The collaborative working bond between leading post houses Nice Shoes and Optimus has extended its geographical reach. Last year, a remote color grading partnership was established between Nice Shoes in NY and Optimus in Chicago. That connection was then taken to the next level when colorist Ron Sudul moved from NY to Chicago to launch Nice Shoes Chicago at Optimus (SHOOTonline, 8/20/14). Now the two companies have installed their Remote Color connection at Optimus’ studio in Santa Monica.
“From coast to coast, the unification of Nice Shoes and Optimus’ talents and services presents clients with an end-to-end postproduction solution,” said Nice Shoes CEO Dominic Pandolfino. “We’re bringing together the best that each company has to offer, while helping our clients to save time and money.”
Tom Duff, Optimus president/partner, added, “The alliance between Optimus and Nice Shoes has been more than special. Ron is awesome in Chicago and we love having a presence in New York at Nice Shoes. Adding Optimus Santa Monica to the mix just strengthens the relationship that much more.”
Since moving to Chicago, Sudul has quickly built up relationships with many of the area’s top agencies, thanks to the reputation established by the Optimus brand and their talented editors. Optimus’ editors have also traveled to New York on a few projects, working out of Nice Shoes’ studio with colorists Lenny Mastrandrea and Gene Curley.
The expansion to Santa Monica now creates the opportunity for clients working with Optimus’ West Coast editors Nathan Cali, Erin Nordstrom, Katie Zaumseil and managing director Therese Hunsberger to also collaborate with Sudul as well as the rest of Nice Shoes’ talented roster of colorists.
Nice Shoes’ proprietary Remote technology features both a secure HD feed and a display calibrated by the studio’s engineers to match exactly with the monitors in New York. Clients and colorists are connected visually through an additional monitor connected to an enterprise quality telepresence solution, allowing them to collaborate efficiently. The technology is a real time solution, with no delay between New York, Chicago, and Santa Monica, making it feel as though everyone is working together in the same suite, despite the geographic distance separating them.
The launch is appropriately timed with the 2015 AICE Show in Los Angeles on May 14, which celebrates independent post companies coming together to celebrate the best work produced each year.
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