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Awards

Contenders – Sound Editors Mark Mangini and Scott Hecker, Mad Max: Fury Road

November 20, 2015 Daron James Comments Off on Contenders – Sound Editors Mark Mangini and Scott Hecker, Mad Max: Fury Road

When Warner Bros. announced it was going to pick up the tab for the reincarnated Mad Max franchise many of us smiled with excited anticipation. First of all, it’s George Miller, and secondly, its George f’ing Miller – one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. Visually, Mad Max: Fury Road could dilate the colorblind, but what Miller and the sound team accomplished acoustically was an astounding feat. Helping to oversee that process were supervising sound editors Mark Mangini and Scott Hecker. […]

Art Direction

Contender – Production Designer Adam Stockhausen, Bridge of Spies

November 16, 2015 Michelle Paradis Comments Off on Contender – Production Designer Adam Stockhausen, Bridge of Spies

In the Cold War-era Bridge of Spies, an American lawyer, James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) is recruited by the CIA to help rescue a pilot arrested and detained by the Soviet Union. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film is filled with stunning and scenic production design by Adam Stockhausen, known for his work on 12 Years a Slave (2013), which was nominated for an Academy Award and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), which won an Academy Award. […]

Awards

Contender – Costume Designer Sandy Powell, Carol

November 9, 2015 Beth Marchant Comments Off on Contender – Costume Designer Sandy Powell, Carol

Had Todd Haynes’s film Carol been made when it was first developed 15 years ago, it would have been a very different looking film. Based on The Price of Salt, a 1952 semi-autobiographical novel by Patricia Highsmith, Carol owes much of its aesthetic, richly interpreted by Haynes in 16 mm, to the New York street photography of Vivian Maier, an unknown until her vast collection of negatives was discovered in 2007. […]

Awards

Framestore Completes VFX Work on The Martian

October 9, 2015 Staff Comments Off on Framestore Completes VFX Work on The Martian

Framestore recently delivered 338 shots for The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. The sequences follow Mark Watney (Damon) and his fellow astronauts in outer space environments that are synonymous with the Framestore name, thanks to 2013’s Oscar-winning Gravity. […]

Contender Portfolios

The Lifesaving Mission of Pink & Blue

October 7, 2015 Mary Ann Skweres Comments Off on The Lifesaving Mission of Pink & Blue

In 2013, actress Angelina Jolie brought the issue of hereditary cancer into the public consciousness when she elected to have prophylactic (preventative) surgeries to cut down on her genetic pre-disposition to breast and other cancers. She had tested positive for a gene mutation known as BRCA that puts both women and men at a heightened risk for developing numerous cancers.
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Crafts

Director Alex Garland Probes the Limits of Artificial Intelligence in Ex-Machina

May 27, 2015 Jack Egan Comments Off on Director Alex Garland Probes the Limits of Artificial Intelligence in Ex-Machina

One of this year’s most successful independent movies, Ex-Machina is a stylish and edgy science fiction film that has captured the attention of audiences with its timely theme of Artificial Intelligence or AI. Basically a three-character film, it features three of Hollywood’s fastest-rising young actors – Oscar Isaacs, Dohmnall Gleeson and Sweden’s Alicia Vikander. It is helmed by English director Alex Garland who also wrote the screenplay. […]

Film

Dolby Vision to Launch with Disney’s Tomorrowland and Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out

April 15, 2015 Staff Comments Off on Dolby Vision to Launch with Disney’s Tomorrowland and Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out

Dolby Laboratories and The Walt Disney Studios announced that Disney’s Tomorrowland, in theatres May 22, and Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out, in theatres June 19, will be the first Dolby Vision titles to be shown at Dolby Cinema locations around the world. In addition, Disney’s The Jungle Book, due out April 15, 2016, will also be presented in Dolby Vision, with more titles to be announced. […]

Featured

The Fairytale Effect in Disney’s Cinderella

April 9, 2015 Beth Marchant Comments Off on The Fairytale Effect in Disney’s Cinderella

When transforming a beloved animated classic into a contemporary live-action film, do you handle it with kid gloves?

Director Kenneth Branagh’s remake of the 1950 Disney original keeps the gloves on, in a formal sense, by finding Cinderella‘s essential fairy tale heart and filling it with the mythical magic of Thor, the lightness of Shakespeare’s comedies and shimmering yet practically grounded effects, all spun together like cotton candy from the early days of Technicolor. To enhance the nostalgia implicit in the live-action reboot, Branagh chose to shoot on film with Haris Zambarloukos behind the camera. Costumes were designed by The Young Victoria Oscar winner Sandy Powell and the extensive sets were rendered by Dante Ferretti and set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo, who won Oscars for Hugo and The Aviator. […]