Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/7010
10 Post • February 2010 www.postmagazine.com Bits & Pieces at a glance... At CREATEASPHERE (www.createasphere.com), Post's West Coast editor Daniel Restuccio will moderate the "Inside the Visual Effects-Editing-DI of the blockbuster Avatar" panel.This will take place on Thursday, February 18 at the Universal Hilton in Universal City and will include Joyce Cox,VFX producer; Skip Kimball, DI colorist; John Refuoa, ACE, editor; and Stephen Rivkin, ACE, editor.The event is free for registered Createasphere attendees. THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS has announced the finalists in the feature film categor y for its 24th Annual Outstanding Achievement Awards. The nominees are Barry Ackroyd, BSC, for The Hurt Locker; Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS, for Nine; Christian Berger, AAC, for The White Ribbon; Mauro Fiore, ASC, for Avatar; and Robert Richardson, ASC, for Inglo- rious Basterds. The winner will be announced during the ASC Awards cere- mony in Los Angeles on February 27. TRAILER PARK 's (www.w.trailerpark.com) new Advanced Content Group in Hollywood is now offering "3D on Blu-ray" services.TPAC has been col- laborating with Panasonic Hollywood Labs in developing production guide- lines for the 3D Blu-ray spec, which was recently released by The Blu-ray Disc Association.The company now has the ability to develop 3D interactive menus, immersive environment walkthroughs, bonus features, and games for Blu-ray in anaglyph or stereoscopic models. This includes 3D modeling in Maya and rendering full motion 3D video in Maya or After Effects. FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY (www.fullsail.edu) has been named a Dolby Digi- tal print master facility.The school's dubbing stage went through an extensive approval process that involved tuning the mixing studio to match Dolby specifications and matching Dolby required speaker levels. The stage was used to complete the print master for the film Letters to God. Editor Joel Miller has joined the team at NOMAD EDITING COMPANY . He moved to New York from his native London in 2007 to join Cut+Run's NY office and then moved to Cutting Room. While he will be based pri- marily out of the New York office, Miller is available via Nomad's Los Ange- les and UK offices, as well as on location. ARRI president/CEO Volker Bahnemann will step down this spring, leaving a 48-year legacy, 32 of which he ser ved as CEO. His tenure included the initiation, development and refinement of numerous significant filmmaking technologies, including the Arriflex 35III, 765, 435 and 235 cameras, and Arri/Zeiss high speed and variable Prime lenses.Taking his place this spring will be Glenn Kennel, who joined the company in 2009 as chief technol- ogy officer. NORTH AVENUE POST (www.northavenuepost.com) in Atlanta is one of the first studios in the Southeast to add Autodesk's Smoke on the Mac.The studio also added to its talent pool with the hiring of editor Rob Lederman. ELECTRIC PICTURE SOLUTIONS (EPS) has expanded with a new loca- tion in Santa Monica (www.picturesolutions.com). The remodeled 5,200- square-foot structure at 1831 S. Centinela in Santa Monica features 20 edit rooms, a full kitchen, multiple lounges and a complete machine room. S ANTA MONICA — Sony used the CES show in Las Vegas last month to publicly debut the company's new "make.believe" global brand message. The initiative marks the first time the company has deployed a unified global brand message across all of its businesses, from electronics to en- tertainment to network services. LA-based creative agency 180 (www.180la.com) conceived the visual effects-heavy campaign and explains that the "dot" in the mid- dle of the slogan serves as a place where "inspiration meets creativity and where creativity meets reality." The initiative is rolling out on- line, across a variety of platforms. Initial elements include a "make.be- lieve" channel on Crackle (www.crackle.com), Sony Pictures Enter tainment's online video net- work, that will feature the video- graphies and invite consumers to share their own stories. The ads will also have a pres- ence on other Sony platforms, such as MyPlay, FEAR net, PlayStation Home and PlayStation Network. The "make.believe" launch includes a :90 video, as well as :60, :15 and :05 cut downs. Biscuit Filmworks produced the project, with Noam Murro directing. Avi Oron at Bikini Editorial cut the project, with Eric Wais and Gus Roman assisting. MPC performed the transfer and Ani- mal Logic's Los Angeles studio handled the online and visual effects. "Without a doubt, Animal Logic brought this spot to life," says Gavin Mil- ner, creative director at 180 LA. "It was so visual effects heavy that they basically directed talent and determined what was possible. In essence, they made our imagination a reality. It could never have happened without them." Animal Logic called on Autodesk's Maya and Inferno to create the visual effects for the piece. Recording and mixing took place at Lime Studios, with Rohan Young and Lindsey Alvarez performing the mix. Yoni Oron at Bikini provided the music. Sony debuts global brand message via agency 180 Matt Jepson is production sound mixer on the Discovery Channel series Mythbusters, in which special effects experts try to prove or "bust" urban legends using science experi- ments. Jepson's set-up involves two Sound Devices 302 mixers linked together. Audio is recorded via a Schoeps CMC6 boom-mounted mic or a Neumann KMR82 mic, along with up to five channels of Lectrosonics wireless lava- lier mics mixed to the second channel. Sony's new campaign hits multiple platforms.