Australia-China Film Industry Forum @ SIFF. Tuesday, June 17 2014
Soundfirm MD, Beijing, Geng Ling will today moderate the Annual Australia-China Film Industry Forum at The Shanghai International Film Festival. This panel will be discussing new opportunities for sino-foreign co-productions, with panelists Susan Xu, Vice General Manager, China Film Coproduction Corporation, Tony Zhang, Vice President, DMG Entertainment, and Director/Producer Pauline Chan.
Moderators of other panels and roundtables taking place at the Forum include Ellen Eliasoph, President and CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia, and Geng Ling, Managing Director, Soundfirm Beijing.
The Forum will include delegates from Fox Studios Australia, Animal Logic, Film Australia, and a wide range of other production, post-production and digital effects executives.
With China movie box office and movie attendance both growing at around 30 percent year-over-year, we are expecting both good attendance and much excitement at both this year’s SIFF and at the Australia-China Film Forum.
For more information about the Australia-China Film Forum contact the Australian Embassy Beijing
The Redfern Story
Soundfirm have completed the picture and sound post production on Darlene Johnson's 'The Redfern Story,' which this week enjoyed it's World Premiere at The Sydney Film Festival.
Cutting rooms (for Editor, Deb Prince) were provided at our Sydney Facility, leading into grading, online editing, sound post, voice-over and DI/broadcast deliverables - all managed under the one-roof.
Producer, Sue Milliken, said "thank you to everyone at Soundfirm for your care, commitment, and endless patience [with the film]. We really appreciate it."
The World Premiere will be on Sunday 8th June as part of the SIFF. This special screening is presented in partnership with ABC TV and Screen Australia's Indigenous Department. It is followed by a talk, The Redfern Story: From the Streets to the Stage, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, hosted by Vivid Ideas.
Screenwriter: Darlene Johnson
Producer: Darlene Johnson, Sue Milliken
Cinematographer: Simon Smith
Editor: Deb Prince
Company Credits:Production Company: Samson Productions Pty Ltd
Standing ovation for 'These Final Hours' @ Cannes Film Festival.
Western Australia Feature, 'These Final Hours' received a standing ovation at its International Premiere on Monday night, according to Screen Australia's social media feeds.
USA Entertainment has also brought the US rights to the the film.
Soundfirm completed the full sound-track between their Sydney and Melbourne facilities - including foley, ADR, pre-and-final mixes.
Congratulations to all involved. We can't wait to see it hit the box office.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaoF6byFQFU[/youtube]
The Rover given prestigious midnight slot at Cannes Film Festival 2014
Congratulations to David Michod and Liz Watts! The Rover has been given a prestigious midnight slot at Cannes Film Festival 2014. This will be the world premiere of the film with it opening nationally on June 12th.
Dolby Atmos now at Village Crown Melbourne
Village Cinemas at Crown Melbourne has now installed Dolby Atmos in cinema 5 & 6.
http://villagecinemas.com.au/dolby-atmos
These Final Hours selected for Cannes Film Festival!
A huge congratulations to Zac Hilditch and Liz Kearney! "These Final Hours" has been selected for the directors' fortnight section at Cannes Film Festival this year. We are so proud to have worked on this incredible Australian feature backed by a fantastic team!
The Final Hours opens nationally on 24th July.
http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/news_and_events/2014/mr_140422_finalhours.aspx
Investment: our new Meyer Sound Cinema Loudspeaker System arrives!
Soundfirm installs Meyer Sound Atmos system
Soundfirm has selected a Meyer Sound cinema loudspeaker system for its Dolby Atmos dubbing stage in its new Melbourne location. The large mixing room is Australia’s first to feature an all-Meyer Sound screen channel and surround loudspeaker system.
Owner Roger Savage, a veteran re-recording mixer whose film credits include the family classic Babe and the musical Moulin Rouge!, selected the Meyer Sound system.
“When we decided to install an Atmos room, we needed surround loudspeakers capable of full-range response, and Meyer Sound sounded so much better than anything else we’d experienced,” says Savage.
The monitoring system incorporates three Acheron 80 screen loudspeakers, eight HMS-12 and 29 HMS-10 cinema surround loudspeakers, six X-800C high-power cinema subwoofers, and two 500-HP subwoofers in the rear for surround low end.
Chris Goodes, Soundfirm’s chief re-recording mixer, has mixed a number of projects in the new room. “The first thing I took to was the top end,” he says. “The Acherons are so much better than what we’d been using before. The dialogue clarity is outstanding, and you can trust what you’re doing with equalisation. You never have to question whether the speaker is changing the sound. And you can work for 10 or 12 hours on this system without fatigue.”
Projects mixed by Goodes since opening include The Monkey King, an Atmos mix for the Chinese market; Predestination, a feature starring Ethan Hawke; Deep Sea Challenge, a James Cameron documentary; and Hidden Universe for IMAX release.
Savage appreciates the streamlined installation of the 48V remotely powered surround loudspeakers. “Installation and setup was much easier than the conventional approach,” he notes. “You simply run a single cable with 48V power and audio for the internally bi-amplified surrounds. This saves installation costs, particularly when you’re dealing with an Atmos system.”
The new mixing theatre also includes a Harrison Trion mixing console with 240 inputs, five Avid Pro Tools systems, a 10-metre-wide screen, and a Christie 4K projector with 3D capability.
“The independent mixers who use the room all comment on how great it sounds,” reports Savage. “The Meyer Sound monitors have lived up to our high expectations, and exceeded them – particularly with Atmos.”
3Deep and Soundfirm partner on 'world-first' 5k short film.
In a global first, Soundfirm have partnered with Australian film-maker, Pawel Achtel, to produce a ground-breaking Natural History short film.
‘The World's Sharpest Whales’ will be leaping off the screen at this week's gathering of the 3D film industry at the British Film Institute in London.
Shot off the coast of Tonga by Australian film-maker Pawel Achtel, and edited in Sydney on Soundfirm’s SGO Mistika editing system, the film is the first underwater footage ever shot in full-resolution 5K, and shows a glimpse of the lives of one of the world’s largest creatures, the Humpback whale, in the sharpest and most intimate of details.
Using the new 3Deep rig, an innovative and award-winning underwater housing designed by his own company, Achtel has, for the first time, avoided the most serious optical problems - including severe distortion and chromatic aberration - associated with traditional underwater housings and at the same time created a system that’s a fraction of the weight and size of a conventional 3D rig.
Based on two side-by-side RED Epic cameras, mounted within the same titanium housing, and incorporating additional optical modifications to enhance the colours found underwater that can’t be matched in post-production, the 3Deep weighs in at a mere 23kg (50 lbs) including lenses, 3D monitor, batteries and cameras and is only 30cm (1ft) wide.
"With lightweight, maneuverable, yet high resolution camera systems, we were able to film natural behavior and follow the action in a way that hasn’t been possible before," said Achtel, from his Tasmania-based company headquarters.
With the SGO Mistika 4k 3D finishing system, associated with productions such as The Hobbit Trilogy (Warner Brothers) and The Great Gatsby (Warner Brothers), it was possible to align geometry, colour match, colour grade and adjust 3D, largely in real time, and with a couple of keystrokes. "It was a fabulous system to work with", said Achtel, "and transformed the footage we’d spent so long capturing in the wild, often in a matter of seconds."
“It’s been a privilege to have worked with such an innovative Engineer and Film-maker” said Soundfirm’s General Manager, Paul Willey. “We have a passion for post production because, at its core, it’s about technology facilitating creativity and opening up real and imagined worlds to an audience." "Pawel’s groundbreaking and awe-inspiring work is the perfect example of that,” he added.
Sam Sheppard of SGO UK will be presenting 'World’s Sharpest Whales' at 14.30 on 12 March (Day 1) and at 11.30 on 13 March (Day 2) during each HFR/4K 3DCS Bootcamp Post Production session at the BFI, Southbank, London.
http://www.3dcreativesummit.com/
Contact: Sam Sheppard - SGO Mistika Product & Workflow Specialist ssheppard@sgo.es
Pawel Achtel, Director, DoP, Editor, Stereographer, Colour Grading.
Jon Shaw, Director of Photography
Ian Watson, Post Production Editing and Conform.
Michael Gissing, Editing, Sound Mix and Sound FX
Stuart Monksfield, Mojo Media (Sydney), 3D Consultant and Mistika re-seller.
Paul Willey, General Manager
Bruce Emery, Technical Lead, Soundfirm Sydney
Jasmin Cornford, Post Production Co-ordinator, Soundfirm
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/76025643[/vimeo]
Soundfirm invited to DocWeek, AIDC
Soundfirm General Manager, Paul Willey, will be presenting ‘Fast Forward Predictions’ at The Adelaide International Documentary Conference (AIDC), which starts this week.
Moderated by SBS’s Sandy George, these 30-minute sessions will see specialists give short-term predictions on the challenges and opportunities that will rise within their field of expertise over the next 5 years.
Willey will attempt to predict technical, commercial and creative innovations in the industry, and how these will affect budgets and workflows in the years to come.
http://docweek.org.au/screening-films/schedule?start_date=2014-03-06&category=industry
DocWeek tickets are still available for sessions and screenings.
Moderator:
Sandy George, Film Presenter, SBS, Australian Correspondent, Screen International & screendaily.com
Speaker:
Paul Willey, General Manager, Soundfirm
These Final Hours
Set to be released in Australian cinemas on the 12th June 2014, ‘These Final Hours’, follows the story of a young man’s journey on his last day on Earth. The once self-obsessed partygoer (Nathan Phillips) saves the life of a young girl searching for her father, leading him on a path of redemption.
Soundfirm provided Director, Zac Hilditch and first-time Producer, Liz Kearney, with a top of the line sound package rolled out across their two Australian facilities. A talented team of ADR and foley recordists provided a strong foundation that lead into a thrilling final mix in Soundfirm’s premium Melbourne facility. Yet again a seamless “under-one-roof” interstate approach has been used to provide a client with the best possible service to suit their post-production requirements.
Sound Mixer - Chris Goodes
Sound Editor - Rob Mackenzie
ADR - Diego Ruiz & Nicky Robinson
Foley Team - Steve Burgess, Mario Vaccaro, George Alamaras & Alex Francis
Director - Zac Hilditch
Executive Producer - Robert Connolly
Producer - Liz Kearney
Post-Production Producer - Rachel McKellar-Harding