Latest News from MediaStorm – Page 56 – Latest News from MediaStorm

Photo by Paolo Marchetti, 2015 Alexia Professional Winner

Congratulations to the 2015 Alexia Foundation Grant Recipients

Post author:Cortney Cleveland
Post published:March 6, 2015

Photo by Paolo Marchetti, 2015 Alexia Professional Winner

The Alexia Foundation recently announced the recipients of the 2015 Alexia Foundation Grants: Paolo Marchetti for the professional grant and Michael Santiago for the student grant.

Marchetti of Rome, Italy, will receive the $20,000 professional grant for his project “The Price of Vanity.” The work will document the brutality of the intensive breeding farms used worldwide to produce skins and furs for the high-end fashion industry. It intends to expose this cruel cultural trend driven by remorseless beauty demands.
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MediaStorm Guide to using the Transparency Grid in Premiere Pro

Post author:Eric Maierson
Post published:March 5, 2015

This article is part of a series of posts with tips and tricks from our producers' experience working with Adobe Premiere Pro CC after years of working in Final Cut Pro. To read more about why we made the switch, check out this post. At MediaStorm, we are meticulous about how we crop the photographs in our films. Even so, sometimes when a picture has black edges it can be difficult to see exactly where the photograph ends and the default black background of Premiere Pro begins. Sometimes a sliver of of black slips through undetected. Recently, I stumbled across a Premiere Pro setting that makes it easier to distinguish between an image and black background, the Transparency Grid. To turn on the transparency grid, simply click the wrench in the Program Window and select Transparency Grid. The default black background will change to a grey and white checkered pattern. Notice, how…

‘The Long Night’ Named Documentary Project of the Year by Pictures of the Year International

Post author:Cortney Cleveland
Post published:February 21, 2015

In its 72nd year, Pictures of the Year International (POYi) is the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism program in the world. We are thrilled to announce that our first feature film, The Long Night, has been honored in the Documentary Project of the Year category. Created in collaboration with multimedia journalist Tim Matsui with the support of the Alexia Foundation, the film takes an unflinching look at the crisis of minors who are forced and coerced into the American sex trade. Congratulations to all of this year’s POYi winners. View the full winner's list at POYi.org.

When Hard Drives Fail

Post author:Eric Maierson
Post published:February 17, 2015

For years I’ve been preaching the adage that when it comes to hard drive crashes, not only as an answer to the question, "how much storage do i need?", but also to the two types of people, those who have lost data and those who will. Well, last week it was my turn. Again. I was working at home, with all the proper protection, and still, in a single surge, two hard drives went kaput. Fortunately, thank the stars, the drives were from different projects and I had backups of each. Because let me tell you, as an editor there is no worse feeling than knowing you’ll have to redo hours, or even days, of work. What I took away from the experience is this: Unless you are backing up your work, never mount both the main and backup drives at the same time. This way, if there is a catastrophic failure,…

2015 Sundance Short Film Challenge Powered by the MediaStorm Player

Post author:Cortney Cleveland
Post published:February 10, 2015

The Sundance Institute has joined MediaStorm’s community of creative partners, leveraging the power of the MediaStorm Platform to distribute the winning films of the 2015 Sundance Short Film Challenge. The Sundance Institute’s Short Film Challenge, hosted in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a collection of stories that place a spotlight on what is shared across humanity regardless of economic, cultural and geographic differences. These films illustrate how we can support one another to end poverty and hunger once and for all. This year’s stories are from five amateur filmmakers from Nigeria, Mexico, India, and the U.S.; as well as four films from professionals including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Gael Garcia Bernal; Diego Luna; and Marialy Rivas. The films premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and will be available for free via the MediaStorm Platform and on sundance.org. Read our case study to learn…