Gnomon: VFX, Games and Animation School Sets Path for the Future (Sponsored)
by Alyssa Heater
In 1997, Gnomon entered the scene, providing computer graphics training to professional artists and those interested in making a career move into the VFX industry. Over its 26 years, the school has evolved into an accredited college, providing four-year degree and two-year certificate programs as well as individual classes for artists of all skill levels.
DP David Wells Brings Atomos On-Set to Deliver Innovative Technology Spot (Sponsored)
David Wells is a director of photography and camera operator who specializes in a wide range of project types, from shooting short films and commercials to music videos and sports documentaries. For his latest project, Wells integrated the Atomos Sumo 19SE and Shogun Connect with Sony Venice cameras to film a commercial for a groundbreaking 3D printer.
Picture Shop Accelerates Dailies Workflow With Tsecond’s BRYCK Storage (Sponsored)
Today’s film and television productions generate massive amounts of data, including video footage, audio recordings, metadata, reference images and 3D scans. Transferring, managing and processing all this media, while keeping pace with the ultra-dynamic creative process, is a daunting technical and operational challenge. And sometimes just thinking about it keeps Dave “TekDave” Graubard up at night.
Vashi Nedomansky’s Virtual Production Firebirds Campaign Powered by Dell & NVIDIA (Sponsored)
When the Firebirds hockey team announced its home at the new state-of-the-art Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley, editor and former professional ice hockey player Vashi Nedomansky, ACE, jumped at the chance to tackle his first virtual production project showcasing the newest AHL team. “If I can combine hockey and filmmaking, then that’s a perfect mix.
ShadowMachine Keeps Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio Running with ClearView Flex (Sponsored)
Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion feature adaptation of the famed children’s novel Pinocchio has been a passion project at least a decade in the making. The director co-wrote the animated musical and produced it for Netflix with The Jim Henson Company and ShadowMachine (Robot Chicken, BoJack Horseman). Featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor,
Vū, Powered by Puget Systems and NVIDIA RTX, Creates a Virtual Production Boom – Sponsored
Grant Sutton, the new in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) operator at Vū Nashville, never thought he’d be living his dream in the volume at the age of 23 without ever leaving his hometown. A student of virtual production while pursuing a BFA in film at Nashville’s Belmont University, the recent graduate realized he wanted to operate effects across a giant LED screen after watching the first episode of Disney’s The Mandalorian.
Violent Night Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio – Sponsored
During the holiday season we’ve come to expect variations on the age-old stories of Santa, but in Violent Night director Tommy Wirkola brings us a new vision of Saint Nick, one that might haunt us like those infamous lumps of coal. The unique holiday film was shot by Matthew Weston and graded by Dave Hussey at Company 3 using DaVinci Resolve Studio.
Colorfront Transkoder Delivers Masterful Performance at Annapurna Studios – Sponsored
Passion and dedication will take you places. Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspirational words of its beloved founder with a flourishing, one-stop, state-of-the-art filmmaking complex, where Colorfront Transkoder is making an impressive impact in helping to deliver movies to screens around the world. The studios’ post division was established in 2011, under the guidance of CV Rao,
Disney’s Rise Shot With Ursa Mini Pro 12K – Sponsored
Rise, the recently released Disney+ original film, was shot by cinematographer Kabelo Thathe with Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K digital film cameras. Thathe, having worked with the film’s director Akin Omotoso on the film Vaya, was brought aboard by Disney and Omotoso. “Akin and I already had a great working relationship,
Drew Geraci Shoots 8K Time-Lapse Frames for West Side Story Closing Credits – Sponsored
by Drew Geraci and Dayna McCallum
An award-winning photographer and cinematographer, Drew Geraci has worked in TV, film and advertising for over 20 years. Following nearly a decade of service in the U.S. Navy as a mass communication specialist, Geraci signed on as a senior multimedia producer for the Washington Times in Washington, DC. His passion for visual storytelling led him to found District 7 Media,
Dell & NVIDIA Free Albert Fortgang to Work a New Way – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Albert Fortgang first stepped into the world of post production when he was just a teenager. “My best friend’s dad was a cameraman for Univision down here in Miami, and he had an edit room in his house. We would spend weekends in that room doing simple little cut videos and music videos — nothing fancy,
Playard Brings Project to Life with Virtual Production and Resolve – Sponsored
Miami-based post production, virtual production and visual effects studio Playard Studios is looking to the stars with its new short film Replica. Produced by Tanya Fueyo, the virtual production project focuses on First Lieutenant Eleanor Jane Reskin, who must venture into the unknown while the rest of her crew aboard spaceship Dandelion is still in hyper sleep.
Survivorman VR: Cream Looks to Dell & NVIDIA for New Game – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
You are flying above a snow-covered mountain range in the high arctic when suddenly your helicopter loses power and crashes to the ground — with no sign of civilization in sight. Falling out into deep snow just before the crash, you manage to survive this harrowing ordeal. However, this is only the beginning of your perilous journey to stay alive in this desolate,
RED Supports Nature Docuseries in the Field and Through Post – Sponsored
Life in Color sets itself apart from other natural history documentaries by exploring the extraordinary ways that animals use color for survival. The three-part series, which explains life through the eyes of other species, was co-produced by Bristol, UK-based Humble Bee Films and Sydney’s SeaLight Pictures. The show, narrated by Sir David Attenborough,
Swordfish’s Matt Silverman Talks Tools, Technology, More – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Matt Silverman, founder and executive creative director of motion design studio Swordfish in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a modern-day Renaissance man. His extensive experience in both design and technology has helped establish Swordfish as a leading provider of cutting-edge motion design for marketing campaigns and user experiences.
As Silverman explains, his facility was established nearly a decade ago to help marketing and development teams from a wide array of companies with design and animation services,
FIRESTORMvfx Goes Mobile With Flame 2022 & Dell, Powered by NVIDIA – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Flame/Nuke artist-designer Mark Renton has always been a person on the go. He has made his way across the globe and back, accepting jobs that enabled him to learn and master the latest technology for 2D/3D visual effects, compositing and editorial finishing. And now, thanks to his Dell mobile workstation, he is able to ply his craft anytime,
AMPD Relies on NVIDIA RTX to Power Versatile Media’s Virtual Production Facility – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
In some ways, the process of filmmaking has changed very little over the past century. In other ways, the technologies driving content creation have evolved by quantum leaps. And now the “new frontier” of production workflows — virtual production — actually marries some of Hollywood’s earliest techniques with today’s powerhouse technology. Attracted by the many benefits virtual production offers,
Post Supervisor Franco Casellato on Mnemonica – Sponsored
Post supervisor Franco Casellato has more than 30 years of experience working on films and series, including The New Pope from Academy Award-winner Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are, My Brilliant Friend for HBO, Netflix’s Homemade, and Hungry Hearts for Sling.
Minds Matter LA Mentors Next Generation to Success – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
For some students, the dream of attending college is just that, a dream. But there are organizations whose mission it is to make those dreams a reality. Minds Matter Los Angeles is one such non-profit program, helping low-income high school students who exhibit the potential and ambition to pursue a college education through mentorship.
Dell & NVIDIA Power Kriscoart to Next Level of Creativity – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Kris Truini has a passion for filmmaking, and his hands-on approach to storytelling has led him to embrace roles as a cinematographer, director, writer, editor, VFX artist and sound editor. In a relatively short time, he achieved all those credits on a number of projects, from music videos to commercials to short films. He is also an educator,
Vancouver Film School’s New Creative Pipeline — Powered by NVIDIA & Dell – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Vancouver Film School (VFS) is one of the most distinguished entertainment art schools in the world, offering intensive yearlong programs for talented students looking to pursue a career in film production, animation and visual effects, game design, and more. The curriculums are demanding, encompassing a great deal of hands-on instruction whereby students generate hundreds of productions during their time there,
neural.love Uses NVIDIA’s Quadro RTX Technology: Shows History Through a Modern Lens – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
We all have visions of what life was like in the past, often gleaned from old photographs or video from a particular point in time. The 1911 film A Trip Through New York City, from Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern, provides a journey back through time with eight minutes of jittery, grainy, black-and-white footage showing highlights and snippets of life unfolding in NYC early in the last century.
AWS keeps Hive VFX buzzing with virtual workstations – Sponsored
Founded by VFX supervisor Bernie Kimbacher, Hive VFX is a collective of visual effects artists united by the flexibility of working in the cloud. The company was formed in May 2019 to offer an alternative to the traditional VFX studio lifestyle, which largely dictates how and where artists need to work. Specializing in 2D and compositing,
Blur Studio pushes limits with 3rd gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper – Sponsored
When the limits of creativity are bound by your computer hardware, it’s no wonder that performance seeking artists and elite VFX studios look to AMD for a competitive edge. With that in mind, Blur Studio stepped up to battle test AMD’s new 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper in their production workstations. Blur used the exceptional processing power of 3rd Gen Threadripper to create more complex scenes for the recently released feature,
Quatsch Comedy Club post workflow — not all fun and games – Sponsored
Quatsch Comedy Club is a legendary stand-up show in Germany, and it’s been a longstanding fixture on network television there. Currently running on Sky Deutschland, Quatsch is filmed in front of a live comedy club audience with three live acts and a host at Quatsch Comedy Club Theatre, inside Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin.
Dell provides The Molecule with the right ‘elements’ – Sponsored
by Karen Moltenbrey
Creative facility The Molecule was formed in 2005 by Chris Healer (CTO), along with partners Andrew Bly (CFO) and Luke DiTommaso (COO/lead VFX supervisor), and the name is indicative of the work the company does. Healer explains the significance of the moniker with this scientific analogy, “When elements come together, they form molecules, and their properties actually change.
Brat TV collaborates, creates with creative.space – Sponsored
Brat TV is a digital network and production company that draws its name from the “Brat Pack” of 1980s movie fame. Its TV-quality programming, such as Chicken Girls, Total Eclipse and Mani, is posted every day to YouTube and tailored to the Gen Z audience. Brat TV’s new feature film Chicken Girls: The Movie is about a group of high school girls banding together to save their school dance.
Blackmagic Design and Yonder Blue Films Give Luxury Hotel the Royal Treatment – Sponsored
Filmmaker Ben Rowland is based just outside Atlanta. His company, Yonder Blue Films, has been hitting a good stride as of late. He and his production team are producing high-end, national marketing pieces and commercials for clients, as well as starting to create original TV programs and films for broader audiences. Rowland,
Terminator Dark Fate is back — director Tim Miller turns to Adobe – Sponsored
In 1984, a young director stepped behind the camera to create an original sci-fi action movie about time-travel, cyborg assassins and a woman who gives birth to the savior in the future war against the machines. The Terminator was a runaway hit, popular with audiences and critics alike. The movie launched the career of James Cameron and kicked off a multi-billion-dollar franchise that expands across film,
Urban Sled’s Evolving Collaborative Workflow Supported by Blackmagic – Sponsored
Anyone working in the ’80s and ’90s in post and broadcast remembers the Sneakernet — running tapes around a newsroom or post house and hoping the elevator wait is not too long because running up 10 flights of stairs won’t work with a looming deadline. With digital workflows, a new type of sneaker net formed that replaced physical tapes with portable RAIDs and isolated workstations working on different parts of a project.
creative.space Drives Local Hero Post – Sponsored
Storage is the heartbeat of any facility that relies on quick access to its content for a wide range of projects. There’s nothing more important than having shared storage that just works. So when Steve Bannerman, CEO of Local Hero — which offers end-to-end post and visual effects services for feature films and high-end TV series — decided he’d had enough of the facility’s budget-busting,
On the Road With Elton John — Worry-Free Onset Transfers with Imagine Products – Sponsored
Data from the shoot location to the edit suite, and with every transfer you run the risk of losing data, especially in the mad dash to prepare a camera card for reuse. That’s why it’s so important to have simple backups with known data integrity at every stage of the process and for every post department involved.
Why RED Studios Hollywood Calls on the G-RACK 12 – Sponsored
RED Studios Hollywood boasts a long history of riding the cutting edge in commercial video. Today, under the growing umbrella of camera pioneer RED Digital Cinema, RED Studios Hollywood keeps advancing video production in every way possible. Whether that means finding new ways to apply RED camera technology or improving the workflow between those cameras and final video consumption,
Dialogue Mixing for Reality TV with iZotope – Sponsored
by Jennifer Walden
“Dialogue is my forte,” says Christopher Koch, CAS, re-recording mixer/supervising sound editor at PostWorks NY, who has cleaned, edited, and mixed some of the most challenging dialogue imaginable: the dialogue on reality TV series. What makes it so challenging is that the run-and-gun filming style is combined with a mad dash, day and a half post sound schedule.
Portlandia & Documentary Now! Team Beefs Up Storage With G-RACK – Sponsored
Halfway through editing the sixth season of IFC’s hit TV show Portlandia, Ted Pacult realized his team was going to run headfirst into the brick wall of their storage capacity limit. Some of the causes were known, such as upgrading their offline proxy files from ProRes 422 to 422 HQ, significantly inflating the space required for footage.
Actor and Film Vet Sharlto Copley Circles Back to Roots With Dell and Adobe – Sponsored
by Beth Marchant
Popular South African actor Sharlto Copley, best known as Wikus van de Merwe in the critically acclaimed hit District 9, has had an unusual career arc. As a late-blooming actor he’s played otherworldly everymen (Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 and Chappie), a villain (Elysium), a howling mad special ops mercenary (The A-Team) and a superhero-turned-LAPD detective in the first original series from Sony PlayStation (Powers).