The production community is readying for Cine Gear Expo 2006, which will be held June 23-24 in a new location–the Wadsworth Theatre and Grounds in West Los Angeles. Now in its 10th year, Cine Gear has grown as a film, video and digital media expo, networking event and seminar series. An estimated 6,500 are expected to attend.
Like last year, when the event was held in Burbank, members of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the International Documentary Association will conduct a panel series.
The ASC sessions will include “How new film, digital and hybrid tools are affecting the art and craft of cinematography.” Here, ASC members will discuss their experiences with cutting-edge tools while shooting commercials and narrative stories for the cinema and television. Topics will include the revolution in Super 16 filmmaking, how digital intermediate technology is affecting the role of the cinematographers, and things to consider when deciding whether to produce your project in film or digital format.
In “Dialogue with ASC Cinematographers, the panelists will answer questions such as why they chose to become cinematographers, what films and which cinematographers inspired them, what are the most important issues facing cinematographers today, and what is the outlook for the future? A third ASC session “Point of View,” will be a discussion about favorite clips. George Spiro Dibie, ASC, and industry veteran Bob Fisher will co-moderate the ASC sessions.
In other program news, several screenings/sessions will be hosted by companies, including Panavision, Dalsa, Fuji Film and Band Pro Film & Digital. Burbank-headquartered Band Pro, for instance, will present a screening and discussion forum on both June 23 and 24 titled, “Compressed or Uncompressed: You Decide!”
Using original Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) Standard Evaluation Materials (StEM), HDCAM SR recordings will be compared to the original uncompressed DCI data files and presented via 2k digital projection and 35mm film-out. Test materials were created under the auspices of the ASC Technology Committees with participation from Technicolor, Fotokem, Pac Tel, and Sony. Audience members will be invited to take part in a Q&A session following the presentation of the test materials. Panelists will include Band Pro CTO Michael Bravin, Sony’s Rick Harding and Simon Marsh, David Stump, ASC, and Jon Fauer, ASC.
Exhibitors include Arri, Band Pro, Doggicam, Eastman Kodak, Fuji Film, K-5600, Innovision Optics, Matthews Studio Equipment, Mole Richardson, OConnor, and Panavision. Red–the company that attracted a lot of attention at NAB–reported that it would be on hand with its nonworking prototype camera.
After the two-day Expo is completed, Cine Gear will conclude on June 25 with master classes held at nearby locations. (Preregistration is required for these sessions.)
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More