In our preview of the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival last month, we incidentally mentioned that the overall SIGGRAPH confab was being held in New Orleans.
The incidental becomes essential, though, in this column. For one, the event, which wrapped last week (8/7) brought some 20,000 industry professionals from six continents to New Orleans, furthering the region’s economic recovery as we approach the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting southeast Louisiana (8/29/05).
Indeed while New Orleans proved to be a great city for the SIGGRAPH confab, the region is still in need of support. Beyond the obvious benefits derived from having hosted SIGGRAPH, New Orleans finds itself gaining on several other fronts thanks to the SIGGRAPH 2009+1 Outreach Program, which focuses on helping to educate local youth about careers in technology and creative arts. The long-term goal is to strengthen the New Orleans community by investing in the next generation.
The program entails:
• Helping the Algiers Technical Academy, a charter high school that is part of the Algiers Charter Schools Association, which features several courses to train students in computer graphics. SIGGRAPH has performed a complete makeover of the school’s computer room and is creating a new student computer graphics lab with computers donated from Walt Disney Animation Studios and software donated from Autodesk. Volunteers assisted with painting, decorating, hardware setup, networking, software installation, and cleanup of the lab.
• The Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp, which trains 100 young people per year (ages 10-21) in music and dance. The camp also offers three week-long training programs in the music business, recording engineering, and music notation technology for advanced students.
To support the camp, SIGGRAPH 2009 partnered with Basin Street Records to offer a custom album of music by some of the city’s finest musicians. Proceeds from the $9.99 album download will support the camp and its kids. Plus, this allows people from around the world to help out an important New Orleans initiative. The album is readily available for download.
• NOCCA–New Orleans Center for Creative Arts: A school in New Orleans providing pre-professional arts training to middle and high school students in culinary arts, dance, media arts, music, theater arts, visual arts, and creative writing.
SIGGRAPH brought 50 students each from NOCCA and from Algiers Technical Academy for a mentor/mentee day that provided students with a glimpse into a variety of professions available in the world of computer graphics and interactive techniques.
• Tipitina’s Foundation: A non-profit organization that features “Instruments a Comin,” a program that provides new musical instruments to New Orleans area schools. SIGGRAPH put in place a mobile text message-based fundraising campaign that people participated in during the SIGGRAPH confab.
For detailed information on the SIGGRAPH Outreach Program visit http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/community/outreach/index.php.
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More