HEURIS and Cohen Communications offer Digital Services for Four Major Motion Pictures in as many Months.

September 16, 2002, St. Louis, MO: You’ll find Brian Quandt, CEO of local software company HEURIS, walking around in some pretty exalted company these days. This St. Louisan can be seen rubbing elbows with VP’s and Directors like James McQuaide, Mark Pellington, and Leon Silverman on the sets of some pretty important Hollywood blockbuster movies including "The Mothman Prophecies" with Lakeshore Entertainment, "Bulletproof Monk" with MGM, "The Human Stain" with Lakeshore Entertainment and Miramax, and "Biker Boyz" with Dreamworks. Mr. Quandt was even spotted in Budapest, Hungary on location on the set of Lakeshore Entertainment’s upcoming vampiress flick--"Underworld".

So what’s Brian Quandt and his small upstart midwestern company doing hanging out with the Hollywood Glitterati? HEURIS and partner company Cohen Communications have developed a new digital dailies solution, that allows movie makers to see rushes in HD format instead of film. The new solution is a turnkey computer and projection system that is rented on a weekly basis to films that are shooting on location.

Dailies or "rushes" are a very important part of the film making process. When a film crew goes out on location, they will be there for a limited amount of time. The producers, cast and crew want to make sure that every shot looks great and all the shots are covered before they move on to a new location. Dailies are used to review footage from the day’s shoot to make sure that everything is perfect.

The new Digital Dailies system developed by HEURIS and Cohen Communications in cooperation with Panasonic Broadcast offers many important advantages over competing solutions. Because the system is digital, it is both more flexible and considerably less expensive than other solutions.

"Using our system saves both time and money, without sacrificing quality," said Quandt. "With our system, customers typically save $300,000 on a single film. Even on a big blockbuster budget that’s a significant savings."

Neither HEURIS nor Cohen Communications are strangers to the world of digital video. Brian Quandt actually helped develop the MPEG standard as a member of the International Standards Organization. Since that time, his company HEURIS has created and sold award-winning video and multimedia tools to a variety of high profile clients including Dreamworks, Disney, Pixar, and NASA. Cohen Communications CEO, Steven Cohen also has a great deal of experience in the movie making business serving as Vice President of Marketing for Sony Pictures Entertainment before striking out on his own with Cohen Communications.

"I am really pleased to be working with Cohen Communications on this project," said Quandt. "HEURIS clearly has some of the world’s leading engineers in digital video and film technology, and Cohen Communications knows the film business inside and out. That’s how we’ve managed to get our product accepted in the highest Hollywood circles so quickly."

In fact, Hollywood notables are raving about HEURIS and the new Digital Dailies system. The technology associated with digital dailies was discussed in detail recently at a question and answer session at the Director's Guild Theater following a screening of "The Mothman Prophecies". "I’ll never go back to doing it [dailies] the old way again," stated Mark Pellington who used the digital dailies process while working as Director of the "The Mothman Prophecies." "It was just great," he added.

"The new IDVR system offers a clear improvement over earlier generation, tape-based solutions," said James McQuaide, who heads post production at Lakeshore Entertainment. "The system provides random access to everything required from the day’s shoot and allows for the rapid creation of a rough cut for the producer, the director and the D.P. The quality is fantastic and it’s so easy to use. What’s not to love?"

Quandt points out that these film companies are paying more than mere lip service. "Our repeat business has been very good," said Quandt. "The directors and producers are thrilled with the work we’ve done so far. Many are calling us back for second and even third movies."

And frankly, this local boy is enjoying himself. "They tease me and call me Joe Hollyrock at home," said Quandt. "I’m having so much fun being whisked from film to film--I think they’re afraid I’ll get too big for my britches."

About HEURIS
Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, HEURIS has served as a leading manufacturer of video compression and processing tools and applications for over a decade. From the Internet, to DVD, to HDTV to Hollywood Movies--HEURIS has developed an impressive group of award-winning tools for video production and post production applications.

Perhaps best known for its award-winning MPEG Power Professional Line of software products, HEURIS has recently released two new products for the Hollywood Market: a Digital Dailies solution developed in conjunction with partner Cohen Communications and MPEG Power Professional—D-Cinema used to encode High Definition pictures for display in movie theaters.

In addition to such major motion picture studios as MGM, HEURIS proudly includes the following as its customers: NASA, Walt Disney, Sea World, Apple Computers, The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Taco Bell Corporation, The Home Depot, AT & T Labs, IBM, Boeing, Vanderbilt University, Boston Museum of Science and the U.S. Military. More information about HEURIS Logic is available at www.heuris.com.