Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/737949
BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 10 POST OCTOBER 2016 FIRSTCOM DEBUTS MIDDLE 8 CUSTOM MUSIC SERVICE CARROLLTON, TX — FirstCom Music has introduced a new business ven- ture that will offer original music for today's digital storytellers. Middle 8 Music (Mid8music.com) is a custom music service that is geared toward advertising, television, promos and feature films. The creative process starts with an intuitive questionnaire that allows the company's creative team to identify key aspects of a project and then match the com- posers and musicians best suited to understanding and interpreting the message effectively. Clients are also free to call or email for further discussion. Middle 8 Music works on the idea of "made-to-measure musicianship." This is achieved by celebrating the individual creativity of their artists and encouraging a two-way working relationship with the client. "This creative collaboration is the difference between music that's just 'ok' and musical greatness," says FirstCom senior producer/VP, Ken Nelson. "We include you as much or as little as you like along the way. Ultimately, our clients will have the ideal piece of music with a cre- ative licensing solution tailored for their needs." With the resources to custom- ize existing music from selected FirstCom Music catalogs, the possi- bilities for unique custom tracks are virtually endless. RSP LAUNCHES PRODUCTION OFFICE IN SYDNEY ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA — Capitalizing on a steady rise in inter- national film and television production in Australia, VFX studio Rising Sun Pictures (rsp.com.au) has expanded its operation by opening a front-end office in Sydney. The new site will op- erate out of Fox Studios Australia and will support productions located on the lot and based in the area. The Sydney site will be linked via a se- cure, private data link to the company's main facility in Adelaide and its deep resources for visual effects design and production. RSP is currently working on a variety of projects for clients that in- clude 20th Century Fox and Paramount. RSP co-founder and managing director Tony Clark (pictured) says the Sydney office will be an important creative resource to current and future clients. He notes that the company cre- ates visual effects for many internation- al productions that also conduct all or a portion of their production activities in Sydney. Having a local presence will allow it to better support such produc- tions in their early stages. "It will be very helpful to our clients to have an experienced creative team on hand to assist with planning and shooting," says Clark. "It will result in a seamless workflow from shoot through to post production." RSP will also support native Australian productions through its Sydney office. Many local filmmakers and producers are based on or near the Fox lot and use it as a shooting location, for editorial and other pro- duction and post activities. Australian productions form a growing portion of RSP's work. "Our presence in Sydney will en- hance the experience for all of our clients," Clark says. NCAM & THE FOUNDRY DRIVE DREAMSPACE PROJECT LONDON — Project Dreamspace, a three-year European Commission- funded project, seeks to explore new ways of integrating real and virtual environments. The effort recently showcased the results of its work as part of the IBC Future Zone during the 2016 IBC show in Amsterdam. Central to the project is high-precision camera tracking combined with realtime depth capture, provided by Ncam (www.ncam-tech.com), togeth- er with virtual production tools from The Foundry (www.the- foundry.co.uk). The Dreamspace project — which brings together researchers from Germany and Belgium, as well as Ncam and The Foundry — is developing new virtual production tools for use in television, film and other media, including art installations. The project's paper on its initial work was selected by IBC as one of the eight most important papers of the year to be included in the prestigious Best of IBC and IET publication. The EU collaborative project brings together some of the best minds from the education, research and commercial sec- tors, including Stargate, CreW, Saarland University, iMinds and Filmakademie. The aim of the project is to create a new set of tools for creative professionals, and a production pipeline that combines live performances, video and computer-generated imagery. The partners have developed virtual production tools that allow the on-set manipulation of 3D digital assets to give a hands- on, dynamic integration of video feeds from tracked cameras. It also allows the use of 360-de- gree VR cameras and multi-cam- era rigs for background plates. Together with the complete free- dom of movement empowered by Ncam's camera tracking tech- nology, Dreamspace users can move freely through any virtual environment they can imagine. "Ncam's camera tracking technology is a core part of Dreamspace, as two approaches to live depth capture have been developed using the Ncam cam- era bar as the only hardware," explains Nic Hatch of Ncam. "We are delighted to be work- ing with some of the industry's best talent and showcasing with them, state of the art technolo- gy at IBC, that will provide the immersive user experience of the future." "We are focused on the final render and composite during post production," adds Jon Starck of The Foundry. "In es- sence, on how to get composit- ing working live, on-set, as part of production."