November/December 2020

  • 19-Nov-2020
    November/December 2020
    In this issue:

    - Outlook 2021: A look to the year ahead

    - Director's Chair: AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond

    - Editing: HBO's The Undoing

    - Soundtrack: Hulu's Monsterland

    - Review: Canon's VP-3120 reference display 

    ...and much more!


Departments

  • <I>The Undoing</I>: Ben Lester, ACE, cuts HBO's 6-part series
    The Undoing: Ben Lester, ACE, cuts HBO's 6-part series

    London-based editor Ben Lester, ACE, cut the entire six-hour series, continuing a relationship with director Susanne Bier that dates back to 2015, when he collaborated with her on The Night Manager fo ...

    December 11, 2020

  • Review: Canon's VP-3120 reference display
    Review: Canon's VP-3120 reference display

    The Canon DP-V3120 is a 31-inch HDR reference monitor capable of a peak level of 2,000-nits. Its intensity is something I haven't seen since I last saw the 4,000-nit Dolby Pulsar monitor. Fortunately, ...

    November 19, 2020

Features

  • Outlook: A re-focusing of resources & resurgence in product popularity
    Outlook: A re-focusing of resources & resurgence in product popularity

    At DPA Microphones, we have been fortunate in that we were able to use the current (difficult) state of the world to focus on product development and innovation. With resources re-focused onto that si ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: Examining VFX culture & technology
    Outlook: Examining VFX culture & technology

    Technology is the biggest driver in all industry, and in 2020 we saw how the COVID-19 pandemic made us rethink how we use technology in VFX. This was particularly apparent in the rapid pivot to remote ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: Improving the sounds of remote productions
    Outlook: Improving the sounds of remote productions

    It feels important to start by noting that the COVID pandemic this year certainly set a new path for the world, and our industry, that no one could have expected. Despite all that 2020 has brought, we ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: Lockdown accelerates change in dubbing
    Outlook: Lockdown accelerates change in dubbing

    When lockdown hit the entertainment industry, it became abundantly clear that traditional dubbing wasn’t prepared to react. Content owners needed a solution that could offer flexibility, choice and, u ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: Long-term archiving & remote production will be critical
    Outlook: Long-term archiving & remote production will be critical

    Two of the most important trends for 2021 will be the need to archive digital content for the long term and, with no end in sight for the pandemic, the continuing need to access archived content remot ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: New data center supports remote editorial
    Outlook: New data center supports remote editorial

    Since the pandemic appeared, many people in post production have been working remotely. It’s now become obvious that remote workflows will continue, even after COVID-19 wanes. MTI believes that a hybr ...

    December 9, 2020

  • Outlook: Remote multi-user workflows will thrive
    Outlook: Remote multi-user workflows will thrive

    In recent months, the film and TV industry has been enthralled with virtual production, recognizing the many benefits of techniques such as virtual location scouting, realtime character animation, and ...

    December 9, 2020

  • Outlook: Security and cloud workflows
    Outlook: Security and cloud workflows

    Most of 2020 has been challenging for everyone globally. Looking ahead to 2021, I think we all can agree that there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the pandemic and how it will continue t ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: Sonic branding will continue to trend
    Outlook: Sonic branding will continue to trend

    For music producers, the story of 2021 will be the continued ascendance of sonic branding. Once synonymous with the audio logos of Fortune 500 companies, like McDonald’s, Apple and IBM, sonic branding ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: The acceleration of trends
    Outlook: The acceleration of trends

    In March, as COVID-19 arrived in New York, we had to act quickly to enable our staff to work remotely. Since then, we’ve continued to make adjustments to help clients and staff return to the facility ...

    December 9, 2020

  • Outlook: The rise of the home studio
    Outlook: The rise of the home studio

    With many individuals still working remotely due to COVID-19, we have seen a significant increase in the use of home-based audio production and post production equipment, as well as a massive surge in ...

    December 10, 2020

  • Outlook: VFX trends impacting the content boom
    Outlook: VFX trends impacting the content boom

    The current content boom is unparalleled in modern history, widely driven by the cloud and a range of VFX trends impacting accelerated media creation. For consumers, media distribution via the cloud h ...

    December 9, 2020

Web Exclusives

  • Careers: Composer/sound designer Charlie White
    Careers: Composer/sound designer Charlie White

    I am a 26 year old composer and sound designer working with Squeak E. Clean Studios from their Sydney studio. Over my career, I’ve composed music for feature films, shorts, animations and clients that ...

    December 11, 2020

  • Director's Chair: Max Barbakow — Hulu's <I>Palm Springs</I>
    Director's Chair: Max Barbakow — Hulu's Palm Springs

    When Hulu picked up the Sundance hit Palm Springs for a reported record $22 million deal, it took many industry observers by surprise. But it immediately set new records on the streaming platform, and ...

    December 11, 2020

  • Editing: <I>The Crown</I>'s 'The Hereditary Principle' episode
    Editing: The Crown's 'The Hereditary Principle' episode

    Morten Hojbjerg edited one of the most shocking episodes in Season 4 of The Crown. Episode 4.7, The Hereditary Principle, centers around Princess Margaret, who is at a very difficult place in her life ...

    January 6, 2021

  • Filmmaking: <I>The Last Prophecy</I>
    Filmmaking: The Last Prophecy

    Through this striking new short film, The Last Prophecy, director Romain Demongeot imagines the after world and examines the role of religion in the future of our planet. Demongeot is executive creati ...

    November 23, 2020

  • Outlook:  Keeping the humanity in a tech-driven post world
    Outlook: Keeping the humanity in a tech-driven post world

    Dell Technologies has always embraced a "work from home" culture. Even prior to the pandemic, a large portion of the Dell workforce was remote in some capacity. The flexibility created by Dell’s "work ...

    December 11, 2020

  • Outlook: A dress rehearsal for remote mixing
    Outlook: A dress rehearsal for remote mixing

    Sounds are childish. They are innocent, full of energy, and wholly influenced by their surroundings. When listening back to any recorded sound, we hear the ambience, the proximity to the subject, the ...

    January 4, 2021

  • Outlook: Animation's second act
    Outlook: Animation's second act

    With the challenges posed by the pandemic and the many unprecedented events of this year, the industry at large has had to get creative and come up with unique ways to keep being able to tell stories. ...

    December 18, 2020

  • Outlook: Become a student of your client's field
    Outlook: Become a student of your client's field

    One of the understated joys of working in the creative field is the sheer diversity of projects that we encounter. As more industries continue to discover the value and power of well crafted visual co ...

    December 17, 2020

  • Outlook: Establishing new benchmarks for collaboration
    Outlook: Establishing new benchmarks for collaboration

    In the dawn of nonlinear editing (historians speak of this time), every workday was accompanied by a lingering fear that at any given moment, the editing computer was going to bug out on you. Not the ...

    December 21, 2020

  • Outlook: Further adoption of motion-capture technology
    Outlook: Further adoption of motion-capture technology

    In light of global pandemic challenges, creative solutions that are suitable for home use are gaining popularity. Because markerless motion capture does not require expensive equipment, dedicated stud ...

    December 17, 2020

  • Outlook: Making music remotely
    Outlook: Making music remotely

    In the past, the process of producing creative work in a remote, work-from-home environment might have felt a bit like playing the kids game of Consequences, where players each draw the head, shoulder ...

    December 22, 2020

  • Outlook: Managing adversity & mentoring new talent
    Outlook: Managing adversity & mentoring new talent

    Our focus during COVID-19 was to keep our tight-knit team together, healthy and safe despite the uncertainty in the film market. We continued to train our newly-hired Foley apprentice, Annie Taylor, a ...

    January 4, 2021

  • Outlook: Open source in 2021
    Outlook: Open source in 2021

    Since its creation just over two years ago, the Academy Software Foundation has provided a neutral forum for open source software developers in the film industry to share resources and collaborate on ...

    December 23, 2020

  • Outlook: Original production and localization will see continued growth
    Outlook: Original production and localization will see continued growth

    2020 is the year that the entertainment industry replaced a misperception of complex supply chains with practicality and began embracing cloud-based remote workflows. 

    December 11, 2020

  • Outlook: Overcoming latency for realtime collaboration
    Outlook: Overcoming latency for realtime collaboration

    As developers, parents and teachers, we engage daily with audio professionals, musicians and students who have transitioned to collaborating and learning online, which in so many ways is lacking. We a ...

    December 22, 2020

  • Outlook: Reimagining live events in the era of COVID-19
    Outlook: Reimagining live events in the era of COVID-19

    For decades, live events have served as the centerpiece of almost every business sector. COVID-19 has forced business leaders around the world to quickly and dramatically restructure their live events ...

    December 21, 2020

  • Outlook: Small teams create big ideas
    Outlook: Small teams create big ideas

    This year in our industry, we’ve been handed the opportunity to completely restructure the way we do things. This has fostered some incredible innovation across the various artistic, technical and bus ...

    December 23, 2020

  • Outlook: Technology is redefining how we create
    Outlook: Technology is redefining how we create

    Like many other creative professionals working in film and television, I’m acutely aware of, and have accepted, the high demands and expectations our industry imposes on us. I’ve been practicing this ...

    December 23, 2020

  • Outlook: The NY post community looks back at 2020
    Outlook: The NY post community looks back at 2020

    The Post New York Alliance (PNYA) is an association of film and television post production facilities, labor unions and individuals operating in New York. Its members coalesce around the belief that a ...

    January 4, 2021

  • Outlook: Video streaming isn't just for entertainment anymore
    Outlook: Video streaming isn't just for entertainment anymore

    No one was prepared for the tidal wave of change that 2020 brought, yet industries have shown incredible resiliency amidst these turbulent times — post production included. 

    December 11, 2020