Live Video Inc: Titanic

Saturday, May 31, 2014

ActorsE Chat with Kurt Kelly of Live Video Inc. Interviews Filmmaker and Visual Effects Extraordinaire, Jeff Olm.

Watch Now: http://www.livevideoinc.com/watch/producer-director-and-finisher-jeff-olm-to-chat-with-host-kurt-kelly-on-actorse-chat

Voice over extraordinaire, legendary radio and TV host Kurt Kelly chats with his longtime friend Jeff Olm. Jeff is a seasoned veteran and renowned figure in the world of CGI and special effects, he has worked on many of the greatest movies of our time. Jeff’s training and education began in high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he worked as an ‘av’ guy, learning to thread projectors. He furthered his studies at The University of Wisconsin Osh Kosh, studying radio, television, and film. His career began with The Post Group in 1986 where he worked on a lot of music videos and documentaries before joining the Digital Domain team as a compositor.

Digital Domain helped forge a new path for special effects and CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). Jeff described Digital Domain as ‘a great place to learn and work with friends’. There, with his friends, Jeff worked on James Cameron’s iconic Titanic film, which went on to set box off records, and win many awards for Best Special Effects. Jeff’s team worked on a scene called TD47- Titanic Departure, Scene 47- which was a computer generated fly-by shot of a 100 foot model of the ship. Digital characters where animated into the shot as well, it was cinema magic. Olm also worked on the sci-fi film The Fifth Element which starred Bruce Willis. The Fifth Element used an extensive amount of CGI and was ahead of it’s time. Jeff helped with the animation of the 3D futuristic flying cars that zipped and zoomed through the metropolitan skies. Jeff expressed that ‘it was the heyday of Digital Domain’ and that it was ‘a very exciting time’. As well as his work as a compositor, Olm also works as a ‘finisher’, the last person that works on the imagery of a film. He works with Autodesk programs called Smoke, to edit an image, Luster, to edit color correction, and Flamer, to finalize the images. As a leading trainer at the International Colorist Academy, he has trained many other colorists worldwide, and more of his professional work can be seen in such films as Tom Hanks’ Castaway, Black Hawk Down (Josh Hartnett), What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer), 6 Days and 7 Nights, and Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams. Olm also worked as a finisher at Sony’s DreamWorks Studios for five years, where he had a hand in films like Madagascar 2, Shrek 4, and Turbo. Jeff has also worked with Dream No More Productions, a creative group that is exploring Hologram Technology. Jeff was recruited by Ace Duran, the creator of the initial idea for the Tupac Coachella Hologram. Digital Domain was also involved in the project. Digital Domain and Dream No More productions are working on developing hologram technology to use digital scans of celebrities that can be projected as a virtual image and be projected at any location. For example, Beyonce is performing before thousands in Taiwan, but with the use of holographic technology, a virtual image of her can be projected on stage at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI for thousands more to enjoy the same performance. Pretty amazing concept. Aside from his work with CGI, special effects, and finishing, Jeff is also putting his efforts towards making his directorial debut for a documentary film. Jeff’s production company, Perfect Pictures, is developing a documentary to create awareness for veterans transitioning back into civilian life. He’s also developing a pilot for a spin-off television series.

To learn more about Jeff Olm , he can be found on several sites; you can view his profile on imdb.com, as well as the ICA/International Colorists Academy website at icolorist.com/instructors/jeff-olm.

More episodes hosted by the legendary Kurt Kelly can be seen weekly from livevideoinc.com, www.ustream.tv, kurtkelly.com, and for more on Kurt Kelly go to his site kurtkelly.com and livevideoinc.com, his profile can see on IMDb as well, Kurt also a personal Facebook page and Facebook Fan Page. Kurt, along with Pepper Jay from Pepper Jay Studios, continue to bring you entertaining and informative programming featuring the finest and brightest figures in entertainment today.

Written By: Brian Harper and Melissa English

Friday, November 29, 2013

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, AND FINISHER JEFF OLM TO CHAT WITH HOST KURT KELLY ON ACTORSE CHAT

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, AND FINISHER JEFF OLM TO CHAT WITH HOST KURT KELLY ON ACTORSE CHAT

http://kurtkelly.blogspot.com/2013/11/producer-director-and-finisher-jeff-olm.html

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INFO@LIVEVIDEOINC.COM

November 29, 2013

By: Melissa English

Talented Producer, Director, and Finisher Jeff Olm is stopping by ActorsE to speak with legendary host Kurt Kelly on ActorsE Chat today. Watch live at: http://livevideoinc.com/watch/producer-director-and-finisher-jeff-olm-to-chat-with-host-kurt-kelly-on-actorse-chat. Jeff has worked on some of the largest films which Hollywood has created in the past twenty years and has a proven track record of excellent finishing skills as well as pushing the envelopes of what technology can produce.

Jeff started off working as an editor and compositor when he first graduated from school at the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelors of Science in Radio, Film, and Television. He was putting together video clips and doing editing and highlights for some of the biggest names in the industry such as Disney, NBC, and Warner Brothers. After learning some new skills and becoming extremely adept in his craft Jeff headed to a new challenge taking a position with a film and video company in which he began editing clips and finishing them for a television show called, "The Road" which highlighted the American Music market and offered the viewer an inside perspective on all things inside the music industry. The show was made up of interviews and backstage pass moments with some of the most popular musicians of the time.

Jeff then began to delve into the world on movie finishing and started off with some of the largest films in the history of film. Learning and mastering the craft and the highest levels of technology available at the time, Jeff completed all of the finishing and editing for Titanic, James Cameron's masterpiece with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Later in the same year Jeff also took on the finishing and editing of another amazing classic, The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis. Jeff also took home a top honor that year as he was a part of the team that won the Oscar for best visual effects.

Jeff continued his road of finishing excellence in the industry working on some of the largest blockbuster movies of the time including Armageddon with Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler, Six Days and Seven Nights, Mighty Joe Young, Inspector Gadget,My Favorite Martian, Gone in 60 Seconds with Angelina Jolie and Nicholas Cage, and the supernatural thriller Stigmata.

Jeff continued down the path editing and finishing some of the most exciting films to come out of Hollywood over the past 20 years. While working with Sony Jeff worked on the finishing and the editing of the trailers for Spider Man, and Spider Man 2. He was also on the cutting edge of technology contributing to the effects of Cast Away with Tom Hanks, Spider Man 2, What Lies Beneath, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Jeff continued to get more and more detailed into the art of color as well as in the art of finishing using all of the cutting edge programs at the time and all of the tools made available to him on the market. He worked on other amazing pieces such as Minority Report, Black Hawk Down, Bronx is Burning and Reign of Fire. In addition to this Jeff plied his hand at improving the branding of many of America's favorite brands who when they needed commercials would come to his team. Some of the many brands he represented include: Wendy's, Volvo, Bud Light and Coke.

Jeff was a part of the amazing work as well that was the editing and the finishing for Journey to the Center of the Earth which was a live action movie with amazing effects. He has also been a part of some of the most beloved animated movies in the past few years including How to Train Your Dragon, Puss in Boots, and The Guardians.

Jeff has been working actively to also branch over into directing and producing and has been doing work in Kazakhstan and other parts of the world as an independent director and producer. He is also actively involved in developing celebrity hologram software which will allow for producers and directors to use the image of a star, whether living or deceased. He is working to make this a turn key solution for technological enhancement down the line. This sort of technology is being used to simulate the experience of seeing a celebrity first hand performing in a real environment currently for some shows.

Jeff has been working tirelessly to raise the awareness of U.S. jobs making their way to British Columbia as well. Many of the members of production teams are finding themselves with work outsourced because of tax incentives.

Jeff has also recently been filming a documentary working with the Wounded Warrior Project in Tennessee to capture the experiences and the state of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal of his documentary is to raise awareness of PTSD and the importance of treatment for the veterans when they return.

Jeff will be interviewed by Kurt Kelly, "The Voice of Experience" who has been a mogul in the industry for many years across the platforms of broadcast, voice-over, production, radio, and directing. He is one of the most sought after hosts in the business.

Kurt and Jeff did some work together as well in the past with Kurt Kelly's Backstage Pass all Access covering such amazing artists as Madonna, Tori Amos, and countless others. Kurt's show took the viewer on the inside so that they would be able to view inside track.