|
|
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
 Caston
Heads Up Amber Broadcast
Frenchs Forest-based distributor Amber Technology Limited has announced
the appointment of Ross Caston as Manager of their Broadcast Division.
The division handles national distribution of a range of products
targeted at the production and delivery of Television and film programming.
These include EVS slow motion video systems, DVB servers and playout
systems; MRC microwave link systems, ENG systems and modems; ADVENT
satellite systems; and CTE transmitters along with complementary
products from ProBel, Trilogy, Sigma and others.
Caston has over 20 years of experience within the global broadcast
community, most recently with Fairlight, where he spent 5 years
as European Technical Director and 4 Years as Product Director here
in Sydney. Prior to this, he served time as International Sales
and Marketing Manager for DynaudioAcoustics, Systems Engineer and
Project Manager for Munro Associates (broadcast and audio studio
design and build), Product Manager at Audio Kinetics (Synchronisers,
console automation and editing systems), and International Service
Manager for Solid State Logic.
According to Peter Amos, Managing Director of Amber Technology,
“Ross brings a very high level of technical and operational expertise
to Amber, together with comprehensive marketing and management skills.
These will ensure that the Broadcast Division continues to expand,
promote, deliver and effectively support a product portfolio representing
the cream of the crop in broadcast technologies.”
Definite Intermediate Role for Cole
Discreet has hired experienced colour timer David Cole to act as
its Digital Intermediates Product Specialist in Australia and New
Zealand.
Cole brings a wealth of experience to the role, with digital colour
grading credits for blockbuster features including The Lord of
the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and Ghost Ship.
He began using the precursor to Lustre over two years ago on the
Fellowship of the Ring, building on a career using traditional
grading techniques.
"I've been using Lustre and its previous versions for about as long
as anyone, and it is a great system for the organic processes of
film," said Cole. "It has the full power of a telecine suite but
designed in a non-linear fashion. It's geared for grading feature
films, but it can do video as well - it's not limited in any way.
"It works the way a traditional film colourist's mind works, but
with the full flexibility of a digital tool," he continued. "It's
possible to do scene-to-scene colour adjustments and have as many
as 16 frames on the screen at once to give you a great feel for
the flow of the film."
Cole believes Lustre offers several advantages over telecine-based
systems, including the ability to track shapes or the option to
grade once and then reversion the project for a range of applications,
including HD and SD.
"Lustre will be a boon for the film industry, or even for any project
that just wants a good consistent feel. I think it will be huge
for bigger budget projects," he said.
Prodigy Films On The Move
Prodigy Films has moved. Having outgrown its boutique Paddington
office, Prodigy's recent expansion to its newly renovated warehouse
space, signals a fresh phase of growth for the company.
With the arrival of Cannes Gold winner Nicholas Reynolds and Tropfest
winner Tim Bullock earlier this year, the company has grown on both
a local and international level.
Recent projects have included a European Peugeot commercial, co-produced
with Partizan and filmed on the waterfront at Port Botany, a new
US Mitsubishi Endeavor TVC filmed in Sydney, which reflected a feature
film in its size, crew and shooting schedule, as well as a Nestle
Milka Chocolate worldwide TVC campaign, shot throughout New Zealand
and Tasmania.
Other local projects have included TVC's for Virgin Credit card,
Foxtel, Uncle Bens, Holden, McDonalds, I&J Foods, General Mills
and Wrigleys, as well as recent music videos for US artists Good
Charlotte and Kelly Rowland.
Prodigy can now be found at: 3rd Floor, 116 Kippax Street, Surry
Hills, NSW, 2010, Australia.
Telephone: +61-2-9280 3330. Fax: +61-2-9280 3331.
MESH22 and Cornerpost Relocate
The Omnilab Group has announced a change of location for two of
its divisions, mesh22 and Cornerpost. As of mid September 2003,
mesh22, the Omnilab Group's design division will be located in the
Group's Artarmon location, alongside the LaB sydney.
Both companies are excited about the potential of the collaboration
says mesh22 General Manager Dave Kelly.
"Although we are quite attached to the Crows Nest location, the
aim is to build mesh22 in Artarmon with a very similar feel to the
current studio. Increasingly, the projects coming through either
the LaB sydney or mesh22 are being completed across both locations.
The amount of shared work made the need for the move obvious. There
is no question that the close proximity of our design and animation
teams to the LaB's VFX and telecine departments will benefit everyone
who works with us. With the combined resources of both divisions,
we will be able to offer our clients a more complete solution from
a creative and production perspective."
Mesh22 Creative Director Richard Swan adds, "the relocation allows
the unique way mesh22 works to be augmented by an even broader facilities
base. Our creative direction and integrity will continue as a standalone
brand while solidifying the existing synergy with the LaB. mesh22
will continue to build on their existing client base while striving
to generate new design solutions for an even wider variety of projects."
Sound design and edit house, Cornerpost will move into the Group's
Crows Nest facility on Albany Street. Cornerpost's facilities will
now include an Inferno, 2 Smokes suites, 7 avid suites, a DS suite
and 3 audio studios.
Says Cornerpost Executive Producer Doug McLennan, "With our lease
up for renewal, it was a great opportunity to have a look at increasing
the size of this division and where we are heading from the sound,
edit and overall retail, tvc and longform production perspective.
The additional space offered in the Albany Street location is much
needed, and with mesh22's desire to get closer to the other VFX
arm in the Group, we feel the time is right."
Comsyst Appoints New GM
Comsyst a division of Alstom Australia Limited has appointed David
MacKenzie as General Manager. David will be working closely with
Mario Fairlie as he transitions into the business.
David completed his Electrical/Computer Engineering degree at Queensland
University of Technology in Brisbane and comes from the Telecommunications
Industry where he was involved in projects ranging from Internet
Data Centre construction to satellite installation and maintenance
services for pay-TV.
David said he was proud to be joining the committed and professional
team at Comsyst.
"Comsyst are now strategically well positioned to pursue larger-scale
end-to-end systems integration projects within the Broadcast and
Telecommunications Industries with the support of the extensive
resources of ALSTOM." he said. "Comsyst will continue the tradition
of delivering cost effective engineered solutions and continue providing
local service and product backup to our customers."
MRC Signs Telequipment Pacific as NZ Rep
Microwave Radio Communications (MRC), a Vislink Communications
Company, has announced that it has signed Telequipment Pacific Ltd
(Telequipment) as its New Zealand representative. Phil Cooke, Managing
Director, Telequipment has successfully represented Vislink's CML
products for the past fifteen years.
Phil can be contacted at Telequipment's New Zealand office by telephone
at +64-4-384-1927, or via e-mail at Phil@telequipment.co.nz.
David Thomas, International Sales Manager for Vislink/MRC will work
closely with Telequipment to provide product information, sales
and engineering assistance to customers in the region. David can
be reached at MRC by phone at +1-978-671- 5858, or email at dthomas@mrcbroadcast.com
Telequipment will be supplying the entire Vislink product line,
which includes, microwave transmission equipment, television transmitters,
microwave links (comprising fixed, mobile and portable systems)
and satellite communications (comprising flyaway systems, vehicle
systems and earth stations), systems and security solutions including
high technology CCTV systems and image processing applications.
 Visser
Rejoins Quantel
Quantel Australia has announced the appointment of Richard Visser
as Sales Manager, Film and Post Production for Australia and New
Zealand. Not new to the Quantel scene, Visser worked in the Quantel
Australian sales department six years ago and has recently left
Klotz Digital to return to the company. Visser's new role will involve
working with the Quantel generationQ product range in the post production
and film markets.
Julien James, Managing Director, Quantel Australia says, "Richard
brings a wealth of experience in broadcast, post and film as well
as a sound background in digital audio to his new position and we
at Quantel are very excited about having someone with his skills
return to the challenges of the Film & Postproduction markets."
Visser will be attending this year's SMPTE and can be found at the
Quantel Stand F36
 TropFest's
Bullock Joins Prodigy
Prodigy Films has expanded its diverse line-up of Directors with
the addition of celebrated Tropfest winner, Tim Bullock. Previously
working with Saatchi & Saatchi for the past eight years, Bullock's
passion for film storytelling flourished. He has written and directed
three internationally acclaimed and award-winning short films including,
the musical comedy, Playin' Hard to Get, the suspense thriller,
Late Night Shopper, and the black comedy, Buried. The
latter took out the prestigious first prize at Australia's Tropfest
Film Festival, the world's largest short film competition. Bullock
is currently developing a feature film script whilst directing commercials.
Jonathan Samway, Executive Producer, Prodigy Films says, "Tim is
a much welcomed addition to the Prodigy team, He joins a formidable
line up of directors that can be versatile especially when it comes
to comedy. Nick Reynolds (Gold Cannes winner 2002) and Tim (TropFest
2003) both have all the necessary skills to bring out the very best
in a script. We currently get a lot of work out of North America
and Tim will be a welcome option for them but more importantly,
a great ally to the creative teams here in Australia."
Return to Industry News Archive
|
