Kodak busts a move...

[Alex]

The article below is interesting (especially if you read to the very end)


Kodak shutters Cinesite VFX in L.A.


Feb. 28, 2003

By Sheigh Crabtree
Eastman Kodak is pulling the plug on its Cinesite visual effects division in Los Angeles.

Cinesite will instead focus resources on its digital imaging division, which handles film mastering and restoration services, sources said. In the meantime, visual effects services at Kodak's Cinesite Europe in London are expected to remain open for business. In fact, Cinesite London recently hired former Mill Film visual effects executives to oversee Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which is in production.

Cinesite Los Angeles is in the midst of completing visual effects work on 20th Century Fox's "X-2." The company has an estimated six weeks to go before the "X-Men" sequel is wrapped, effectively making it the last CG-intensive project the company will handle. Such services as 3-D character animation, 3-D animation effects, 2-D effects, digital compositing, concepts and storyboarding, digital matte painting, wire and object removal and physical effects using models and miniatures are expected to be disbanded altogether.

The Los Angeles division of Cinesite was opened in 1992 as a Kodak subsidiary and part of the company's Entertainment Imaging division. It was formed with the intention of building digital scanning and recording equipment, which ultimately led the company to offer scan-and-record digital production services for the film industry. The company's visual effects division was an outgrowth of its early scan-and-record business and was built up in the early 1990s by then-president Ed Jones, a former Industrial Light + Magic executive.

Cinesite built a reputation during the past 11 years for under-bidding the more established visual effects facilities. By doing visual effects work below cost, Cinesite was able to make significant in-roads in a short time, industry sources said.

Cinesite also is completing "stitch-cam" services on director Gary Ross' upcoming horse-racing drama "Seabiscuit." "Stitch-cam" sequences were first seen in Michael Mann's "Ali" -- wherein close-up lipstick-camera footage from fight sequences was pieced together to form full-screen shots. Similar shots are being undertaken in "Seabiscuit's" horse-race sequences.

In closing the Cinesite visual effects division to focus on the digital intermediate mastering business, Kodak faces significant hurdles because its chief competitors, EFilm and Technique, are closely tied with film laboratories Deluxe Labs and Technicolor, respectively, where digital masters are printed for release. Cinesite has no such alliance. Insiders speculate that Kodak's next move may be acquiring a film lab to firmly establish itself as a player.

Cinesite's digital mastering division is completing work on Columbia Pictures' "S.W.A.T." and Buena Vista Pictures' "Open Range." The company was the first to establish a digital intermediate mastering facility in the United States, resulting in such work as New Line Cinema's "Pleasantville" and Buena Vista's "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Kodak declined to comment on the imminent closure. Sources say a formal statement is expected to be released next week by Eric Rodli, Kodak's president of entertainment imaging.

[Alex]

I hear that Kodak just bought Laser Pacific Media Corp. I'll post a link if I can find one.