Blackmagic Design announced the Japan Institute of the Moving Image has installed and is using Blackmagic Cintel Film Scanner for archiving student films that have been shot at the college over the past four decades.
Japan Institute of the Moving Image history began with the legendary film maker Shohei Imamura’s film school, which was launched in 1975. The college is one of the few film schools that still have classes using film cameras, and there have been more than 300 films over the years that their students have completed using film.
“We now deliver in digital, even shooting with a film camera in a class, but we used to create 10 to 20 student films a year using film media. We strongly felt we needed to do data archiving to preserve those films that we have created. Also, the telecine we had used was broken and could not be repaired, so we thought rather than purchasing another telecine, we wanted a film scanner. However film scanners on the market were not something we could afford,” said Daisuke Wakabayashi, the instructor of the school.
He continued: “Then I heard Blackmagic acquired Cintel. We installed the Cintel Film Scanner as soon as Blackmagic started shipping it. The affordability of Cintel was a huge benefit for us. And we have installed a number of Blackmagic products, such as DaVinci Resolve. And as Resolve is the same software used to control Cintel, it was even extra comfort to install it because we are already used to the interface.
We have many 16mm films, so we used Blackmagic’s 16mm Gate when we scan our films. The scanned image has great image quality.”
Japan Institute of the Moving Image also uses a number of other Blackmagic products, such as DeckLink, DaVinci Resolve, Fusion, UltraScope, SmartScope Duo 4, Audio Monitor and the Teranex 3D Processor for both production and post production. The Teranex 3D Processor is used as part of the archiving process to up convert the college’s many Beta Cam, VHS and DVD films, which all are SD and need to be digitally archived along with the films converted with the Cintel.
“I like the simplicity of Blackmagic products. I am in charge of selecting equipment to install as well as setting those up once we purchase. I couldn’t have believed before that I could have set up a film scanner by myself before, but with Cintel it was easy. Also, the frequent software updates from Blackmagic are very helpful. Sometimes the feature that I wished to be somehow improved is really improved the way I wished in the next version. The fast response to user’s feedback is very valuable,” Wakabayashi concluded.
Director Jun Diaz Joins m ss ng p eces For U.S. Commercial Representation
Production company m ss ng p eces has added Jun Diaz to its directorial roster for U.S. commercial representation. Diaz has helmed dozens of campaigns for brands including the NFL, IKEA, BMW, Samsung, Converse, Mastercard, Seamless, Heineken, eBay, and the Ad Council. He also created a series of captivating films for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA) Awards.
Diaz’s inspiring PSA entitled “Make Them Visible” for the NYC Rescue Mission was an experiment featuring footage of unsuspecting people walking by their family members, all dressed to appear homeless. The footage was then shown to the unaware people, leaving many speechless and emotionally moved to tears. Profoundly affecting, the PSA reached two million views in three days and earned a spot on YouTube’s Top 20 Worldwide.
Prior to joining m ss ng p eces, Diaz was most recently represented by production company O Positive.
Half Filipino and half Japanese, Diaz was born in Tokyo. He grew up traveling to various parts of Southeast Asia and East Africa with his parents and four siblings before moving to the U.S. to pursue his dream of becoming a director. Forging his own path in the industry, Diaz was an editor for over a decade before transitioning to directing. He gained widespread acclaim for his work in commercials and feature films, with editing credits including American Movie, Home Movie, and the critically acclaimed The Kid Stays In The Picture, for which he received an ACE Eddie Award nomination for Best Edited Documentary Film.
“Kate, Ari, Brian, and the whole m ss ng p eces team have built a community,” said Diaz. “Creatively, I mesh so well with them. In some ways, I feel it’s a new beginning for me, because you can never... Read More