| Yesterday's movies, tomorrow's profits | | Posted Saturday, January 13, 2007 12:57:32 PM by Blog57 Team | | Gary Howsam recalls being swamped with angry e-mails when his film and television production company began making a movie about the man who shot John Lennon. Chapter 27, which stars Jared Leto and Lindsay Lohan, explores the mental collapse of Mark Chapman as his demons persuaded him to murder the rock icon in 1980. "It's a pretty controversial film," said Mr. Howsam, chief executive officer of Peace Arch Entertainment Group Inc. "To make a film about this guy who was believed to have done this for fame seems to be empowering his objective." Mr. Howsam hopes to sign a deal with a U.S. distributor when the movie premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, which starts next week. Although he expects Chapter 27 to do well at the box office, he admits the film production and distribution business can be unpredictable.... | |
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| | | Jordan Valley Semiconductors Named to List of Fastest Growing Israeli Technology Companies | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 11:02:23 AM by Blog57 Team | | Jordan Valley Semiconductors, Inc. has been named to the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Israel. A manufacturer of next-generation x-ray based semiconductor metrology solutions, Jordan Valley provides patented x-ray technology to leading semiconductor fabs worldwide. (http://www.jvsemi.com). To determine the fastest growing companies, Deloitte reviewed fiscal year revenues over five years (2001-2005), calculated the revenue growth percentage over five years, and compared the growth of technology companies. "Because the Deloitte Brightman Almagor Fast 50 measures sustained revenue growth over five years, being one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Israel is an impressive achievement," said Asher Mechlovich, partner in charge of the Deloitte Brightman Almagor Israel Technology Fast 50 Program.... | |
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| | | Google in talks with studios to make YouTube a money tree | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 10:57:30 PM by Blog57 Team | | SAN FRANCISCO--Google is in behind-the-scenes talks with film and music studios trying to make newly acquired video-sharing website YouTube a gold mine, and not a lawsuit-generating black hole. While some analysts questioned the sanity of Google buying YouTube in a 1.65-billion-dollar stock deal in October, Internet insiders and online rights lawyers contend that Google is shrewdly maneuvering on solid ground. "The Internet offers real opportunities for media companies to reach a wider, global audience and to interact more directly with users," Google said in response to an Agence France-Presse inquiry on Friday. "Google is always talking to potential partners about how to make the most of the opportunities provided by the net." Billionaire Mark Cuban was among those who predicted Google would be pounded with lawsuits by the owners of videos, films, music, and television shows in clips freely uploaded to YouTube by users.... | |
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| | | Director for Georgia's Film, Video and Music Office picked | | Posted Saturday, November 04, 2006 1:06:05 PM by Blog57 Team | | Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) has hired Bill Thompson as the director of its Georgia Film, Video and Music division. Thompson replaces Greg Torre, who became GDEcD's Division Director for Small Business and Innovation in April. Lee Thomas has served as the office's interim director since then. .... | |
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| | | Future Thought Breaks New Ground with 3D-CGI Film 'Haptics' | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 2:59:50 PM by Blog57 Team | | San Jose, CA (PRWEB) October 27, 2006 -- One of the best-kept secrets in animation won't be secret now that the sci-fi satire "Haptics" has screened at the Hollywood Film Festival and won the Hollywood Discovery Awards for the Best Animated Short Production. That event has shone a spotlight on Future Thought Productions, a five-year-old animation studio whose creativity has earned it a stellar list of clients and production partners. Future Thought has created animation for The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., MTV and Nickelodeon, yet company founder Jay Zaveri notes, "We also have been growing beneath the radar, and creating original content like 'Haptics.' We've been building a library of animated shorts that can play on mobile phones, the web, or as interstitial entertainment for theaters and TV.... | |
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| | | Film and TV industry rolls forward | | Posted Tuesday, October 24, 2006 10:54:16 AM by Blog57 Team | | One year after the sudden arrival of film and TV crews in Shreveport, the city has grown into more than a just backup plan for New Orleans-based projects. Thirteen projects have been shot in northwest Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina pushed them from southeast Louisiana. Eleven of these have filmed primarily in Shreveport or Bossier City. Estimated production budget figures for all 13 total a conservative $207.7 million. .... | |
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| | | Nigeria: British Film Director Gives Kudos to Jos Film Institute and Nollywood | | Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 6:53:51 AM by Blog57 Team | | A former Head of the British National Film and Televison School, Stephen Bayly, has described the National Film Institute, Jos, Plateau state as a 'beacon of light for practitioners in the Nigeria motion picture industry' based on the structural capability of the institute to initiate and evolve the 'highest standards of cinematic practice' in the country. Mr. Bayly, a producer and director said that the secret of the successes recorded by big names in the film sector around the world is not unconnected to film learning, skill acquisition and manpower training structured in a manner that brings financial reward through investments. .... | |
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| | | No viewfinder here | | Posted Monday, October 16, 2006 6:59:10 AM by Blog57 Team | | Most point-and-shoot digital cameras still look simple on the outside, but what's inside is getting more and more sophisticated. Sony's new Cyber-shot DSC-T50 is a prime example. For those of the film camera generation, the lack of a viewfinder on the T50 might take some getting used to, but the 3-inch touch screen should help.The screen has frame points to help locate the center of the picture and make sure the shot is level. The T-50 has built-in image stabilization to compensate for camera shake, while the touch screen makes it simple to change settings on the camera, including red-eye reduction, flash, macro mode for close-ups and sensitivity for low light levels when flash might not be appropriate. The camera has a Carl Zeiss lens with a 3x zoom and produces pictures at 7.2 megapixels.... | |
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| | | Movie to make millionaires of lost Mexico fishermen | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 3:06:19 PM by Blog57 Team | | MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Three Mexicans who spent nine months drifting across the Pacific Ocean in a flimsy fishing boat eating raw fish and sea birds are to be paid at least $3.8 million to turn their story into a movie. The three -- all fishermen who said they were too poor to afford a better boat or modern fishing tackle -- have signed a contract to sell their story to an Atlanta-based company, said a government official in San Blas, the fishing town where they began their odyssey. .... | |
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| | | Niche venues: Winifred Moore Auditorium at Webster University | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 6:55:45 AM by Blog57 Team | | Resident companies: Since 1978, the Moore Auditorium has hosted the Webster University Film series, which presents vintage, art-house and independent films. The auditorium also hosts screenings for the annual St. Louis International Film Festival, and the university uses the facility to screen movies for course work and student-filmmaker competitions. .... | |
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