Is it already that glamorous time of year again? I guess so as the Hollywood Post Alliance is now accepting entries for their 8th Annual HPA Awards. So get on it. Or as Jim Gaffigan would put it.. chip chop chip.
If you’re not familiar with the Hollywood Post Alliance, you should be. Especially if you’re in the entertainment business. Besides the HPA Awards that recognize the achievements of individuals and companies in post production, they put on a remarkable Tech Retreat and assist in great events like NAB Post Pit.
The submission period this year is from May 15th through July 12th for the various categories. Submissions for the Engineering Excellence Award and the Creativity and Innovation Award will be accepted from now till June 21st. Note, if you get your entries in before June 14th, there’s a reduction in the fee. Cha-ching. The eligibility period is work produced from September 11, 2012 – September 3, 2013.
The categories included:Outstanding Color Grading-Feature Film
Outstanding Color Grading-Television
Outstanding Color Grading-Commercial
Outstanding Editing-Feature Film
Outstanding Editing-Television
Outstanding Editing-Commercial
Outstanding Sound-Feature Film
Outstanding Sound-Television
Outstanding Sound-Commercial
Outstanding Visual Effects-Feature Film
Outstanding Visual Effects-Television
Outstanding Visual Effects-Commercial
Engineering Excellence Award
HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production
By the looks of it, the HPA has injected visual effects categories this year, which is something S&P can get behind enough. Hopefully, we’ll get to see an Outstanding Sound in Reality Television in the future..? I don’t know. It’s just a slight agenda push/suggestion as we fortunately get to talk to a lot of the Bob Bronow’s of the post world, and they have some pretty challenging work. All the complete rules, submissions forms and 10pt fine print font can be found at www.hpaawards.net. The Awards themselves will be held November 7th at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA. Like em on Facebook or follow on Twitter.
We sat down with Glenn Sanders to talk about new products, NeverClip and what drives his company to develop new products for the sound community. Some of the new gear we found out about was the TRX900CL, a dedicated stereo camera link transmitter for sending two channels of audio and timecode from a sound bag to camera. The TRX is a 100% digital transmission and consumes low power (2.16w). The TRX also features an internal timecode-referenced audio recorder that backs up all transmissions on a microSD card, and is compatible with current Zaxcom wireless receivers, IFB receivers and IFB / ZaxNet transmitters.
Zaxcom Maxx was another product that was showcased at NAB, and it expected to hit the streets in about sixty days according to Sanders. The Maxx is an audio mixer and recorder that has an optional built-in RF Transmitter. It touts 4 XLR inputs (48V Phantom). It can record all broadcast sample rates up to 192KHz, and carries AES inputs, balanced audio returns, full timecode reader and generator, NeverClip and a slew of other features.
Clear-Com is one of the premiere voice communications leaders in the industry. Designing many integrated systems like the HelixNet Partyline, which was used in the 2012 London Olympics, they use cutting edge technology to help route one of the most important pieces to a successful production – the dialogue between the working crew. The Tempest is just one of those systems that can help do such a thing.
At S&P, we’ve been quite impressed with the things Blackmagic Design has done over the years. Some may even remember back in 2011, they even offered a version of their DaVinci Resolve Lite software absolutely free. DaVinci Resolve 10 is now out and it’s simply awesome. It’s upgrades are worth checking out and since it supports a wide array of cameras and has feature sets that goes beyond traditional color correction, it’s probably a perfect solution for many color grading houses out there.
Besides their color control panels and DaVinci software, they offer some pretty fantastic cameras as well. One being the Pocket Cinema Camera and another being their 4K Production Camera. The Pocket Cinema records CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProResProRes 422 (HQ) on SD cards. It has a Super 16 sensor size and captures 1080HD. This versatile camera can accept a wide range of adapters for film or you can use Micro Four Third lenses to even adapt to PL.
There’s also a 3.5″ display, audio inputs, headphone outputs and boasts 13 stops of dynamic range, where you can choose from film Log or video REC709. The price point is set at $995.
On the 4K front, Blackmagic Design’s 4K Production Camera is another remarkable piece to have in your toolkit. You get a machined aluminum chasis, EF lens mount for interchangeable optics, 4K Super 35 size sensor, global shutter, and CinemaDNG RAW and ProRess 422 (HQ) file formats as well as uncompressed audio recordings all for $3,995. Recordings can be captured straight to SSD and the unit has a 5″ touchscreen display for easy menu changes.
Anton/Bauer is expected to roll out their Power Charger 3000 line in both quad and dual options. This LED equipped fast charging system is full of ingenious features. From power levels, to telling you how many times your battery has been charged, their new system even integrates wifi that allows you to use their software for further monitoring of your batteries.
Other feature sets include: estimated time to charge and battery health. It’s said to be 4x faster than their current Quad 2702 charger, and will have functionality to charge all current and older Anton/Bauer batteries. Availability is expected late summer 2013 with about a $2,000 price tag.
Is it already that glamorous time of year again? I guess so as the Hollywood Post Alliance is now accepting entries for their 8th Annual HPA Awards. So get on it. Or as Jim Gaffigan would put it.. chip chop chip.
