As SHOOT went to press, Silicon Graphics (OTC: SGID) announced that it has reached an agreement
As SHOOT went to press, Silicon Graphics (OTC: SGID) announced that it has reached an agreement with all of its Senior Secured bank lenders and with holders of a significant amount of its Senior Secured debt on the terms of a reorganization plan intended to reduce its debt by approximately $250 million. As part of this agreement with many of its major stakeholders, and as the next step in its previously announced plan to reorganize its businesses, the company and its U.S. subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. SGI's non-U.S. subsidiaries, including European, Canadian, Mexican, South American and Asia Pacific subsidiaries, were not included in the filing; they will continue their business operations without supervision from the U.S. courts, and will not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 11. SGI reported that it expects to file its Plan of Reorganization reflecting the agreement shortly, and to emerge from Chapter 11 within six months. “We want to assure our customers, our employees and our communities that SGI is operating-business as usual,” Dennis P. McKenna, the recently appointed, chairman and CEO of SGI, stated. “Our customers can continue to rely on SGI for its mission-critical products, services, and support.”….The directing team of Spooner/French has split up. Nick Spooner remains at bicoastal The Artists Company. His first solo shoot is for Volkswagen out of Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami….Carole Schumacher announced that she has sold Chicago-based Schumacher Camera to long-time staffers James Pope and Mike Acuña. Pope and Acuña have been running the day-to-day operations for the past few years, and have been with the company for a combined 22 years. As partners, Pope will handle the business side of the company, working with DPs and producers, while Acuña will continue to head up the technical side. Carole Schumacher has agreed to continue as creative director, overseeing ad campaigns and branding. The principals said that customers will notice few if any changes in what should be a seamless transition … Honey Trap, the short film from director Bob Giraldi, was a Gold Remi Award Winner for Creative Excellence at the recent 39th Annual WorldFest-Houston. The film is the first project Giraldi has written and directed through 149WOOSTER, a New York-based production company he co-founded in 2005 with Patti Greaney and Carol Case….
Vatican, Microsoft Create AI-Generated St. Peter’s Basilica–For In-Person and Virtual Visitors
The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems. Using 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica, the digital replica is going online alongside two new on-site exhibits to provide visitors -- real and virtual -- with an interactive experience. "It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued," Microsoft's president Brad Smith told a Vatican press conference. The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica's Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day. "Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house," Pope Francis told Smith and members of the project's development teams at an audience Monday. The digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times to the basilica, a novelty for one of the world's most visited monuments that regularly has an hours-long line of tourists waiting to get in. But the heart of the project is the creation of a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica through advanced photogrammetry and artificial intelligence that allows anyone to "visit" the church and learn about its history. The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 petabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs — Smith said. The images have already identified structural... Read More