Avid Customers Embark on Journey to Park City for Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, Utah--(EON:Enhanced Online News)--Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that a wide variety of creative storytellers who used Avid® systems will take center stage at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah from January 18-28. Avid tools were used in nearly every category of competition this year, including Short Films, Dramatic Competition and World Cinema – and several of this year’s entries were shot, edited and/or output to HD. For those who can not attend the festival, Avid will provide updates as well as host a number of podcasts and blogs on its newly-launched independent film Webpage at: www.avid.com/indie.

“Without Avid Unity, we couldn't have been nearly as efficient in the cutting room. By sharing media and making cuts simultaneously with director JJ Lask, we were able to make creative collaboration on this film possible and seamless.”

Annie Sundberg, a 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominee and Director of the 2007 Sundance film The Devil Came on Horseback said, “There are a lot of tools available to filmmakers today, but I still prefer to use Avid on projects that require a professional edge. When I’m cranking in the edit suite with my editor, I want to make sure what I am using is reliable, transparent and able to deliver the highest-quality project every time. Film editing is an art form and I can’t afford to have technology interrupt my creative flow and cause things to go wrong in the 11th hour.”

The entries at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival that were created using Avid systems include documentaries, short films and feature-length dramas, such as:

• Bugmaster – by director Katsuhiro Otomo, using Avid Media Composer® Adrenaline™ and Symphony™ Nitris® systems;
• Broken English – by editor Andrew Weisblum, using Avid Xpress® Pro and Avid DS Nitris systems;
• Crazy Love – by editor David Zieff, using Avid Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline systems;
• Clubland – by editor Scott Gray, using a Media Composer system;
• Dark Matter – by editor Pam Wise, using an Avid Film Composer® system;
• Death to the Tinman - by director Ray Tintori and editor Par Parekh, using Avid Xpress Pro, Symphony Nitris and Digidesign® Pro Tools® systems; click the following link to listen to the podcast: Avid Podcast Episode 005: At Sundance: Bringing Death to the Tin Man to Life.
• Delirious – by editor Paul Zucker, using Avid Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline systems;
• The Devil Came on Horseback – by director Annie Sundberg and editor Will Cox, using Avid Xpress Pro and Symphony Nitris systems;
• Eagle vs. Shark – by editor Yana Gorskaya, using Avid Xpress DV software;
• For the Bible Tells Me So – by editor Nancy Kennedy, using Avid Xpress Pro and Symphony Nitris systems;
• Four Sheets to the Wind – by editor David Michael Maurer, using Avid Xpress Pro and Symphony Nitris systems; click the following link to listen to the podcast:. Avid Podcast Episode 006: At Sundance: Four Sheets to the Wind
• Grace is Gone – by editor Joe Klotz, using Avid Xpress Pro software;
• The Good Life – by editor Sean Hubbert, using a Media Composer system;
• I Just Wanted to Be Somebody – by director/editor Jay Rosenblatt, using an Avid Xpress system;
• King of California – by editor Glenn Garland, using a Media Composer system;
• On The Road with Judas – by director/editor JJ Lask and editor Jason Kileen, using Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Unity™ systems;
• Padre Nuestro – by editor Aaron Yanes, created using Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid DS Nitris systems;
• The Signal – by producer/editor assistant editor Alex Motlagh, using Avid Xpress Pro and Symphony Nitris systems;
• The Ten – by editor Eric Kissack, using a Media Composer Adrenaline system;
• Weapons – by editor Jay Rabinowitz, using a Media Composer system;
• Year of the Dog – by editor, Dody Dorn, using an Avid Media Composer Adrenaline system.

Jason Kileen, editor of the film On the Road with Judas, which was edited at New York Post Production house PS260, said, “Without Avid Unity, we couldn't have been nearly as efficient in the cutting room. By sharing media and making cuts simultaneously with director JJ Lask, we were able to make creative collaboration on this film possible and seamless.”

Avid’s Presence at Sundance

“For the past 13 years, Avid has been an official provider of the Sundance Film Festival and has armed storytellers with the valuable insight, direction, and tools to make moving and inspirational films,” said Ian Calderon, Director of Digital Initiatives for the Sundance Institute. “As our relationship with Avid continues to flourish, we look forward to working together to promote the new and exciting ways that indie filmmakers can benefit from digital filmmaking, push their creativity to the limits, and explore new mediums.”

Avid will have a presence at the New Frontier on Main (formerly known as the Film Center) and will offer storytelling workshops that will help editors to improve and hone their craft. At its booth in the New Frontier, Avid will demonstrate how its cross-platform, software-only editing solutions Avid Xpress Pro and Media Composer are changing the ways that next-generation professionals can tell their stories. In addition, Avid will offer the following workshops:

• Understanding the Art of Editing – Tuesday, January 23 – Friday, January 26; 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM, daily. Join veteran film, television, and music editor Norm Hollyn of the USC School of Cinematic Arts for an interactive seminar. Using finished scenes and a Media Composer system, Hollyn will show attendees how to bring characters to life, and highlight the various nuances of creating memorable characters and story lines. Norm is the author of The Film Editing Room Handbook. Registration is required.
• Tapeless Workflows for Independent Post – Tuesday January 23 – Friday 26; 2:30 PM – 2:00 PM, daily. With endless capture mediums available to filmmakers today – such as optical discs, solid-state memory cards and magnetic disk drives - tapeless camera systems are revolutionizing independent filmmaking. In this session, Avid experts will teach attendees how to plan and manage a tapeless project from pre-production to final delivery, including best practices for editing with Sony XDCAM and Panasonic P2 media. Registration is required.

All workshops will be held in the Avid Classroom in Workshop Area B at the New Frontier, on the Lower Level of the Main Street Mall. For more information or to sign up for classes, visit: http://festival.sundance.org.

Avid at the New York Lounge

Avid is also collaborating with ARRI and post production facility PostWorks, New York at Sundance to demonstrate and discuss the latest advances in film, camera, and editing technology at the NY Film Lounge at 545 Main Street. Join industry experts from January 19 – 26, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily. Topics to be covered will include: Tape-based RGB DI workflows and Solid State and Disk-based HD formats.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more information about the company’s Oscar®, Grammy®, and Emmy® award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.

© 2007 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice. Avid, Digidesign, Film Composer, Pro Tools, Avid Xpress, Media Composer, Symphony, Nitris, Adrenaline and Avid Unity are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Avid received an Oscar statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer system for motion picture editing. Digidesign, Avid’s audio division, received an Oscar statuette representing the 2003 Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development, and implementation of its Pro Tools digital audio workstation. Academy Award and Oscar are trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Grammy is a trademark of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

View All Releases from This Organization