FOR-A® Corporation of America announces that Vestal, N.Y. based Fox affiliate, WICZ-TV, has become its first ClassX graphics solutions customer. FOR-A and Italy-based ClassX recently entered into a joint partnership that names FOR-A the exclusive dealer of the ClassX premium graphics suite of 2D/3D character generation and live motion graphics and playout software in North, South and Central America. The agreement also gives users the ability to integrate ClassX’s powerful and cost-effective suite of graphics with FOR-A’s live production switchers.
WICZ-TV has purchased three ClassX real-time broadcast graphics products for content graphics creation, playout and social sharing. WICZ-TV’s new production package includes the ClassX CastaliaCG software to easily create broadcast graphics animations. The station has also purchased the ClassX LiveBoard for powerful, reliable broadcast graphics playout, along with the SocialServer for intuitive, easy social network interaction. WICZ-TV is integrating its ClassX software solutions with the station’s broadcast news ticker created by Ontario-based company Bannister Lake, called Super Ticker.
“Our intent in using our new ClassX CastaliaCG with the Super Ticker is to easily display the data from the character generator into our on-air graphics tickers for things like school closings, weather warnings, and more,” explained Mike Melnyk, chief engineer, WICZ-TV. “We began using our new ClassX suite a few months ago, and they’ve proven to be effective tools for our productions. I feel like we’ve only begun to tap into its full potential, but I’m already impressed.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More