Digital Production BuZZ (AAC)

Join Larry Jordan as he talks with: Dan Rayburn, Executive VP, StreamingMedia.com he world is quickly shifting from distributing media on physical objects, to downloads and streaming over the web. Dan Rayburn, executive vice president of StreamingMedia.com, and the head of Streaming Media West, coming to LA later this month, joins us to explain what streaming media is, how filmmakers can take advantage of it, and spots some of the trends we need to watch over the coming months. Norman Hollyn, Professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts Norman Hollyn is an experienced film editor, a professor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts... and a world-traveler, helping filmmakers around the globe improve their story-telling skills. Norman joins us this week to discuss why filmmakers are looking to the US for hints on creating great movies. Their focus isn't on technology, its on the craft of story-telling, as Norman explains. Lynn Elliott, Product Manager, Telestream The good news is that Telestream has a big announcement for us. The bad news is that they aren't making it until just before our show starts. So, you'll just have to wait until Lynn Elliott, product manager at Telestream, stops by to explain what all the excitement is about. (It's pretty cool, though.) Michael Cowan, Founder/Executive Producer, Commotion Machine Media reating successful advertising is hard enough for most businesses. But when you are a professional, like a lawyer, the rules and regulations of your industry can make advertising far harder. Michael Cowan, Executive Producer for Commotion Machine Media, specializes in helping professionals advertise; both legally and successfully. Recently, Michael has featured a series of blogs called: "Weapons of Influence," which he shares with us on this week's show.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Michael Earle, President, AIO TV As the industry shifts from traditional distribution models – such as theatrical release, television broadcast, and DVD sales – filmmakers need to find new ways to make money on their projects. That’s where digital distribution comes in. New companies like AIO-TV are finding ways to connect films with an audience. AIO co-founder and president Michael Earle joins us today to explain what his company does and what filmmakers can do to find the money. Tony Simmons, Actor Tony Simmons is an actor that called California home for more than 20 years. Trained in both theater and film, Tony recently discovered that there are better opportunities for actors outside of LA. So he’s picked up and moved out. This week, we talk with him about what he sees as new options for actors outside of Hollywood. Barry Snyder, President/Co-founder, MediaMine Barry Snyder, president and co-founder of MediaMine, is a respected industry leader who specializes in taking legacy media collections and devising new ways to access, revitalize, and repurpose the content. In other words, he makes money on old stuff using new technology. There’s nothing better than making money on work you’ve already done – and Barry joins us this week to explain how it’s done. Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Correspondent, Hollywood Reporter With productions leaving LA for other parts of the world, and producer’s strong preference for non-union labor, these are tough times for Hollywood’s Guilds and craft unions. One of the current flash points are reality and half-hour comedy shows. Currently, IATSE is picketing the production offices of reality show “Fashion Star.” Jonathan Handel, entertainment labor correspondent for the Hollywood Reporter and Buzz regular, joins us this week to explain the issues.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Patrick Longman, President, Active Camera Systems Patrick Longman is President of Active Camera Systems, an aerial cinematography and rental company based in Florida. He recently discovered that he could mount the Sound Devices PIX 240 recorder directly on the helicopter’s console and voila.. a great solution for aerial shoots. He joins us this week to explain how his system works. Jessica Sitomer, President, The Greenlight Coach Work is stressful enough, but how do you cope when the stress is coming from outside events, beyond your control? Jessica Sitomer, President of The Greenlight Coach, joins us this week to discuss managing stress and coping with outside pressures on your company. Andy Sheldon, Director of Marketing, Class on Demand Andy Sheldon, Director of Marketing at Class on Demand recently told us about a new partnership between Class on Demand and Amazon. Their goal is to make online learning more and more popular, so we thought we’d ask him a few questions about the new partnership and where Class on Demand is heading for the future. Mark Ditmanson, Owner, FloLight For the last several months, LitePanels has been embroiled in litigation over the patents it holds covering several aspects of LED lighting. Recently, we received an email from a group called PatentFreeLED that makes some strong charges about the impact LitePanels’ patents will have on LED lighting and our industry. We invited Mark Ditmanson, the Owner of FloLight, to come on the show to discuss his side of this issue. (We also invited LitePanels, but, because the litigation is pending, they declined to join us.)

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Woody Woodhall, President, Allied Post Audio The best way to improve the quality of your picture is to improve the quality of your sound. But how? Woody Woodhall, CAS, is President of Allied Post Audio in Santa Monica, CA. and is a highly-respected supervising sound editor, sound-designer and re-recording mixer for independent feature films and television programming. We want to talk with him about audio and post-production. Tony Robinson, Executive Director, KICKS Ministries Recently, Tony Robinson, Executive Director of KICKS Ministries, shot two movies back-to-back, one using Canon DSLR cameras, and the other using a Sony FX100. We want to talk with him about what he liked about each system and how he’ll decide which camera to use in the future. We also want to learn if the different cameras require a different style of shooting. Wendy Woodhall, Founder, LAPPG Wendy Woodhall co-founded the Los Angeles Post Production Group (LAPPG) four years ago with her husband, Woody, and serves as the organization’s Executive Director. She’s been in the entertainment industry for 18 years in various capacities including television production, publicity, marketing and product placement but her passion currently is the creation and growth of the LAPPG. We talk with her this week about what it takes to make a user group work. Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance, is a regular on The Buzz and he returns this week to comment on his recent blog about the state of television today. Philip’s insights are always interesting and informed. This is one segment you don’t want to miss.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Anthony Nalli, Executive Producer, The Aviators The Aviators is a PBS reality / science show that follows the adventures of a group of pilots and aviation experts. Viewership of this program is skyrocketing and now boasts almost 10 million people per week in the U.S. and about 30 million internationally. We talk with Executive Producer, Anthony Nalli about how he created the show. Jonathan L, Radio Producer and Host Jonathan L is an American-born radio deejay, programmer and publisher who currently broadcasts via the internet from Berlin. His show, “The Lopsided World of L,” features independent alternative bands and is heard around the world. We caught up to him on one of his rare visits to Los Angeles and it is good to have him back. Bjoern Adamski, Product Marketing Manager, Flip4Mac, Telestream Earlier this week, Telestream released the latest version of Flip4Mac, the long-time workhorse for supporting Windows Media files on the Mac. This week, we talk with Bjoern Adamski, product marketing manager for Telestream, about what’s in the new version, along with the brand-new Flip Player. Both of these can make a media producer’s life a lot easier – join us as Bjoern explains. Terry Curren, Founder/President, Alpha Dogs Inc. Many independent producers are not given the luxury of owning expensive video decks and equipment. Working with limited budgets and small production and post-production teams makes completing projects even more challenging. AlphaDogs Digital Service Station is an interesting solution and Terry Curren, Founder and President join us this week to tell us more.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Eric Trabb, VP & Group Publisher, NewBay Media NewBay Media is the driving force behind Digital Video Expo, held this week in Pasadena, California. We talk with Eric Trabb, VP and Group Publisher for NewBay Media about why they feel trade shows are important, the relationship between trade shows and print magazines and what he sees as the future of our industry for the next couple of years. Jan Crittenden-Livingston, Product Line Business Manager, Panasonic Panasonic is showcasing its latest video cameras, but there’s a larger issue here: with so many cameras on the market, and with each camera becoming obsolete almost immediately, how do filmmakers decide which camera to buy? Jan Crittenden-Livingston, Product Line Business Manager for Panasonic Solutions Company, joins us for an extended discussion of which camera is the right camera. Jody Eldred, Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Jody Eldred Productions Continuing our discussion about picking the right camera, we talked with Jody Eldred just after he finished a premiere of the latest camera from Sony, the PVW-200. We talk about the the camera, but, more importantly, we talk about the challenges Jody has as a cinematographer of determining what’s the right camera for the job. When is the best answer to rent, rather than to buy? Jody has some very interesting opinions about this. Doug Mullin, Western Regional Sales Engineer, JVC It’s been a while since JVC was on The Buzz. We caught up with them at DV Expo and talked with Doug Mullin, Western Regional Sales Engineer for JVC, about their latest cameras. Did you know JVC now has WiFi to beam images from the camera directly to your hard disk? Some very cool cameras at a very attractive price, as you learn when you listen to Doug. Mario Di Leo and Alessandro Di Leo, Cinematographers, The Ready Rig As cameras get smaller and move off the shoulder, they also get harder to hold and to shoot. The Ready Rig is a very clever contraption invented by Mario Di Leo, cinematographer for shows like Battlestar Galactica, Hardcastle and McCormick, Murder She Wrote and dozens of others. This shoulder-based rig works with small and medium cameras to provide a solid shooting platform, with a wide range of shooting angles from low to high, left to right, even upside down! In this interview, Mario Di Leo and his son, Alessandro Di Leo, explain the benefits of this new system. Bruce Master, Senior Program Manager for Tape Storage at IBM, and Paivi Juvonen from Quantum. Archiving is another essential element of post-production and the current favorite archiving technology is LTO-5. We talk with two members of Ultrium, the LTO consortium: Bruce Master, Senior Program Manager for Tape Storage at IBM, and Paivi Juvonen from Quantum. Our conversation starts with the current state of LTO-5, then moves into a discussion of the upcoming LTO-6.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: John Putch, Director/Actor/Filmmaker, PutchFilms John Putch Founder of PutchFilms, was raised in the film business. His acting career began at age five and includes over 41 titles: “Body of Proof,” “Cougar Town,” “Ugly Betty,” “Scrubs”, “American Pie Presents: Book of Love,” the made for TV “Poseidon Adventure” and the cult favorite: “Mojave Phone Booth.” Recently, he completed directing “Route 30, Too!” and joins us to describe the travail of attempting to make money on his film. In fact, John swears he’ll never hire another sales agent again! We want to know why. Michael Cowan, Executive Producer, CommotionMachine Media Marketing and PR reign in this digital age and social networking is a part of our daily lives, but… Where’s the money? Michael Cowan, executive producer for CommotionMachine Media, has one word for us… Focus! We think that is easy to say, the devil is in the details. We want to hear how he backs that up with specific actions we can take to turn social media into revenue. Dan May President, Blackmagic Design/US Blackmagic Design had so many announcements at the recent IBC trade show in Amsterdam that, well, let’s just say they have never announced that many products at one time, other than at NAB. Including a new camera, and gear that now supports 4K images! We caught up with US President, Dan May. and talked about the new version of their Digital Cinema Camera and got the low-down on all their 4K products. Discover why Blackmagic Design likes to shake things up. Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter Good news on the labor front. Jonathan Handel, our legal labor expert, that IATSE just signed a three-year contract extension of the Area Standards Agreement which covers more than 8,000 production workers throughout North America outside of LA, NYC, and parts of the West. What does this mean? Who benefits? Why now? We invited Jonathan to explain it all to us this week.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Baret Lepejian, Co-Owner, Julia Dean Photo Workshops LLC Increasingly, still photographers are being asked to shoot both stills and video with their DSLR cameras. Baret Lepejian, Co-Owner of Julia Dean Photo Workshops, has more than 30 years of experience running successful professional photo labs. He joins us this week with ideas we can pitch to our clients to help them incorporate video in their business, as well as better understand the latest trend on what photographers need to shoot. Jessica Sitomer, President, The Greenlight Coach Times are tough and our budgets – both personal and professional – are being squeezed. How do you stay competitive when searching for new clients when you don’t have big bucks! jessica Sitomer, President of The Greenlight Coach, has some ideas that can help of us find work, whether we have a large, or small, budget. Trevor Ward, Filmmaker, “I Met With An Accident” Trevor Ward first visited The BuZZ in early 2011 to talk about his film, “I Met With An Accident.” Since then, he’s been in distribution … well… maybe that’s not the right word…! We could all learn from Trevor’s journey. What did he do right, what could he have done differently and what does he recommend to make our own project successful? Jim Robertson & Rich Kwiat, Co-Founders, Doddle Doddle burst onto the scene a short while ago and has reached an enormous audience for its daily news of the entertainment industry. It also created apps to help us with our call sheets during production. CoFounders Jim Robertson, and Rich Kwait, talk about their new startup and what it is like to report news in this digital age. Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance Adobe announced “Adobe Anywhere” earlier today, a new technology that supports multiple editors working remotely on the same project. However, The Buzz and Philip Hodgetts first brought you news of this as a technology “sneak-peek,” earlier this year in our coverage of the 2012 NAB Show. Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance, joins us to explain why this news is so important to video editors.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Mike Savello, Vice-president of Sales, LiveU LiveU provides live video streaming over cellular phones. We first saw this at the NAB 2012 Show, but they have since used their technology to broadcast live from the 2012 Olympics in London. Mike Savello is their VP of Sales and joins us this week to explain their technology and how it can be used by filmmakers to create compelling new content – live! Mark-André Ferguson, Smoke Product Evangelist, Autodesk Autodesk is in the process of creating a major new release of Smoke. With the launch of their first public trial release in June, they have since released two updates. Release 3 arrived earlier this week and we talk with Mark-André Ferguson, Smoke Product Evangelist for Autodesk, about the new release and the reaction from the marketplace. David Vassar and Sally Kaplan, Co-producers, “California Forever” “California Forever” is a two-part PBS series that premieres in September that tells the story of California’s state parks. Produced by Sally Kaplan, and co-produced, written, and directed by David Vassar, shot on the Red camera, this series was almost four years in the making. What we are interested in learning about, though, was the permitting process that Sally went through to get permission to film in more than 40 state parks. Why were permits necessary, how hard was the process, and what can we learn from her experience? Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Reporter, Hollywood Reporter This week, a California judge ruled that the Directors Guild of America is properly complying with a 2008 settlement agreement requiring the DGA to report foreign royalties. The problem, as stated in the lawsuit, was that the DGA reports were virtually incomprehensible. Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Reporter for the Hollywood Reporter joins us this week to explain the situation and what it means to filmmakers selling films overseas who aren’t DGA members. Phil Storey, Co-founder and CEO, XenData XenData is a leading provider of digital video archiving products tailored for the media industry. They are announcing some new archiving gear next week at the IBC trade show in Amsterdam. So, we invited Dr. Phil Storey, CEO of XenData, to explain their latest announcements and what they mean to filmmakers.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Mike Timm, Filmmaker, “A Girl, A Guy, a Space Helmet” The last time we spoke with Mike Timm, the filmmaker behind “A Girl, A Guy, A Space Helmet,” was in March, just after he released his latest award-winning film. When we spoke with him then, he had won numerous awards, but hadn’t landed distribution. Now, he has. So, we follow-up with him this week to learn how he got his digital distribution deal, what the experience taught him, and how he came up with such a killer title! Mark Schoneveld, Director of Community, PopTent Mark Schoneveld is the Director of Community for PopTent, which is a community of filmmakers who are looking to connect with companies to produce advertising. From spec work to paying projects, this is a very cool way to show off your creative chops to companies that can afford to pay for them. We talk with Mark to learn more about how this works. Ken Jones, Producer, Time Travel Movies Ken Jones is the founder and producer of Time Travel Movies. He also has a passion for protecting the tropical forests and has taken that enthusiasm into his business. His successful podcast, “Calaveras Gold” is ongoing, but there is no moss growing under this man’s feet. We want to talk with him about how he combines growing a successful business with creativity. Drew Henderson, Owner, Alzo Media LLC Drew Henderson is the owner of Alzo Media, which provides video equipment kits for small production companies by manufacturing and selling direct to the end user. They are prepping some new DSLR hardware just in time for DV Expo next month in Pasadena and we want to get an early a sneak preview.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Kevin Good, Creator, Weapons of Mass Production (Bammo) A new webisode series – called Weapons of Mass Production – just appeared on the YouTube channel Bammo. Created by Kevin Good, it takes a humorous look at production techniques. In this first episode, Kevin goes on a search to find the best green screen paint and, along the way, discusses how to create green screen keys that your audience will never spot. Never has green screen work been so funny! Michele Yamazaki, Chief Pluginology, Toolfarm Michele Yamazaki loves plug-ins, which is why we love having her join us on The Buzz. This week, she looks at new releases from Red Giant Software, ZBrush, Maxon, and others. If you are looking for the latest ways to add cool to your projects, listen in when Michele starts talking. Tom Coughlin, President, Tom Coughlin & Associates Recently, Tom Coughlin & Associates conducted a survey examining how the entertainment industry uses digital storage. Not surprisingly, he discovered that we devour it by the metric ton. However, there are a lot of very interesting findings in his report that make our conversation today really enlightening. Join us for a discussion about digital storage, trends, growth, and discovering what’s on the horizon. Philip Hodgetts, President, Intelligent Assistance Last week, we talked with Philip Hodgetts, president of Intelligent Assistance, about how they selected gear for a documentary production based on a a boat. In other words, small, light, and using limited power. This week, we return to that discussion, but looking at storage. Tom Coughlin shows us the trends. Philip Hodgetts explains how they apply in the real world.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Alexis Van Hurkman, Colorist, Twitch Post At the same time that Blackmagic Design updated DaVinci Resolve to version 9, Alexis Van Hurkman, Founder of Twitch Post, released a set of video training tutorials covering the new software. This week, we talk with Alexis about the stream-lined interface, faster workflow, and new features in the update – all to help you decide if the upgrade is right for you. Jonathan Handel, Of Counsel, TroyGould, Los Angeles Jonathan Handel, Of Counsel at TroyGould, is a regular on The Buzz, helping us keep track of both legal and labor issues in the industry. (Jonathan is also the Labor Correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter.) This week, he has an update on what’s happening with the guilds in Hollywood. Michael Kammes, Senior Applications Editor and Workflow Specialist, Keycode Media With all the new product releases, its time for shoot-outs and comparisons. Michael Kammes, Senior Applications Editor and Workflow Specialist for Keycode Media, recently hosted a very lively gathering of Mac users who were eager to debate the fate of the beloved Mac Pro. We’ve invited Michael to come on the BuZZ to talk about hardware, software and future ware. Philip Hodgetts, President, Intelligent Assistance Producing on location has many challenges, but when you are in the middle of nowhere (or in this case, floating on a boat in the middle of the ocean) with little or no electricity, and not a lot of room for gear, how do you manage? Philip Hodgetts, president of Intelligent Assistance, is here to tell us what his challenges were, the gear he picked, and why he picked it.

Join Larry Jordan as he talks with: Mark Castaldo, Producer, Destiny Pictures Mark Castaldo is President and Producer at Destiny Pictures and an active member of the Screen Actors’ Guild. He knows independent distribution, is a solid story-teller and his recent documentary, “My Run,” won 10 awards at Festivals and was screened in 500 movie theaters nationwide. We want to talk with him about what it takes to be a successful independent filmmaker. Bryce Button, Product Marketing Manager, AJA Video Systems Last week, AJA Video Systems announced that their KONA cards fully supported the Sonnet Thunderbolt expansion chassis. So we invited Bryce Button, Product Marketing Manager for AJA Video Systems to join us to talk about this new technology does. However, as we were talking, we realized that there is a much bigger issue here – with the speed of Thunderbolt, are tower computers – like the MacPro – even necessary anymore? What happens if you can expand your computer with expansion cards that don’t need an expansion slot? Bryce joins us again this week for a fascinating look into the future. David Strohmaier, Restoration Director, Cinerama Inc. David Strohmaier has worked as an editor for many years. Now, though, he’s trying to save the movies of the past. As Restoration Director for Cinerama, he is restoring some classic films for a festival this fall at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. (Do you know 2012 is the 60th Anniversary of the widescreen?) Join us for a fascinating look back at film history in the making. Dan May, President, Blackmagic Design / US Last week, Blackmagic Design announced the acquisition of all the intellectual property of Cintel, the film scanning folks. This week, they released the latest version of DaVinci Resolve 9. And, within a couple of weeks, they will release their eagerly anticipated Digital Camera. Dan May, president of Blackmagic Design/US, gives us an update on all their latest news. Some cool, cool stuff.

New interviews every week! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Jon Paley, Co-Director, Baseball: Pelotero In 2009, Jon Paley and a small team of documentary filmmakers traveled to the Dominican Republic to shoot a documentary about the high-stakes, high-pressure world of scouting and signing professional baseball players; kids who were just turning 16. His film is called Baseball: Pelotero and opened July 13 in New York and Los Angeles. This week, we talk with Jon about his four-year project, the gear he used, what he learned, and how he’s bringing it to market. Steve Hullfish, Creative Director, Verascope Pictures Noted author and colorist, Steve Hullfish, the Creative Director of Verascope Pictures, recently released his book: “The Art and Technique of Digital Color Correction.” This week, we talk with Steve about the process of color grading with some tips for colorists that want to get better in their craft. Eric Quanstrom, COO, Sorenson Media This week, Sorenson Media updated Sorenson 360 - their online media management and distribution network – with a highly integrated review and approval process. We talk with Eric Quanstrom, COO of Sorenson Media, about why Sorenson 360 is so important to the company, the new features they added, how they’ve improved the security of the service, and a typical workflow editors can use to speed the review process. Bryce Button, Product Marketing Manager, AJA Video Systems This week, AJA Video Systems announced that their KONA cards fully supported the Sonnet Thunderbolt expansion chassis. This means that editors using computers that don’t allow adding PCIe cards – think iMacs and laptops – can now access KONA technology. But, there seemed a bigger story here, so we invited Bryce Button, Product Marketing Manager for AJA Video Systems to talk about what this new technology does, why development of Thunderbolt devices is taking so long, and speculate on where this technology is going in the future. Ned Soltz, Contributing Editor, Digital Video magazine OK. Just like everyone else, we’ve been lusting after the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. But, what are they REALLY like? And who has one? Duh… Our favorite technology wizard – Ned Soltz, contributing editor for Digital Video magazine. So, we asked Ned to give us his impressions on the new hardware. (He’s about to write this up for the magazine, but we figured you’d rather hear about it here, first.)

This week’s show is all about LOCATION! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton as they talk with: Marco Cordova, Director, Business Development and Production Planning, Entertainment Partners Marco Cordova, Director of Business Development and Production Planning for Entertainment Partners, is an expert in tax incentives. And tax incentives, along with production credits, are how a lot of films are being funded today. We start our “Location!” show this week with an explanation of what tax incentives are and how to find them. Melissa DeMonaco-Tapia, Director of Sales, Fairples So Cal Did you know that the Fairplex in Pomona, California, with column-free sound stages, a 1/4 mile drag strip, horse race track, parks, Venetian carousel, hotel, conference center….etc!… is now in the TMZ. What’s the TMZ? It’s an amazing way to save on crew costs! Listen as Melissa DeMonaco-Tapia, Director of Sales for Fairplex, explains. Joe Bessacini, VP, Film & TV Production Incentives, Cast & Crew Cast & Crew offers a variety of services to the entertainment industry and VP Joe Bessacini has amassed an enormous amount of research in the area of tax incentives. He is one of the go-to guys in this area and we’re pleased to have him on the BuZZ to give us more details on how to fund our next production. Jessica Sitomer, President, The Greenlight Coach All this traveling, deal-making and stress is hard on the left/right brain! Jessica Sitomer, President of The Greenlight Coach, returns to The BuZZ to tell us about how to find and use our strengths to bolster us when the going gets rough. Learn how to give yourself some moral support.