Millimeter January 2001COVEREditor's NotesTranscend Your MediumCynthia Wisehart About two-and-a-half years ago, filmmakers, documentarians, and even television producers were, on the whole, segregated between those who worked only... FeaturesMaking FacesMichael Goldman Facial Motion Capture The role of motion-capture technology in facial animation depends on a wide range of factors: project, budget, medium, resolution,... Facial Motion CaptureMichael Goldman Moon Crescent Studios, Manhattan Beach, is currently using a proprietary system licensed from Eyetronics of Belgium to produce an independent live-action/CG... Shooting Digital CinemaDebra Kaufman Pioneers in New Territory In the not-so-distant future, feature films may well be acquired, post produced, and distributed in the digital realm, and transferred... New ToysJon Silberg Four Innovative Cameras Panasonic's new AJ-HDC27A model 720p 60 is based on the DVCPRO HD format and may soon offer multiple frame rates.In the last two... Off-Off SundanceMarsha Scarbrough Confessions of a Film Festival Juror When I was invited to be a juror for the Second Annual Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine, I thought it sounded... DAM IT!Kristinha McCort Stock Meets Digital Asset Management In the digital age, stock-footage companies find themselves with a wealth of analog materials to archive and manage.... VisFXThe Six-Million Dollar IndieMichael Goldman Frank Foster calls Thru the Moebius Strip "a textbook experiment" to see if independent filmmakers could produce a CG-animated feature film for $6 million.... Upgrading AnimationAudrey Doyle What do you do when your client can only afford 2D effects for a television commercial, but you know that those effects would look a lot better in 3D?Pete... Ten TipsEllen Wolff Digital Effects on a Budget "I've yet to have someone walk through the door and say, `Hey, I've got lots of time and money,'" says John Van Vliet of Available... Body on a BudgetAudrey Doyle "It's rare for a client to phone us and say, `We've got a big budget; can you spend it for us?'" jokes Chris Wallace, president of Toronto's TOPIX/Mad... Cloth TornadoAudrey Doyle Despite the sophistication of today's modeling and animation software, cloth simulation is still difficult and time-consuming. But for a new commercial... Cost-Conscious Time ShiftMichael Goldman Max Ivins jokes that there is one simple rule for creating digital effects with little money: "Don't ever move the camera and always get a clean plate."... Method's PlaystationMichael Goldman Almost every shot in a recent :60 for Sony's Playstation 2 features digital effects, and advertising agency Chiat Day, San Francisco, certainly dedicated... Investment EffectsMichael Goldman Destiny Images of West Virginia compensated for a lack of money with an innovative plan while creating a production model for Letter TV, a series of 26... The Good, the Bad, and the TromaMichael Mallory On a strangely sultry November day in the Los Angeles suburb of Sun Valley, an odd mix of nearly naked actresses and trashily dressed drag queens practice... TechnologyA Y2K Compliant Year for TelecinesD.W. Leitner A Counter-Perspective Sticklers eventually gave up pointing out that Y2K, the dread season of worldwide calamity, was merely the eve of the third Christian... Converging ConversionPhilip De Lancie Conversion has been an issue in post production ever since authorities in Europe and the United States adopted different approaches to broadcasting at... Euro VisionDan Ochiva Media Technology with a French Twist p>Companies like Quantel, Philips, and Snell & Wilcox enjoy a reputation for offering leading-edge media technologies... Step by StepUnbreakableEllen Wolff Workin' on the Railroad When director M. Night Shyamalan attracted attention with The Sixth Sense, he relied on practical effects. But for his latest... ClipsThe Mo-Cap of SinbadMichael Mallory The Mo-Cap of Sinbad Animated characters move with the weight and realistic performance touches of live-action actors. Animated waterfalls virtually defy... Steamy PrevizAudrey Doyle Steamy Previz Most of the time previz is an investment - a way to test ideas, save production time, or sometimes get a client. When Mattel's internal... Low Budget ProfitsMarsha Scarbrough Low-Budget Profits Last November, in an article about so-called "sweat equity" (i.e., donated labor, deferred salary, equity participation, or work-for-credit)... Portrait of the ArtistMatt Cheplic Portrait of the Artist In making a short film about modern painter Serena Bocchino, director Monica Sharf dispensed with that hallowed documentary staple,... Loud and Proud PromoKristinha McCort Loud and Proud Promo When Beehive, New York, got the assignment to create a promo for the new Showtime series Queer As Folk, the design company received... Art for AllKristinha McCort Art for All The holidays may be over, but generosity is never out of style. Those looking to prolong the giving season might consider donating money or... Digital Water WorksMichael Goldman Digital Water Works Liberty Media Group's recent acquisition of major postproduction facilities on both coasts has fueled the construction of a massive,... Hot SpotsHot SpotsKristinha McCort N.Y. Post "Boutique" Anyone familiar with New York's high cost of living can appreciate this :30's humor, which Compulsive Pictures taps into with sly... Cool GraphicsCool GraphicsKristinha McCort MSNBC Promo Package Production/Design FDG, New York Executive Producer David Edelstein Senior Creative Director Michael Uman Head of Production Adam Kagan... Fields and FramesFields & FramesDan Ochiva Whither Panavision? At press time, controversy swirled around the Woodland Hills, California-based camera and lighting manufacturer (Lee Lighting), as... HotwareHotwareDan Ochiva Adobe Premiere 6 Does DV, Web With "DV in, Web out" as its mantra, Adobe launched Premiere 6.0 at December's Streaming Media West after 18 months of development.... Digital Production NewsThe Internet: Your Next Production Office?Dan Ochiva The Internet has hardly proved to be a bonanza for Hollywood content creators. Now it looms as a tool for production management, which saw its last major... Audio Restoration for River KwaiMichael Goldman Mark Rozett, rerecording mixer at Burbank's Chace Productions, compares the 5.1 audio remastering done for the DVD of David Lean's World War II epic,... Digital ProductionNetworking: The REZN8 NetworkEllen Wolff Hollywood-based REZN8 serves broadcasters such as CBS, ABC, and FOX, and clients such as Citibank, Intel, and Imax. Founded in 1987 by Paul Sidlo, REZN8's... Beta SightFamous Technologies FAMOUSfacesDan Ablan Less Expensive Lip Sync It happens all the time. A client calls to get your input about a "super cool" project in the works. You're immediately intrigued... Fade to BlackFade to BlackJon Silberg Steven Soderbergh, Director Steven Soderbergh has developed a reputation for somewhat experimental - and often bizarre - filmmaking. Coming off the success... |
