cineSync Used to Complete VFX for Academy Award® Nominee, Gravity

Cospective’s video review software cineSync played a key role in a globe-spanning VFX pipeline for Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Charting the lonely quest of an astronaut (Sandra Bullock) to survive after her spaceship is crippled, the film received ten Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Visual Effects. Framestore, principal VFX vendor on Gravity, tasked Australia’s Rising Sun Pictures with completing a spectacular reentry sequence. From their facility in Adelaide, Rising Sun was able to integrate seamlessly with Framestore via cineSync. With cineSync as a remote collaboration tool, distributed postproduction teams can work together closely to create groundbreaking VFX, regardless of locations and time zones.

In fact, cineSync was used for remote review on all of the movies nominated for Best Visual Effects this year, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger, Star Trek Into Darkness, as well as Gravity. cineSync itself won a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy in 2011. 

Rarely has the big screen been put to better use than it is here, in conveying the immensity of space. The tight confines of spacecraft are set against infinite blackness. Often the only sounds in the film are the breathing of Bullock’s character, astronaut Stone. Physical objects float unbearably slowly, even as the narrative races inexorably forward. The tension is so complete, and the imagery so seamless, that is easy to forget that the entire film depends on visual effects work.

The film’s climactic scene shows Stone attempting reentry into earth’s atmosphere. Rising Sun Pictures completed 17 shots for this sequence. Using Framestore’s pre-vis for reference, Rising Sun worked with director Cuarón, executive producer Nikki Penny and Tim Webber, VFX supervisor at Framestore, to craft and deliver the 2.5-minute sequence.

“We came up with technical and creative solutions through talking to Tim and Alfonso,” said Tony Clark, VFX supervisor and co-founder of RSP. “These conversations required a large number of cineSync sessions, usually including various reference clips of elements they wanted to include in the reentry scene.”

For the scene, Rising Sun created stereoscopic, all-CG shots that included the space station and reentry module, plasma and flame effects surrounding the descending vehicle, the violent destruction of a space station, earth environments, atmospheric effects, parachutes and panoramic matte painting.

“It’s always great to work with a local VFX house, but these days, with communications as advanced as they are, it’s getting easier to work remotely,” said Webber. “On Gravity we worked with Rising Sun, literally at the opposite end of the world from our base in London. This was made significantly easier using cineSync. It is tried and tested software that has been such an integral part of so many films that it’s almost synonymous with remote working.”

“As the VFX industry continues to grow worldwide, we are seeing how facilities are constantly discovering new means to do better, more inventive work, with tight timelines and, in some cases, shrinking budgets,” said Cospective’s Rory McGregor, product manager of cineSync. “One particularly effective tool is remote collaboration between post houses. This allows you to bring in the best artists, regardless of where they are. This is precisely what Framestore did, using cineSync to communicate efficiently and clearly with the artists at Rising Sun Pictures.” 

An exemplar of remote collaboration, Rising Sun Pictures has contributed to many recent Hollywood features, including The Great Gatsby, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and others. Working from Adelaide, South Australia, RSP has been able to integrate their workflows with studios and facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, all thanks to cineSync.

Cospective, the maker of cineSync, has been continually innovating in the area of synchronized remote review and approval and recently released Frankie, which is tailored for the review of short-form media such as TV commercials and which allows cineSync-style reviews in an Internet browser. “Cospective’s remote review and approval tools have never been more in demand than today in the new world of international filmmaking and advertising,” added McGregor.

cineSync runs on OSX, Windows and Linux systems and is sold worldwide by Cospective, the maker of Frankie video review software.

cineSync is the Academy Award®-winning synchronized review-and-approval tool used for major film productions. It is made by Cospective, creator of innovative software solutions to visual communication challenges. Cospective’s product line also includes Frankie, the real-time video review tool that uses standard web browsers and is ideally suited for short-form content produced by ad agencies, production companies and post houses. Cospective is a privately held company based in Adelaide, Australia.

Dell Debuts First Ad as a Private Company

Still recovering from a bruising battle to take itself private, Dell has introduced a business-to-business brand campaign on New Year’s Eve to promote its entrepreneurial spirit and that of well-known corporate customers like Whole Foods, TripAdvisor and Skype. Developed by the New York office of Y&R, the advertising is an extension of the agency’s recent “Power to Do More” consumer-oriented television campaign. Previous spots featured a fifth-grader who made a film of herself flying over her school’s playground, and a businessman who created an “alternate universe” through computer-generated imagery while commuting on a train.
Last February, Michael S. Dell, who founded the technology company in his dorm room at the University of Texas, Austin, in 1984, announced that he and the investment firm Silver Lake Partners would take the company private in a $24 billion buyout; they succeeded in September after fending off the investor Carl C. Icahn. Mr. Dell sought privatization to help the company more easily shift from focusing on making personal computers, a declining business, to providing software and services for corporate clients. Speaking after the buyout was approved by shareholders, he called Dell “the world’s largest start-up.”
The central message of Dell’s new campaign — as stated in a 60-second TV spot — is that Dell is “part of some of the world’s great stories, stories that began much the same way ours did, in a little dorm room, No. 2713.” The spot shows “the little room over the pizza place at 315 Chestnut Street,” where TripAdvisor began in 2000, as well as the “modest first-floor bedroom in Tallinn, Estonia,” where Skype was started in 2003, and the “second floor above the strip mall at Roble and El Camino,” where Shutterfly began in 1999.
The spot illustrates, the voice-over continues, “the story of where every great idea begins. Where those with endless vision and an equal amount of audaciousness believed they had the power to do more. Time and time again.”
Similarly, a print ad features a variety of images depicting the businesses of many well-known Dell customers, including Salesforce.com, Gilt.com and The Knot. The copy says, “The power to do. Dell helps companies of all sizes do more for their customers every day. Online advertising focuses on individual customers. One group of ads features images of fresh produce, with copy that says, “Foods that are free of artificial preservatives, colors and flavors. So millions can enjoy what is fresh. Wholesome and safe. The power to do. Dell helps power Whole Foods Market.”
The campaign will begin on New Year’s Eve, with the TV spot running on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” on ABC. In addition, starting on New Year’s Eve and running through Jan. 20, four billboards in Times Square will run animated ads similar to advertising appearing in other media. At the same time, New York taxis will carry a 30-second version of the TV spot.
After the Dec. 31 kickoff, TV advertising will run on network and cable news programs through Jan. 26, while another version of the spot will air on NBC during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The print ad will run in January and February in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and Forbes, while online advertising will run through April on the websites of CNN, The Atlantic, IDG and others. Billboard advertising will also run from Feb. 24 through April at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Tex. The New York office of VML, the digital marketing agency of Y&R, helped create the campaign; both are part of WPP.
In a blog post scheduled to be released with the campaign’s introduction, Karen Quintos, chief marketing officer of Dell, said 2014 would be a “new year and a new beginning for Dell.” The campaign, she added, “celebrates the dreamer and the visionary, the person who knows that game-changing innovation begins with an idea coupled with unrelenting passion.” She declined to say how much Dell would spend on the new campaign. According to Kantar Media, in recent years the company’s largest advertising expenditures were approximately $307 million in 2009. In the first nine months of this year, it spent $73.5 million.
Sharmila Chatterjee, a senior lecturer at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management who studies business-to-business marketing, said the new campaign’s message was “completely consistent with our values and culture. America is the land of second chances; we have a culture of taking pride in falling down, and then getting up and learning from our mistakes.” Matt Eastwood, a group vice president at IDC, said that by using the names of start-ups instead of established companies, Dell was “trying to appeal to the next generation of buyer constructing and building an enterprise infrastructure from end to end.”
The message is aimed at small businesses, which will be “very important to Dell’s future,” said David Johnson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. “Small businesses do not have the resources to do what large enterprises can do. They need vendors that can help them level the playing field with technology.” Tim Calkins, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, suggested the campaign was also directed at Dell’s own employees. “I suspect it’s a difficult time for employees at Dell — it needs its employees to be proud of the brand, too,” he said.
Andrew C. Frank, an analyst for Gartner, warned that “an ad campaign can’t be the whole story for how Dell changes perception.” He said there must be a balance “between getting people’s interest through advertising and delivering something on the product side to make people believe the messaging is not just feel-good stuff.”

HP rewards its Africa Channel Partners...launches 2-in-1 laptop and tablet hybrid for business

Seventy of Africa's top HP Enterprise Group (EG) partners spent 3 days in Dubai recently celebrating FY13 achievements, learning HP's latest announcements on PartnerOne and discussing with HP senior executives their strategies and growth plans. The event was organized by Mitsumi Africa Distribution and was held at Burj Al Arab hotel followed by a lavish award ceremony at the Address Downtown hotel.

"Over 94% of HP's Africa EG business is done through our channel partners. We appreciate the efforts and activities of our partners, they are key to our success in the region. We have a clear strategy towards growing our indirect business and we are committed to support their development; the latest enhancement to HP PartnerOne program clearly demonstrates HP's interests towards making business easier, predictable, and more profitable to our partners" said Ammar Lababidy, Manager of HP Africa EG Indirect Sales.

HP has a unique partner compensation program that offers partners substantial rebates and bonuses based on their level of certifications and skills rather than a revenue threshold. "HP ExpertOne provides the knowledge and experience partners need today to drive the new style of IT. From cloud solutions to software defined networks, HP ExpertOne delivers the perfect certification path. And this goes hand in hand with the compensation plan; the higher certification level partners achieve; the higher rebates they are entitled to." He added.

As a part of its strategic growth plan for Africa, HP invested heavily in developing its channel network as well as expanding its coverage across the African continent through opening up 16 HP subsidiaries last year.

HP is also diving deeper into the 2-in-1 market for devices that can double as laptops or tablets. Its latest hybrid Windows touchscreen convertible is aimed at businesses, and it’s actually a pretty powerful machine in a small package. HP is unveiling the laptop-tablet hybrid at the 2014 International CES, the huge tech tradeshow in Las Vegas this week. The HP Pro x2 410 runs Windows 8.1 and has a 11.6-inch high-definition touchscreen. You can detach the cover and use the screen as a Windows tablet. The idea is to give employees the capability to quickly access applications that meet the demands of both work and life.

The device has no fan, and the tablet part is just 2.5 millimeters thick. It uses Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, Beats Audio sound, a front-and-back webcam, and dual speakers. HP is selling it now in the U.S. for $900.

It is less than an inch thick and weighs 3.43 pounds. The tablet weighs just 1.8 pounds. The full device is just 22.3 millimeters thick. The machine comes with options for 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB flash memory solid state drives. The base unit has Intel integrated graphics. HP is also launching its inexpensive HP 350 G1 notebook computer with a 15.6-inch display. It has a durable, spill-resistant design and an optional fingerprint reader. It uses Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors, or Intel Pentium and Celeron processors. It is available now in the U.S. for $400.