Filmotechnic, the Academy Award-winning fabricator of camera systems, camera cranes, and gyro stabilized heads for film, motion picture and ad industries, deployed its resources to provide viewers with extensive coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This is the latest of multiple Olympic Games that Filmotechnic has been contracted to supply their image stabilization equipment. In the U.S., Filmotechnic USA is best known for its leading camera car fleet.
The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang were expected to be cold, but the weather was more severe than predicted. Wind and ice pellets left Olympic snowboarders simply trying to stay on course. Ski jumpers dealt with snow “tornadoes” and swirling gusts. Bi-athletes tried to ski and to shoot straight in bitter cold and high cross winds. Qualifying runs for the Women’s Slopestyle were called off after 50 runs resulted in 41 falls or athletes simply giving up. Through it all, the Filmotechnic equipment performed flawlessly.
Filmotechnic’s team began prepping two years ago for the 2018 Winter Olympics. To handle the demand for equipment, a new fabrication facility employing over 200 technicians was built in the Ukraine. Being engineered and tested in the Ukraine, known for its unpredictable weather, helped to develop trouble-free equipment. To cover all the venues, Filmotechnic deployed 30 cranes and other rigs specially designed to capture all the action. Depending on the day, 30 to 50 technicians were operating the equipment.
Founded by Anatoliy Kokush, Filmotechnic is a front runner in research and development of camera car systems, cranes, flight heads and other image stabilization technologies. Kokush is a two-time Academy Award Winner in the 78th Annual Scientific and Engineering Awards for his development of the Russian Arm gyro-stabilized camera crane and flight head.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More