Sound for Film & TV 2019 Event Provides Highlights

ProSoundNetwork.com: The program for this year’s sixth annual Mix Sound for Film & TV event, a sold-out affair that attracted 650 attendees to the Sony Pictures Studios lot, offered a twin focus—immersive audio and IP networking—that reflected concerns of today’s audio industry. That’s not to say there weren’t the usual sessions digging into the creative process behind some of the latest productions, such as Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Carnival Row and others, but in session after session, discussion turned to immersive sound formats and AoIP workflows.

Academy’s Governors Awards Puts Spotlight on Gender Parity

Variety: Lina Wertmüller wants to see a big change for the Oscars.

The 91-year-old Italian director had Isabella Rossellini acting as her translator while accepting her honorary Oscar on Sunday night at the Academy’s Governors Awards in Hollywood.

“She would like to change the Oscar to a feminine name,” Rossellini said. “She would like to call it ‘Anna.’”

Writers PA left to pick up the tab

johnaugust.com: I was in my early 30’s when I finally landed a Writers PA gig on a comedy. We had a toddler so just to take the job, I had to work weekends waiting tables to pay for the childcare during the week. (Which is another issue entirely.)

One Man’s Trash...

ProSoundNetwork.com: About a year ago, I was rummaging through a neighbor’s trash—well, not exactly. I was digging through a garage sale, and like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure...but what I was finding was trash. As I left, I looked in one last cardboard box on the driveway, and from under all the broken toys and stray playing cards, I pulled out a relic from another age: a consumer MiniDisc of Natalie Cole’s 1991 smash, Unforgettable with Love.

A raptor almost bit my head off, today. Well, an actor in a 140-pound dino suit almost bit my head off

Features | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper: Jurassic World Live is on stage at PPG Paints Arena all weekend, and from what we at the behind-the-scenes event were told and shown, I went from skeptic to believer.

It's easy to become numb to media that on its surface appears to be an easy money grab off an established franchise.

Will Contemporary Opera Take Root at Lyric?

www.chicagomag.com: Four years ago, Lyric Opera of Chicago staged its first commissioned grand opera in more than a decade: Bel Canto, adapted from Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel about a terrorist hostage crisis. The production had no trouble demonstrating its relevance or engaging a modern audience; the Islamic State attacks in Paris had come less than a month before the opening. Lyric held sessions after each performance so that audience members could discuss the piece. Sometimes more than 200 people would stay.

‘Into the Woods’ Can’t See the Forest for the Trees

noproscenium.com: Growing up Catholic, it was always a running joke that Sunday mass was a “workout” with the number of times the congregation stands up and sits back down again. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the same standard held true for immersive theatre set inside a church. Rooftop Musical Society’s immersive spin on the Sondheim classic Into the Woods takes place throughout the two floors of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Williamsburg, with the “woods” set in the more traditional stage space upstairs and everything else (the Baker’s house, the castle, and Jack’s house) set in the open room downstairs.

‘Watchmen’ Costume Designer on Building Practical DIY Superhero Looks

Variety: In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic 1986 graphic novel “Watchmen,” the superheroes and vigilantes make their own costumes. This gives every look a level of accessibility that’s not often a consideration for big-budget action projects, but was a theme that needed to be carried over into HBO’s adaptation of the award-winning comic book.

Art Piece 'Waterlicht' Wants You to Talk About Climate Solutions

earther.gizmodo.com: Roughly a third of the Netherlands lies below sea level. Even when water isn’t physically present, the specter of it is.

That feeling of looming water is central to Studio Roosegaarde’s installation, Waterlicht, which made its U.S. debut this week at Columbia University. Viewers stand amidst a sea of ethereal fog that slowly rises to meet blue LED projections that undulate above viewers’ heads. The effect gives the sense of being underwater.

Rihanna's lingerie show set design is an architectural "mash up"

www.dezeen.com: Canadian designer Willo Perron created a a "mash up" of architectural iconography for the set design of Rihanna's Savage x Fenty show at New York Fashion Week.

Singer-turned-businesswoman Rihanna presented her fashion show as an hour-long music and dance performance on a stage filled with exaggerated architectural elements.

Tips for sending a video résumé

www.fastcompany.com: When it comes to job-hunting, video résumés are a tricky topic.

A great video résumé can inject some personal flair into your job application, highlight important skills, and demand the hiring manager’s attention.

However, depending on the job you’re applying to, they can also be unorthodox or inappropriate.

A Basic Guide to Microphone Specifications

Pro Audio Files: Choosing a mic can be a daunting task when confronted with specification sheets littered with numbers that may seem meaningless since making comparisons across similar mics is not easily done. There is usually no hard reference or minimum level of acceptability to guide your choice. And often the measurement units or methods used vary across manufacturers, further complicating matters.

Exploring An Equity & Inclusivity Problem: Gender & Ethnic Diversity in Video Games

AMT Lab @ CMU: The video game industry expanded rapidly in the last decade with the U.S.A games market exceeding revenues of $43 billion in 2018. While there is growth, the industry is also facing an increasingly apparent and problematic disparity among audiences. In many traditional PC and console genres, women and non-white ethnicities are underrepresented both among the player-base as well as on-screen; furthermore, the player experience for underrepresented players is markedly different than their over-represented white male counterparts.

PROJECTIONS: How Mixed Reality Game Trailers Are Made

Tested: Ever wonder how mixed reality videos are made showing users in virtual reality games like Beat Saber? That kind of compositing is done using the free LIV app, camera with HDMI output, video capture card, and green screen. We set up our studio to test some mixed reality and chat with LIV engineer David Goodman about the awesome ways mixed reality videos can bring new perspectives to VR capture.

6 Strategies for Taming Midrange in a Busy Mix

Pro Audio Files: Achieving a well-balanced midrange in a recording is one of the biggest challenges of mixing. Beginning producers especially tend to struggle in this area. The ranges of many instruments overlap quite a bit, and some negotiation will always be necessary to help them share space in a mix. Muddy room resonances only complicate things further. When we have a session with a busy arrangement and high track count — a pretty common occurrence in digital recording — midrange problems can multiply out of control.

What's A Watt? Clarifying Audio Power & The Amplifier-Loudspeaker Relationship

ProSoundWeb: Years ago, only car stereo makers would advertise “2,000 Watts Of Earthshaking Power!” But with the recent shift to switching power supply amplifier topology, we’re now seeing this with many pro-oriented products.

What’s behind the hype? And what about properly matching power amplifiers and loudspeakers? Answers start by focusing on the fundamental unit of measure in audio, the watt.

Exploring the stunts, sounds and story behind new Cirque du Soleil action show ‘R.U.N’

Las Vegas Weekly: The last time Cirque du Soleil launched a new show in Las Vegas was more than six years ago. Michael Jackson One officially premiered on June 29, 2013, at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and audiences knew exactly what to expect. The Beatles Love was already seven years into a historically successful run at the Mirage and served as the blueprint for another colorful production combining Cirque’s trademark theatrics with the familiar and beloved catalog of a music icon.

The Aha Moment: When Life Gets in the Way

ProSoundNetwork.com: My parents both grew up on farms in Saskatchewan. My grandparents were homesteaders who moved to the prairies at the turn of the last century; there, they dug out and built sod homes to protect themselves from the brutal winter cold and oppressive summer heat before they could afford to build a real house. Mom’s family had 11 kids; dad’s 13.

“The World As We Know It (by 6 women of a certain age” at CorningWorks

The Pittsburgh Tatler: What do women “of a certain age” have to tell us about the world?

A great deal, it turns out, although – when told through the medium of dance, as in the CorningWorks dance assemblage The World As We Know It – obliquely and with circumspection. These women aren’t giving their hard-earned knowledge of the world away.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the past week:

The Ickiness of Marketing Your Art

Exeunt Magazine: Last week me and my colleagues aka The Figs had a marketing meeting with the team at Pleasance, and once again we attempted to describe our show. This is an ongoing game that we have to play whenever meeting new people, speaking to potential bookers or collaborators, or explaining to our relatives when they ask us, just one more time, to explain what it is exactly that we do…

Yuck. We hate talking about our shows, especially before we’ve made them. Because ultimately what you’re doing is trying to sell yourself, or your ideas, before you’ve actually worked out who you are or what you think.

Posted by David at 10/25/2019 11:06:00 AM

Why They Walked – Members of the Cast of ‘Starcatcher’ at Citadel Theatre Speak Out

rescripted.org: We write to you to share that we, the cast of Peter and the Starcatcher directed by Jeremy Aluma and produced by Citadel Theatre, concluded three weeks ago that due to persistent and pervasive problems with the production, our relationship with Citadel was no longer sustainable. Our production was scheduled to run from September 18th to October 20th, but after eight public performances and much deliberation, it became clear that in view of the circumstances, we could no longer continue in the production.

Posted by David at 10/25/2019 11:02:00 AM

How Matthew McGee, Little Shop's puppet master, created new, more terrifying Audrey IIs

DC Theatre Scene: In a season with high profile productions of Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway and across the country, the DMV is getting its own taste of the Alan Menken sci-fi musical theatre classic this October, with a new twist. Little Shop of Horrors at Constellation Theatre Company may be in a small space, but they’re doing big things, especially with its innovative puppet design by the intrepid puppet designer/actor Matthew McGee. The four pods – designated as Pods One, Two, Three and Four – display the terrifying development of a plant into an alien-like monster.

Posted by David at 10/24/2019 10:58:00 AM

Everything to Know About Internships in the New York Theatre Community

www.broadwayworld.com: Internship application season is officially underway! With such an array of careers in theatre at your fingertips, an internship can be a great way to explore different areas of the community and learn some vital skills. To help you navigate it all and prepare you to apply, we're giving you an inside look at some of the New York theatre community's most coveted internships, including Feinstein's/54 Below, Marathon Digital, and more to see what the day-to-day intern life is like and what these companies look for in applicants.

Posted by David at 10/25/2019 10:59:00 AM

Study finds live theater enhances student learning, empathy

Campus | purdueexponent.org: A research study conducted by a Purdue Convocations staff member has found that live theater can be used as a teaching tool to enhance student learning and retention of information — and even levels of empathy.

“Students tend to better remember and understand a historic event when exposed to its story via live performance — particularly live theater,” Amanda Mayes, Convocations’ manager of education, said in an email.

Posted by David at 10/22/2019 03:19:00 PM