Scenario:
We work all day, from early morning until late at night, close down the computer one last time (or put it to sleep if you are like me and you have 12+ programs running at once) then commute home (even if that means walking away from the desk into the living room). Ah, time for…. TV? Facebook? A Movie with friends? The latest video game?
Why do I mention this? Because it occurred to me that, even though we all work LONG hours, eventually we have to take a break. And while we are taking that break and enjoying some well-deserved R&R, someone has created something that allows us to do this!
So, once again, I am acknowledging and celebrating creativity. Whether it is a shout-out to those who develop the software and hardware that we use every day, or those who shoot in the field creating beautiful images for us to enjoy or the sound engineer who makes it easy on the ears (or not, depending on the content)…and many more very valuable “creatives,” including the building engineer who keeps my air conditioning running in the 100 degree Burbank heat!
Paris Barclay, newly elected President of the Director’s Guild
As soon as I post this, I am running off to a meeting of the PGA Diversity Committee, where the participants (and mentors) are being treated to a two-hour lecture on “How to work with a director,” by Paris Barclay, (“Sons of Anarchy,” “NYPD Blue,” “The West Wing” and “Glee”) the first black, openly gay President of the Director’s Guild of America. This, only a day following the Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA. It has been a milestone week.
Beauty Box digital makeup
On tonight’s BuZZ, John Tierney, President of Digital Anarchy, talks about Beauty Box version 3.0 with fast, realistic digital makeup for films, commercials and music videos. It’s a timely subject, especially given the recent uproar over the summer billboard campaigns featuring Madonna, Beyonce and Melissa McCarthy where none of the above is recognizable! Frankly, my ladies, we love you just the way you are and we applaud you for taking your creative teams to task about wanting to change you. And while we are on the subject, over several major fashion designers have now announced that they will be “creating” for plus-size women, despite what those billboard punk folks at Abercrombie & Fitch are doing. But more about Beauty Box…we love that we can make our actors look beautiful without photoshopping out the curves! And, frankly, we need Beauty Box to do it…so thank you, Jim. Nothing wrong with digital makeup to help do the job that our lighting obviously didn’t.
http://www.digitalanarchy.com
MacPro 2013, image courtesy of Apple Inc. (WWDC)
Philip Hodgetts blogged recently about CUDA. What’s CUDA? (I asked that as well.) But rest easy, Philip says, don’t panic. Adobe has thought of everything in this case and developers out there will be able to “call the card’s hardware layer” via NVIDIA’s language. More on this on the BuZZ. And, since the WWDC was just a few short days ago, we will also be asking Philip about the new MacPro. We think he likes, hey, Philip, he likes it! http://www.philiphodgetts.com
Alberto Sirrocco’s motion graphics for Red Hot Chili Peppers
Alberto Sirrocco comes from a long line of Italian artists, including a great-great-grandfather who worked on the architecture for St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Now, Alberto, who I haven’t met in person yet, must be a pistol, because he got his start doing graffiti. Can’t you just see the Italian police chasing him out of the Square? What on earth would his grandfather think? But, all is well in LaLaLand, as Alberto relocated here and started leftchannel, a design studio specializing in motion graphics (and more). Somehow this interview appeals to the renegade artist in all of us, doesn’t it? Enjoy. I especially like his work on the Red Hot Chili Peppers “Monarchy of Roses” video. http://leftchannel.com/work-rhcp.php
http://www.leftchannel.com
Lemonade Weekend 2 Coming in March 2014!
Bruce Nazarian visited us briefly a couple of weeks ago and began talking about making Lemonade from lemons…a music extravaganza devoted to all things Contemporary Jazz and funk music, that created after a disastrous experience a few years ago. Well, Bruce, we are sorry that it happened, but looking at your Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LemonadeWeekend2
We are kind of glad this is where you ended up. See you in Hollywood in March 2014.
And, keep creating!
The Digital Production BuZZ is live every Thursday, from 6 to 7 pm Pacific at http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com or you can download it free from iTunes!
Cirina Catania
Supervising Producer
Digital Production BuZZ
Burbank, June 27, 2013