Where Imagination Thrives
Spots and promos are fertile venues for innovative VFX and CG work. Whether they play on broadcast networks, cable, the web, or at trade shows, these short- and long-form advertising messages offer high-quality executions of compelling, heart-warming, elegant and fun creative.
Rental Houses
Equipment rental houses coast to coast talk what’s hot, what’s next and their best-kept secrets.
NAB 2013 From A to Z*
Markee's annual round up of notable products featured at this year's NAB.
ASC Career Achievement in Television Honoree: Rodney Charters
When Rodney Charters, ASC, was growing up in New Zealand “Hollywood was so far away it was unimaginable.” But Charters, the latest recipient of the ASC Career Achievement in Television Award, eventually made his way to the production capital of the world where he earned Emmy nominations for his cinematography for the innovative series, 24; brought his talents to The Pretender, Roswell, Shameless and now Dallas; and shot a roster of telefilms, including Sounder, A Ring of Endless Light and An American Girl on the Home Front
Taking the Non-traditional Route
Fortunately for moviegoers, director Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Against All Odds, White Nights, Dolores Claiborne, The Devil’s Advocate, Ray) only lasted two weeks in law school.
Making Feature Film VFX Look as Easy as Pi
If watching Ang Lee’s Life of Pi was an extraordinary experience for moviegoers, imagine the challenge of creating many of the film’s amazing visual effects. “Ang blew W.C. Fields’ ‘never work with children or animals’ quote out of the water and stuck [stereo] 3D on it,” laughs Bill Westenhofer, VFX supervisor at Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H), Los Angeles (www.rhythm.com).
Knowing the Score
The next time you see a video game on the shelf at a retailer near you or on a PC or gaming console, it might be time to stop and consider the growing enormity of these projects.
Spotlight: Southeast Success Stories
It would be a chicken-and-egg argument to determine which came first, Hollywood taking up residence in the Southeast or the Southeast sending enticing invitations with its growing infrastructure of studios, post facilities and rental houses. Either way, the evolution has been wondrous, profitable and entertaining. Thus, taking a different approach to our Spotlight coverage, Markee 2.0 is highlighting some of those studios, post facilities and rental businesses that help to create an endless array of television, film, commercial and marketing projects for clients all across the United States and around the world. There’s no doubt that the creativity and success of these companies will ensure the evolution continues.
Creating a State of Wonderment
Animation studios give unique and compelling looks to projects of every imaginable genre. They bring to life the magical worlds of strategic card games for online trailers, dazzle fans with entertainment and branded content in stadiums and arenas, and populate traditional broadcast and cinema commercials with menacing extinct creatures, reaching deep into their reservoirs of creativity and tools to keep us in a state of wonderment.
Rolling Into 2013, the Mobile Market Looks Strong
A quick tour around the mobile production industry reveals an industry that has been struggling – notably a recent labor strife in the NBA at the beginning of last season, followed by the NHL’s second standstill of the past decade – that is yet proving its resiliency today.
Spotlight: The South
The South is many things to many people. To some, it is the heart of religious and political conservatism; to others, it is a growing economic force and the headquarters for many of the world’s largest companies. But to filmmakers, the South is a painterly landscape of white-sand beaches, majestic mountains, dense forests and foreboding swamplands that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Hot Spots: Cutting Commercials
Editors showcase creative cuts that tell wistful, inspiring, informative, under-the-hood and behind the scenes-style stories for Werther’s, Major League Baseball/Stand Up To Cancer, Seventh Generation, Dodge Ram and Supercuts.
Spotlight: West Coast
From the quiet deserts of Southern California to the lush forests and deep canyons of Oregon, and beyond our continental border to the wilderness of Alaska, the West Coast of the United States offers perhaps the most diverse landscapes available to filmmakers anywhere in the world. You don’t have to look very hard to find the locations you need. And to make this task even easier, Markee 2.0 asked the state film offices in Alaska, California and Oregon to express the advantages of shooting in their states, as well as to explain their incentive packages.
Specialty Shooters: All Aboard!
We all know the dangers inherent in stunt work for movies, television and even commercials. And it’s certainly great when you see all the money on the screen, as the saying goes. But how often do we think about the cameramen tasked with filming these great action sequences, or the guys getting those specialty shots that writers and directors dream up? Well, the average moviegoer may not know who these people are, but industry insiders certainly are aware – especially if your specialty shooting company has been in business for more than 30 years, providing Hollywood and America’s leading corporations with marine and aerial cinematography.
LED Lighting
With their high output, low power consumption and cool operation, user-friendly LED lighting has quickly become popular in many markets. Advances in LED technology are happening rapidly, and LED fixtures are making inroads across all applications, from specific, low-level lighting to illuminating soundstages.
- Phosphene Adds Trio of Industry Vets
- Rodeo FX Names Audrey Bolvin To The Position Of Producer, Advertising Department
- Animation Studio Buster Names Executive Creative Directors
- New Fill-Lite LED Lights to Launch at Cine Gear Expo 2013
- Hooligan Cuts IBM’s Branded Documentary Short on The World's Smallest Movie
