Company 3 and sister facility Method Studios now offer clients a seamless workflow for stereoscopic 3D feature film digital intermediates. Filmmakers now have the option to have any portion of left/right “eye” alignment fixes–associated with all stereoscopic cinematography–addressed within Method’s dedicated stereography division.
Company 3, which has colored many major stereoscopic releases–including Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Fright Night–has already made use of this tandem service for Pirates, Transformers and Fright Night.
“Our clients have been extremely impressed with this collaborative workflow,” said Jackie Lee, Company 3’s VP of feature services.
“When you work in stereo, there are always certain discrepancies between the two ‘eyes,'” explained Steven Shapiro, lead stereographer and director of software and pipeline at Method. Shapiro, who has been intricately involved in stereoscopic post production for nearly a decade, notes that the Company 3/Method collaboration allows clients to maximize the close relationship between both companies, who share a building on Santa Monica’s Arizona Ave. “The service we provide at Method came out of the expertise and robust pipeline we have built doing VFX work.”
Shapiro acknowledged that many VFX companies offer services capable of addressing these issues, but that the Company 3/Method synergy allows clients a uniquely streamlined approach that integrates the work into the DI process. During the grading of stereoscopic projects, he explains, “if any alignment issues come up during grading, we can literally walk down to Company 3’s DI theater located within Method’s Santa Monica facility, ascertain the problem, fix it and drop it back into the timeline while the color grading session continues.”
This new service offering along with Deluxe Entertainment Services Group’s recent acquisition of the StereoD business makes Deluxe’s group of 3D creative and post production services a one stop shop for clients.
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