BERKLEE ALUM CURT SOBEL WHO WORKED WITH RAY CHARLES AND JAIME FOXX TO CAPTURE THE SOUND OF AN AMERICAN GENIUS FOR OSCAR-NOMINATED RAY SHARES EXPERIENCE WITH BERKLEE STUDENTS.

Curt Sobel shared his RAY experience with Berklee students. Photo Nick Balkin.

Curt Sobel, Berklee College of Music graduate and Hollywood film music veteran, is the music supervisor and music editor for the six-time Academy-Award-nominated motion picture Ray. Sobel recently traveled from his home in Los Angeles for a two-day residency at Berklee, January 27 and 28. Highlights of his visit included two screenings of RAY for the Berklee community at the Coolidge Corner Theater; two open forums for questions from Berklee students, faculty, and staff; and a master class with film scoring students.

Sobel answered a myriad of questions from students eager to follow his footsteps out to Hollywood, but talk kept coming back to Ray, the movie with soul. Sobel, among his many tasks, worked with Foxx on his piano- and lip-synching to perfect the musical performances, though he revealed that some of the sounds were pure Foxx. He told an astounded audience that Foxx handled all of the vocals from the start of the film until the scene where “Baby I Want to Hold Your Hand” is heard, and that the scenes where Foxx as Charles is seen improvising at the piano, that it’s Foxx who is playing. For the bulk of the movie, it is Foxx making audiences believe he is Ray Charles with his uncanny lip- and hand-synching to Charles’ original recordings. Sobel himself appears on camera conducting the orchestra in the scene where Charles performs “Georgia on My Mind.”

Says Sobel: “The foremost experience in my film career has been the opportunity to meet and work with a true American treasure, Ray Charles. His was a life composed of a complicated series of events that helped shape a musical landscape that has become what we recognize today as pure soul. I believe we have succeeded in producing a very interesting portrait of an American genius.”

RAY was Sobel’s 54^th film as a music editor, and his first as a music supervisor. He is also the music editor for FINDING NEVERLAND, also nominated by the Academy for Best Picture, and for the upcoming motion picture of the Elmore Leonard novel “Be Cool.” Among his other credits are AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMEN, PERSONAL BEST, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, X-MEN, LA BAMBA, and THE FLAMINGO KID. He graduated from Berklee in 1978 with a diploma in composition and arranging.

INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED CINEMATOGRAPHER VITTORIO STORARO TO RECEIVE COOLIDGE AWARD ON APRIL 6-7, 2005 IN BOSTON

Vittorio Storaro, recipient of this year's Coolidge Award honoring cinematography (April 6-7). Photo by C Douglas Kirkland.

The Coolidge Corner Theatre, an award-winning independent Art Deco movie house and cultural landmark in Brookline, Massachusetts, announces world-renowned Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro as the recipient of the 2005 Coolidge Award, to be celebrated April 6-7. The annual event, recognizing a selected film artist whose work advances the spirit of original and challenging filmmaking, was launched last year honoring Chinese director Zhang Yimou (HERO, THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, RAISE THE RED LANTERN). Storaro follows Zhang as the second recipient of the Coolidge Award and is scheduled to arrive in Boston to accept the honor in April and participate in related festivities. The celebration will be preceded with month-long programming at the theatre including related workshops, panel discussions, and selected screenings from Storaro's filmography. The Coolidge will present Storaro with an unrestricted cash award of $10,000, made possible by the Patricia Larsen Foundation, which has bestowed $100,000 to the Coolidge Award program, distributed over 10 years.

Vittorio Storaro is the internationally acclaimed and multi-award winning cinematographer whose stunning camerawork is the centerpiece of many extraordinary film classics including APOCALYPSE NOW, THE CONFORMIST, THE LAST EMPEROR, FLAMENCO, REDS, and THE LAST TANGO IN PARIS. He has worked with such distinguished directors as Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Carlos Saura, Warren Beatty and Dario Argento. Storaro's numerous international awards for his work includes three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography. In addition to his prolific film career, Storaro has authored a three-volume book entitled "Writing With Light," a collection of writings and images based on his career of over 30 years. The collection is part of his teaching program at the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Images in L'Aquila, Italy, of which he is also a founder.

"Honoring the dazzling work of Vittorio Storaro with this year's Coolidge Award feels like the perfect follow-up to last year's celebration of Zhang Yimou,” says Special Events Director Elizabeth Taylor-Mead who, a year ago, helped to spearhead the Coolidge Award program. "We're very excited. These are two international figures that have each broken new ground in the world of cinema. Their respective work is adventurous and holds absolutely true to the spirit of filmmaking as an evolving art form - a commitment that we share at the Coolidge."

The Coolidge Award 2005 is made possible by the generous support of the Patricia Larsen Foundation, Scott Rosenberg, Susan and Robert Stoller, the LEF Foundation, the Harlyn Foundation, Chobee Hoy Real Estate, Inc., Favermann Design, and Stoltze Design. The complete line-up of events, screenings and ticket information for the Coolidge Award Ceremony will be announced in coming months with updates posted on the theatre's website: www.coolidge.org

HEARST-ARGYLE TELEVISION SELECTS 1 BEYOND TO UPDATE WCVB, CHANNEL FIVE’S GRAPHICS FACILITY

1 Beyond, Inc., together with partner Sanbolic Inc., was recently selected by Hearst-Argyle Television and WCVB Boston to install a new graphics workflow technology updating their WCVB Channel 5 Boston facility. The new graphics department workflow, designed by 1 Beyond, replaces WCVB's previous equipment and includes the 1 Beyond Harmony SAN and Redline Render Farm combined with fiber-attached 1 Beyond Artist Pro workstations powered by BlueFish444 capture cards.

The breakthrough approach to graphics workflow brings together the established strengths of render farms and high performance graphics workstations with Storage Area Network (SAN) technology into a unified environment.

All workstations and render engines simultaneously access the same assets in the central 1 Beyond Harmony SAN, controlled by the Sanbolic SAN software, as though they were on a local disk on each system. This is completely transparent to the user. Assets ingested once or those newly developed can be immediately accessed by all workstations eliminating slow copying from one to another. This is especially relevant to solving the problems of large HD files. The complete graphics workflow including graphics development and rendering of Adobe After Effects and Alias Maya projects is performed without ever moving a file from one workstation to another or to the render engines, speeding the whole process significantly

In addition, this 1 Beyond breakthrough results in a substantial productivity boost for the artists, as they no longer have to wait for rendering. They can now be continuously productive because the rendering is completely off-loaded to multiple render engines, resulting in much faster render. This not only improves quality because fast turnaround allows additional refinement, but also means faster time to "Air". Finally, the exclusive 1 Beyond 1 Touch Render software allows the artist to submit render jobs or check status with one click of the mouse, greatly simplifying and speeding up the submission process.

WCVB also chose the new 1 Beyond Silent Partner option which allows the high powered workstations to be rack mounted in an equipment closet with the SAN, leaving the artist's work environment noise free. The only things remaining on the artist's desk are the tablet, CD/DVD burner, keyboard, mouse, USB Hub, and monitors.

An exciting SMPTE meeting was held at WCVB Channel 5 Boston! Many members were seeing the 1 Beyond/Graphics Workflow solution and the new 1 Beyond HD Pro Workstation for hi def editing for the first time. WCVB gave tours of their new Graphics department complete with demonstrations allowing SMPTE members and guests to witness the newest graphics workflow technology from 1 Beyond.

HIGH OUTPUT’S 2005 PARTY SET IN THE 70s

High Output's annual winter party held at their new Canton, MA facility and is only a “Wrinkle” because it was/had a “Twist” as it went with a 70s theme. Guests came dressed as disco, wild, and crazy guys, low riders, and there were even go-go dancers gyrating wildly to Top 40 hits played by a live band in one of their spacious Studios. A state of the art projector beamed two wall simulcast images of TV's “Wonder Woman” and “Starsky and Hutch.”

Many guests took a more sedate approach. Filmmaker David LaRue cut a rug on the dance floor while Moody Street Pictures John Stimpson (See IMAGINE Cover Story this issue), wearing a LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES hat, was schmoozing with High Output's Co-president John Cini by the wall long buffet table that was catered by Bare Cove Gourmet Catering of Hingham.

Local Sighting's David Kleiler was mulling about near the complimentary wine and beer bar with his brother, Jim Kleiler and D.P. Ed Slattery. D.P. Beecher Cotton, who was seen chatting with D.P. Jessica Jennings, plans to be shooting a 35mm film on the Cape in February. A big crew from The Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University (CDIA) was on hand hobnobbing. David Tomes, CDIA's Program Director-Film, played with experimental digital still photos of co-workers Howard Phillips, CDIA's Associate Director-Film; Filmmakers Franco Sacchi, and Kris Brit Montag were also in party-mode. High Output staff was around to answer questions and enjoy the festivities.

Toward the end of the evening, High Output's chieftains John Cini and Jim Hirsch held court and gave away an Apple Ipod, the door prize. For more information about High Output visit www.highoutput.com.

THE HANDYMAN WRAPS IN WOODSTOCK, VERMONT

“The best short screenplay I have ever read” was how Kenneth Branagh described THE HANDYMAN, a taut, fifteen-minute thriller shot near Woodstock, Vermont in December.

The script, by Wisconsin writer Tom Beach, took first prize in the 2002 British Short Screenplay competition, an annual award sponsored by London-based Kaos Films and the British National Film and Television School.

The cast was lead by British actress Greta Scacchi whose many film credits include THE PLAYER, PRESUMED INNOCENCE, and Stephen Gaghan’s latest project SYRIANA. She plays a woman living on an isolated farm whose decision to take on a hired hand has unexpected and horrifying consequences.

Indie-director Simon Rumley and producer Arif Hussein scouted in both England and elsewhere in the United States before hitting on the perfect location (and the perfect season).

“It’s just breathtaking,” Scacchi told Vermont Public Radio. “To come and find these dimensions, these distances of unspoiled nature is really striking, … it’s perfect.”

“If all goes well,” according to Hussein, New England audiences will get their chance to see it at the Green Mountain Film Festival in Montpelier, Vermont, in March 2005. (See article in this issue of IMAGINE). Tom Beach and Simon Rumley are reported to be hard at work on their next project, a feature film to be produced later this year. Visit

STATION NIGHTCLUB VICTIM’S FILM DEBUT IN RHODE ISLAND

Members of The Encore Repertory Company and Breaking Branches Pictures have done a film version of Nick O’Neill’s play “They Walk Among Us.” Everyone is invited to attend the movie on February 20^th,at 7:00 p.m. The film will be shown on a big screen at the Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Centre, 28 Monument Square, Main Street Woonsocket, RI 02895.

Nicholas Philip O’Neill was the youngest victim of the Station Nightclub Fire at age 18 and as the second anniversary of his death approaches, he still lives on. Nicholas, or Nick as we like to call him, originally wrote “They Walk Among Us” at the age of 16 to comfort a family that lost their daughter tragically. The play was recovered after his death and produced for the stage by his brother, Chris O’Neill. With his father, David his other brother, his girlfriend, and his best friend, as main characters, the play gives more comfort than Nick had originally intended.

This one-act play about teenagers who die and return as angels is a moving, humorous, and inspirational celebration of life and hope. Adapted for the screen and directed by his brother Chris O’Neill, filmed and edited by Christian de Rezendes of Breaking Branches Pictures of Slatersville, and original score by Mark Johnson, this is truly a film not to be missed.

The film will make it’s debut on the second anniversary of the Station Nightclub tragedy, February 20, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. and will be shown to the public at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket for a $10.00 admission. All proceeds will go to The Nick O’Neill - Encore Repertory, Scholarship Fund sponsored by The Stadium Theatre Foundation, Inc.