Forty-five years ago in a galaxy far, far away a little science-fiction film called Star Wars hit cinemas nationwide and in an instant, the industry was changed forever. So, it is on this anniversary that we are excited to launch The Making Of… a fresh newsletter and podcast shining a light on the artists behind the scenes of the most innovative, influential, and iconic films in recent history.
In this first issue, we’re pleased to share a conversation with an industry legend, Mr. Bruce Logan, ASC, who worked on Star Wars (in which he blew up the Death Star). Bruce was also cinematographer of the landmark film TRON in 1982, and has worked on a long list of epic films including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Airplane!, Batman Forever, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Blade Runner (via Zabriskie Point), The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and so many others. Over the years, Bruce has worn many hats — cinematographer, writer, director, producer, visual effects supervisor, editor, colorist, and is an esteemed member of The ASC, The Academy, & DGA. We are grateful to Bruce for all of his creative contributions and for talking shop with us here.
The Making Of is presented by AJA Video Systems:
Advanced H.264 Streaming and Recording
Introducing the new HELO Plus, a compact, next-gen H.264 streaming and recording device. Portable and feature-rich, HELO Plus offers powerful production capabilities, including dual streaming outputs and multi-input processing, SRT support, advanced encoding and decoding, improved scheduling options and device operation, and more. www.aja.com/products/helo-plus.
What’s Ahead:
In the coming months, we’ll share a variety of inspiring and insightful conversations with talented cinematographers, producers, directors, post pros, & other hard-working members of the community. In every discussion, we’ll be focusing on each artist’s unique creative process…
Film Book of The Month:
The Cine Lens Manual is a comprehensive examination of cinema optics. Written in clear, easily-digestible language, and extensively illustrated. It is not just for cinematographers, but for directors, visual effects artists, camera assistants, animators, journalists, historians, students, rental house technicians and more. It covers everything you could ever want to know about cinema style lenses. Learn more at www.cinelensmanual.com.
Partner Event of the Month:
LAPPG - June 2022
Join LAPPG online on June 8, 2022 at 2pm PST for their 14th Anniversary meeting with a presentation on "Remote Video Workflows with HELO Plus." AJA’s Product Marketing Manager, Andy Bellamy, will be joining LAPPG again this year and giving away a T-TAP Pro! For more, visit www.lappg.com.
Special thanks to our friends at CSS Music for their support.
Cutting-edge underscore used daily by major Film Studios. Redi-Trax lets you find music faster with waveform analysis. Choose from thousands of tracks of production music (needle drop, royalty free, gratis licenses). A Playlist Utility lets you keep track of music scene by scene. Choose from single track downloads or save with a "You Pick 'Em" plan or 450+ virtual CDs. Browse the library at www.cssmusic.com.
The Making Of is created by Michael Valinsky.
To inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please contact mvalinsky@me.com.
