Scott Fotheringham

The Use of VFX to Stitch Birdman Together

February 2, 2015 Scott Fotheringham Comments Off

In 1941, cinematographer Gregg Toland approached Orson Welles, asking the director to let him shoot Citizen Kane. Toland wanted to experiment with some techniques he knew the studios would not allow him to use on any other film and guessed, rightly, that first-time director Welles would be open to letting him try. The most important of these innovative techniques was deep focus cinematography, made possible by developments in lens technology and high speed film that allowed an entire set to appear in focus, whether 18 inches from the camera lens or 200 feet away. It made for remarkable viewing and cemented Welles’ and Toland’s place in Hollywood history. […]

Cinecore Brings Digital Production Management to the Entertainment Industry

August 18, 2014 Scott Fotheringham Comments Off

When a school locker fell on Josh Ritcher’s foot while he was working in the art department of a kid’s show, he couldn’t have known that it would lead to a great business idea. Eight years later that idea has become Cinecore, production management software for entertainment content creation. Cinecore is a paperless coordinating tool for production companies and studios to manage all their communication with cast and crew. It is currently being used on numerous independent and feature films and TV shows. […]

Organic vs. Synthetic: Wally Pfister and Jess Hall Discuss the Making of Transcendence

April 17, 2014 Scott Fotheringham Comments Off

Wally Pfister has a self-proclaimed love-hate relationship with technology, evident throughout his directing debut, Transcendence, which opens tomorrow. This ambivalence shows up in his choice of narrative, themes, locations and, most notably, in the fact that he shot the movie in 35 mm anamorphic and eschewed a DI for a photochemical finish. He and his hand-picked cinematographer, Jess Hall, joined moderator David Geffner on stage at NAB last week in Las Vegas to discuss the making of the movie. […]

Giant Screen Theater Owners Ponder the Case for Digital

September 23, 2013 Scott Fotheringham 0

Eighteen months ago, Charlotte Brohi and the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) had a big decision to make. Attendance at their IMAX 15/70 theater had been declining steadily from a high of over one million visitors in 1991. With only 273,000 ticket buyers in 2011, Brohi, who is the VP of film, programming and distribution at the museum, knew they had to make a change. […]

Postproduction out of a Suitcase

April 11, 2013 Scott Fotheringham 0

When it comes to the production/post divide, what was black and white in the film era is now various shades of grey. That’s the way Chris Parker and Chris Jacobson of Bling Digital see it. The two were on hand at the HPA’s Post Pit at NAB 2013 to discuss portable post, or what they call “post-on-demand” (POD), a collection of services that runs through the digital image chain from camera, to DIT, color grading, finishing and archiving. […]