The Writers Guild of Canada honored its members April 9 at This is London, a nightclub in downtown Toronto. The 5th Annual Top Ten Awards ceremony was a fast-moving, jam-packed, stand-up affair hosted by Cathy Jones of This Hour Has 22…

Hot Docs, running April 30 to May 6 in Toronto, has a bundle of new components this year….

The Canadian Society of Cinematographers feted Canuck directors of photography at the 2001 CSC Awards March 31 at the Westin Prince Hotel in Toronto. Montreal-based Pierre Gill won in the category of theatrical feature for his work on the flashy action…

CSI fetches record $1.6M per ep from TNN…

Family and friends of Lorraine Good Samsom met on a small stretch of beach in Malibu, CA in early April to hold a wake for Good Samsom, who for many years worked as director of Telefilm Canada in Los Angeles, and…

With a continued focus on international children’s film and filmmaking, the fourth annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children kicks off April 20 with the world premiere of The Impossible Elephant from Canadian director Martin Wood….

Cannes, France: Even though Alliance Atlantis Communications was a hive of pre-MIP production and sales announcements, much more was forthcoming at the market itself including word of a doc deal with PBS and news on plans for specialty launches this fall….

It’s time to return to the desert oasis. In mere days Canadian manufacturers, broadcasters, producers, post shops, webcos and journalists will be jumping on their chartered flights and heading down to Las Vegas for the annual National Association of Broadcasters mega-trade show (April 21-26).

Last year Sony stole the show at NAB with the unveiling of its 24p high-definition HDW-F900 camcorder. The HDCAM’s 24 frames per second capture rate and 180-degree shuttering, similar to those of a motion picture camera, finally made digital imaging an attractive alternative to TV producers who had been doling out major dollars for film stock and processing. Sony immediately recorded 100 sales.

The bad news: Complex visual effects will continue to become a bigger and more integrated part of every production. We have not yet reached the day when we will shoot exclusively on a blue-screen stage, and I really hope that day never comes. Trust me, shooting blue screen all day, every day, is just not the thrill accountants think it is.
The need to learn more about the evolving processes and the changing equipment for visual effects is pretty important to maximize your production dollars.
The good news: NAB is coming to a desert casino and there’s a lot to see. If you are making the trip, it will probably do you some good to stop in at some of the geek booths and talk to the engineers, salespeople and even the other attendees about what’s going on. Production techniques will be changing over the next few years and this is where you will see it start.
What happened to HD?

The notion of convergence is foremost on the minds of the broadcast industry, and the same holds true for systems and software developer Discreet. …

Daniel Pellerin is the Genie and Gemini Award winning director of mixing services at Deluxe Toronto, an audio post and post-production house specializing in feature films and long-form TV. …