The History Channel's new hit show, Ice Road Truckers, is all about the men who drive big trucks across frozen Canadian lakes, hauling essential supplies to the diamond mines in the far north by traveling roads built across great expanses of frozen lakes. If it takes nerves of steel for the drivers, who can actually hear the ice cracking under their groaning rigs, it also takes a certain kind of grit to ride shotgun with an HD camera. That's what DP Gavin Brennan found out last January, when he hit the Northern Territories to start the three-month shoot. F&V asked him about extreme cold, frozen pixels, and dangerous driving.... »
Money doesn’t grow on trees. Neither does beer. But the latter can grow up from the ground at least in the new spot ‘HarvesTED’ for Toohey’s Extra Dry. ... »
Peter Parker picked a peck of trouble this time. It could have meant trouble, too, for the team at Sony Pictures Imageworks, which handled the bulk of the effects. ... »
When the boards for the Finnish coffeemaker, Paulig Presidentti, came to Stardust Studios in New York, they were instantly attracted to creating animation with the brand’s signature green and gold color scheme. ... »
Editor Robert Bramwell is not using hyperbole when he says that a large majority of editors have been stuck in an archaic, inefficient approach to their projects that cost time, money and possibly their reputations... »
While new Sci-Fi series Sanctuary premiered earlier this month, it wasn’t on any TV network. Rather, the show, which stars several familiar faces from Sci-Fi Channel’s popular series Stargate SG-1 (including Amanda Tapping and Christopher Heyerdahl), made its debut on May 14—as an online-only webisodic series.... »
The post-production gurus behind Next say it's the first studio feature to be edited entirely in HD using Avid's DNxHD codec — and they figure it represents the latest forward leap in post workflow. ... »
Six field video crews, equipped with ten Panasonic P2 HD cameras and 150 8GB P2 cards, hit the trails last month to capture, for the first time, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in high definition.... »
With each season of Smallville, the visual effects get more elaborate while the production schedule remains fixed. Entity FX, which recently celebrated the completion of its 100th episode, keeps pushing the limits as seen in their work creating CG phantoms that attack Superman in the Phantom Zone. ... »
Rainmaker’s Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Breakspear led the 150-person team that filled 3D stadiums with digital crowds and gave the four main actors Olympic-class skating moves — or rather, convinced the audience these skaters, not their stunt doubles, could perform an Olympian’s triple salchows, double axels, spins, lifts, and spirals.... »
Working with editor Bernat Villaplana on post for the acclaimed Spanish film, Schiff had to organize an editorial process that involved assets moving between Spain, Mexico, and California — with a DI in Toronto.... »
Film & Video asked visual effects producer Arin Finger and creature supervisor Corey Rosen about working with the Korean production team, the creature’s complicated rigging system, and how The Orphanage’s VFX knowhow helped the production keep its CG budget under control.... »
