Christmas in Red Centre for SMPTE

"A dingo has taken my entree?" No, it wasn't the outback for the 40 or so attendees at this year's Australia Section Xmas dinner, but Red Centre Restaurant in the dead heart of Sydney post-production - Crows Nest. Members and guests treated themselves to three courses and wine while discussing the year's events and speculating on the state of the industry for 2004. For incriminating photographic evidence, click here.

BOARD OF GOVERNORS REPORT

By Gerry Brooks, International Governor Asia/Australia Region

The SMPTE technical Conference and Exhibition was held in New York this year and the Board of Governors of the Society met on the Sunday (16th) November 2003 after the Conference ended.

For full report, click here

Microsoft Donates to SMPTE Foundation

White Plains, New York - Microsoft, Inc. Director of Worldwide Media Standards Patrick Griffis used the recent SMPTE conference in New York to announce that Microsoft is granting $100,000 to the SMPTE Foundation. The SMPTE Foundation was created as a strategic long-range structure to enhance the Society's goals and create a mechanism for raising funds to advance basic SMPTE educational, technological, and standards work in the motion imaging fields. For more click here.

SMPTE HONOURS & AWARDS

White Plains, NY -- SMPTE has announced the award winners for outstanding achievement in the motion imaging industry. The Annual Honors and Awards ceremony and reception were held Wednesday, November 12 at the Hilton, New York.

For award recipients and background information on each honoree, click here.

FELLOWS HONOURED IN NYC

White Plains, NY -- Australian-born Bruce Devlin was among 18 new Fellows honoured at the SMPTE Honors and Awards Ceremony to be held during the 145th Technical Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday, November 12, 2003, at the Hilton New York, and also during the Fellows Luncheon on the following Saturday afternoon.

For full report, click here

Digital Pictures Tour - Lynch Mob Takes a Shine to Lustre

June 18 saw over 50 members and interested individuals assemble at Digital Pictures (former GMD facility) in Sydney's Crows Nest to tackle the issue of Digital Intermediates with colourist extraordinaire Warren Lynch and the company's new Discreet Lustre system.
Co-hosting with SMPTE Board member Bruce Williamson and SMPTE 2003 Conference Papers Chair, Mike Seymour, Warren prefaced the evening with a rundown of what had impressed him at this year's NAB.
Noting the appearance of cheaper film transports for use in viewing rushes, Warren mentioned CFC's Northlight digitiser and Arri's flatbed system.
"2k is enough," said Warren, "but there's more depth to be had from even 3k. We will step into 3 or 4k soon. It just means more disks."
Lynch also mentioned projection systems that had impressed him at NAB, including JVC, Barco, Panasonic (used on the night) and Christie Digital. Warren said Christie had found a degree of popularity amongst cinema owners because of the ability to place the DLP in front of the theatre's original lamp housing - a cheaper option.

Prior to demonstrations of the new Lustre system, Mike Seymour outlined the structure of the recently expanded Digital Pictures group. The merger of Isis and Digital Picture had seen Kotij, formerly located in McMahons Point with Warren and industry veteran Ian Richardson, move to the fomer GMD premises in Crows Nest. This facility will now handle feature film and other long form work. Different DP groups will focus on different markets such as broadcast design, features and TVCs. Current thinking is to detach grading from scanning with all film being output at DP's Melbourne (AAV) facility.
Warren Lynch then went on to demonstrate the Lustre system, calling it "... the best thing I've ever seen, at half the price of a da Vinci."
Complemented by an HD breakout box, DP's Lustre system is in beta version with the room still under refurbishment. Warren noted, however, that he had used a beta version on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers, and that the New Zealand industry was probably three years ahead of Australia in this area.
Originally developed by Hungarian firm Colorfront and licensed to the now defunct 5D, Lustre delivers realtime 2K primary color correction and grading capabilities while providing a rich and sophisticated feature set for working with high resolution imagery and digital intermediates. Designed to work in both linear and logarithmic colorspaces, lustre offers familiar concepts, such as printer lights, to color timers who have been trained in film laboratories as well as tools designed for colorists more familiar with video processes. At the heart of the Lustre system is a methodology which sees users working with metadata, instead of the original data files. This allows different operators to undertake different tasks simultaneously (e.g., colour grading and dust busting) before final rendering and output to film. For more details, click here.

top

LOU WOLF MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

The Deadline for the Lou Wolf Memorial Scholarship Approaches! Do you know a student in the Motion Imaging arts who can use some assistance? The deadline for students to submit their application for the scholarship is June 15th.
The scholarship is designed to help students further their undergraduate or graduate studies in motion pictures and television with an emphasis on technology. Applicants must be fulltime students enrolled in an accredited high school, 2-year or 4-year college or university, and must be current members of SMPTE. For information on applying for the scholarship, click here.

top

SMPTE CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY AWARD 2003

Anna Fraser, a graduating Digital Media student at AFTRS, was the unanimous choice of the selection panel for this year's $5000 SMPTE/AFTRS Creative Technology award, after they viewed her film "Press Any Button".
A multi-level portrait of Sophie, a woman, a mother, and a consumer, the film uses magazine-style advertising graphics and logos as narration, while Sophie moves between the reality of her ordinary morning and the fantasy world of the products she uses.
The Australian Section of the Society has supported students at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), with this annual award for several years. The award is for $5000 and is open to a student or students whose work clearly demonstrates a creative use of technology in telling their story or presenting their message.
The award is open to all students undertaking Graduate Diploma MA or MA (Hons) courses. The school is located in the Campus of the Macquarie University at North Ryde in Sydney. The award is judged by a joint panel from the Society and staff of the School.
The SMPTE representatives were Dominic Case, Brian Bailey and John Beckhaus with the AFTRS being represented by Annabelle Sheehan, Head of Film & Television, Peter Giles, Head of Digital Media and Phillippa Harvey, Lecturer, Editing.
The award encourages a creative use of technology. The chosen technology should facilitate production and enhance the story but should not dominate it. The production must also have something to say and not merely be used to demonstrate the use of the chosen 'tools'.
The criterion used by the panel covered:

• Appropriate selection and application of the technology
• Creativity
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Technology
• What did the student learn from the production with the process chosen?

The applicants submitted a copy of their programme (or segment) along with a written account relating the programme material to the criterion.
The committee viewed the material from all the applicants and shortlisted six who were interviewed on Tuesday 1st April at the AFTRS.
While the submissions covered a range of many areas of production and post production (as well as subject matter), the committee made a difficult, but unanimous choice of Anna Fraser's "Press any Button".
Anna was the writer and director of this production with her aim being to demonstrate her role as Motion Graphics Designer; she explained her close collaboration with the editor and sound designer during her interview. The program achieved much impact by the creative use of monochrome and colour for both the main action plane and graphics It is hoped that several finalists will speak of their craft in film making at this years SMPTE convention.

Back to Society News