Word: avidity
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Movies used to be edited by physically cutting and pasting together individual frames of film. Avid's Media Composer software, launched in 1989, offered a revolutionary alternative: film could be translated into digital information and edited on a computer screen. Media Composer, now in its 10th version, belongs to a host of Avid software that controls everything from sound to 3-D effects. But the company's original appeal is the same. Its programs incorporate elements like a rotating paddle--which mimics a device used in traditional film editing--and language such as "the bin," where scenes that have been...
...demonstrate, Avid effects specialist Kent Petersen clicks on a video clip of two actors walking against a blue backdrop. Petersen points his cursor to a scene of a grassy field, drags it over the icon of the clip, and suddenly the actors are strolling through the field. Something's missing, though. Petersen pulls down an editing menu and clicks, and shadows appear behind the actors...
...Avid's headquarters, a trophy case displays an Oscar, an Emmy and a Grammy awarded to the company's software. One wall celebrates the company's 108 patents. Posters of such movies as Crouching Tiger and Titanic line the halls, and the conference rooms bear names like The Matrix. Each title used Avid systems. Says company president David Krall: "You're able to trick the mind into seeing things that it believes are real. It's the highest art form...
...Japanese competitors aren't giving up. Sony unveiled XPRI in April, primarily for high-definition professional editing. Matsushita has focused its efforts on lower-end broadcast news. "Sony and Panasonic are like ocean liners. They turn, but they turn slowly," says Joseph Bentivegna, an Avid vice president. "By staying nimble, we've been able to keep ahead." For example, when actor Oliver Reed died during the filming of Gladiator, director Ridley Scott didn't panic. His team recycled shots of the slave trainer and, with the help of Avid software, produced two scenes starring Reed...
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