In the News

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television in February named IMAX Corporation – which Graeme Ferguson co-founded – the recipient of the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, an honour given for Recent Canadian Technical Achievements. “IMAX Corporation’s suite of entertainment technologies are gamechanging advances through which the Canadian-based company has had a profound impact on the movie-going experience for audiences around the world. As we have also seen this year, IMAX has also had a tremendous influence on the bottom-line fundamentals of the theatrical film business globally,” Academy Chair Martin Katz said.

The Academy also announced that Julie Bristow, CBC executive director of studio and unscripted content, as well as Don Carmody, producer, have joined the Academy’s Board of Directors.

TV Cameraman, Director Driftmier dies

Calgary-born, Ottawa-based cameraman and television director John Driftmier died on February 24 at the age of 30. Driftmier was in Kenya filming the documentary series Dangerous Flights, a program documenting ferry pilots delivering small, private planes around the world. He was filming aerial footage for the series when the small plane he was in crashed, killing him and the pilot. Driftmier specialized in factual television. His numerous credits include several Discovery series, including Highway Thru Hell and Licence to Drill. He is survived by his wife and parents.

ARRI Refreshes ALEXA Product Line

ARRI in February announced it is refreshing its ALEXA product line, incorporating new features inspired by feedback from professional users. The ALEXA XT, ALEXA XT M, ALEXA XT Plus and ALEXA XT Studio cameras will replace all previous models except for the original ALEXA. Owners of existing ALEXA

Graeme Ferguson

Credit: Courtesy of ARRI.

Credit: Kayla-Jane Barrie

cameras will be able to purchase individual upgrades that deliver most of the features of the XT configuration. The company is also offering an upgrade that equips all existing ALEXA cameras with one of the major features of the XT configuration: the new XR Module (Xtended Recording), which allows ARRIRAW data to be recorded in-camera to a new internal digital magazine that was co-developed with Codex and will replace the SxS module.

Framestore Adds Montreal Office

Visual effects company Framestore recently announced the addition of a Montreal office to its worldwide chain. The Montreal studio will accommodate a significant proportion of Framestore’s growing slate of confirmed film VFX work for 2013, including RoboCop, All You Need Is Kill

Above: William F. White Chairman/CEO Paul

Bronfman. Below: The Kino Flo Celeb

and Paddington Bear. Framestore’s decision to establish an operation in Montreal is based on the city’s significant software, creative and technological talent base and a proven track-record of attracting quality VFX work from major U.S. film studios. This combined with the fiscal advantages offered by Quebec’s Film Tax Credit mean both Framestore and its clients will benefit from improved cost efficiencies. Framestore’s other offices are in in London, Los Angeles and New York.

CinequipWhite February Freeze: Strong Turnout, High Hopes for Industry

If William F. White Chairman/CEO Paul Bronfman’s predictions are correct, 2013 will turn out to be a strong year for local, as well as U.S., productions on this side of the border. “Canadian producers are becoming more and more recognized; their projects are becoming higher budget, production values are increasing, and I’m very bullish about the Canadian production side,” Bronfman said.

Among the technology those productions may be taking advantage of include the Kino Flo Celeb of which Whites was the first supplier in Canada. The energysaving LED light features dial-in colour temperature control and full range dimming. There are also Canon’s portable, removable lens cameras – timesavers for cinematographers – as well as AadynTech’s weatherproof single-source LEDs.

Those were just some of the products on display at the William F. White Centre in Toronto for the 2013 February Freeze, which brought more than 40 of the industry’s top suppliers – many from the United States – as well as 400 plus industry professionals and students.

Bronfman, who hosted the event at the WFW Centre along with Larry Lavoie, General Manager of CinequipWhite, expressed his optimism about the industry nationwide despite recent developments such as the elimination of the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit (see “An Industry in Crisis,” Canadian Cinematographer, February 2013). “We’re still keeping our Regina office open,” Bronfman said. “Yes, we are. Because we’re still hopeful that common sense will prevail.” He also expects that the annual technology showcase will only continue to grow in years to come. “We’re hoping to continue to add products and services every year to make it worthwhile for people to come back,” he said.

Letters to the Editor

Thank you for your well-written and informative article “An Industry in Crisis” in the February issue of Canadian Cinematographer. Here in Vancouver our industry members are striving to inform our B.C. government of the value of tax credit incentives to bring productions here. There have been a number of uninformed people speaking out against such incentives recently. I think your article illustrates beautifully the economic value to the entire province these incentives potentially provide.

Regards, Jan Kiesser csc, asc