Gemini Awards - Digital Media Category

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is now accepting entries in the new Digital Media categories for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards.

This notice is being sent to keep you apprised of the additions to our Digital Media categories so that you might help spread the word to your associates.

The new Digital Media awards are designed to:

• recognize and celebrate the achievements of craftspersons responsible for creating the interactive digital media projects
• focus on content creation and different genres

Three of the five new annual award categories are based on the previous Best Cross-Platform Project award category and recognize interactive Digital Media projects that relate to television projects, whether or not the related television project has been entered into the 25th Annual Gemini Awards, in the following genres: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Children and Youth.

Two of the new categories recognize original productions, the first broadcast of which is intended for a medium other than television, in the following genres: Fiction and Non-Fiction.

The 2010 Rules and Regulations and official entry form can now be found online at www.geminiawards.ca.

Please see fee schedule below.

Deadline for entry is Tuesday, May 18.

Peer juries will adjudicate the five new award categories. The Academy’s Gemini Special Award Committee will adjudicate the new Special Award.

The following will give you further information about these categories.

1030. Best Cross-Platform Project - Fiction
An interactive project that enhances the user’s enjoyment of a television program/series through such platforms as mobile, the Web and other portable devices. Entries must be associated with a specific program or series that meets the eligibility requirements for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. The TV partner, however, does not necessarily have to be entered in the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. Projects that are primarily promotional and corporate entities’ interactive works are not eligible in this category, nor are projects entered in the category of Best Cross-Platform Project – Children’s & Youth. This award is intended to honour up to 5 individuals responsible for the work. Eligible credits include Executive Producer, Producer, Website Producer, Site Producer, Creative Producer, Senior Web Producer, and Interactive Producer. The entrant must include either a short video or a text description with screen shots as visual support to demonstrate
the user experience and how their project works.

1031. Best Cross-Platform Project – Non-Fiction
An interactive project that enhances the user’s enjoyment of a television program/series through such platforms as mobile, the web and other portable devices. Entries must be associated with a specific program or series that meets the eligibility requirements for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. The TV partner, however, does not necessarily have to be entered in the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. Projects that are primarily promotional and corporate entities’ interactive works are not eligible in this category. This award is intended to honour up to 5 individuals responsible for the work. Eligible credits include Executive Producer, Producer, Website Producer, Site Producer, Creative Producer, Senior Web Producer, and Interactive Producer. The entrant must include either a short video or a text description with screen shots as visual support to demonstrate the user experience and how their project works.

1032. Best Cross-Platform Project – Children’s and Youth
An interactive project that enhances the user’s enjoyment of a television program/series through such platforms as mobile, the web and other portable devices. Entries must be associated with a specific program or series that meets the eligibility requirements for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. The TV partner, however, does not necessarily have to be entered in the 25th Annual Gemini Awards. Projects that are primarily promotional and corporate entities’ interactive works are not eligible in this category. This award is intended to honour up to 5 individuals responsible for the work. Eligible credits include Executive Producer, Producer, Website Producer, Site Producer, Creative Producer, Senior Web Producer, and Interactive Producer. The entrant must include either a short video or a text description with screen shots as visual support to demonstrate the user experience and how their project works.

1033. Best Original Program or Series produced for Digital Media – Fiction
An original video program or series, the first broadcast of which is intended for a digital medium other than television. Programs that are primarily promotional are not eligible in this category.


1034. Best Original Program or Series produced for Digital Media – Non-Fiction
An original program or series, the first broadcast of which is intended for a digital medium other than television. Programs that are primarily promotional are not eligible in this category.

Note: Eligibility requirements for these awards:

1. The cross-platform project or original program produced for digital media must be produced by a Canadian company.
2. The cross-platform project must be related to a television program that is eligible for the Gemini Awards competition. The television program does not have to be submitted to the Gemini competition.
3. The original program produced for digital media must first be made available to the public on a digital medium other than television.
4. The cross-platform project or original program produced for digital media must not be dedicated primarily to promoting a program or be a promotional program.
5. The cross-platform project must have gone live and the original program produced for digital media must have been made available to the public, in Canada, during the eligibility period.

Special Award - Outstanding Technical Achievement in Digital Media
(Deadline for Entry July 15, 2010)

This award may, but need not, be presented on an annual basis to honour a recent worthy technical achievement in the Canadian digital media industry. Any device, method or invention of exceptional technical value used in production, distribution or display of content and less than three years from initial implementation may be entered for this special award. The technical achievement may relate to any digital platform.

Nomination Process: Nominations are received from members of the Academy and the industry at large. Recommendations should be sent to the Gemini Special Awards Committee, who will convene to recommend a winner. The recommendation will be passed on to the Board of Directors for approval.

Please provide the following information for the Committee’s consideration:

1. The name of the device, method or invention.
2. Date of first private showing.
3. Date of actual industry use.
4. How the device, method or invention serves to enhance the content.
5. Impact of this technical achievement on the industry.
6. Extent that the technical achievement has been accepted by the industry.
7. Patents (pending) considered for this achievement.
8. Please state why recognition should be received for this technical achievement.
9. Contact information for the submitter.
Contact information for the recipient.

Please note that the entry form can be filled out online and sent in electronically.
Visit www.geminiawards.ca for all applicable forms.

Cost of Entry

Categories 1030 through 1034:

Member.....................$350.00
Non-Member.............$500.00

Note: Entry costs are significantly lower once the entrant is an Academy member.

For more information about Academy membership, please visit: http://www.academy.ca/membership/

ACADEMY MEMBERSHIP COSTS

Voting Membership……....$150.00 + Applicable Taxes
Non-Voting Membership…$100.00 + Applicable Taxes

Tweet For Your Ticket

Want to attend BANFF 2010? Tweet for your Ticket!

This year the Banff World Television Festival and nextMEDIA Banff are joining forces to offer you the opportunity to attend the world’s largest multi-platform production and development marketplace and Canada’s premiere digital media trending and technology conference. Whether you are a producer, broadcaster, multi-platform content creator, tech developer, or advertiser - we want to know why BANFF 2010 is your must-attend television and digital media conference.

Using the #Banff2010 hashtag start tweeting the number one reason why BANFF 2010 is for you. We will be keeping track of the tweets and will pick the most original and interesting explanation as our winner. Any reason is fair game! Participants may choose to highlight speakers, sessions, and networking opportunities or their own experiences and ideas.

Make sure to follow our twitter account @BanffTVFest as we will be contacting the winner by direct message.

Contest starts Monday April 26th will close Friday April 30th 2010. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 4th 2010 and will be awarded a complimentary ticket to BANFF 2010.


For rules and regulations please visit the website http://www.banff2010.com/tweet.for.your.ticket.contest.php

Portfolio Launches "In Toon With Tweens" Animation Contest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


PORTFOLIO ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES WORLDWIDE
“IN TOON WITH TWEENS” ANIMATION CONTEST

Option & Development Deal Prizes Totaling $10,000 CDN
Awarded To Top Two Winning Entries

Toronto, Canada (February 8, 2010) – Portfolio Entertainment Inc. unveils its inaugural “In Toon With Tweens” animation contest, an initiative designed to encourage creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking by throwing the doors open to new voices within the global animation community. Portfolio Entertainment invites animators and creators with serious comedy chops to submit their original projects - television or multiplatform - for a chance at $10,000 CDN in cash as part of Option and Development Agreements. The call for submissions officially opens today, entries must be received by June 15, 2010 and winners will be notified on September 15, 2010. The contest was announced today by Portfolio Entertainment’s Co-Founders & Presidents, Lisa Olfman and Joy Rosen.

The challenge is to find original comedy submissions that are fresh, surprising and utterly new for kids 8 to 12 years old. A first prize of $7,500 CDN will be awarded as part of a two-year Option and Development Agreement and a second prize of $2,500 CDN as part of a one-year Option and Development Agreement will go to the runner up.

“Our approach at Portfolio is to break the mold with each new project we develop,” said Lisa Olfman, Co-Founder and President of the company. “What better way to nurture emerging talent and encourage established talent to be fearless, than by throwing open our doors with this animation initiative.”

Through “In Toon With Tweens,” the top 15 finalists, as selected by Portfolio Entertainment, will also gain unprecedented exposure to industry decision-makers in kids’ television and new media. The distinguished panel of Judges will be comprised of Portfolio Entertainment executives, broadcasters and prominent industry veterans who will be announced in the coming weeks.


Eligibility requirements include some professional industry experience. Complete guidelines and instructions for submission can be found online at www.portfolioentertainment.com/contest. Winning entries will be selected by the panel of Judges based on the most entertaining, innovative and bold concepts.

ABOUT PORTFOLIO ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
Founded in 1991, Toronto-based Portfolio Entertainment is one of Canada’s leading independent producers and international distributors of award-winning television programs for kids, tweens, teens, and adults. Co-Founders Lisa Olfman and Joy Rosen’s commitment to creative excellence and solid domestic and international relationships have propelled their programs onto the world’s most prestigious television networks. The partners have won numerous television industry awards internationally and they consistently rank in Profit Magazine's W100 list of Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs. Portfolio Entertainment’s newest series is, The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That!, based on Dr. Seuss’ iconic Cat character. Portfolio Entertainment’s distribution division has an ambitious, eclectic catalogue of over 2,000 episodes of programming as well as access to some of the world’s most established broadcasters and emerging new players.
Portfolio Entertainment is located on the web at www.portfolioentertainment.com.

For further information about Portfolio Entertainment, to arrange interviews or to request images please contact Davis Public Relations:

Kat Garcia Stacey Levy
kat@davispr.com stacey@davispr.com
818.986.0323 818.986.0323

For questions about “In Toon With Tweens” submission guidelines please contact:

Anna Mele
portfolio@portfolio-ent.com
416.483.9773

Industry Night

Recognizing CORE

Here is an article recognizing the talented people from CORE.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1697&Itemid=316

Herzing College - 3D Artistry Presentation, Thursday April 15th, 2010

Herzing College is hosting a Galleria night for family, friends, and various representatives of the 3D industry at the Eaton Center, level 2 of the Galleria. Come check it out.

Canadian effects whiz whips Clash of the Titans into 3D

How do you turn a 2-D film into a 3-D money tree?

Having just talked to Hollywood’s go-to guy at the moment, your guess is as good as ours. He won’t say.

He also won’t directly take on his biggest critic (and former boss) Avatar director, James Cameron. At this point, Chris Bond is still a relative minnow. But come Sunday morning, he could be something else entirely.

Winnipeger Bond has created a software package called View-D that converts 2-D straw to 3-D gold quicker and cheaper (read: a reported $5 million (U.S.) per feature) than anyone else. He recently won the contract to rework blockbuster sword-and-sandal epic Clash of the Titans. Eight-and-a-half go-go-go weeks later, ta da. You’ll see the results beginning Friday.
So, how does it work, Chris?

“It’s artist-driven,” Bond says from Los Angeles, where he’s taking a few days off.
Uh-huh.

“There are a number of different phases and stages.”

Alright.

“Basically it’s ..... a ha ha ..... basically it’s patent pending.”

Gotcha.

Followed by a long, determined silence.

And, seriously, that’s all Bond will say. Prior to View-D, there were two main ways to render a live-action film shot in 2-D into 3-D, or what Bond calls “stereo.”

There is a number-crunching geometric method that replaces objects in an imaginary three-dimensional space, as in a video game.

Then there is rotoscoping, an animation technique in which objects are cut out and reframed using a collage effect. View-D uses neither geometry, rotoscoping or a third method, frame painting.

According to Bond, everybody else’s tools are primitive, costly and, most importantly, time-consuming when compared to View-D.

“We can do in minutes what other people need weeks to do,” he says.

Bond, 39, has worked in visual effects for a decade. He says that it was during a 2009 Las Vegas trade show – while he was sharing pre-dawn calls with James Cameron on Avatar, but before that film had changed the market – that he had his eureka moment.

“I just looked around at all the 3-D stuff, and it was all really complicated and really difficult,” Bond said. “So I started working on weekends, evenings, my own time, and I came up with a process to convert images to 3-D.”

Eventually, Bond brought the software package to work at post-production and visual effects (VFX) multinational, Prime Focus. He smoothed out the kinks by converting films that his company was doing the effects for. Somebody important noticed.

“The reason we got (Clash) is that last summer we were doing some tests for Harry Po ..... um, I won’t say which movie for Warner Brothers,” Bond said.

I think you just did.

“Um, right. Well, I’m not allowed to say that.”

So what’re you working on now? Besides Harry Po ....., I mean.

“I can’t say.”

Of course.

Whatever he has in the pipeline, everything rests on this weekend, when Clash is released.

“It’s ..... ha ha ..... it’s ..... let’s just say I am watching with great interest,” says Bond. Did we mention that the View-D patents are held in his name, not his employer’s?

Among Bond’s most recent VFX credits are G.I. Joe and the aforementioned Avatar, tortuously and expensively shot using 3-D technology.

Since he built the bandwagon, Avatar director Cameron has spent a lot of time knocking off people like Bond, who’d like to climb on via conversion. He’s been particularly spiteful about Bond’s yet-to-be seen efforts on Clash.

“They ignore the fact that we natively authored (Avatar) in 3-D, and decide that what we accomplished in several years of production could be done in an eight-week conversion with Clash of the Titans,” Cameron told USA Today three weeks ago. “If people put bad 3-D in the marketplace they’re going to hold back or even threaten the emerging of 3-D. People will be confused by differences in quality.”

Bond is careful in responding. There’s a long preamble about Cameron’s achievements (“I’ve loved, um, enjoyed his projects”) and a slightly tortured allusion about different still photographers preferring different cameras.

But it boils down to this: “It’s a little frustrating for everybody that’s worked so hard on the (conversion) project to have people who haven’t seen it make derogatory comments. I’d prefer that they’d wait until they saw the material.”

And there is the small issue of Cameron, conversion’s main hater, wanting to convert and re-release Titanic.

“That’s the irony,” says Bond. “On the one hand, it’s terrible and on the other, (he) may choose to do it (him)self.”

And if he gets a load of Clash and decides to call you up, you’re happy to help out, right?

“Happy!” Bond says. “I think Avatar was a fantastic achievement and I think that Clash looks great. But I don’t want to suggest that the five years of effort he put into the technology on a movie like Avatar is in any way overshadowed by anything we’ve done.”

No, no. Perish the thought.