We’ve noted the demo of Blackmagic Multibridge Extreme and DeckLink HD Pro with Adobe’s OpenHD turnkey HP xw8200 system running the new Adobe Production Studio (see Jan. 24th).

This is not just a budget system capable of handling HD resolutions. Since the xw8200 incorporates a PCI Express bus (capable of 10 Gbps throughput), used with the Multibridge’s DVI-D dual link connection, you can easily run Apple’s 30 inch Cinema display — or the new Dell 3007WFP 30-inch display, which prices around $2200, or a $200 cheaper list price than Apple’s recently discounted screen. (Dell also has a revolving discount policy; keep checking their site and you’ll probably find their 30-inch on sale with another $200 or so knocked off.)

All this by way of pointing out that the Multibridge with PCI Express supports 2K even for QXGA monitors (which are 2048 x 1536 @ 75Hz). The two 30-inch monitors can display this, since they offer 2560 x 1600 display res. It’s pretty striking that 2K can now be displayed on systems that price way below top end products from Autodesk and Quantel.

Press Release: Sundance Institute Announces Winners of the 2006 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award

Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) today announced at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival the winners of the 2006 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Award, this year‘s winners represent the best in independent voices from around the globe. This annual award supports new artists in international cinema and is presented to emerging film directors from four global regions to support them in realizing their next project. One winner from Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Japan is selected by members of an International Jury. The four winners are presented with the award at the Festival Awards Ceremony.

The winning directors from each region will receive a $10,000 director‘s award and a guarantee from NHK to purchase the Japanese television broadcast rights upon completion of their project. NHK is Japan‘s largest broadcaster with five 24-hour TV and three radio channels. In addition, Sundance Institute will work closely with the award recipients throughout the year, providing ongoing support and assistance in seeking out opportunities to finance and distribute their projects.

The winning filmmakers and projects are: Patrice Toye, THE SPRING RITUAL from Europe; Fernando Eimbcke, LAKE TAHOE, from Latin America; Cruz Angeles, DON‘T LET ME DROWN from the United States; and Kanji Nakajima, THE CLONE RETURNS TO THE HOMELAND from Japan. more

DP Mauricio Rubenstein gave the XDCAM a tough test if you‘re thinking about how well it shapes up to film. The piece, Puccini for Beginners, needed an absolutely traditional film look–the one that goes with Romantic Comedies. “It has to be so that the girls look pretty,” Mauricio says. “It has to be so that the look is crisp and a little bit glossy.” He knew the colors had to saturate in that Romantic Comedy kind of way, with a kind of polish that belied low budget indie.

Of course, plenty of people are achieving film look and film style with digital cameras, but not all in this style. Yet Rubenstein says, “for this particular project this turned out to be the right camera” (with Canon HD primes and a cinelike zoom). “I don‘t tlak only in the level of how saturated the colors, how deep the contrast or how the chip is performing. This combination produced a very cinematographic look.” He mentions selective focus, something he says digital cameras had trouble with in the past, as well as the scale of distance and size. He mentions night exteriors lit with lampposts and describes dark exteriors as having “body and definition.” more

Press Release: New York City Salutes its Presence at Sundance Film Festival

“Made in NY” productions once again have a leading role at this year‘s Sundance Film Festival. The Mayor‘s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting congratulates our City‘s films which are playing at the Festival:

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, directed by Dito Montiel and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson, the coming of age story of a boy growing up in Queens in the 1980‘s who believes he is saved from choosing the wrong path by various saints.

Flannel Pajamas, a Jeff Lipsky character-driven production which tells the story of a couple who become instantly attracted on their first date, and what happens to their relationship over the following two years. more

Wanted to comment on Trevor’s mention of HP’s xw4300 workstation in a couple of his postings (Jan 20th).

I have my own xw4300, running a dual-core Pentium D (you can get one with a single core Pentium 4, but why bother? See the following.).

So why choose a dual core workstation? One word: Multitasking.

While a faster CPU might make a difference in some situations, if you’re anything like me, a day at the computer is less about speeding through one action and more about doing many things at once, jumping among various programs, checking something on Google, buying and downloading an image or video file from the ‘net– all things that can tie up the standard, single-core CPU, since everything has to go through that one gateway.

With a dual core CPU, one of the pair can work in the background, downloading, compressing, rendering, and doing whatever other intensive chores you need. This makes even more sense if, again, you’re like me, and run dual monitors. I can keep windows open and active without worrying about my interactivity taking a nose dive.

Press Release: Sony Unveils Tapeless HD Production System for Cinematographers at Sundance

New XDCAM HD System Combines Optical Disc Technology with HD Resolution to Put Powerful Production Capabilities in Cinematographers‘ Hands

At this week‘s Sundance Film Festival, Sony is taking the wraps off of the next generation of its XDCAM™ Professional Disc™ system - a line of high-definition optical camcorders and decks that offers cinematographers and directors of photography a toolkit of flexible, digital production options.

The XDCAM HD system is the latest Sony digital innovation to debut at Sundance, and marks the continuing evolution of optical technology as video professionals shift from standard definition production. more

My blog is intended to be daily, but as German Field Marshall von Molke noted, no plan survives contact with the enemy, in this case the blitzkrieg of screenings, parties, panels, new equipment displays, music performances, and endless chance encounters that Sundance inflicts. Plus that all-night jam session in the basement of New York entertainment attorney Jonathan Gray’s condo. Not my fault they needed a bass player.

Speaking of sleep deprivation, not one but two Sundance films from veteran directors tackle the topic of sleeplessness: Alan Berliner‘s Wide Awake and Haskell Wexler‘s Who Needs Sleep? Berliner‘s film explores the personal consequences of insomnia, while Wexler‘s examines the dangers, even lethality, of sleep deprivation among film industry workers, especially those who routinely put in days of 14, 16, even 18 hours on the set, then drive home woozy. more

Press Release: THIN, Shot With Panasonic’s AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO50 Camera, is Selected For the Documentary Competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival

* Provocative Film on Young Women with Anorexia to Premiere on HBO in Fall 2006 *

* Panasonic AG-DVX100A Used as Second Camera for Production *

THIN, a gripping documentary about young women with eating disorders directed by internationally-renowned still photographer Lauren Greenfield and shot with Panasonic 24p cameras (the AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO50 camera backed up by the mini-DV AG-DVX100A), will screen in the Documentary Competition at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 19 - 29 in Park City, UT. THIN will screen seven times, from Jan. 20 - 27. more

Claire Erwin, senior manager for worldwide education marketing at Adobe in the lobby of the Yarrow hotel explains:

The 2006 contest is now open to groups or individuals across 22 countries and 7 languages in multiple deisng categories including the second annual animation category and the venerable time-based media (live action) category.

Deadline April 28. More info: www.adobe.com/education/adaa

An advisory board of industry pros selets the winners, they are not judged by Adobe. Who knows: you could be the next Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot.

Here‘s the backstory on Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot–that‘s the Animation Competition film mentioned in an earlier post…they did a workshop at the Film Center over the weekend.

It‘s been a good year for animators at San Jose State. They made a lot of their own luck, but as is often the case, help followed. Starting about a year ago, under the direction of lecturer David Chai, a bunch of them started down the path to Sundance, pooling their laptops, Adobe software and animation to make a short animated film called Neighborhood Roots. They entered the film in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards and as part of their finalist status received multiple copies of Adobe Video Collection. David Gladstone, then at DreamWorks kicked in more copies. With a hardware infrastructure based on HP workstations, the state university finds itself on a par with private colleges, turning out animators who are now working on more than 40 feature films and working at ILM and EA.

So back to Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot (their film at Sundance). Armed with (finally) matching copies of Adobe Video Collection and with 55 days of summer in front of them they went to work. Although SJSU faculty and recent alumni contributed to the project–especially the initial story–the bulk of the work was done by animators like Lauren Andrews. She‘s a character animator who is responsible for the “umbrella crumbling” and the “dragging crab leg” among other moments, and who lived on a steady diet of Vietnamese sandwiches, Costco pizza and the occasional splurge on a Taco Bell buffet, while the communal project took shape.

Finished in Sept. 2005, it made it into Anchorage and NY Independent Film Festivals, and then the call came for Sundance. “When we announced it to the group,” David says, “one guy had to slip out into the hallway to call his mom.”