Digital Artists Agency (DAA), a licensed below-the-line talent agency specializing in visual effects, has signed a trio of noted VFX artisans for representation: motion capture producer and supervisor James Knight, visual effects supervisor Gray Marshall, and animation director and supervisor Bernd Angerer. Knight served as motion capture producer for the Academy Award®-winning Avatar, Knight also has among his credits The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and I Am Legend. Marshall has served as production visual effects supervisor on The Hangover, 21, Dreamgirls and Adaptation, and as VFX facility visual effects supervisor on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Italian Job, xXx, Fight Club and the television series West Wing. He has also worked as effects supervisor on leading commercial campaigns, including Nike's “Morning After” directed by Spike Jonze, and Sun Microsystems' “The Dot” directed by Phil Joanou. Marshall has worked at Digital Domain and was also creative director and co-owner of visual effects studio Gray Matter FX. And Angerer is a longtime animation supervisor at Digital Domain where he is attached to the upcoming 47 Ronin and where he was also animation supervisor on X-Men: First Class, TRON: Legacy and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra; lead animator on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; and senior animator on Speed Racer. At Sony Imageworks he was character animator on I Am Legend and Beowulf and lead character animator on Spider-Man 3. During an earlier stint at Digital Domain Angerer was character animation sequence lead on I, Robot and character animator on Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Aeon Flux, What Dreams May Come and Titanic. Headed by founder Bob Coleman, DAA reps VFX and animation artisans for freelance and staff positions….Tony Ferkranus has been appointed VP, Sales, for Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc.'s Media Services division in Northvale, New Jersey. Ferkranus brings 20 years experience to the industry with 10 of those years at Deluxe in Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia…. Dattner Dispoto and Associates has just signed production designer Jahmin Assa….
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More