Camera car company Filmotechnic has won a 2018 cinecAward for its telescoping Russian arm. The cinecAwards are presented by the Society for CineTechnik Bayern (CTB), with honors going to innovative products and developments in motion picture technology. The cinecAwards are part of Cinec’s annual international trade fair for people engaged in the film, TV and video industries. The award-winning arm is available in the U.S. through Filmotechnic facilities in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Orlando.
“This year’s cinecAward is a great prize for our collective hard work and is a strong motivation,” said Denis Kokush, general manager at Filmotechnic Europe. “We thank all jury members for this recognition. Our innovative robotic camera arm, widely known as the Russian arm or U-CRANE, is state of the art, a high performance telescopic camera crane system that represents a big step forward in camera arm technology. The arm offers filmmakers new creative opportunities for camera movements once thought impossible.”
Kokush was referring to the telescopic arm’s impressive specs. The boom length adjusts from 4.5’ to 20.5’ while the arm is remotely (robotically) operated. The crane can pan a complete 360 degrees in eight seconds. The arm can be mounted on many different camera cars/shooting platforms, has numerous options for movement and can be used in studios, paired with Filmotechnic’s new electric EVU. In the U.S., director Tim Damon applied the arm for a just-wrapped shoot for automaker Nissan and agency The Designory.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More