Podcast: The Adventures of Anthony Dod Mantle, part 2

Here’s the second part of my cross-ocean conversation with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. After discussing his work on “127 Hours” and his use of the Silicon Imaging 2k camera for Danny Boyle, Anthony explained his current stereoscopic gig on the European film “Dredd” (yes, based on the same source material as Stallone’s “Judge Dredd” but a much different, darker take). That led to a larger conversation about the 3D paradigm and how best, in his view, to utilize all this technology for good, old-fashioned artistic purposes.

Podcast: Adventures of Anthony Dod Mantle, part I

With Academy Award nominations out, the movie awards’ season is now at full heat. In the cinematography category, last year’s big bling collector—the innovative Anthony Dod Mantle—wasn’t nominated this time around for a chance at back-to-back Oscar or ASC awards, although he and “127 Hours” co-DP Enrique Chediak were nominated for a BAFTA award for their work on that film. Still, when I reached Anthony recently by Skype after he had just wound up a long day of golf in Cape Town, South Africa, where he was shooting a European 3D sci-fi feature called “Dredd,” he chuckled about his doubts that “127 Hours” could earn him the same award recognition as “Slumdog Millionaire” did last year. He suggested that perhaps “127 Hours,” this year’s collaboration with director Danny Boyle, was “just a little radical for common taste.” Nonetheless, as with “Slumdog Millionaire” before it, “127 Hours” featured extensive and unique utilization of the Silicon Imaging 2k camera system that Mantle has been on the forefront of pioneering in feature films in recent years. He was gracious enough to spend his time recovering from golf to discuss those applications, and more, with me.

Social Network gets RED, and really virtual

I’ve been as absorbed as anybody lately in the buzz surrounding David Fincher’s new movie, Social Network—his and writer Aaron Sorkin’s rendering of the madness surrounding the founding of the Facebook social networking web site. That’s because I recently penned two articles about the movie—thankfully, not dealing with whether the movie is, or is not, a faithful telling of what actually went down at Harvard University a few years ago. Rather, I wrote about the undisputed innovations Fincher and his digital filmmaking team utilized in making the movie in the data realm without using physical media for the most part, both in production and in editorial.

Why artists need to value themselves

Today, we’re continuing my recent conversation with visual effects supervisor Jeffrey Okun about the direction of his industry and how he and his fellow artists are dealing with the changes and uncertainty currently roiling through that industry.

(You can hear part I of our chat here.)

What, and who, are visual effects anyway?

I recently called Jeffrey Okun, a well-respected visual effects supervisor and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Visual Effects Society (VES) to tap his brains about the state of the visual effects industry and all the wonderful technology that is fundamentally changing it at a startling pace. Jeffrey, of course, has been around since the early 1980’s and has supervised effects on many big films, including Ed Zwick’s work on “The Last Samurai” and “Blood Diamond,” among others. He’s currently in Vancouver, supervising on Catherine Hardwick’s upcoming “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Rodney Charters Pre-NAB Podcast, Part II

As NAB 2010 arrives, here’s more digital food for thought, as we continue my recent chat with cinematographer/camera expert Rodney Charters. In part 2 of our pre-NAB conversation, Rodney talks me through some of the many interesting trends that changes in digital acquisition and digital distribution are bringing to the fore, and which he expects to discover percolating on the show floor and throughout our industry in the coming months. (Click Rodney Part 1 for the first half of my chat with Rodney.)

Rodney Charters Pre-NAB Podcast, Part 1

There was a certain irony present when I dialed up my friend, Rodney Charters, ASC, recently to discuss the latest digital camera acquisition trends as we head into NAB 2010. Rodney had just learned hours earlier what he had been suspecting for quite some time—that the hit Fox TV show he has shot for eight seasons, “24,” would finally be canceled at long last. It was a bit of a melancholy moment for Rodney, and for me, since I’ve edited one behind-the-scenes book on the show and penned the fan book for it, as well. (24: Ultimate Guide). Extending the irony, though, was the fact that the show lasted this long despite the fact that Rodney had fought hard the last two years to keep “24” in the film acquisition universe even as most of the rest of episodic television had dived headlong into the transition from film to digital.

Doing Digital Design

Robert Stromberg was understandably emotional for a variety of reasons when he won an Academy Award for Art Direction, along with co-production designer Rick Carter and set designer Kim Sinclair, for their work on “Avatar.” He alluded in his acceptance speech to a serious illness several years ago that almost robbed him of the bright future he is now enjoying. Stromberg has chosen not to detail the illness, but surmounting it has permitted him to continue a decidedly unique career path all the way to Oscar glory. And that path started when he was just a youngster. He grew up learning how to do matte paintings from his father’s friend—a young Phil Tippett—while making little films in his garage. He later became a successful matte painter, working with industry notables like Albert Whitlock and Syd Dutton, among others. But eventually, his professional career moved him toward the world of digital effects for features, and he became a visual effects’ supervisor with his own company, called Digital Backlot. Then, in 2004, Stromberg earned an Academy Award nomination in the visual effects’ category (along with three others) as the visual effects’ designer on Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” Still, Stromberg says he “never had production design in mind” all those years, while progressing through the visual effects’ world. And, yet, production design is exactly where he now finds himself.

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