Page 34 - Fujifilm Exposure_9 Love's Labour's Lost_ok

Apair of British companies have won prestigious Plaques from the American Academy For Motion Picture Arts & Sciences this year for Scientific and Engineering achievement.
From OpTex, based in North London, came the Aurasoft luminaire lighting system used on films like Shakespeare In Love, Elizabeth, Titanic, Trainspotting, As Good As It Gets and the latest Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough. Invented in 1981 by Derek Lightbody (pictured right), a former head of lighting at the BBC, the system was developed by OpTex before being officially launched in 1994. Its effect is to produce a soft- ened, flattering effect on its subject. According to a spokesman for OpTex,
of which Lightbody is now technical consultant: “The concept of Aurasoft is based on providing a light that’s the nearest equivalent to natural light pos- sible, casting the same soft shadows as
natural sky light.
“The conical lamphead contains
thousands of tiny, spheroidal convex mirrors which reflect angled light across the path of adjoining mirrors. As the paths cross, the directness of light is reduced, achieveing an even spread of soft light.”
Based in East Sussex, Mark Roberts Motion Control received its Plaque for the Milo motion control camera system. The system, a computer-controlled robot which carries a camera, has been used on films like The Borrowers and
SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS
CANNES DO, WILL DO, SEE YOU THERE
ENTER SHOWCASE WITH SUNSET HEIGHTS
W hatever happened to all that lottery cash from the
UK and Ireland that was being pumped into supporting the two
countries’ film industries? Most of it actually went into making movies. But with cinema exhibition still mainly dominated by American product, many of these homegrown films seemed forever consigned to the shelf.
Enter Showcase, a new video rental label, which will begin in June to unveil some of these previously hidden treats on a month-by-month release basis. Leading off Showcase’s distribution roster is Sunset Heights, a stylish and very bloody Anglo-Irish thriller set in the near future. It co-stars Tony Stephens, James Cosmo, Patrick O’Kane and Jim Norton.
Photographed by Roger Bonnici on Fuji, the film was directed in and around Donegal and Derry by
Below: James Cosmo; right: Toby Stephens in Colm Villa’s Sunset Heights.
experienced TV helmer Colm Villa who spent more than two years bringing Sunset Heights to the screen. He says: “I was trying to avoid the Troubles so there is no mention of the police, the army, Catholics, Protestants - or even Ireland. It’s not another IRA/balaclava film; it’s a mythic allegory about revenge, guilt and redemption.” ■
R oger Sapsford is once again representing Fujifilm at the
Cannes International Film Festival which runs from May 12-23. Roger is staying on the
regular Fuji sponsored and specially
chartered yacht Tursiops which will be moored in the Old Marina through out the festival, weather permitting.
Anyone who wishes to catch up with him can call the yacht’s telecom- munications on 00 33 4 92 98 70 67. ■
FANGS FOR THE MEMORY
So who were those toothsome vampire girls we pictured in
the last issue of EXPOSURE? They are, going from a 38D, from left to right: Ingrid Pitt, Madeleine Smith, Kate O’Mara, Pippa Steele and Kirsten Betts in 1970’s Hammer horror, The Vampire Lovers, shot at Elstree Studios.
EXPOSURE • 34 & 35