News Stories

Isle of Wight Festival to be live on 3D TV (Sky 3D)

4.14.2011

[by Associated Press]

The Isle of Wight Festival has been announced as the first UK music festival to be broadcast live in 3D.

The event, to be headlined by the Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters, Kasabian and Pulp, is teaming up with the Sky 3D channel and Sky Arts for the cutting-edge broadcast.

Festival promoter John Giddings, of Solo Music Agency, said: “It is incredibly exciting for our 10th anniversary to be at the forefront of television broadcasting in the 21st century.

“And those unlucky people who missed out on buying a ticket will now have the opportunity to see it in their living rooms more realistically than a festival has ever been seen before – bring it on.”

John Cassy, channel director of Sky Arts and Sky 3D, said: “The Isle of Wight Festival attracts some of the biggest names in music and this year’s line-up is no exception.

“Broadcasting live and in 3D for the first time is an amazing opportunity to bring viewers closer than ever to the real festival experience.”

The channels will broadcast live for two hours a day throughout the weekend of June 10 to 12 at Seaclose Park, Newport.

The Isle of Wight’s other major festival, Bestival, will also be filmed in 3D for Sky.

Acts including The Cure, Pendulum, Primal Scream, PJ Harvey, Brian Wilson and DJ Shadow during the September event will be among seven and a half hours shown by Sky in 3D.

Festival curator and Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank said: “Bestival in 3D will be a mind-blowing explosion of colour and multi-dimensional music and mayhem.”

See the original post here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iD0y0JvTPVal4XHMn3ErsqhmlUVQ?docId=N0574301302706103374A

Two film companies come together to keep 3D space alive (India)

4.14.2011
[by staff, www.deccanherald.com]

With an aim to boost and promote 3D cinema in India, BVG Films (BVG) and DAR Motion Pictures plan to produce and release another two movies in this genre, taking their total co-production pipeline to three 3D films.
The two film companies will be joined by UFO Moviez who will help with technical and 3D exhibition related expertise and infrastructure.

With a total investment of over Rs 100 crore, DAR and BVG have agreed to produce, market and release three next generation stereoscopic 3D films over the next 2-3 years.

They plan to release their first venture ‘Haunted 3D’ over 250-300 3D screens on May 6 and aim to increase the number of such theatres to over 1200.

The remaining two movies in this deal are edge-of-the-seat 3D action thrillers. Extensive research on this segment has shown that such genres have tremendous appeal.
BVG Films is a division of ASA Productions, and DAR Motion Pictures (DAR) is the film entertainment division of DAR Media Private Limited.

Announcing the partnership, Vikram Bhatt, Movies Director and Board Member ASA Productions said, “A new industry is emerging and this is the dawn of that industry.

When all arms of movie making come together nothing can keep that movie making industry growing from strength to strength. This is the big coming together of Production, Distribution and Exhibition companies to keep the 3D space alive and kicking.”

“This partnership is a gigantic step towards fast tracking the Indian 3D revolution,” said Arun Rangachari, Chairman, DAR Capital Group.

“There is no doubt that 3D films are the future not just internationally but in India as well. Given our complete belief in this technology and the chicken and egg situation between the film exhibition and distribution fraternity and producers in India with regards 3D films, we decided to take the plunge with Vikram through this announcement and are very glad to have found like minded partner in UFO,” Arun added.

While BVG and DAR will be spearheading the production and marketing effort, Reliance would be putting its experience and weight behind ensuring an optimal and wide release.

UFO will pioneer the effort in increasing the 3D compliant theatres in the country from the current 130 odd screens to around 250-300 screens for the ‘Haunted’ 3D release in May 2011.

By the time of release of the third movie of this consortium the expected number of 3D screens in India is expected to rise to approximately 1200 screens.

Commenting on this significant association,  Kapil Agarwal, Joint MD, UFO Moviez India Ltd said, “this initiative of partnering with DAR Motion Pictures and BVG Films, is an important step in our strategy to leverage the future growth potential of 3D technology. UFO’s thought leadership and innovation seeks to deliver great services that will provide wider access to audiences to compelling content, whenever and wherever.”

See the original story here: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/153277/two-film-companies-come-together.html

 

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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