< Previousthe age of 22. Who were your influences? Director Hadi El Bagoury was like my godfather. I’ve known him since I started working, so he’s defi nitely had a big infl uence on me. The fi rst commercial I ever edited was directed by him. I’m also a big fan of Egyptian editor Khaled Marie’s work. When I was younger Man on Fire (2004) directed by Tony Scott and edited by Christian Wagner was the fi lm that infl uenced me the most. Director Marwan Hamed also has a great infl uence on me. I consult him on everything I do. How much of the story- telling onus lies on an editor’s shoulders? Good movies are all about good storytelling and I see myself as a storyteller. That’s the most accurate job description for a fi lm editor. I put my vision and techniques into telling a good story. My favorite aspect about editing is the endless possibilities; you get to experiment over and over until you have something you like. My ultimate goal is for the edit to be smooth, almost to a point that it’s invisible. That’s why they call it the invisible art. Right now, I am working parallel on diff erent projects. These include Shahid’s original series Every Week Has a Friday, Netfl ix’s Paranormal and Mohamed Diab’s Amira. What could you tell us about Netflix’s original series: Paranormal by Amr Salama Amr is a good friend and we have worked on Tayea a couple of years ago. He’s one of the most creative and passionate people I’ve worked with. He’s especially passionate about this project. Paranormal is based on a widely popular book series in the Arab world. Add to this, it’s a Netfl ix original series. This is big and I’m proud to be part of it. Netfl ix’s standards make the workfl ow diff erent than anything I’ve worked on so I’m enjoying this new challenge. Clash was a dramatic, critically acclaimed historic fi lm, tell us the experience of working on it. Clash was defi nitely one of my most challenging and therefore favourite projects. The entire movie is set “I WAS A FULL TIME EDITOR AND STUDYING BUSINESS AT UNIVERSITY AT THE SAME TIME. MY FIRST FEATURE FILM WAS 45 DAYS, WHICH I WORKED ON AT THE AGE OF 22.” Ahmed Hafez has been a video editor since the ago of 14. Clash, Hafez says, was one of the most challenging timelines he worked on given the com- plexities of the project. www.digitalstudiome.com30 / FEBRUARY 2020 INTERVIEWinside the back of a police vehicle at a historical time in Egypt. The fact that it’s a one-location setting and that the whole story happens over 12 hours meant that you had to maintain a changing timeline, make sure the viewers don’t get bored. It’s dangerous, sweaty, cramped and claustrophobic. It’s real drama. It’s deliberately not an easy watch. The editing had to capture that sense of a horrifying immersive experience. Blood boiling, intense, and very fast. Having spent a fair amount of time in the industry what are some of the trends you have noticed regionally? The TV industry in the Arab world used to have a certain traditional form of 30 episodes to fi t the Ramadan season and that didn’t give you enough space to be creative. Today the TV viewing experience is undergoing an evolution as people are buying into the idea of video on demand service, this gives us more time for better productions — creatives are no longer having to compress the story into 30 episodes, “TODAY THE TV VIEWING EXPERIENCE IS UNDERGOING AN EVOLUTION AS PEOPLE ARE BUYING INTO THE IDEA OF VIDEO ON DEMAND SERVICE, THIS GIVES US MORE TIME FOR BETTER PRODUCTIONS — CREATIVES ARE NO LONGER HAVING TO COMPRESS THE STORY INTO 30 EPISODES, YOU’RE WORKING ON TELLING A GOOD STORY REGARDLESS A still from The Guest Aleppo to Istanbul (2017). Hafeez had a role to play in the edits of Shahid-original series Every Week Has a Friday. INTERVIEW www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 31 “PARANORMAL IS BASED ON A WIDELY POPULAR BOOK SERIES IN THE ARAB WORLD. ADD TO THIS, IT’S A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES. THIS IS BIG AND I’M PROUD TO BE PART OF IT. NETFLIX’S STANDARDS MAKE THE WORKFLOW DIFFERENT THAN ANYTHING I’VE WORKED ON SO I’M ENJOYING THIS NEW CHALLENGE.” you’re working on telling a good story regardless. In addition the Arab fi lm industry is fl ourishing and expanding as well. In 2018, four Arab fi lms competed for the Palme D’Or at Cannes. In 2018 and 2019, Lebanon scored two Oscar nominations. Our target as fi lmmakers is evolving — the changes are allowing us to compete on a global platform, reaching diff erent markets. How has the industry evolved since you first began? I started of my career on linear video editing system, and today I edit digitally. This has made the technical part much easier, which lets us cut, copy, and paste, change the order of scenes in any way and make any changes desired. That means endless options, and again that’s my favourite part, experimenting again and again and again until you’re completely satisfi ed with the end result. What changes would you like to see take place in our industry and region? I’m generally optimistic about the changes taking place in our industry. What I’d like to see change in my part of work is for post-production to have more time in the fi lm’s schedule. Dunkirk, for example, spent a year in post-production. It’s very rare for this to happen in our region. Hafez also edited Diamond Dust, a 2018 thriller directed by Marwan Hamed www.digitalstudiome.com32 / FEBRUARY 2020 INTERVIEWFor sponsorship opportunities, please contact: Paul Hylden Sales Manager Tel: +971 4 444 3396 Email: paul.hylden@itp.com For speaking opportunities, please contact: Sarah Rizvi Editor Tel: +971 4 444 3617 Email: sarah.rizvi@itp.com For attendance opportunities, please contact: Daniel Fewtrell Director of Awards & Marketing Tel: +971 4 444 3684 Email: daniel.fewtrell@itp.com Tuesday 17th March 2019 Grosvenor House, Dubai www.channelmiddleeast.com/conference Do not miss the annual gathering of the thought leaders and infl uencers within the region’s IT and security channel at the Channel Middle East Leaders in Technology Summit. FOR MORE INFORMA TION ON SPONSORSHIP OPPOR TUNITIES, CONTACT ONE OF OUR TEAM TODAY . FREE ATTENDANCE FOR CHANNEL EXECUTIVESGOLD SPONSORS Meet the judges of the DS Awards 2020 EXPERT CORNER et to be held on April 1, 2020, the 16th edition of the Digital Studio Middle East Awards (DS Awards) is just around the corner. The nominations deadline has been left open for a week into February, thanks to popular demand and requests from the industry. If you need inspiration for your nomination, then look no beyond the job profiles and portfolios of the DS Awards 2020’s jury. This year’s judges include an eclectic mix of media professionals, consultants, academics. Our panel of judges includes: Hasan R. Sayed Hasan, founder and managing director of Master Media. Clyde DeSouza, a filmmaker advisor to the government media incubators; Hassan Ghoul, a senior executive with broad-based business development, sales, marketing and general management experience. Ghoul is the current MENA representative for the IABM (the International Association of Broadcast and Media Technology Suppliers). Finally, Dr David Tully, head of Media, senior lecturer, Middlesex University joins the esteemed panel of judges. Hasan’s firm Master Media provides consultancy and advisory services in the media and broadcast domain. Master Media’s clients include some of the highest profile private and government entities in the MENA region. DeSouza is a renowned immersive media filmmaker and published author in the sci-fi genre. He recently directed a Cinematic VR film, RaginiMMS VR, for India’s Alt Balaji and Zee5, earning them the distinction of being the first to bring Immersive filmed entertainment to digital OTT. Making his debut on the Jury Dr Tully is well-known academician and responsible for development of S the next generation of media creatives through his role in Middlesex University. Amongst his many accolades is the fact that Tobe Hooper directed Tully’s screenplay for 2013 Arabic thriller Djinn. In the following weeks, these experts will independently judge the nominations received for the DS Awards 2020. The vote of those judges directly or indirectly associated with a nominated company, project, or programme will not be considered towards its category’s final count. The DS ME editorial team wishes each and every one of our nominees the best of luck and we look forward to hosting you at the DS Awards ceremony in Dubai this April. For sponsorship enquiries, please contact DS ME’s sales manager Thomas Lambert on +971 55 760 0707, or drop him an email at thomas. lambert@itp.com. For table bookings, reach out to Teri Dunstan on teri. dunstan@itp.com. www.digitalstudiome.com34 / FEBRUARY 2020 DS AWARDS 2020 — MEET THE JUDGES Hasan R. Sayed Hasan. Dr David Tully. Clyde DeSouza. Hassan Ghoul. DS AWARDS 2020 — MEET THE JUDGES www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 35 www.digitalstudiome.com36 / FEBRUARY 2020 DS AWARDS 2020 — MEET THE JUDGESA SPECIAL REPORT FROM DIGITAL STUDIO CINEMATIC LIGHTING TRENDS AND THE LATEST IN CINEMATIC LIGHTINGDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDIGGGGGGIIIIIIIIITTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE.CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSPECIAL REPORT / EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION FEBRUARY 2020 / 39 www.digitalstudiome.com Cinematic lighting creates a visual mood, atmosphere, and sense of meaning for the audience. Lighting establishes the story that your audiences live through the length of the scene. In the past, filmmakers would manipulate day light to make it seem like the shoot was taken in the evening or early morning. Today with advancements in lighting technology and techniques, film crews can manipulate scenarios to suit the scene and shot. According to David Lynch from Masterclass: lighting tells the audience where to look; lighting reflects the psychology of characters; finally it defines and supports the genre of the film. In film class students are taught about the three basic angles of lighting a shot: key lighting, fill lighting and back lighting. Put simply we want to avoid awkward shadows unless the shot demands it. Thereafter we have several other lighting techniques such as hard lighting, soft lighting and side lighting to name a few. At whatever stage we find ourselves in our career, lighting is as important an aspect of the filmmaking process. For the longest time the camera never communicated with lights, at least not directly. But certain lighting manufacturers THE RIGHT LIGHT PLAYING AROUND WITH DIFFERENT LIGHT SETTINGS CAN TELL YOUR STORY DIFFERENTLY (which you will read about in the Market Update) have come up with ingenious solutions for the two to communicate. Kino Flo released a beta firmware with software upgrades that include camera profiles and CIE xy modes for LED lights. Kino Flo has turned the tables on cinema cameras with a menu of spectral profiles that are essentially lookup tables (LUTs) for HD cameras. Kino Flo’s firmware balances their LED lights to the cameras, rather than the other way around. The True Match 4.0 beta firmware and Kino Flo-designed tungsten and daylight LED emitters harmonise with the camera sensors even as the colour temperature settings are adjusted.Next >