Grace Notes

From L.A. Folk-Rock to Persian Pop, Let Us Sing the Praises of Guild Members at Sundance. By David Geffner.

The Park City hills were alive with the sound of music this past January, and I don’t mean the Von Trapp family members were belting out carols on Main Street. From music-themed documentaries like Troubadours, a pitch-perfect time capsule of L.A.’s celebrated (and sometimes reviled) singer/songwriter scene in the early 1970s (co-shot by Nicola Marsh and Arlene Nelson), to the ultra-dark buddy flick, I Melt With You (shot entirely on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II by Eric Schmidt), of which every frame pounds with late 80’s college-dorm rock, the preponderance of musically-themed entries were skillfully augmented by the visual grace notes of the many Guild-shot films at Sundance. Read more

Exposure: Jacqueline West

Nominated for costume design Oscars for her work on Quills and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Jacqueline West came to her love of fashion from her earliest days in San Francisco, where she grew up with a mannequin in her bedroom and Vogue magazines on the coffee table because her mother was a fashion designer. West followed her mother’s footsteps into fashion design, transitioning only to costumes when director Philip Kaufman asked her to be a creative consultant on Henry & June. West then later served as costume designer for Kaufman’s subsequent films, Rising Sun and Quills. She says she particularly loves the research end of her job – unearthing original sources to help capture the rich details required of a period piece, as West did for this month’s cover story, Water For Elephants. Ted Elrick talked to West about her 1930s-era designs for the film and found out that mom still knows best. “I continue to follow my mother’s advice,” West relayed. “Find the fabric first. The fabric dictates the design.” Read more

NAB 2011 Preview

Workflow the Buzz in Upcoming NAB Product News. By Carolyn Giardina.

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Unity Series Part II: Production Design

How IATSE Art Departments Build 3D Worlds. By Pauline Rogers.

How does Local 800 member Michael Corenblith, currently working on the 3D summer release Dolphin Tale, describe the production designer’s craft? “We depict the visual contours of the screenplay and select or create the environments and decors that best express this to an audience, without their ever being aware of our presence. We create the canvas upon which the director and cinematographer paint their movie,” he says. Read more

Grandstanding

Circus ringleader Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC, leads a talented Guild crew in visualizing the best-selling novel, Water for Elephants, for the big screen. By Ted Elrick. Photos by David James.

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President’s Letter – April 2011

How We Get There

With the many new cameras and technologies on display at NAB this year and new digital systems in abundance everywhere we turn, I found it illuminating that four out of the five Oscar® nominees for Best Cinematography this year (Inception, The King’s Speech, Black Swan and True Grit) were shot on film. Some may call that an unexpected endorsement of the enduring quality of celluloid, but my interpretation is this: “What’s old is new, what’s new is new, and everything in this industry is constantly moving in circles.” Read more

ICG April 2011

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
DP Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC
By Ted Elrick

SOURCE CODE
DP Don Burgess, ASC
By Kevin H. Martin

SUNDANCE 2011
By David Geffner

INVISIBLE VFX
By Kevin H. Martin

TOWER OF BABEL?
By Chris Wolski

UNITY SERIES PART III: EDITORS
By Pauline Rogers

EXPOSURE: Jaqueline West

UNSCRIPTED: Martinovic/Littee

DEEP FOCUS: Lukas Ettlin

GEAR GUIDE: New Technology