Canon today announced that their EOS C300, the first model from the new Cinema EOS System, has met the standards the BBC requires from cameras tested to the EBU recommendation EBU R118. The approval allows both internal and external BBC production teams to use the EOS C300 for the production of a variety of programmes to be broadcast on the BBC’s range of HD channels.

Ascent Films Inc. is proud to announce the acquisition of the highly anticipated new Canon C300, a 4k sensor HD cinema camera. Accompanied by the 24-70mm and 70-200mm professional L-series zoom lenses, this camera package will provide the company with an amazing tool capable of producing filmstyle quality and ‘look’, not only for broadcast and high-end commercial and motion picture market, but also for every other project regardless of scope or budget.

will.i.am, Intel’s director of creative innovation and international recording artist, is gearing up for another world tour. This time, however, he will be traveling around the globe as part of the Intel Ultrabook™ Project. Mirroring the musician’s vision of a richer, more participatory music experience for his fans, the Ultrabook Project will put music at the epicenter of social content to create the ultimate musical expedition. Fans will be able to see what will.i.am sees and experiences, and showcases the inspiration for and creation process behind each of the pieces of music. This experience will be available in the spherical i360 web and app based format. The 12-city, 12-month tour will kick off in Mexico City at the end of the month and produce 12 original pieces of music inspired by the cities will.i.am visits. We are very proud to announce that Ascent Films Inc. has been chosen to become the post-production facility for the project’s spherical i360 content.

Ascent Films has won a license for the NUKE compositing software in a recent NUKE survey prize draw. NUKE is the original compositing tool from The Foundry. It provides a stable foundation that allows the greatest forward-thinking directors to deliver their most demanding creative vision. It is designed to assist in meeting tight deadlines, managing high quality, scale and efficiency, in a robust and highly intuitive production pipeline.
"We are very excited to receive this NUKE license because it will allow us to provide our clients with a true world-class compositing tool. NUKE is a powerful addition to the company's arsenal of hardware and software tools.", states the company’s post-production and VFX supervisor Steven Antturi.

Jiri Bakala, Steven Antturi, and Immersive Media CEO Myles McGovern become the winners of the Media Arts Award given away annually at the Okanagan Arts Awards. The group was chosen to receive the prestigious award for their innovative work on the Black Eyed Peas’ i360 spherical video “The Time (Dirty Bit)”, released in January. “This is a great honour. The spherical video technology is so new, and sometimes ‘bleeding edge’, that an award like this will help us to bring it to the forefront and showcase its usability beyond what most people are familiar with - Google Streetview. Unlike with that, our projects are full motion videos that offer viewers real time interactivity.”, says Ascent Films’ Executive Producer Jiri Bakala.

New ‘BEP360’ App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Takes Fans Inside “The Time (Dirty Bit)” with 360- Degree Motion Control and Augmented Reality. The video for the app was produced by the team at Ascent Films Inc. Editor and compositor Steven Antturi created spherical CGI environments that had to match the “feel” of the original 2D video. The facility also had to come up with a way to create overlays with 2D video that looked geometrically proper in the spherical environment. BEP360 is the first release from will.i.apps, will.i.am’s new digital media production entity dedicated to pioneering and producing application-based entertainment experiences.