CGI

3D Ethics–Imagine Imagina 2010

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Officially, it is designed to create a shared ‘operating manual’ for all product developers and users, defining the context, aims and criteria for the use and representation of 3D data. In reality, the ethics tool is aimed to create an authorized use for a ‘3D OK’ logo, so that if you hire an architect (for example), they will certify that all the drawings that they create will originate from other 3D  OK derived documents. The docs will have metadata associated with it, and if the project is 3D OK, all the metadata will say 3D OK as well.

In an age when anyone can bring data into Google Sketch-up, it is clear that professionals need an ethical framework in territory management, that 3D data can allow realistic digital mock-ups to be created with a policy for implementation. Thus, communication, public consultation and project management tools  can be relied upon as they correspond to actual sites and that can be used in urban, countryside and transport infrastructure projects. This helps put governmental bodies on a par with corporate levels of funding, which helps bolster long term planning for communities.

The link is only in French:  3DOK.org

A horrid english translation can be gotten at Google. The originators expect to have official German and English documents in é weeks from the signing.

HI/VI Standards and Best Practices

Court Hears Audio Description, Captioning Argument

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Simplified Summary of this Document

Jump to Comments by the Judges

Jump to other resources about the Harkins case. “Do the Right Thing”

The three appellate judges hearing the case demonstrated a keen interest in the issue and grilled the lawyer for the Harkins movie chain about why his company didn’t just “do the right thing” and provide the technology to allow people with visual and hearing impairments to enjoy movies. Harkins’ attitude, said Judge Alex Kozinsky, “does not strike me as a generous approach.”

The rest of this article is at:
Court Hears Argument about Audio Description and Captioning –
Law Office of Lainey Feingold
Posted January 14th, 2010 —

[Update Article: 9th Circuit Court Returns Harkins]

Articles and News

How to Find a Captioned Movie

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It’s almost fanciful, like trying to catch Santa in your chimney on Christmas Eve. Movie chains say they don’t want to disrupt their hearing audience, so they tend to run captions on just one or two new films — of their choice — each week, often at odd hours.

For example, where I live in Connecticut, the closet theater with captions is playing Invictus this week. That’s it. If I wanted to see Ninja Assassin with captions I’d have to drive to Westbury, N.Y., and it’s only playing once a day, at 4:10 p.m.

People who are deaf and hearing impaired would also benefit from a complete, searchable list of what’s playing around town. Forget the movie chains’ rambling hotlines or their websites, unless you want to spend hours hunting for films on their “accessibility” pages and finding very little.

A great new website, Captionfish.com, does the work for you. Captionfish is a captioned movies search engine that finds Open Captioned and Rear Window captioned movies showing in theaters across the U.S. It was founded in 2009 by three deaf professionals, who are based in Seattle.

Please read the rest of this article at:
How to Find a Holiday Captioned Movie December 18, 2009, 3:13 pm
By Suzanne Robitaille

From: abledbody.com; where can-do is done different.

Philanthropy

Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief

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All Performances to be Available for Purchase from Apple® iTunes® Store 
with Proceeds Benefiting Select Haiti Relief Funds

More than One Hundred of the Biggest Names in Film, Television, and Music
to Appear on “Hope for Haiti Now,” Along with Wyclef Jean in New York City, 
George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Haiti

Additional Television, Online, and Mobile Partners Make “Hope for Haiti Now” 
the Most Widely Distributed Global Telethon in History

NEW YORK, NY; LOS ANGELES, CA; and LONDON, ENGLAND (JANUARY 19, 2010) — “Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief,” today announced its lineup of superstar musical performances.   The global telethon will feature performances by Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and Sting in New York City; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; and Coldplay, and a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna in a newly added London location.

All musical performances will be available for purchase for $.99 per song through the Apple® iTunes® Store beginning Saturday, January 23, with all proceeds benefiting Haiti relief funds managed by “Hope for Haiti Now” charities.

In addition to musical performances, Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, “Hope for Haiti Now” will feature more than one hundred of the biggest names in film, television, and music supporting the cause with testimonials and by answering phones during the telethon.

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and United Nations World Food Programme have joined the list of relief organizations that will benefit from “Hope for Haiti Now,” which also includes Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, and Yele Haiti Foundation.   Proceeds from “Hope for Haiti Now” will be split evenly among each organization’s individual funds for Haiti earthquake relief.

“Hope for Haiti Now” will be the most widely distributed telethon in history, both internationally and across media platforms.   The two-hour telethon will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. “Hope for Haiti Now” will also air on newly added networks including PBS, TNT, Showtime, COMEDY CENTRAL, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, and Canadian networks including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television, and MuchMusic. The event will be live streamed online globally across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV.

“Hope for Haiti Now” will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic, and MTV Networks International, which is available in 640 million homes worldwide.  

“Hope for Haiti Now” will be the first U.S.-based telethon airing on MTV in China.   Facebook and Twitter have signed on as official social media partners to help drive donations and tune-in to the telethon.

Based on production needs and venue sizes, all “Hope for Haiti Now” studio locations will be closed to the media.   Photos, pool video footage and talent interviews from “Hope for Haiti Now” will be serviced to news outlets immediately following the event.

“Hope for Haiti Now” is produced by Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with Viacom’s MTV Networks and George Clooney.

Contacts:
Carole Robinson                 212.846.8760                  [email protected]
Mark Jafar                  212.846.8961                 [email protected]

For Anderson Cooper:
Shimrit Sheetrit                  310.788.6796                 [email protected]

For George Clooney:
Stan Rosenfield                 310.407.3444                  [email protected]

Philanthropy

DCS | Haitian Relief Fund

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The Digital Cinema Society – 50% of Subscription fee to Haiti fund

If you were thinking of subscribing to the DCS, now is the time:

In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, the Digital Cinema Society is pledging to donate 1/2 of each annual membership renewal that comes in between January 15, 2010 and January 31, 2010 ($15 of each $30 renewal) to the American Red Cross Haitian relief fund. Just renew your DCS membership, either via PayPal using the link below or by sending a check to the DCS offices, before the end of the month and we will make the donation in early February. Paypal Annual Renewal Link – $30US: click

Cameras

RED Studios Hollywood Announced

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RED Studios Hollywood LogoIn a surprise move, RED announced that they have purchased the property formally known as Ren-Mar Studios (Website History Page) and have (will?) renamed it as RED Studios Hollywood.

Jim Jannard says, “There are 5 stages at RED Studios Hollywood. RED will take one for demos, etc. and the others will remain as working stages for various productions.” And to the question of, “Why RED Studios Hollywood. Why not just RED Studios. Are you suggestiong more acquisitions in the future?” he answers, “So as not to confuse with RED Ranch in Las Vegas.”

The RED Ranch in Las Vegas was announced last year. Current news is that the site has yet to be built upon, but that doens’t mean that work isn’t being done on the design and permitting side.

Meanwhile, the famous lot that was at one time the DesiLu Studios at 846 N Cahuenga Blvd, and which has long been used for everything from movies to TV shows to music videos and band rehearsals, appears to be on its way to being a showcase for the new line of RED cameras, while generating income as a normal lot.

The Lake Forrest facility that now manufactures and repairs the RED cameras will also remain open.

Here is a link to the property map

Tangential Art and Science

Knoting Laser Light

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Read the entire article at: Physicists Tie Beam of Light Into Knots at the Universe Today site.

This article originated as a paid article with a lot more depth at: Isolated Optical Vortex Knots in nature magazine.

At DailyGalaxy.com we learn of superluminal speeds, anomalous dispersion, and

…, a brilliant young Spanish physicist, João Magueijo,  has been pondering the heretical question: What if the speed of light—now accepted as one of the unchanging foundations of modern physics—were not constant?

Magueijo, a 41-year old native of Portugal, puts forth the heretical idea that in the very early days of the universe light traveled faster—an idea that if proven could dethrone Einstein and forever change our understanding of the universe. He is a pioneer of the varying speed of light (VSL) theory of cosmology -an alternative to the more mainstream theory of cosmic inflation- which proposes that the speed of light in the early universe was of 60 orders of magnitude faster than its present value.

Other interesting stories with great shots at today’s UniverseToday.com

Are We Just ‘Lucky’ to See Activity on Enceladus?

Annular Eclipse Photos, Videos From Earth and Space

The Coma Berenicid Meteor Shower Peaks

Astronomy Without A Telescope – Getting Orientated

Audio Processing

Avatar in Spanish, or French, or German-Slate

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Avatar in Spanish, or French, or German

While Americans generally associate dubbing with out-of-sync martial arts B-movies, the technique is no joke for audiences around the world, where most of the big-budget films are from the United States. How does dubbing work?

First, pick your languages. Big Hollywood movies are always dubbed into French, German, and Spanish, since those respective countries all have sizable film-going communities. There are often two Spanish versions, one for Spain and one for Latin America. Otherwise, the decision depends on the type of film and its perceived market value in a given country. Animated films are dubbed into more languages than live action, since animation is primarily aimed at children who may not be able to read subtitles. Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, for instance, will be dubbed into 38 languages, while the studio’s live-action offering The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is only scheduled for nine.

Read the entire article: 

Avatar in Spanish, or French, or German

Cameras

Separating Worlds through Color – StudentFilmmakers Magazine

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David Zanit writes a nice piece in StudentFilmmakers Magazine which brings out points that one doesn’t think of until they need to be handled.

“…I wanted the shot to start calm, and then, with no warning turn chaotic. The point was to illustrate how our characters had to live in a constant state of unease never knowing when the next attack would be. I suggested we try to cover the scene in one moving take. The shot started handheld high up on a crane looking down into the camp. After a moment, the explosions started. As the explosions moved through the camp, the crane lowered, and the camera stepped off the crane and moved quickly forward through the camp.

To achieve this, the grip department had to get a special “walk around” platform for our crane. I stood on the platform wearing a safety harness that was attached to the crane. Another grip went up in the crane with me to help safety me and help with the camera before we started rolling. When the crane lowered to the ground, several grips had to step onto the crane to make up for the lost counterweight when I stepped off (to make sure the crane arm did not shoot back up into the air). They also had to unfasten me from the crane. All of this had to happen very fast; it was absolutely crucial that I did not step off early.

Standing on the crane with a mask to protect me from the dust.

Once off the crane, I still had to run forward into the camp with our very skilled pyro technicians making sure I was always safe from the explosions. My team did a great job pulling off this very difficult shot.

Read the entire piece at:
Lighting Period War Film, Shades of Hope | 
Separating Worlds through Color

 

Exhibitor News

Avatar in Arcadia – 3D can’t get larger

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Pierro, how do you get so much light to the screen? Do the pictures completely overlap, or are they two halves put together?

Do you put sub-titles only on one projector?

Do your clients talk to you about 3D in the home? Do they appreciate being with 500 other people to watch a film like this? Or do they expect to see it in their home theater? Do you sell Blu-ray and DVD’s in your store?

Are you showing 3D in any of your other rooms? Are they also XpanD?

You have several years of experience with expensive 3D glasses (instead of throw-aways, such as RealD.) What is your experience with theft or destruction.  

Have you estimated the cost of washing the glasses? the long term cost of glasses?

There are more 3D movies coming. Do you see the situation when several 3D movies will be playing at the same time? Can Arcadia handle this?

In the News

FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Certified USB Memory Stick Cracked

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This is from the H-Online Article:
NIST-certified USB Flash drives with hardware encryption cracked
Yes; DCI specifies that the euqipment meets FIPs Level 3, not level 2. But 3 huge companies making the same mistake? Hmmm. Plus, this is not just a DCinema issue, this affect everyone who tries to keep their personal or work computer safe, trusting devices and technology of this type. My guess is that there was an Application Note that specified how to make a particular chipset work (which all the manufacturers used.) It was the Application Note that everyone followed and which had the implementation flaw. Just a guess.

The article continues, excepted below. There is also some fine commentary about this issue at: Schnieier on Security.

 

The USB drives in question encrypt the stored data via the practically uncrackable AES 256-bit hardware encryption system. … the SySS security experts found a rather blatant flaw that has quite obviously slipped through testers’ nets. … the program will, irrespective of the password, always send the same character string to the drive after performing various crypto operations…

Cracking the drives is therefore quite simple. The SySS experts wrote a small tool … The vulnerable devices include the Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox, the SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise FIPS Edition and the Verbatim Corporate Secure FIPS Edition.

When notified by SySS about this worst case security scenario, the respective vendors responded quite differently. Kingston started a recall of the affected products; SanDisk and Verbatim issued woolly security bulletins about a “potential vulnerability in the access control application” and provided a software update.

…Like Tangents In Rain