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Home » The Past Week in Review, for April 11, 2011

The Past Week in Review, for April 11, 2011

Dentsu London’s Suwappo characters use AR to mash together advertising, content, media and product. Photo credit: Dentsu London

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

Our look at the past week’s news includes breakthrough 3D tech, 3D printing that’s easy enough for just about anyone to do, and a communications firm with a fresh take on augmented reality.

Is Phantom Making the most Viable 3D Camera System?

While opiners still predict that the current flush of 3D production will just fade away, don’t tell that to the technologists who continue to bring new 3D camera systems to market, and the creatives who find new uses for the gear. (This Scranton Times-Tribune article acknowledges a slow start to 3D TV in the US, but quotes one analyst as optimistic as prices for 3D TV sets continue to decline.)

This Abel Cine Tech blog points up a recent shoot by filmmaker and visual effects pioneer Doug Trumbull using the new Phantom 65-Z3D system to shoot a music video in New York. Vision Research’s Phantom line has become one of the most popular special use high-speed cameras for film and TV. Trumbull, meanwhile, has honed his visual effects techniques over decades with credits that include work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Blade Runner.

It’s no small praise when Trumbull says the Phantom system offers so many advantages over the leading dual camera beam splitter systems that he plans to use it in developing his new 3D projects. Click this link to also watch a behind-the-scenes video of the making of “Golden Eyes”, the Trumbull-directed music video.

Verizon’s Network to the Rescue

With the fast growing number of video-enabled networks and devices, the problem of actually delivering those streams without bankrupting producers or crashing the system is becoming a problem. Verizon announced plans to offer a solution—use its network to make streaming cheaper as well as easier by enabling media companies to deliver video without the need to create hundreds of different files.

Verizon’s Digital Media Services division, according to this article on GigaOM, plans to reduce the cost and complexity of IP-based video delivery compared to using the Internet. You can read more here.

Do You Suwappu?

Okay, so you haven’t heard of Suwappu, AR (augmented reality) isn’t something you expect will ever get much traction beyond simple apps such as games or guidebooks, and reading about something that labels itself the “future of communications” makes you want to turn off everything electronic around you.

Well, you just might change some of that thinking if you check here for a recent bit of R&D posted on Dentsu London’s site.

If you don’t want to read their explanation first, click on this link to see Dentsu’s video directly. You’ll land in a space where toy-like real world objects (Suwappu) blend with digital information overlays to create a mélange of “advertising, content, media and product”, something, we imagine, that you’ve never seen before.

Dentsu London describes itself as a creative communications agency seeking to “make future magic”. Their work may not change your opinion about the potential of AR, but this is a valid attempt at wrangling smartphone and other mobile digital technology into a more advertising friendly environment.

Easy 3D for You and Me

3D service company i.materialise launched Sketch to 3D this past week. This modeling service for 3D printing is for all of those who have wanted to make use of the latest generation of 3D printing technologies but who can’t seem to make their way through the complexities of most 3D modeling programs.

The idea? Forget the computer, just sketch what you want free hand. How’s it work? Give i.materialise a detailed sketch of what you want, and for around $80, they have a 3D modeler work up your sketch into a printable 3D design. Printing in an actual substance, of course, costs more, but you have over 20 different printing materials to choose from, along with access to the “world’s largest 3D printers” that will allow you to turn out designs of 6 ½ feet or more in length.

The company’s blog explains the process. Here’s their home page if you just want to dive in.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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