 years ago. But it took director Peter Jackson to take the plunge for mainstream cinema, declaring he would shoot The Hobbit in 48 fps to get momentum going. In about a year's time, manufacturers made the gear, theater exhibitors updated their movie theaters, and the studios prepared for one of the most audacious technology debuts that cinema has seen. Creative COW goes behind the scenes to see what it took for you to see The Hobbit in 48 fps.
Editorial, Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Cinematography
Behind the Lens: Paul Cameron ASC on Total Recall
Paul Cameron, ASC, just finished work on the remake of Total Recall, directed by Len Wiseman and starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel with Bill Nighy, Bryan Cranston, and John Cho. Cameron was last featured in Creative COW for his work on Henry's Crime. His previous credits include director Michael Mann's Collateral and Tony Scott's Man on Fire.
Feature
Paul Cameron, ASC |
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Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design President Dan May on Cintel Acquisition
On July 24th, Blackmagic Design announced its acquisition of long-time film/TV telecine, film scanner, and post production technology leader, Cintel International. Blackmagic Design President Dan May spoke with Creative COW's Debra Kaufman about what this means for the company's product line up as well as for the endurance of Cintel's R&D and the future of film.
Feature, People / Interview
Debra Kaufman |
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Broadcasting
BET Signs on to Market7
BET Networks has signed on to Market7's software-as-service, a browser-based, in-the-cloud suite of tools for a more collaborative production workflow. BET is using the service for dailies and review-and-approval for six or seven TV shows. Market7 is also adding watermarking to improve security and build confidence for working with a cloud-based solution.
Feature
Debra Kaufman |
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Broadcasting
Live TV: On a Budget
Dylan Reeve and a small group of no-budget podcaster friends decided to embark upon the challenge of broadcasting live election coverage of the New Zealand General Election online in HD. Live trainwreck or success?
Feature
Dylan Reeve |
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Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design's Grant Petty: We Want to Blow Your Mind
Blackmagic Design Founder and CEO Grant Petty has earned a reputation as one of the industry's straightest shooters, leading one of the industry's consistently disruptive companies. While he doesn't shy away from controversy, what shines through Grant's conversation is his love for this industry, and, as he puts it, his goal of "blowing people's minds." We're pleased to let him tell you about it in his own words in this energetic recorded interview.
Feature
Grant Petty |
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Apple iPad
COACM: The Application is Dead. Long Live the App!
While tablets might seem like a bit of a gratuitous topic for media producers, the fact is that the smartphone and tablet markets have created an entirely new reality for software publishers and users, and it seems like the value proposition for application software is forever changed. What does this spell for the future of software development?
Editorial
David Biedny |
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Business & Marketing
The Heroism of Joyful Creativity
I'm constantly inspired by the pleasure and the pride that the people in Creative COW Magazine take in doing the right things the right way, in always trying to improve, and always keeping their eyes peeled for new possibilities. I aspire to do my own work as creatively and joyfully as they do.
Editorial
Tim Wilson |
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