The Confluence – Page 180 – The Oregon film community's official blog.

“Wild” Immersed In Virtual-Reality

Fox Innovation Lab WILD

“Wild” took a foray in to the world of immersive media at the New Frontier Installations at Sundance last week with “Wild – The Experience” from Fox Searchlight and the Fox Innovation Lab. Viewers were able to join Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern on the Pacific Crest Trail and be enveloped in a moment of virtual-reality between the two actresses. Montreal filmmakers, Paul Raphaël and Félix Lajeunesse (The Felix and Paul Studio) directed the three minute sequence as one their first examples of cinematic virtual-reality in 3D.

OMPA Annual Meeting Celebrates Excellence, Inspiration

Harry Dawson wins OMPA Award of Excellence

Cinematographer Harry Dawson recognized at OMPA Annual Meeting Thursday (Photo by NebCat photography)

Approximately four hundred members of Oregon’s commercial, film, television and interactive industry were on hand at Zarr Studios in Portland last Thursday for the annual meeting of the Oregon Media Production Association (OMPA). The professional trade group handed out $3,000 in student scholarships, recognized industry members for their achievements, inspiration, and volunteerism, and introduced newly elected board members.

Harry Dawson was awarded the association’s Award of Excellence in recognition for over 30 years of achievement as an Oregon-based cinematographer and director.

MovieMaker Magazine Names Portland in Top Ten Big Cities to Live and Work as a Moviemaker 2015

Top-10-Cities-620x400

MovieMaker Magazine named Portland in their Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker Top 10 Big Cities. The magazine noted the city has many independent movie theaters, is homes to animation studios such as Laika, and educational programs within the Portland metro area such NW Film Center, Art Institute and PSU. Read more here. Ashland, Oregon was named #1 Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker 2015 in the Top Five Towns category.

Oregon Film Office and Local Scouts Get LMGA Award Nominations

LMGA

The Second Annual Location Managers Guild of America (LMGA) Awards announced the finalists this week. The Oregon Governor’s Office of Film & Television, as well as local scouts, Crofton Diack, Mike Floyd, Alissa Desler and Lori Allen have been nominated for consideration for Location Managers Guild of America Awards. Oregon Film for the “exemplary work on WILD“, Diack and Floyd for Outstanding Locations in a Single Commercial (Nissan Altima, “Migration” – see below)[youtube]http://youtu.be/nlUDk2qkV5I[/youtube] and Desler and Allen for Outstanding Locations in a Commercial Campaign (Subaru Outback).

Ashland Named #1 Town in the US to Live and Work as a Filmmaker by MovieMaker Magazine

Best-Places-2015-Towns-620x400
This year, Ashland, Oregon took the top spot in MovieMaker’s Best Places to Live and Work contest Town category (for populations under 100,000). The award acknowledges Ashland’s focus on the arts, great quality of life, beautiful surroundings, and most importantly, its commitment to film and media activity as a bonafide industry in this community of 20,000. Last January, Ashland placed second behind Asheville, NC, but managed to unseat their east coast counterpart for 2015 by having another banner year of production including features, commercials, corporate films, documentaries, tv shows and more.

Siskiyou FilmFest Begins January 30th, Grants Pass

Screen Shot 2015-01-26 at 9.08.53 AM

The Siskiyou FilmFest began in 2002 in Ashland, moving to Grants Pass in 2008, and in 2009 began encompassing small towns in the Rogue Valley into their screening repertoire. Additionally, the festival added the KidFest for elementary aged children, as well as Youth Video contest for middle and high school aged kids.

The 13th Annual Siskiyou FilmFest runs January 30-31st at Grants Pass High School Performing Art Center. The festival focuses on “the the activism, science and history of the environmental movement and features award winning films about people creating real world solutions to today’s environmental challenges on a local, regional and global scale.

Dov Simens’ “2-Day Film School” Comes to Portland, February 7–8

“Inspirational! Why waste 4 years at a film school? I took Dov’s class and launched my career.” – Quentin Tarantino

For decades, Dov Simens has taught the secrets of the film business to aspiring filmmakers through his “2-Day Film School,” and the results speak for themselves. Dov’s students include Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Will Smith and Baz Luhrmann, who have gone on to write, direct and produce critically and commercially successful films. His 75,000 students have gone on to gross over $14 billion at the box office, combined.

Next VFX/PDX Meeting – Feb 12th w/Orland Nutt & Ben Luce!

Join us for a screening of select works from the decade+ catalog of Orland Nutt, including his latest “Bear of Heaven,” followed by in depth behind the scenes that showcase Orland’s mastery of Adobe After Effects that is regularly on display as one of the front line artists at Bent Image Lab.

Opening the show will be Ben Luce, an extremely talented illustrator and animator who’s art blurs the lines between traditional and digital. Ben will be demo’ing his techniques with Photoshop and After Effects.

Director & Educator Andy Mingo

Andy Mingo is a Portland-based director/producer. He gained recognition as several of his films were included at national and international film festivals and screenings. His most recent film, ‘Romance’ was adapted from a story by ‘Fight Club’ author, Chuck Palahniuk. ‘Romance’ made its world premiere at the 2012 Raindance Film Festival and went on to screen at Cinequest, the Seattle True Independent Film Festival, and the 2013 Portland Film Festival. In 2012 Andy was invited to the Paris-Sorbonne University where he lectured on the process of adapting Chuck Palahniuk’s fiction to the screen.