by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 3, 2016
Fathom events, August 2016 – On Wednesday, August 24, 2016, Fathom events offered a one-night only screening of the classic American film, “Thelma & Louise,” featuring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon respectively in the title roles. This showing was in celebration of the films 25th anniversary.
Film critic Roger Ebert in his syndicated column of January 1, 1991 praised the film as being a classic in the expansive, visionary tradition of the American road picture. “It celebrates the myth of two carefree souls piling into a 1956 T-Bird and driving out of town to have some fun and raise some hell. We know the road better than that, however, and we know the toll it exacts: Before their journey is done, these characters will have undergone a rite of passage, and will have discovered themselves.
What sets “Thelma & Louise” apart from other great classics of traditional road movie like “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Easy Rider,” and “Rain Man,” and iconic buddy movies such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” is the fact that the heroes are both women.
They are initially presented as two very ordinary working-class girlfriends, Louise, a waitress at a small Arkansas town who lives with an Elvis look-alike musician, and Thelma, a housewife married to a verbally abusive buffoon who’s a self-important rug salesman. To escape their hum-drum lives, the girls decide to hit the road for a weekend of fun, but through successive, unanticipated events, often hilarious, yet equally as often, toxic and life-changing, the weekend is extended into a microcosm of an almost cosmic release of these two women’s inner, repressed selves. It’s as if we’re witnessing the free-flowing liberation of their inner-most psyches. They bare progressively their souls in the name of freedom throughout their journey and ultimately pay the price. They seem to take on a universal every-woman identity, one which few have the courage or the means to explore.
The film has two additional characters, understandably not included in the credits: the first is the harsh, barren, and unforgiving Bad Lands through which they journey seeking “a good time;” the second equally as harsh and brutal is the overwhelmingly male-dominated milieu in which they live, visually engulfed by big-rigs, 18-wheelers, oil tankers, predatory truck stops and run-down gas stations, all symbolizing the threatening and palpably dangerous environment in which they must survive. It’s all hard-edge and steel and one can almost smell the oil and stench of burning rubber.
But like a couple of unexpected, fragile daisies growing through a pile of concrete rubble, Thelma and Louise grow and mature spiritually in unanticipated ways, precariously pinched between a New Life of self-awareness and utter destruction.
This is not a “chick flick” or “women’s lib” gesture, but rather a ground-breaking cinematic milestone, in what may be viewed as the emergence on the popular screen of the female archetype in which the essence of womankind is given full and very moving expression.
Produced by Ridley Scott & Mimi Polk
Genre: Drama, Road Movie, Thriller
Rated: R
128 minutes
Cast: Susan Sarandon as Louise, Geena Davis as Thelma, Harvey Keitel as Hal and Brad Pitt as J.D. (debut)
Review by Hugh McMahon and Lidia Paulinska
by Lidia Paulinska | Aug 30, 2016
Siggraph, July 2016 – In an interview with Jeffrey Ovadya, Director of Sales and Marketing for Vicon Motion Systems, we got a chance to hear about their latest mocap camera and also Project Katana which was being demonstrated on the conference expo floor at SIGGRAPH 2016.
Motion Capture, or MoCap has moved to the mainstream for VFX production in movies, TV, advertising and most content creation. It has even expanded to support automated PTZ camera movement for live TV production using virtual studios. The primary product from the company is high speed cameras for motion capture that are mounted to a scaffolding system or framing to define a 3D space where the movement is captured. The new cameras and software are designed to be smarter and easier to use, as mocap moves from the professional space to the prosumer market.
For simplicity in the use of mocap, Jeff said that Vicon has started a program called “Project Katana”. The idea behind it is to have a system that in real time will create a mocap skeleton model ad bring the data into systems like Final Cut. The goal is to have final quality, fully rigged and articulated skeletons of the mocap session at the end of each shot. This will provide full skeletons of all characters in the 3D capture space, at the end of each day, along with the production dailies. In order to perform this analysis, the studio setup and network has to be self-healing. The data environment for motion and the rigging connections in the project are being done using a Matlab mathematical modeling core.
The booth at the SIGGRAPH expo was showing the system however there is not release date or a “product name” for when Project Katana will be released.
To address this shift towards simplicity, Vicon has introduced the Vero camera. It is available in two models the v1.3 which is a 1.3MP camera and the v2.2 which is a 2.2MP camera. Designed specifically for mocap applications, the cameras are an 850nm IR greyscale camera that operates at either 250FPS for the v1.3 or 330FPS for v2.2. The high frame rates on the cameras allow for real time and full range live motion capture.
The cameras have a variable focus lens from 6mm-12mm for use in low angle and high angle applications. A major design simplification for the user is the single cable connection. The cameras have standard RJ45/Cat5e Ethernet connector that serves to be the interface for the camera control, data connection from the units and power the units using the POE specification. For this single cable connection system, the cameras have been designed to only require 12W to operate. Like the prior generation and larger camera the Vantage, the Vero has on-board sensors that monitor camera position and temperature to ensure optimal performance.
by Lidia Paulinska | Aug 21, 2016
Siggraph, July 2016 – Due to the complexities of scheduling a large cast of actors and crew it is difficult to move the production to locations around the world. Due to tax rebates and incentives many movies are often shot in just a few locations. What is the solution for a production that is supposed to span the world? That was the situation that was presented to the production of Captain America Civil War which was primarily shot in Atlanta Georgia.
At the Siggraph this year the lead production session was dedicated to “The Making of Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War” movie. Victoria Alonso, Executive Vice President of Physical Production from Marvel Studios, Dan Delleeuw, VFX Supervisor and Swen Gillberg, Associate VFX Supervisor from Marvel Studios, Jean Lapointe, Compositing Supervisor from ILM, and Greg Steele, VFX Supervisor from Method Studios were discussing the production process of the movie.
As we already know the film was primarily shot in Atlanta Georgia and filmmakers utilize VFX to bring locations from around the world to Atlanta digitally. The presenters were detailing the stats for this film. The numbers for the 135 minutes film Captain America: Civil War were as follow: 2,782 finals were created; 2,745 finals were used in the movie, 415 shared shots between multiple VFX teams, 194,608 frames. The production team created description of total 12 characters that play in the movie including: Captain America, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Ant Man, Iron Man, Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, Black Panther and Spider Man. Every character was evaluated under the criteria such as: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Intuition or Psyche. For example the Winter Soldier: Fighting – Incredible, Agility, Strength and Endurance – Remarkable, Intuition – Excellent, Psyche – Typical.
For those who think that the developing story of the film like Captain America is a linear process: Script > Look Development > Story Boards > Previs, they are mistaken. The panelists showed that is more like a matrix of those elements and multiple teams working and a lot of material needed to be shot. Many times short post schedules sometimes required that they started on the assets before the foreground was shot or the sequence was fully realized. They don’t always stick to what was originally planned with pre-vis or story board. As a result a lot additional material was shot to cover all options such as time of day, weather, and any camera angle.
The production of Captain America Civil War was collaborating work of 18 teams worldwide working on a single project.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jul 11, 2016
Pepcom event, June 2016 – There is nothing not to like about Pepcom’s press only events. They are always well organized and have so many innovative products to see. The event happened on the evening of Thursday, May 19th, at the Metreon in San Francisco and focused on mobile products. 21 companies showcased their automotive, mobile and lifestyle innovations at the venue.
Here are take some of the products that I was most excited about:
Moshi, a designer of fashion bags, presented the Helios Lite and Helios backpacks that can carry laptops up to 13”(Helios Lite) and 15” (Helios). Made from ultra-lightweight and durable materials with water-repellent coating that protects in different weather conditions. All Moshi bags are very practical with enough pockets to put your valuables and accessories such as pens, chargers, smartphones and cables, as well as being fashionable for a generation of professionals that lead a busy and demanding lifestyle.
Looking over their other products at the Moshi’s table, I found another nice surprise that was on display. They presented the Avanti; Moshi’s flagship on-ear headphones. This stylish product has good sound and featured a nice ergonomic design. The curved stainless steel headband with soft adjustable ear cups made of soft leatherette lets us solely enjoy the music, which is being isolated from noise and with minimal pressure on the ears. Avanti headphones features high-efficiency 40 mm drivers with high dynamic range.
At the Kingston booth, along with their flagship products, the company division HyperX showcased their latest gaming headset; the HyperX Cloud Revolver, which is now shipping on Amazon, Best Buy and Newegg. The HyperX Cloud Revolver is made with a steel frame suspension design, memory foam and premium leatherette ear cups and headband. It is compatible with PC, console and mobile devices. Their latest version continues to bring high performance products from Kingston Technology using the Cloud.
Escort Inc. and Cobra Electronics, held by Cedar Electronics, showcased an array of dash cams: DriveHD Dash Cams and Drive HD CDR895D, which provide help capture against unexpected accidents on the road. The newest addition, CDR 895D is a dual channel dash cam that simultaneously captures the road ahead and road behind in HD video, offering front view resolution of full 1080P HD and rear view of 720P HD. The CDR 895D will be in Q2 with a MSRP of $229.95.
As we live in the mobile era we can’t forget that every device needs to be charged.
Ventev at its booth offered an array of charging hubs and power solutions. Along with new USB charging hub rq600, there were desktop charging hub s500, USB charging hub 400, global charging hub 300 and wall charging hub 200. On the portable power site, Ventev showcased power cells 10000+, 6000+, 6000c, 6000 and power dash r900. The company is also well known as a producer of cables that are strong, tangle-resistant and optimized.
At the end of my list, I would like to mention TripIt, a mobile application that allow you stress-free travel. The program allows to create a master itinerary for your trips and store your travel plans along with maps and directions in one place. It’s a great addition to your busy lives.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jul 1, 2016
E3, June 2016 – Noel Lee, the founder of Monster Cable, is an entrepreneurial icon in the audio & music industries. He personally designs and tunes every headphones that the company manufactures. Since early 2000s he is active in gaming industry and he presented his products at E3 show this year.
In the new presence at the show, Monster was showing off their high performance wireless products, their high power portable devices, automotive audio and the flagship for the show, their Fatal1ty by Monster gaming headsets. These were announced at CES 2016 and are the joint creation of Monster and video gamer Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, who set the world standard for competitive video gaming by capturing 12 World Championship e-Sports titles.
Creativity, Innovation and Music Matter is Noel’s favorite statement.
He started his company 37 years ago. Monster Cable & Monster Power was born in Noel’s garage. Today he holds 567 patents and has made milestones in design, comfort & performance. With successes like Beats by Dr. Dre he has now moved beyond the status quo, trailblazing with higher-performance headphones/speakers with Pure Monster Sound that Noel personally designs and tunes himself.
Here is Noel’ story.
In 1968 Noel Lee graduated from Cal Poly, San Louis Obispo and joined Lawrence Livermore National Labs’ engineering team. Six years later he left Lawrence Livermore Labs to go on a world tour with his band, Asian Wood. But he did not quit his engineering talents to create a better way to listen to music than through a zip cord. On June 26th, 1978 he registered his new company name “Monster Cable” and began production in his garage in San Francisco. Year later Lee created the first Monster cable and showcased it during summer CES in Chicago. In 1980 his company moved out of the garage to first office 101 Townsend Street in San Francisco. Lee hired his first employees, Tai Min and Shang Yu Chang, who are still with the company today. In 1998 the company moved again to the new headquarters in Brisbane, California.
Of the 567 patents that Noel holds, the first U.S. patent was for the Xterminator electrical connector (1983). He introduced to the market many products: The MacSpeaker, the first computer speaker (1985), Music Logo (1986), Monster XP, the first new high-performance cable since the original Monster cable was born (1991), M Series, with the introduction of a new line of high-end speaker cable (1992). There were also many awards such as three innovation awards for Monsterous product in 2001.
In 2008 he was awarded with the title of “Enterpreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young after he introduced Monster Game, a new product line for PS2, XBOX and Gamecube. In 2009 he launched Monster iSport headphones and made his appearance in gaming industry. The Fatality headset is his newest premium product that targeting the gaming space, and it was the basis of Monster’s first appearance at the E3 expo. Monster has held a long tradition of having a major presence in consumer, professional and technical trade events and expos, and now the gaming industry has them in their fold.
