Toolbox

Shotgun Software, developer of the cloud-based collaboration platform for creative companies (recently acquired by Autodesk), was integral to the production of over a dozen of this summer’s tentpole films. Used by visual effects studios worldwide, Shotgun played a key role in keeping artists and shots on track at facilities such as Digital Domain, Milk VFX, Framestore, Method Studios, Double Negative, Atomic Fiction, Image Engine, Rodeo FX and Factory VFX for films including X-Men: Days of Future Past, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Guardians of the Galaxy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Giver, Hercules, Lucy and The Maze Runner.

Digital Domain has been using Shotgun for more than five years, relying on it recently to manage VFX workflows on features including X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent and Into the Storm, releasing this August. Kevin VanderJagt was the company's digital producer on X-Men: Days of Future Past, on which Digital Domain completed more than 430 shots ranging from the 1970s Sentinels to Mystique’s shape-shifting transformations.

“Shotgun was vital to our workflow on X-Men,” said VanderJagt. “It's the backbone of our production and daily communication structure and is especially important when we have artists at multiple locations working together as one team. We rely heavily on Shotgun as the central database for all shot information -- everything we ingest from our clients, from our set survey, camera reports, lens information and plate data to our turnover notes and editorial counts all live in Shotgun. Our review notes, both internal and external, as well as our shot status and client reporting are all driven directly from Shotgun as well.”

Shotgun is also at the heart of Milk VFX’s state-of-the-art pipeline, which was custom built to leverage specific Shotgun features including the Pipeline Toolkit. For this summer’s Hercules, Milk VFX depended on Shotgun to track artist progress on a demanding range of shots. “With Shotgun we have instant access to every piece of information associated with a given shot and its status. On a massive show like Hercules, we relied heavily on Shotgun to keep our VFX pipeline running smoothly and ensure efficient collaboration across our artist and production teams,” said Will Cohen, Milk co-founder and CEO.

Framestore taps Shotgun for its feature VFX productions, enabling easy collaboration and tracking for hundreds of artists across multiple facilities on features including Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Tom Cruise thriller Edge of Tomorrow. Other studios using Shotgun to manage VFX pipelines on the season’s studio features include Method Studios (Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Maze Runner, The Giver), Double Negative (Hercules), Atomic Fiction (Transformers: Age of Extinction), Image Engine (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Prime Focus (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), Rodeo FX (Lucy), and Factory VFX (The Maze Runner).

Companies often blend old products to give you something new.

This summer, AsusTek Computer Inc. claims you don't need both a phone and a tablet — as long as you get its new PadFone X. The PadFone works like any other phone and has a screen that measures 5 inches diagonally. When you want a tablet experience, you simply slip the phone into a slot on the back of the tablet display, which is included. All the apps on the phone now work on the 9-inch tablet. The phone is what runs the tablet. Asus is bringing this concept to the U.S. for the first time.

In some cases, apps switch to the tablet screen automatically, so you don't have to restart the video or reopen the mail app. In other cases, you'll have to close the app and reopen it after attaching the phone to the tablet screen.

For apps that have been optimized for tablets, the layout on the PadFone rearranges automatically to use the extra space. Yet it's fundamentally a phone. You can make calls in tablet mode, using earphones or the device's speakerphones.

— NICE PRICE: It's like buying a phone and getting a tablet for free. Available only through AT&T, the PadFone costs $550 without a contract, or about $100 cheaper than Apple's iPhone 5s and Samsung's Galaxy S5. With a two-year service contract, it's the usual $200 that most carriers charge for a high-end phone.

— ADVANTAGES: Because the two parts count as one device, you don't need a second data plan, which typically runs $10 a month for a tablet under AT&T's sharing plans. This setup also ensures that the tablet has cellular connectivity. Many other tablets work only with Wi-Fi.

In addition, you don't need to install apps twice. Whatever you get on your phone automatically appears on the tablet. You just pick up where you left off whenever you switch, with no need to sync data or settings.

— COMPROMISES: The phone on the back adds bulk to the tablet. It's about three-quarters of an inch at the center, where the phone slot is located. It's also heavy. The combination weighs nearly 1.5 pounds, compared with a pound for the iPad Air.

— DO YOU NEED IT? I'm typically a fan of having multiple devices for different circumstances. Here, you're getting extra thickness and weight in fusing the two gadgets.

There's a case for the PadFone, though, if you're someone who uses a tablet only at home. You can carry the phone with you during the day and attach it to the tablet screen when you get home. You don't have to worry about what apps and data are on which device.

Asus could have gone further, though, making a range of tablet screens available. You might want a 7-inch screen for reading, but a 12-inch screen for video. Why not offer choices to mix and match?

The 101st running of the Tour de France covers a total distance of 3,664 kilometers through 21 stages. For the riders, the physical and mental challenges are hard to imagine. For Euro Media Group, the firm responsible for the overall wireless coverage, production challenges are also daunting. This year, to address the challenge, the company is using five brand-new LDX WorldCam cameras from Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, to provide up-close footage from five motorcycles that follow the action throughout each stage.

Bruno Gallais, Euro Media Group international business development head for wireless production facilities, said that the use of Grass Valley LDX Series cameras on the five motorcycles tracking the race is one of the primary changes to its RF configuration this year. “Each year, the pressure to provide higher quality, ‘heat-of-the-action’ coverage increases. The LDX Series cameras are very powerful, very high quality; we are very happy with their performance.”

To optimize connectivity of the new cameras, Grass Valley also developed a custom-made adapter kit which enables Euro Media’s RF affiliate, Livetools, to easily integrate its wireless transmitter solution for motorcycle use. Grass Valley developed the LDX RF docking interface and LDX adapter housing to allow RF vendors to integrate their own solutions. The outstanding image quality of the LDX Series, along with the custom wireless integration of Livetools, have been designed to deliver the best possible performance for these kinds of live events.

Gallais, who has been involved in broadcasting the Tour de France for nearly 30 years, has seen a lot of change. “Technology drives our ability to cover these kinds of events. As the cameras and the ways we transfer our signals improve, our coverage gets better and better. We are able to help viewing audiences around the world feel as if they are right there on the course with the riders.”

The core technology of the LDX WorldCam is based on the Grass Valley Xensium-FT CMOS imager, which enables the camera to deliver superb picture quality even in low-light conditions.

“This solution for Euro Media Group is ideal for covering such a high-profile event,” said Marcel Koutstaal, vice president and general manager of camera systems, Grass Valley. “We design our solutions to be scalable and adaptable, giving users the ability to integrate the technology in a way that best meets their needs. It’s important for them to be able to leverage the latest technology in a competitive way.”

Euro Media Group provides clients with a complete custom-made solution for the production and delivery of all media content from broadcast through to on-line. Focused on new media, Euro Media Group is recognized for its experience in international sports, live performances and entertainment production. The Group owns 92 stages and 74 mobile units, providing customers with the greatest collection of studios and fleet of mobile facilities in Europe.

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 2014 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition will feature a pre-conference event==the SMPTE 2014 Symposium, hosted by the Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) and titled “Making Do With More.” The daylong event is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20 at the historic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif.

“As we consider how technological advances will improve the entertainment experience, we must also address the workflow challenges that will arise,” said Pat Griffis, SMPTE education vice president. “Each area of potential enhancement--higher resolution, greater contrast and color, higher brightness, more frames, and more objects associated with sound — brings with it new demands on workflow. Sessions within the SMPTE 2014 Symposium will address these and other next-generation workflow concerns from both a technical and creative standpoint.”

The SMPTE 2014 Symposium is among the first joint efforts of SMPTE and HPA as they move forward with plans for full consolidation by May 2015, and it highlights the strengths of both organizations. HPA is known for facilitating dialogue among all disciplines in the entertainment industry, and for its contributions to SMPTE educational events such as SMPTE 2014 that enrich and expand the larger conversation about key topics shaping the industry.

HPA is well-known for the annual HPA Tech Retreat, which brings technologists and filmmakers together to address many controversial topics influencing the industry. In developing the SMPTE 2014 Symposium as a “filmmaker’s symposium,” HPA is orchestrating sessions that take an in-depth look at advanced technologies that bring new tools to storytelling. The symposium will include creative sessions from renowned cinematographers, visual effects specialists, colorists, and other filmmakers discussing what they hope to do with enhanced pictures and frame rates.

Additional sessions will offer a look at immersive sound, its impact, and how it’s being applied today; changing models for delivery of content to the consumer--including theatrical, broadcast, physical media, and digital distribution--across TV sets, computers, and mobile devices; and the standards and practices being developed to address the changing content life cycle.

“By connecting the creative community and its supporters with the technical community at the SMPTE 2014 Symposium, SMPTE and HPA are creating an opportunity for all participants to gain a richer and deeper understanding of technology’s impact on the creative process,” said Leon Silverman, HPA president. “The new displays and distribution approaches being proposed by technology companies need to be understood in the context of how the creative community will use this extended tool kit. It is also critical that we examine the standards and workflow approaches that will be necessary to deliver something more to consumers than a higher numbers of pixels.”

SMPTE 2014 is an event for motion-imaging and media technology, production, operations, and the allied arts and sciences. Each year the event draws elite and world-renowned technology thought-leaders from motion picture studios, broadcast and distribution networks, production and postproduction communities, software companies, systems integrators, manufacturers, display technologies, distribution providers, over-the-top providers, and others leading the evolving motion-imaging industry.