The international mix will continue to figure prominently at the annual NAB Show, which runs from April 6-11 in Las Vegas. Approximately 30 percent of the event’s 90,000-plus attendees will come from outside the U.S., representing some 150 countries.
This will be evident not just at the turnstiles but among the exhibitors with innovations being showcased from all over the world spanning production, post, workflow and the like. A new wrinkle this year is the NAB Show invitation-only program SPROCKIT, which will introduce 10 up-and-coming companies in such sectors as content creation, content management and content delivery.
Among the market-ready startups slated for SPROCKIT are: FlixMaster, a cloud-based interactive video building platform that powers online storytelling, e-commerce and e-learning, transforming online videos into high-engagement business drivers; Newsit, a mobile and social platform that vets and verifies original crowd-sourced content and posts from social media in real time to help media and publishers attract, retain and monetize targeted, influential and committed consumers; Collective[i], a Big Data network with technology to convert sales, marketing and consumer data into revenue and insights delivered directly to business users; and Tivli which brings live streaming television and TV Everywhere initiative like HBO GO to college students on their terms, wherever they are, whenever they want on all their devices.
Meanwhile the NAB Exhibit Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center will house the offerings of nearly 600 companies.
Tour guides
Helping to navigate a portion of the technological breakthroughs on display will be the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG, IATSE Local 600). Two noted cinematographers will lead tours of exhibits. On Monday, starting at 11 a.m. from the ICG booth, Central Hall 10306, Steven Poster, ASC, president of the ICG, will focus on capture and lighting with a look at new tools and technologies from leading innovators. Among the vendors will be Arri, Bandpro Film & Digital, Inc., Element Technica and GoPro.
The following day at 11 a.m., Stephen Lighthill, ASC, senior filmmaker in residence at the American Film Institute Conservatory and president of the American Society of Cinematographers, will lead a tour that focuses on the latest forms of capture and workflows. Lighthill will explain the newest technologies from Black Magic Design, Assimilate, MTI Film, Codex and Carl Zeiss among others.
On a separate front, ICG will partner with the NAB for a Creative Master Series session in the Convention Center’s South Hall 220 on Monday, April 8, at 4:15 p.m., where filmmakers who worked on the NBC drama Revolution will discuss how two cinematographers, their on-set camera departments, and CGI artists have helped make the series look like no other episodic on the small screen. Title of the session is, “You say you want a Revolution? How Cinematographers and VFX collaborate on the hit NBC drama.” Participants will include DP David Moxness, CSC, Jay Worth, VFX supervisor, Geoff Garrett, associate producer who oversees postproduction, and Paul Grellong, supervising producer. David Geffner, executive editor of ICG Magazine, will moderate. These experts will explain how digital technology is integrating previs, live action and post. Topics that require a shared understanding include the overall look, lighting and design of complex composite shots, a choice of capture systems, monitoring and playback capabilities, use of special effects and atmospheric elements, and on-set and post workflows.
This will be followed by a session titled “Emerging Technologies and Toolsets: Emerging Cinematographers Talk with Technology Companies,” to be held at 5:30 p.m. in room S219. Emerging Cinematographer Award winners will discuss the benefits and hurdles for successful real-world application of the latest technologies. Participants are Steve Tiffen of the Tiffen company, Tim Smith, Canon USA, Daron Keet, 2012 ECA honoree, and Pete Villani, 2012 honoree. Poster, ASC, will moderate. A cocktail reception honoring ECA winners will follow. These awards are given to ICG members who have demonstrated exceptional skill, even though they are not yet in the DP classification. Last year only 10, of the more than 100 films submitted, were selected.
Further discussions
NAB will feature back-to-back panel discussions with a session on Sam Raimi’s 3D feature Oz the Great and Powerful, preceded by a session on Academy Award winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda’s upcoming film Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, on Tuesday, April 9. Each session will examine the impact that technologies such as 4K and 3D have on filmmaking today.
Oblivion, which is slated to be released the week following NAB Show on April 19, leads a summer slate of big-budget feature films shot with Sony’s F65. Miranda, ASC, alongside digital imaging technician Alex Carr, will discuss their experiences shooting Universal Pictures Oblivion. The Q&A discussion, which takes place on April 9 at 11:45 a.m., will be moderated by Jon Fauer, ASC of Film and Digital Times.
Oz the Great and Powerful colorist Stephen Nakamura of Company 3 will guide a discussion about the technical and aesthetic challenges involved in color grading 3D and 2D versions of the film. The makers of Oz the Great and Powerful were intent on creating an incredibly lush and vivid color palette that would evoke the feeling of L. Frank Baum’s beloved “Land of Oz” books, and Nakamura will explore how the feature makes use of such an intense, otherworldly color scheme. Ted Schilowitz, founding member, RED Digital Cinema, will moderate the session, which takes place at 1:45 p.m. on April 9.
Oblivion and Oz are not the only films featured at NAB Show this year. Other recent panel additions include Paul Schrader’s The Canyons; a discussion with the director of The Heat, Paul Feig; and a Technology Summit On Cinema keynote from the Academy Award and two-time Golden Globe winning producer of Avatar and Titanic, Jon Landau.
For a full rundown of exhibitors, click here.
