Post/visual effects facility executives are eyeing the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, from April 8-13 in Las Vegas, on levels ranging from traditional broadcast to HDTV to interactive television and streaming media. In this first installment of a two-part NAB preview, potential customers discuss what they expect and hope to see at the confab, with emerging media figuring prominently.
"What we need to keep on top of runs the gamut," assessed Eric Bonniot, president/ CEO of 525 Studios, Santa Monica, who at press time was about to embark with staff artist Brian Buongiorno on hi-def visual effects work for a TV pilot. "The timing of the project is great, in that we’ll have hands-on experience in HD effects going right into NAB. But if no clear winner emerges in terms of certain hi-def tools, I suspect we’ll still be in a waiting game for the [hi-def] demand to materialize before we commit or invest heavily."
Bonniot noted that he will take a serious look at color correction systems "that will hopefully be able to do secondary color correction techniques in HD and 2K. I’d like to see some other [color correction] options emerge. … On the lower end of the scale, I think we’ll be exploring the Linux PC box as a way to integrate and go cleanly between a CGI 3-D environment and a 2-D Inferno compositing environment."
The 525 exec added that "full streaming video commercials are fast becoming a reality at this point. We will be checking out streaming media tools at NAB as we examine ways to broaden into different environments."
For Dean Winkler, COO of the New York Media Group and president of Post Perfect, New York, there’s a clear delineation between what he expects and hopes to see unfold at NAB. The good news in his mind’s eye will be what he described as "a twenty-four-frame fest. … I think this is the NAB where the 1080/24P standard is for real-which is key from a postproduction standpoint, transcending everything from Avids to finishing, telecine, editorial, cameras, the full range. Manufacturers are jumping on the 1080/24P bandwagon. How do you deliver a 720P show to ABC and a 1080I program to CBS? The answer: Master in 1080/24P and transfer to both. This helps us clear the main technology hurdle."
However, what Winkler would like to see soon but probably won’t is "more HD market demand develop on the East Coast to catch up with the technology. It’s happening on the West Coast, with facilities like Laser-Pacific [Hollywood] cranking out hi-def television shows. But from an advertising industry perspective, commercials don’t have a really long shelf life compared to episodic television, which can last years with syndication. So until the eyeballs [a significant number of hi-def households] are in place, there isn’t the motivation for commercials to go hi-def. It will eventually happen but it’s not clear exactly when."
Part of the problem, related Winkler, is that public venues for HD telecasts of ABC’s Monday Night Football and the Super Bowl didn’t emerge, which would have helped to whet the appetite of consumers for HDTV. "It’s a chicken-and-egg thing," he summed up. "And from a New York perspective in particular, the HD market isn’t here yet."
Chuck Heuer, chief of technology at New York-headquartered IllusionFusion, parent company of the Click 3X family of facilities (Click 3X New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta; Construct/Click 3X, San Francisco), expects to see the typical ensemble of flashy new tools in DTV and other areas. But Heuer, who also serves as VP/director of technology for the Click 3X digital studios, thinks some lower profile introductions may prove significant. Noting that Click 3X is a major user of Discreet’s visual effects line, Heuer anticipates new capabilities and enhancements emerging that "may complement that core tool set."
Heuer said he plans to keep an eye peeled for "new enabling technologies that facilitate new combinations or convergences in support of our clients’ needs. This could encompass the brave new broadband world, while also being something as simple as redefining the paradigms of getting work done and effectively collaborating with our clients." For example, he noted that last year, the Click 3X studios got involved with Telestream’s Clipmail as a means of communicating internally between Click 3X facilities. Heuer said that based on what unfolds at NAB, Click might become better positioned to use Internet and communications technology to reach out directly to clients and their other suppliers collaboratively.
Meanwhile, Tim McGuire, president/editor at Cutters, Chicago, said that his shop is specifically "looking to upgrade our offline edit systems. Our current Avids are old, and it’s at the top of our list to replace our eight current Avids and possibly add a ninth."
McGuire’s colleague, Cutters’ general manager John McGrath, who also heads the company’s SOL designefx, Chicago, added: "What we see in most of the devices are design tools that really excite the staff. The Avid, Discreet Logic’s edit and the Media 100 are no longer strictly editorial boxes; they’re also design tools. So much more of our work at Cutters and at SOL is about design. At NAB, we’re going to be faced with so many more small companies selling very specific software packages focused on effects or design. The days of walking into Grass Valley or Ampex or Sony’s booth and feeling you’ve seen everything are over. Now you’ve really got to search the back aisles of NAB for the companies selling small pieces of software that really let you do some great design work. Thankfully, the prices on the boxes we use are coming down, but we’re faced with having to buy so many more individual pieces of software just to make sure we have the tool set in front of our artists.
"So with SOL," continued McGrath, "I think we’re going to be looking at (1) a lot of plug-ins and little pieces of software that do some very innovative things, and (2) tools that bridge the old video infrastructure with the new networking demands that we see. Our artists work very collaboratively on projects … and they need to be able to work on the same media at the same time. There are now networking solutions that allow them to do that; there is Discreet’s Job Net, Avid is coming out with their Unity. And I have no doubt other companies at NAB will be showing networking solutions that also help bridge into the old video realm.
"SOL is looking at upgrading its telecine," concluded McGrath. "We think we’re hitting this at the right time, because there are some really good boxes that have been fully de-bugged. We have options from Philips, from Cintel and from Innovation TK that will allow us to enter the high-def market at resolutions much higher than people who got into it a few years back. The new machines are all becoming capable of doing 4K by 4K; I don’t know that we would be actively selling 4K, but it’s nice to be able to work at that resolution. We’re excited about having so many good options available to us."
A SHOOT STAFF REPORT
