New York-based Mechanism Digital Effects has added Abby Okin to its staff as executive producer. He began his career at H. Aoki Studio, an effects/motion control/model shop in New York. Okin then entered the digital arena as an effects producer at Image Design, New York, and later joined the staff of now defunct Cyclotron as head of production/executive producer. Mechanism Digital Effects produces animation, graphics and visual effects for commercial and broadcast clients….VT2 Media Design & Communications, Houston, has added Charlie Wan and Jacqueline Tieu to its staff. Both had been the founders of Suka Inc., an Austin, Texas-based design company. Wan will serve as creative director of VT2, while Tieu has been named creative director of VT2’s Digital Media division….Digital artist/designer Nico Puertollano has joined the staff of Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design. He had worked freelance for the New York-headquartered facility over the past two years. Puertollano’s credits include spots for Empire Blue Cross, Phoenix Mutual, Arby’s and Ben Gay, as well as projects for Sony, USA Networks and Samsung….Kodak has unveiled VISION2 500T Color Negative Film 5218/7218, the first in a new family of color motion picture films that the company claims offers superior image structure, more highlight and shadow detail, improved color and skin tone reproduction, less grain, clean telecine transfers, seamless special effects and more flexibility in both film and digital postproduction. VISION2 500T is available in 16mm, 35mm and 65mm formats….
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More