Best Behind-the-scenes Doc at 168 Fest

Trade Paper’s Red Carpet Videographer & Ex-Int’l Editor Find Selves Up

For Syndie-Quality ‘Making of’ Program on their own Speed Filmmaking Project
LOS ANGELES (Fri. Mar. 12, 2010) — “Focal Lengths: The Making of ‘Connectivity,’” an “Access Hollywood”-style feature segment produced by television producer-turned-cinematographer and onetime cameraman for The Hollywood Reporter’s cable coverage of celebrity arrivals at movie premieres Pete Brown and co-produced by former associate international editor of The Hollywood Reporter Scotty Dugan, has been nominated for Best Behind-the-Scenes documentary in the 168 Film Festival (www.168project.com), it was announced today by John David Ware, founder of the timed competition.
The “making-of”-format entry in the eight-year-old faith-based project — whereby nearly 100 teams
from around the world had one week (or 168 hours) in February to shoot, edit and score a short film based on randomly assigned Bible verses — concentrates on the actual film its DP Brown, former producer at CA/AZ/NV TV25 and a camera operator on the first film shot on the RED camera ever to win a festival (“Stained”) and journalist-turned-publicist-turned-filmmaker Dugan helped make for the 168, the marital drama “Connectivity” about a husband on the verge of his own Jesse James/Sandra Bullock moment.
“It’s rare even at the studio level that both a film and its documentary perform to equivalent effect,”
said “Connectivity” director-producer Elena Beuca, whose team scored nominations for Best Actress,
Supporting Actress and Original Score by judges including “X-Men” producer Ralph Winter and “Touched by an Angel” writer-producer Brian Bird. “But since the 168 introduced the BTS category a few years ago, guys like Pete and Scotty have upped the entertainment quotient to what the 168 offers.”
The pair’s doc, which unspools Sat. Mar. 27 at 10 a.m. at the Alex Theater in Glendale, CA, was a
lark Brown pursued on the chance he might have a few days after post on “Connectivity” to package an entertaining look at the oft-painful process such competitions as the 168 and the 48-Hour Film Festival engender. Once A-list camera operator Ron Vidor (“Jaws,” “Lethal Weapon”) joined the crew with Steadicam in tow for a hospital E.R. scene Beuca and writer-actor-husband Dave Rogers incorporated into the story, Brown suspected he had as compelling a BTS as the film was an entry.

Brown, whom Beuca elevated to producer after marveling at not just the ex-Mohave Community
College film instructor’s reel but his contacts and work ethic, conscripted Dugan, who, as a former
personality at K-ORANGE radio in Orange County and TV anchor in Boston, suggested the BTS “go EPK contemporary,” Brown recalled Dugan as saying, with real in-studio interviews. The two quickly landed editor Wilson Stiner, “whose emphasis on thru-line helped the show find its narrative voice,” Brown said.
CONTACT:
Scotty Dugan, duganstory@yahoo.com 10061 Riverside Dr. #200 North Hollywood, CA 91602 Tel. 435-901-1483

Pete Brown, 800-467-7525, info@petebrown.tv

DVEO’s New Fujitsu® Chipset Based H.264 SD and HD Broadcast Encoder at NAB 2010

HCoder ASI/IP™ Features HDMI, SDI, HD-SDI, and YPrPb Input,
HDCP Pass Through, and Simultaneous
Dual DVB-ASI and 1 GigE IP Outputs

San Diego, California — DVEO, the broadcast division of Computer Modules, Inc. (CMI), will introduce their new broadcast grade H.264 high definition or standard definition encoder next month, at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show, April 12-15, in Las Vegas, Nevada, in Booth SU2709.

Designed for broadcasters and content providers, the HCoder ASI/IP™ supports both H.264 HD and SD encoding, with automatic standards detection and simultaneous dual ASI outputs and GigE IP output. The input can be HDMI, SDI, HD-SDI, component analog (YPbPr), or CVBS.

The HCoder ASI/IP features SD to HDTV resolution up to 1920 x 1080 x 60i/50i. The unit includes LCD front panel controls and head-end management software. Audio encoding is MPEG-1 Layer-II with optional Dolby Digital AC-3 passthrough or optional AAC.

H.264, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, or MPEG-4 AVC, uses less than 60% of the bandwidth as MPEG-2, but delivers the same quality of video. It is now the preferred method for delivering high definition video for cable, satellite and telco TV.

“Our HCoder ASI/IP H.264 encoder will begin shipping in April, around the NAB timeframe,” noted Laszlo Zoltan, Sales Manager for DVEO. “Because it accepts HD and SD input, plus input from low cost HDMI cameras, it is extremely versatile. We recommend it to our customers for backhaul applications and electronic news gathering. It is also ideal for sending HD or SD video via private IP networks.”

The HCoder ASI/IP H.264 encoder is based on advanced Fujitsu® encoding chipsets. Other useful features of the HCoder ASI/IP include IP unicast and multicast support, HDCP support for the HDMI input (for content protection), and a latency of approximately 500 milliseconds. A matching decoder, the Virenza™, is also available.

Supplemental Information for Press Release

Features
Input: HDMI (supports HDCP), SDI, HD-SDI, YPbPr, or CVBS
Output: Two identical ASI outputs and 1 GigE IP output (Simultaneous)
Supports both H.264 HD and SD encoding with auto detection
Supports IP unicast and multicast
Supports SI (SDT) and edit function
Real-time HDTV video & audio compressions
Fully compatible with H.264/ MPEG-4 AVC encoding
Supports H.264 High Profile @ Level 4.0 (HP@L4)
Resolution up to 1920 x 1080 x 60i/50i
MPEG-1 Layer II audio encoding
Supports HDTV input formats SMPTE-274M/ SMPTE-296M-2001, ITU-R BT.656
Supports IP output UDP protocol as well as ASI output
Supports VBR or CBR
Audio Input: Analog, SDI Embedded, or HDMI
Optional Dolby Digital AC-3 pass through
Configure and operate via front panel controls or remote management
HDCP passthrough
MPEG LA licensed
Boots up in approximately 35 seconds
Matching decoder available (Virenza™)
Coming soon – optional 1080p support

DVEO, HCoder ASI/IP, and Virenza are trademarks of Computer Modules, Inc.
Fujitsu is a registered trademark of Fujitsu Limited.
All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Suggested Retail Prices:
HCoder ASI/IP H.264 encoder – $6,995 U.S.
HCoder ASI/IP H.264 encoder with optional AC-3 passthrough – $8,995 U.S.
HCoder ASI/IP H.264 encoder with optional AAC audio – $7,995 U.S.

About CMI and DVEO
CMI, founded in 1982, is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, California. DVEO, the Broadcast Division of Computer Modules, Inc., sells digital video and high definition television (HDTV) products to the top television broadcast companies throughout the world.

For more information on CMI and DVEO, please contact Rebecca Gray at +1 (858) 613-1818 or rebecca@dveo.com. To download DVEO’s press releases and product images, visit the news section at http://www.dveo.com/.

DVEO, 11409 West Bernardo Ct. San Diego, CA, 92127
Web: www.dveo.com phone: +1 (858) 613-1818, fax: +1 (858) 613-1815

Lady Gaga and Digital Vision

London, UK, 15th March 2010 – The final grade for Lady Gaga’s controversial new pop video for her latest track Telephone was completed using Digital Vision’s Nucoda Film Master. The Chimney Pot post house in Sweden handled the visual effects, beauty work and sound design. This is not the first time that the facility has created Gaga-wonders; last year it won an MTV Music Video Award for best visual effects for Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi video.

Henric Larson, CEO, The Chimney Pot says, “This is the pop video of the year featuring the world’s best selling female artist and as such the expectations were tremendous. Nothing less than absolute perfection is good enough in this kind of project and it has been extremely demanding but the breathtaking result makes it all worth it – the film has exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

The 35mm material, which features Beyonce as the singer’s partner in crime, was graded in the US by Dave Hussey at Company 3. The final look was created using Nucoda Film Master during four days of grading by The Chimney Pot colourist Edward Negussie. Edward created a hard look for the prison scenes and also helped the VFX team by grading beautiful skin tones in all shots. The rest of the nine-minute film had specialist looks in every scene.

The full video, which can be viewed on You Tube, has been banned by some networks for being too provocative. Within 24 hours of its release it received more than five million hits a record for You Tube and a huge testament to the singer’s massive popularity.

About Digital Vision
Digital Vision provides innovative image restoration, enhancement, color correction and data conforming systems that major movie studios, television networks and post-production facilities use to master and deliver feature films, TV programs and commercials.  The company’s Nucoda product line provides a strong suite of products for tapeless and non linear grading for HD broadcast and 2k/4k digital intermediate productions.  The company’s award-winning products are a standard of the media and entertainment industry and are deployed at top facilities and broadcasters around the world.

Digital Vision AB was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with three wholly owned subsidiaries, Digital Vision (US) in Los Angeles, California; Digital Vision UK in London, England; and Digital Vision in Hong Kong, China.  The company maintains its global presence through a network of qualified distributors.  Digital Vision is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange.  For further information, go to www.digitalvision.se. .

All trademarks used herein, whether recognized or not, are the properties of their respective companies.

Digital Vision Contact:
Martin Bennett
Email: martin.bennett@digitalvision.se
Tel: +44 (0)207 734 8282

EMEA & Asia PR Contact: USA PR Contact:
Kate Ford Christine Purse
Jump PR Ignite
Email: kate@jumppr.tv Email: chris@ignite.bz
Tel: +44 (0)1932 253624 Tel: +1 818 508 0450
Mobile: +44 (0)7740 948065 Mobile: +1 323806 9696

Cooke Optics and Thales Angenieux to join forces at NAB 2010

Leicester, UK – 15 March 2010 – Cooke Optics Ltd., the premier manufacturer of precision lenses for the motion picture industry, and Thales Angenieux, the leader in the design and development of the most prestigious zoom lenses in the film world, will announce an exciting working partnership at NAB 2010.

Both companies have impressive track records for innovation and development in the field of acquisition, and the partnership announcement underlines each company’s drive to bring the best technology to the film community.

“We have a great respect for Cooke Optics’ history and their focus on the future, which our respective companies share,” said Philippe Parain, Managing Director, Thales Angenieux, France. “By joining forces on this exciting project, we are bringing together two of the film industry’s most experienced names to enhance the film workflow process.”

“We have known the team at Thales Angenieux for a long time, and it is a delight to be working closely with them on this new project,” said Les Zellan, Chairman, Cooke Optics. “Working together can only strengthen our offering to our customers.”

Visitors to NAB 2010 can find out more by visiting the Cooke Optics and Thales Angenieux booths during the show.

In addition, Cooke will be demonstrating its new 5/i Prime lenses and the Panchro by Cooke Series, which were launched at IBC 2009, as well as the iconic Cooke 4/i Prime lenses.

– ENDS –
NOTE TO EDITORS
Representatives from Cooke Optics and Thales Angenieux will be available during NAB 2010 to discuss the announcement. If you would like to make a booth appointment please contact wendy@bubblesqueak.co.uk

About Cooke Optics, LTD.
Cooke is a storied name in both cinematographic and the ultra-high-end professional photography markets. Known worldwide for their precision, exacting tolerances and superior quality, Cooke lenses are specified by many of the world’s most respected cinematographers. Cooke is also the developer behind /i Technology, the protocol enabling vital lens and camera information to be captured and passed digitally to post-production teams. Features in production or recently shot with Cooke lenses include Hamlet 2, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Angels and Demons. Television shows in production or recently shot with Cooke lenses include 30 Rock, True Blood, Trauma, Community, Back, Journeyman, State of Mind, Life, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy, Monk and Entourage.

About Thales Angenieux
Thales Angenieux offers a full complement of high precision lenses for a wide range of broadcast and video production applications, including: Optimo Series Lenses for the most demanding HDTV and 35mm production applications; High Definition (HD) Series cine-style, wide angle and studio lenses; High Resolution (HR) Series wide angle and all-purpose ENG lenses including economically priced HD-e series; Studio and Sports/Outside Broadcast (OB) lenses. For more information on Thales Angenieux e-mail angenieux@tccus.com or visit www.angenieux.com.

Cooke Optics media contacts:
Europe & APAC – Wendy Mattock, Bubble & Squeak
e: wendy@bubblesqueak.co.uk t: +44 (0)20 7287 4656 m: +44 (0)7912 300231
US – Chris Purse, Bubble & Squeak
e: chris@ignite.bz t: +1 818.508.0450 m: +1 323.806.9696

Thales Angenieux media contact:
Sara Chaput, LRG
t : +1 845-358-1801
e: sara.chaput@lrgmarketing.com

Cine-tal cineSpace v2.8

Colour management software suite for Acquisition, DI, Post-Production, Video Game Development and Exhibition offers new tools, new technology and increased support for 3rd party hardware and software. Available March 31st.

INDIANAPOLIS, February 26, 2010 – Cine-tal Systems, a developer of image monitoring and colour management solutions, announces a new release of the film and television industry’s most widely adopted and flexible colour management solution, cineSpace v2.8. The cineSpace suite of colour management tools has evolved once again. The cineSpace v2.8 release brings major enhancements to the user experience and delivers even more options for managing colour workflow and colour consistency in the world of digital intermediates, visual effects, broadcast, animation and games.

“This is the first major release for the cineSpace product suite since we acquired the software technology from Rising Sun Research (RSR) 17 months ago” said Robert Carroll CEO for Cine-tal. “cineSpace v2.8 combines the industry leading color management technology from RSR with Cine-tal’s research and development in display technology, color gamut management and spectral light analysis. Current cineSpace users will experience the familiar and popular user interface with added control of gamut mapping methods, colourspace conversion and hardware compatibility.” Carroll added. “As part of the version 2.8 release we are premiering a new member to the software suite, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. The cinePhotoshop plug-in provides Photoshop users with the same powerful cineSpace color management tools that are compatible with many widely utilized VFX software applications.”

cineCube Visual is one component of the cineSpace product suite. cineCube Visual is a powerful GUI-based application for generating colour transforms. Colour transforms can be previewed applied to an image and then create a variety of 1D or 3D LUT (cube) formats ready for use in a huge range of industry applications and hardware, making it easy to achieve a calibrated pipeline independent of which tools are used. cineCube Visual provides powerful visualisation tools that allow analysis colour gamuts, helping identify issues with viewing devices, film outs and more. With cineCube Visual different monitors and display devices can be compared and provide analysis of how they will handle DI data or content destined for film-out. cineCube visual can also provide analysis of a specific film out path compared with “typical” examples and track down out-of-gamut issues. cineCube visual is more than just a basic “LUT builder”, it is invaluable for learning and teaching others about colour management concepts. cineCube Visual supports the Academy/ASC LUT file format in addition to a long list of previously supported formats. Version 2.8 features gamut mapping control, colourspace conversion. Linux 64 bit support and direct export of LUTs to hardware with compatible 1D and 3D LUT processing.

New in cineCube Visual V2.8

*
Linux 32/64 bit support
*
Direct LUT export to Cine-tal products including DAVIO and Cinemage
*
Selectable output colourspace conversion
o
XYZ,
o
XvYcc
o
RGB
o
YCxCz
*
Multiple out-of-gamut mapping methods
o
LAB constant hue
o
IPT constant hue
o
CCLIP
o
SCLIP

Wide Support for Display Measurement Hardware and Plasma Monitors.
Accurate colour matching requires precise profiling of reference display devices and the full colour pipeline. cineProfiler measures and builds display reference data to manage the colour pipeline. New to cineProfiler v2.8 are several optimized methods used to profile display devices across all types of display technology and light sources including CRT, LCD, Plasma, DLP, and LED. cineProfiler will create accurate display reference profiles for all display technology in a facility or studio. These display reference profiles are used within the cineSpace suite to deliver accurate colour matching and colour pipeline management.

cineProfiler v2.8 supports the most extensive list of display measuring tools including many spectrophotometers. cineProfiler v2.8 features enhanced integration with Cine-tal hardware, enabling cineProfiler to connect directly to Cine-tal’s DAVIO display processor and Cinemage monitor for profiling color patch generation.

New in cineProfiler V2.8

*
Panasonic Plasma Profiling
*
Wider support of colorimeters and spectrophotometers.
o
XRite Eye One Display2
o
XRite Hubble
o
XRite Eye One Pro
o
HP Dreamcolor Colorimeter
o
LaCie Blue eye 2
o
Sencore OTC-1000
o
Klein K-10
o
Klein K-1
o
Klein K-8
o
Photo Research PR-655
o
Photo Research PR-670
o
Photo Research PR-680
o
Photo Research PR-701
o
Photo Research PR-705
o
Photo Research PR-715
o
Progressive Labs MicroSpec
o
Flanders Scientific SR-1
o
Minolta CS-1000
o
Minolta CS-200
o
Minolta CS-100a

New and Updated Plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and Nuke 6.0 and NukeX
New to the cineSpace suite of tools is the cinePhotoshop plug-in. This plug-in provides the cineSpace 3D colour management engine directly incorporated into the Adobe Photoshop application. The cineSpace v2.8 provides plug-in support for the Foundry’s Nuke 6.0 and NukeX With all cineSpace plug-ins users can take advantage of full 3D colour transforms to ensure a perfect match to their output result, whether the final output is film, HD, DCI, Event Venue, Mobile displays etc. cineSpace colour management allows viewing the final result as it will really appear. Parameters can be adjusted “on-the-fly” with immediate visual feedback, with options for working in linear or logarithmic colour spaces and gamut treatment mode for identifying out-of-gamut colours. Users can “burn-in” the film look for sending to HD output or delivering off-site client previews. The Inverse Transform option to cinePhotoshop allows the creation of transforms to accurately convert graded video material into log space, ready for printing to film. Combined with the Custom Film Profiling service provided by the company, cineSpace users can ensure that film outs through different labs all look the same.

Inverse Transform option for cineCube Visual, and cinePlugins
cineSpace now offers an Inverse Transform option designed to modify the underlying image data so that it becomes suitable for output to a different medium. Users now have control over exactly how their creative vision will look when sending video-graded material to film, instead of relying on unpredictable results from film recorders or costly specialist lab services.

The Inverse Transform option activates this functionality in multiple cineSpace components, including cineCube Visual and the cinePlugins, providing alternatives for applying the colour transforms in the colour workflow pipeline. Some applications include:

Video-to-film pipeline
Material graded for HD (Rec 709) or DCI delivery can be easily transferred to film without the need for a full re-grade. Build an Inverse Transform based on the exact film out path, render it into the material and then preview the results using a standard cineSpace viewing transform – then make any final tweaks before recording to film. Even pure CG animation, with its highly saturated primary colours, can be prepared for a film release by adjusting the transform parameters as needed, previewing the results along the way.

Film-to-film transforms
In many cases, the final film out path may not be known at the outset of a project, with film stocks, recorder or lab changing after colour critical work has commenced. When this happens, cineSpace can be used to generate an Inverse Transform that adjusts the graded material so that it looks the same when delivered through a different film out path. By generating a cineSpace Custom Film Profile for each possible combination of film stocks, recorder and lab, cineSpace users can choose one to use as the target profile during grading and then build an Inverse Transform to adjust the images for delivery based on a different target profile. cineSpace users can be confident that their creative choices are always faithfully reproducing the final print, even when unexpected changes occur.

New in Inverse Transform option V2.8

*
Supports cineNuke plugin for Nuke & NukeX 6.0
*
Supports cineCube Visual 2.8

To find out more about cineSpace v2.8 visit the Cine-tal website at www.cine-tal.com, email sales@cine-tal.com or phone +1 317 576 0091.

About Cine-tal
Cine-tal Systems develops display, collaboration and image processing solutions for digital cinema and video production and post production. Cine-tal is a privately held company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information, call +1 (317) 576-0091 or visit www.cine-tal.com.

Final Frame Helps Bring “The Cove” to the Screen

Nucoda’s Film Master Supports Oscar Winning Documentary
March 9, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) Oscar winning documentary “The Cove” follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers in a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Japan, where they uncover a horrifying microcosm of devastating ecological crimes; a massive slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises every year and the subsequent sale of their mercury tainted meat. The unforgettable story of THE COVE, directed by renowned photographer Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and Fisher Stevens, is inspiring audiences worldwide to take action. The film puts viewers in the water and in the drama with the filmmakers with breathtaking impact.

THE COVE is the first nomination and win for Louie Psihoyos. It was edited by award winning editor Geoffrey Richman.

Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, ingeniously camouflaged and planted equipment, the production purchased Sony PDW-F350L, HDR-SR1 cameras, thermal imaging, and night-vision cameras. Some of the footage was also shot from unmanned aerial drones and a blimp equipped with a remote-controlled camera. Sony HVR-A1U HDV cameras were used where the filmmakers had to stay lightweight, as well as Sony HVR-Z1U for the covert underwater filming. The team began shooting in 2005 with most of the scenes shot in Taiji, Japan.

In December 2008, Psihoyos and Fisher arrived at Final Frame Post with their edited documentary, ready to create the DI for the film, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. They had an amazing story in the can, along with an extensive amount of underwater, night, and espionage-heavy footage.

“THE COVE is one the most moving documentaries I’ve ever worked on. It is full of beautiful, jaw-dropping imagery, terrifying shots, angry crowd scenes and intriguing footage,” noted Final Frame Post Co-Founder and Senior Colorist Will Cox. “It is a call to action and a spy thriller at the same time while also a gorgeous testimony to the natural world. However, we had a challenge ahead of us. The very nature of shooting underwater is an extremely changeable, malleable situation. Coupled with its innovative acquisition methodologies, action footage, and the dramatic nature of the cinematography, there was significant work to be done in color grading and finishing the film.” It was up to Cox to make the images everything they could be, pulling clarity out of murky waters, poorly lit interiors, exteriors, and news-style production while doing service to this important story. Digital Vision’s Nucoda’s Film Master played a pivotal role in Final Frame’s successful finish for the film.

“The tools of the Film Master color grading and finishing solution was critical in my ability to create these images and we needed an integrated toolset to finish the film on a very short deadline,” continued Will. “The bulk of the footage was shot at 59.94 and needed to be converted to 23.98. The documentary also draws on a large quantity of archive footage that had to be incorporated into the overall look and feel of the story. It was imperative that we were able to work on this project in one place at one time and the Film Master provided us with the tools to do so.”

Martin Bennett, VP Worldwide Marketing for Digital Vision, noted “When THE COVE premiered at the 2009 Sundance with rave reviews we knew that this was an important story and we were honored to play a role in its success.  Will Cox and the Final Frame Post team consistently work on interesting and important documentaries; we look forward to working with them in their ongoing work supporting important filmmakers and their stories. We congratulate Louis Psihoyos, Fisher Stevens, Paula DuPre Pesmen and their entire team of brave and brilliant filmmakers.”
Visit THE COVE official website – http://www.thecovemovie.com/ to take part and sign on to the campaign.

About Digital Vision
Digital Vision provides innovative image restoration, enhancement, color correction and data conforming systems that major movie studios, television networks and post-production facilities use to master and deliver feature films, TV programs and commercials.  The company’s Nucoda product line provides a strong suite of products for tapeless and non linear grading for HD broadcast and 2k/4k digital intermediate productions.  The company’s award-winning products are a standard of the media and entertainment industry and are deployed at top facilities and broadcasters around the world.

Digital Vision AB was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with three wholly owned subsidiaries, Digital Vision (US) in Los Angeles, California; Digital Vision UK in London, England; and Digital Vision in Hong Kong, China.  The company maintains its global presence through a network of qualified distributors.  Digital Vision is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange.  For further information, go to www.digitalvision.se.

All trademarks used herein, whether recognized or not, are the properties of their respective companies.

# # #

Media Contacts:

Digital Vision Contact:
Martin Bennett
Email: Martin.Bennett@digitalvision.se
Tel +44(0)207734 8282

USA PR Contact:
Christine Purse
ignite
Email: chris@ignite.bz
Tel: +1 818 508 0450
Mob: +1 323 806 9696

EMEA & Asia PR Contact:
Kate Ford
Jump PR
Email: kate@jumppr.tv
Tel: +44 (0)1932 253624
Mob: +44 (0)7740 948065

The Hurt Locker at Company 3

Company 3 Salutes “The Hurt Locker” on its Enormous Success

Facility Provided Massive Post Effort on History-Making Feature

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — March 8, 2010 — Company 3 is proud to have provided an extensive package of postproduction services to the visually arresting, dramatically devastating and multiple-award-winning feature “The Hurt Locker.” The filmmakers entrusted the digital intermediate, over 75 visual effects shots and all of the processing and dailies work in a coordinated effort between Company 3 and sister companies in Hollywood and London.

In addition to last night’s Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, “The Hurt Locker” has also received a multitude of awards from organizations including the Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, the American Cinema Editors, and BAFTA.

“We were privileged to collaborate on such a powerful and important independent film and we congratulate the filmmakers for the much-deserved recognition they are receiving this awards season,” says Stefan Sonnenfeld, co-founder and managing director, Company 3.

Colorist Stephen Nakamura brought his technical ability and creative sensitivity to the film’s color grading process, making extensive use of keys to subtly enhance the color in skies, soldiers’ uniforms, and even in the wires of the explosives the main characters must diffuse. “When we love a place or a person or anything,” Nakamura explains, “we tend to look at it through rose colored glasses. That’s what we wanted to do almost subliminally. To move away from the drab, brown look a lot of other movies in the desert tend to have.”

The post workflow began as Company 3’s sister facility, London-based Ascent 142, processed the film negative and graded the dailies. The original negative was then shipped to Company 3 in Los Angeles for scanning. Then, their visual effects team, led by Alex Romano, set to work primarily putting the audience in the middle of the film’s intense explosion sequences through a combination of 2- and 3D-CGI. As the scope of the project grew, Company 3 enlisted Encore Hollywood?s Visual Effects group to help quickly turn around the additional shots.

“Our relationship with sister facilities, such as Encore and Ascent 142, among others,” Sonnenfeld sums up, “enabled us to scale resources quickly according to the increasing demands of the project.”

# # #

Media contact:
Gail Laguna
Director, Global PR, Ascent Media
glaguna@ascentmedia.com
818.260.6229

Sales contact:
Jackie Lee
Vice President Feature Sales
jackielee@company3.com
310.255.6634

About Company 3:
Company 3 revolutionized the postproduction industry a decade ago when it took the art and craft of color grading into a boutique environment. Focused on high-quality creative results, Company 3 is synonymous with many of today’s award-winning commercials, music videos and feature films. Currently, Company 3 is translating its finely tuned expertise in feature film DI (digital intermediate), color grading, and final finishing to commercials.

Company 3’s incredible talent roster includes John Bonta, Sean Coleman, Siggy Ferstl, Billy Gabor, Dave Hussey, Tim Masick, Victor Mulholland, Stephen Nakamura, Mike Pethel, Tom Poole, Rob Sciarratta, Stefan Sonnenfeld and Matt Turner. Recent commercial projects are campaigns for Apple, Audi, BMW, Heineken, Nike, and others. Recent feature film credits include “Alice in Wonderland,” “Robin Hood,” “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” “The Hurt Locker,” “A Single Man,” “Public Enemies,” and “Star Trek.” Company 3 is an Ascent Media company.

Matrox Ships World’s First HD-SDI Scan Converter with Genlock Under $1000

Matrox Convert DVI lets broadcasters easily and economically get Skype, YouTube, and mobile phone videos to air.

Montreal, Canada – March 2, 2010 – Matrox® Video Products Group is now shipping Matrox Convert DVI, an SD/HD SDI scan converter with high-end features priced at just $995 US. Matrox Convert DVI lets broadcasters easily and economically take the computer-based content that is quickly becoming a key part of the nightly news to air. It’s ideal for creating broadcast video from computer applications such as Skype, YouTube, Google Earth, video games, and web browser sessions, as well as citizen journalists’ mobile phone videos.

“Feedback from broadcast pilot sites has been phenomenal – the feature set, quality, and ease of use were everything they hoped for,” said Chris Yigit, Matrox technical marketing manager. “They found the value proposition very impressive. Quality HD-SDI scan converters with genlock typically cost thousands of dollars each and SDI audio embedders are often required. Costs balloon when stations require multiple units. Matrox Convert DVI is very inexpensive by comparison and allows system audio to be embedded in the SDI signal.”

Matrox Convert DVI controls are provided via a simple PC-based user interface. By simply dragging a mouse, rather than fiddling with buttons on the unit itself, users can choose to output the entire screen or a region-of-interest of any size. Premium features such as a flicker reduction filter, an underscan mode, customizable presets with user-assignable hotkeys, password protection, and a stand-alone mode ensure optimal flexibility for many different applications.

Key features of Matrox Convert DVI
· DVI-D input up to 1920 x 1200

· Digital outputs: HD/SD SDI

· Analog outputs: HD/SD analog component, S-Video, and composite

· SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level genlock with timing offset controls

· Simultaneous analog and digital video output

· Stereo audio input can be embedded into the SDI output signal

· Realtime HD to SD hardware downscaling with proper color space and aspect ratio conversion

· Region-of-interest output support

· Can operate as a stand-alone appliance

· Advanced features such as an anti-flicker filter, underscan mode, customizable presets, and password protection

Price and availability
Matrox Convert DVI, priced at $995 US (?649, €799) not including local taxes, is now available through a worldwide network of authorized dealers.

About Matrox
Matrox Video Products Group is a technology and market leader in the field of HD and SD digital video hardware and software for accelerated H.264 encoding, realtime editing, audio/video input/output, DVD/Blu-ray authoring, scan conversion, capture/playout servers, clip/still stores, and CGs. Matrox’s Emmy award-winning technology powers a full range of content creation and delivery platforms used by broadcasters, post-production facilities, project studios, corporate communicators, and videographers worldwide. Founded in 1976, Matrox is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada. For more information visit www.matrox.com/video.

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Note:Print resolution artwork can be downloaded athttp://www.matrox.com/video/en/press/artwork/#convert_dvi

Matrox is a registered trademark and Matrox Convert is a trademark of Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

Janet Matey

Marketing Communications Director

Matrox Video Products Group

tel: (514) 822-6037

fax: (514) 685-2853

janet.matey@matrox.com

www.matrox.com/video

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