ALEXANDER PAYNE’S “THE DESCENDANTS” BEGINS SHOOTING
Six years after making the cross-over hit Sideways, Alexander Payne has begun production on his next film, The Descendants.
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MORE TRIBECA TITLES ANNOUNCED
The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival today announced its remaining out-of-competition feature film selections in the Encounters, Discovery, Cinemania and Spotlight sections. The Festival will run April 21 to May 2.
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“The Oath” and “Last Train Home” Embark to Zeitgeist
Two acclaimed docs from this year’s Sundance Film Festival have found a U.S. home. Zeitgeist acquired Laura Poitras’ “The Oath” and Lixin Fan’s “Last Train Home.” Both films will screen at the upcoming New Directors/New Films series later this month in New York. Zeitgeist attorney Robert Marcus negotiated both deals with with Bob Moore of EyeSteelFilms for “Last Train Home” and David B. Smallman of Smallman Law PLLC for “The Oath.” “Oath” will be released in May, 2010, while “Train” will hit theaters this Summer.
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IFC Locks 5 Film VOD Lineup for SXSW
In the latest move to bring festival films directly into day-and-date distribution, IFC Films has tapped five titles for a nationwide cable VOD release during the upcoming SXSW Film Festival. The program includes three new SXSW films, as well as two from last year.
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Nicolas Chartier: “This is what it’s about, being passionate for independent movies.”
All weekend here in Los Angeles, a number of folks in the indie film community complained about this year’s Spirit Awards move from an afternoon celebration on the beach in Santa Monica to an evening event downtown. Well, yesterday in Malibu, some insiders got what they wanted. Independent spirit was celebrated in a tent overlooking the Pacific Ocean when “The Hurt Locker” - a modestly budgeted feature film—won the Academy Award for best picture of the year.
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“Precious” Tops Spirit Awards
The "Precious" team -- including Lee Daniels, Mariah Carey, Gabourey Sidibe, Geoffrey Flecther and others, backstage after sweeping The Spirit Awards, including . Photo by Brian Brooks.
“It’s going to be a big night for ‘Precious’,” an industry insider proclaimed, prior to the start of the 25th Independent Spirit tonight in Downtown Los Angeles. “At least I hope so,” the person added.
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Hollywood Studio to Back Micro-Budget Movies
An image from the Insurge Pictures website.
After effectively abandoning specialty films, Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures is expected to officially unveil a new division for micro-budget movies today. Dubbed Insurge Pictures, the unit has one million dollars fueling its films. 10 movies are on tap in the first year at a budget of just $100,000 each.
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Hot Docs Selects 28 Toronto Documentary Forum Projects
The scene at the Toronto Documentary Forum last year. Photo by Peter Knegt.
Hot Docs has announced the 28 projects that will be presented during this year’s Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF), North America’s largest market for the international documentary community. The TDF will take place May 5-6, 2010 during the Hot Docs Festival, Conference and Market, which runs April 29-May 9, 2010. This year’s projects were selected from 175 submissions and represent 11 different countries.
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Box Office: “Mother,” “Girl” Lead Debuts; “Ghost Writer” Continues Success
A scene from Bradley Rust Gray's "The Exploding Girl."
While the wide-release box office saw the continued reign of “Alice in Wonderland” and the suggestion that Robert Pattinson can’t sell a non-“Twilight” film (“Remember Me” debuted to only $8.2 million), the specialty set saw a couple films find fair debuts and one expanding “Ghost Writer” continue to become one of late winter’s breakouts.
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Lionsgate Rejects Icahn’s Partial Tender Offer
It was announced today that Lionsgate’s Board of Directors rejected an unsolicited partial tender offer from the Icahn Group. The Group’s offer was to purchase up to 13,164,420 common share of Lionsgate for $6.00 per share. The Board deemed this financially inadequate.
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Class on Demand Offers New FCP and FCS Training DVDs
Apple guru Tom Wolsky delivers comprehensive training for recently released Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Pro updates; new courses offered at exclusive introductory pricing.
Class on Demand, a provider of professional educational products for creative markets, is pleased to announce that "Basic Training for Final Cut Studio" and "Complete Training for Final Cut Pro 7," are now available for pre-order.
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Sony Offers Fourth Round of Online HD Media Seminars
Free sessions run the gamut of HD recording media topics – from end-to-end tapeless workflows to file-based SR expansion.
With professional HD recording media options for users more diverse now than ever – from tape and flash memory to hard-disk and optical disc – Sony Electronics is once again giving video professionals the information they need to make the right production decisions. The fourth installment of Sony’s popular “Online HD Media Seminars” will cover a comprehensive range of topics related to HD media formats, tapeless workflows, file-based recording, care and handling and more.
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Element Technica Quasar 3D Rig Captures 'The Mortician'
When writer/director Gareth Maxwell Rogers decided to shoot the psychological thriller The Mortician in 3D, cinematographer Michael McDonough opted to use Element Technica’s new Quasar 3D rig.
On the set of The Mortician, cinematographer Michael McDonough sets a shot with the Quasar rig. Photo by Cook Allender
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Featured Streambox Products at the 2010 NAB Show
Streambox focuses on IP-based, end-to-end newsgathering and contribution services. It delivers SD and HD software and hardware for video compression, transmission, management, and playout. The Streambox Live service supplements the Streambox platform with free encoding software and server-based services for scalable newsgathering and contribution.
Streambox solutions are based on the ACT-L3 codec, which provides unrivaled performance, reliability, and quality over low data rate IP networks for fast transmission and playout of video streams in HD and SD. The company's platform enables broadcasters, government agencies, enterprises, and other users to enhance content ownership, simplify operations, and increase operational efficiencies.
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FxAndy Film Simulation Plug-in Available for Final Cut Pro
FxAndy, the film simulator for Final Cut, takes your digital footage back to the film era with picture-perfect simulations of leading film stocks, including Velvia, Eterna, Tri-X, Agfachrome, Kodachrome and many more.
According to developer Sean M Puckett, FxAndy translates digital footage data into a realistic simulation of a film camera complete with full color filter control, exposure control, film type selector with latitude adjustments and processing variations, darkroom and enlarger, classic papers with variations and adjustments — and a few digital-world tweaks to add even more versatility.
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New Video Solution Adds DRM Support for iPhone and iPod touch
FluxDVD, a leading secure platform-independent video solution, now supports secure video downloads and playback on Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices. The optionally DRM-protected files can be downloaded directly on the iPhone or may be transferred from a PC without requiring iTunes.
Once the content and license is stored on the iPhone, the content can be used as defined in the DRM and does not require any Internet connection.
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New Sorenson 360 API Empowers Developers to Integrate Web Video
Sorenson Media has announced the wide release of the Sorenson 360 API, an application programming interface that enables developers and business clients to create scalable and stable custom video solutions with minimal coding, and to easily and intuitively integrate the industry’s highest-quality video into their Web sites using the Sorenson 360 Video Delivery Network — Sorenson Media’s re-imagined online video platform.
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FinalCutters Online FCP Product Directory Launched
FinalCutters is the first comprehensive directory of Final Cut Pro related products with over 900 hardware, software and system products from more than 250 companies. From free plug-ins right up to high-end broadcast systems. Product listings include a screenshot, useful links, description, tags, current version and pricing information. Registered users can write short reviews on products and give them a 1 to 5 star rating, as well as become a fan and add products to their user profile. New products and recent software updates are shown alongside the highest rated and most popular products.
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"Alice in Wonderland" stands very tall in theaters
"Alice in Wonderland" held the golden key to box office receipts, smashing multiple records during its first weekend of worldwide, and easily surpassed the opening stand of all-time champ "Avatar" in North America, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Sunday.
Director Tim Burton's 3D update of the Lewis Carroll tale sold $210.3 million worth of tickets worldwide. Moviegoers in the United States and Canada contributed $116.3 million, the sixth-biggest opening weekend ever, according to research firm Box Office Mojo.
Disney said the better-than-expected North American bow set new records for a film released in both March and the first quarter, traditionally a quiet period for major films.
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DISH widens Fox News reach, picks up Fox Business
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Satellite television provider DISH Network Corp will start carrying News Corp's Fox Business Network and make the Fox News Channel available to more homes, Fox said on Tuesday.
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YouTube Set for Hollywood Partnership
YouTube and the William Morris Agency are nearing a deal that would put the Hollywood talent broker's clients in made-for-YouTube productions, according to a report in The New York Times.
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MySpace, YouTube 'citizen reporters' at World Economic Forum (AFP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - MySpace and YouTube are sending a pair of "citizen reporters" to the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland this week to do online video coverage for users of the popular websites.
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Dance company creates an online video competition
The Martha Graham Dance Company is launching a global competition challenging anyone who's cyber-savvy to transform the late choreographer's masterpiece, "Clytemnestra," into an online video.
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Panasonic Digicams Marry High-end Codecs, Connectivity (PC Magazine)
On Tuesday, Panasonic is expected to announce five new Lumix digital cameras, three of which will record high-definition video with a low-bitrate version of the "AVCHD" recording codec, plus include some interesting connectivity and control options for HDTV
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Obama weekly address sparks lively debate on YouTube (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama, as promised, put his first weekly address from the White House on YouTube on Saturday, sparking a raucous debate in the comments section of the video-sharing site.
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Pope on YouTube fails to excite web surfers (AFP)
VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI's launch of a Vatican channel on global video-sharing website YouTube fell on slightly deaf ears Friday, according to early viewing figures.
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Report: YouTube tinkers with e-commerce program (CNET)
Google is trying to expand YouTube's e-commerce profile by offering viewers in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands click-to-buy products, something that it had offered only in the U.S. and Great Britain, according to Peter Kafka at All Things Digital
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Music Recording