By MILLIE TAKAKI
The Visual Effects Society (VES), a Sherman Oaks-headquartered non-profit organization of visual effects professionals, and Creative Planet, a Hollywood-based online news and information service, have joined forces to co-brand VFXPro, a new Web site devoted to the dissemination of visual effects news and info.
VFXPro (www.vfxpro.com) will cover visual effects both nationally and internationally, providing breaking news about the latest technological innovations, industry trends, projects and events. Updated four times daily, VFXPro is being billed by VES executive director Tom Atkin as a valuable resource for the video effects professional.
In addition to news, VFXPro will offer by-lined articles by, and interviews with, noted visual effects artisans. Upcoming postings are scheduled to include insights by effects experts into the future of digital filmmaking, a report on the state of digital asset management, and a look at the challenges of motion capture for facial animation. The site will also feature info on recent and upcoming theatrical movie, TV, commercial, music video, theme park and interactive projects as well as interviews with the effects people behind them.
VFXPro is a one-stop shop for visual effects news and information, said Atkin, who added that the site is available to working professionals and the general public.
Creative Planet operates other co-branded Web sites: Design in Motion (www.designinmotion. com), with the Broadcast Designers Association; and Editors Net (www.editorsnet.com), with the Motion Picture Editors Guild. The main Creative Planet Web site features news and info spanning a cross-section of the entertainment industry, and is linked to the aforementioned individual Web sites, including VFXPro.
VES was formed in early 97 as a trade association for visual effects pros in the spot, feature film, TV, music video and special venue disciplines (SHOOT, 2/28/97, p. 1). Its membership includes execs and artisans from the industrys leading houses (i.e.-Industrial Light+Magic, San Rafael, Calif., Digital Domain, Venice, Calif., Will Vinton Studios, Portland, Ore., Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, Dream Quest Images, Simi Valley, Calif., et al). Among VES goals is to promote educational programs and better communication within the industry and to gain greater recognition for the contributions and achievements of the visual effects community. Most recently, VES announced that it would explore ways to help the industry work more efficiently. As earlier reported, one of the areas being explored is the possible creation of a standard visual effects bid form for features, spots and/or episodic TV (SHOOT, 1/15, p. 7).
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More