News Briefs

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Articles | Series
Displaying 4871 - 4880 of 6761
  • Friday, Jul. 8, 2016
Facebook testing encrypted chats in Messenger 
In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 file photo, David Marcus, Facebook Vice President of Messaging Products, watches a display showing new features of Messenger during the keynote address at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Facebook is adding to its Messenger app an option for encrypted chats that can only be read on devices where they are sent or received.

Users also will be able to set a timer to control how long the message remains visible to anyone, the company said Friday.

The "secret conversations," feature, which is optional, does not work across different devices. So even if a person has Messenger on a phone and on a computer, the conversation will be visible on only one device.

The encrypted chats are now being tested with a limited number of people, Facebook said, but the option will be more widely available later this summer.

WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service, already uses end-to-end encryption on all messages.

  • Friday, Jul. 8, 2016
Director Justin Warias joins Monogram
Justin Warias
PHILADELPHIA -- 

Production house Monogram has added director Justin Warias to its roster. His body of work includes campaigns for Fusion, McDonald’s, NFL, the ASPCA, Bioré, Doritos, Klondike and Post-It Notes. In the music world, Warias has collaborated on video projects with Andy Samberg, T-Pain, Akon and multiple up-and-coming independent artists.

Warias’ background as a cinematographer, along with his comedic sensibility and eye for casting gives his work the punch and the punch lines that can deliver cleverly constructed content, both branded and otherwise. Warias hails from Princeton, NJ, where he cut his teeth shooting his pro skateboard friends in his teens and twenties. He received a Master’s degree in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he was awarded the Ian Conner cinematography award. He then successfully extended his reach to directing, honing a unique cinematic style from his experience as a photographer and years More

  • Thursday, Jul. 7, 2016
John LiBretto to chair network negotiations for DGA
John LiBretto
LOS ANGELES -- 

Director John LiBretto has been appointed chairman of the Director Guild of America’s Network Negotiating Committee which negotiates agreements on behalf of DGA members who primarily work in staff and freelance positions in news and sports. This will be LiBretto’s second time serving as chairman, having also led the DGA’s 2014 Network Negotiating Committee.

Paris Barclay, president of the DGA, said of LiBretto, “His decades of television news and sports experience--combined with his extensive involvement negotiating many prior agreements--will be a tremendous asset to the Guild when we renegotiate our network contracts.”

LiBretto will be joined by director Brett Holey and associate director Scott Berger who will serve as co-chairs of the Committee.

The National Board of Directors unanimously approved these appointments at its recent June meeting. The DGA announced earlier this year that secretary-treasurer Michael Apted and third VP More

  • Thursday, Jul. 7, 2016
Woody Allen announces cast of his latest film
In this May 15, 2015 file photo, director Woody Allen attends a press conference for the film "Irrational Man" at the 68th international film festival, Cannes, southern France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
NEW YORK -- 

Woody Allen officially revealed the cast of his new untitled feature film starring James Belushi (“The Whole Truth,” “Twin Peaks”), Juno Temple (“Black Mass,” “Vinyl”), Justin Timberlake (“The Social Network,” “Inside Llewyn Davis”), and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs,” “The Reader”). The new film is produced by his long-time collaborator Letty Aronson, Erika Aronson, and Edward Walson. It begins shooting this fall in New York.

“Café Society,” Allen’s latest completed film, made its world premiere earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival and stars Jeannie Berlin, Steve Carrell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, and Ken Stott. Amazon Studios and Lionsgate will release the film in theaters on July 15 in New York and Los Angeles with a national theatrical expansion to follow. After its theatrical run, “Café Society” will be available exclusively to Amazon Prime members through Prime Video.  

More

  • Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2016
Smith Brothers Agency acquires 4Twelve Productions
Pictured (l-r) are Zack Eisenfeld, Stephen Hicken, Josh Eisenfeld and Dan Finegold
PITTSBURGH -- 

Smith Brothers Agency has acquired 4Twelve Productions in a strategic move to deepen the agency’s content creation and in-house video capabilities. The acquisition will integrate 4Twelve’s video production team into Smith Brother’s existing Content Studio, which provides clients with full-service solutions for content creation and digital marketing. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Based in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, 4Twelve Productions acted as a multimedia production company, creating everything from full-length films and music videos to Vine videos and web shorts. The company’s former clients include Time Magazine, Carnegie Mellon University, Northeastern University and Pittsburgh Youth Leadership Summit. 

Moving over to digital-forward, performance-based consumer packaged goods marketing agency Smith Brothers from the 4Twelve team are Joshua Eisenfeld, Zachary Eisenfeld, Daniel Finegold, and Stephen More

  • Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2016
Vapor Music to acquire RMW Music 
A collage of notable work from Vapor Music and RMW Music.
TORONTO -- 

Vapor Music is acquiring RMW Music. Moving forward under the name Vapor RMW, the addition of RMW allows Vapor to reinvent itself and expand in the post audio space. 

RMW’s facilities will enable Vapor to better cater to simultaneous sessions across the board, a need that increasingly began to present itself as the studio continued on its upward growth trajectory. The acquisition also reinforces Vapor’s creative culture, including the gaming and record label side of its business. The extra studio space will help with Vapor’s Fifth Kid Records label in particular, improving its capacity for providing a creative outlet and home for its recording artists. 

“The acquisition instantly gives us a much greater market share in terms of post audio both in this country and internationally,” said Joey Serlin, president/creative director at Vapor Music Group. “We’re now in a position to collaborate, we have a company full of award-winning creative More

  • Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2016
"The Birth of a Nation" film inspires library lectures 
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, from left, Armie Hammer portrays Samuel Turner, Nate Parker portrays Nat Turner and Jayson Warner Smith portrays Earl Fowler in a scene from "The Birth of a Nation," opening Oct. 7, 2016. (Fox Searchlight Pictures via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Nate Parker's "The Birth of a Nation" isn't out until October, but some libraries will be teaching about the slave rebellion that it's based on later this summer.

"The Birth of a Nation: Slavery, Resistance & Abolition" will be offered in libraries, museums and other institutions from Aug. 21 through Oct. 30. Those are the dates when Nat Turner began his bloody slave revolt in 1831 and when it ended, with his capture. He was convicted and hanged days later.

Parker said he hopes the movie will inspire people to challenge injustices worldwide and said the lecture series would help. "This speaker series is a great way to engage local communities in an honest discussion about slavery and its legacy in America," he said in a statement released Tuesday.

The American Library Association and the United Nations Remember Slavery Programme are teaming up with Fox Searchlight Pictures, which is releasing the film, and BazanED to present the More

  • Monday, Jul. 4, 2016
Acclaimed Iranian film director Kiarostami dies at age 76 
In a May 21, 2012 file photo, Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami poses during a photo call for "Like Someone in Love" at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)
By Nasser Karimi
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- 

Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, whose 1997 film "Taste of Cherry" won the prestigious Palme d'Or and who kept working despite government resistance, died Monday. He was 76.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said Kiarostami died in Paris, where he had gone for cancer treatment last week after undergoing surgery in Iran earlier this year.

He wrote and directed dozens of films over a career spanning more than 40 years. "Taste of Cherry," which told the story of an Iranian man looking for someone to bury him after he killed himself, won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. Kiarostami also wrote and directed "Certified Copy," a 2010 film starring Juliette Binoche.

He said at a 2014 appearance in Syracuse that "Taste of Cherry" was his only film he had not watched since he made it. He said it took him back to a period in his life he preferred not to think about. His film was banned in Iran for supposedly encouraging suicide.

More
  • Monday, Jul. 4, 2016
"Top Gear" stalls as ratings plummet; host Evans quits 
In this file photo dated May 25, 2016 showing the new BBC flagship car show Top Gear presenters, left to right, Chris Harris, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Evans, Eddie Jordan and The Stig, during the launch of the car show at Dunsfold Aerodrome, England, Monday June 27, 2016. (Andrew Matthews / PA FILE via AP)
LONDON (AP) -- 

Host Chris Evans says he's quitting the BBC's flagship car show "Top Gear," saying "standing aside is the single best thing I can do."

The show has struggled to draw a big audience since it was relaunched in May, hosted by Evans and Matt LeBlanc.

The revamped show attracted just 1.9 million viewers to its season finale on Sunday.

Mark Linsey, director of BBC Studios, says Evans believes that the remaining producing and presenting team will be able to "take the show forward and make it the hit we want it to be."

The show was rebooted following the high-profile departures of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. May and Hammond quit after Clarkson was fired for hitting a producer. The trio will host a new car show on Amazon Prime.

  • Friday, Jul. 1, 2016
Discovery, WWF, RadicalMedia team on "Hello World!" series
Christina Aguilera (photo courtesy of Discovery)
LOS ANGELES -- 

Discovery Channel, in association with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and production company RadicalMedia, presents Hello World! which is a six-part series exploring the wonders of the natural world through the eyes of celebrated musical artists, including Usher, Christina Aguilera, Steven Tyler, Ellie Goulding, Joan Jett and Dave Matthews.

The series brings out the universal themes of the artists’ music by using it as a soundtrack for the stories of animals in the wild. Hello World! debuts Saturday, July 9, with two back-to-back episodes for three weeks. 

The series takes viewers deep into the environments of varied animals--including sea turtles, jumping spiders, rhinos and hawks--as they live their daily lives. Whether they are searching for water, looking for love, or caring for their families, these animals all have a singular way of surviving.  Each episode features the artist’s vibrant storytelling and one of their well More

MySHOOT Company Profiles

About SHOOT

The Trusted Source For News, Information, Industry Trends, New ScreenWork, and The People Behind the Work in Film, TV, Commercial, Entertainment Production & Post Since 1960.

Today's Date:
© 1990-2024 DCA Business Media LLC. All rights reserved.
SHOOT and SHOOTonline are registered trademarks of DCA Business Media LLC.