Digital Production Buzz

Join Larry Jordan and Mike Horton LIVE this week as they talk with: Zoe Schack, Producer/Editor, Dosa Hunt By day, Zoe Schack works as a per-visualization artist for a mid-town Manhattan post house. However, in her spare time, she recently produced and edited “Dosa Hunt;” which follows seven men searching for New York City’s best savory South Indian Crepe. We talk with her this week about her experiences in producing her own independent film. Michele Yamazaki, Vice-president, Marketing, ToolFarm Recently, Video Copilot released the latest version of Element 3D, their 3D plug-in utility for After Effects. Now at version 1.6, this software makes integrating 3D elements into your projects a lot easier. Michele Yamazaki, VP of Marketing for ToolFarm, joins us to explain what this plug-in does, what the new features are, and who should consider using it. Jesse Kurtz, Executive Producer, Mountain West Digital Network In the past, the only way we could watch live sports was via a broadcast, or sometimes cable, network. Now, live streaming via the Internet makes live sports broadcasts more accessible. Six months ago, the Mountain West Digital Network was formed to cover Division 1 college sports from ten different colleges and Universities. Award-winning sports broadcaster Jesse Kurtz was picked to head the operation as Executive Producer. This week, he talks with us about what the network is, the gear they are using and his challenges in getting an Internet-based sports network off the ground. Ryan Neil Postas, Filmmaker, Elevated Minds Style. That’s the word that comes to mind when we look at the work of music video filmmaker Ryan Postas with Elevated Minds. This week, we talk with him about how he developed his visual style, the role style plays in developing the look of a music video, and whether he feels he is mirroring or leading the look of contemporary musical artists.

Join Larry Jordan and Mike Horton this week as they talk with: Eileen Kramer, Executive Director, Hollywood Post Alliance Very few industries are as challenged as post-production facilities. Recent high-profile bankruptcies like Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues put pressure on the rest of the industry. Eileen Kramer is the executive director of the Hollywood Post Alliance. HPA is a trade association for the post industry. She joins us this week to tell us about HPA, the stresses the post industry is under, how HPA can help, and their plans for NAB. Jonathan Handel, Of Counsel at Troy/Gould, Entertainment Labor Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter As if the stresses of running a post house was not enough, the VFX industry is close to implosion. Recently, more than 400 artists held a VFX Town Meeting, with participants from around the world discussing the state of their industry. Jonathan Handel, entertainment labor reporter for The Hollywood Reporter explains what’s going on and why the VFX industry is making news now. Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance It may start with an idea, but projects don’t become real until someone puts up the money to fund them. And finding funds isn’t funny. This week, Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance, looks at new options for funding television projects. Why television? Because it has a vast, insatiable demand for new programming. And the sources of funding are more diverse than you might expect, as Philip explains. Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy Three weeks ago, Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy, began a discussion on new options in web video compression and distribution. He returns this week to pick up where he left off and showcase some of the low-cost content distribution networks (CDN) and on-line video compression services that can simplify the process of compressing your video and making it available across all platforms.

New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan and Mike Horton this week as they talk with: Benoit Fouchard, Chief Strategy Officer, ATEME We first spoke with Benoit Fouchard, Chief Strategy Officer for ATEME, on last week’s show. During that interview, we learned about the new H.265 compression codec, as well as the challenges in shooting Ultra HD (4K) video. This week, we invited Benoit back to talk more about what filmmakers need to know about shooting and compressing high-resolution images. Shanaya Fastje, Producer, Author, and Motivational Speaker Shanaya Fastje is a sought-after motivational speaker with a special commendation from President Obama. She is the author of 3 books, the most recent being, “Bully in the Mirror.” She runs a production company, 13th Productions, and is creating a web series entitled, “M.D. Squared.” Shanaya is also a singer/songwriter with two popular songs selling on iTunes. She is a high school graduate and… she is only 13! We talk with her this week to discover her secrets to success at such a young age. Stephen Nakamura, Digital Intermediate Colorist, Company 3 “OZ The Great and Powerful” was recently released in theaters nationwide and there’s a lot of buzz about the “look” of the film. Stephen Nakamura, of Company 3. one of the most sought-after DI (digital intermediate) colorists in the industry, is one of the key people responsible for the look of this film. In addition to Oz, his work has been seen on countless features, including Prometheus, Zero Dark Thirty and the upcoming Spring Breakers, from director Harmony Korine. David Basulto, Instructor, San Marino High School David Basulto is the media arts and animation instructor at award-winning San Marino High School in Southern California. In his first three years of teaching, his students have won Silver and Bronze medals in the LACOROP annual competition. Outside the classroom, Basulto is an avid reviewer and influencer in the post-production community. He writes for Post Magazine and his own site Filmmaking Central. He is an Adobe Educational Leader and a fanatic about using iPads for teaching, content creation, and social media. He joins us this week to share this thoughts on technology and his new KickStarter campaign.

Join Larry Jordan and Mike Horton this week as they talk with: Benoit Fouchard, Chief Strategy Officer, ATEME Suddenly, 4K video (video with frame sizes about 4,000 by 2,000 pixels) is being talked about everywhere. What ISN’T being talked about is that, currently, we can’t broadcast, cablecast, nor reliably download these files from the web. The file sizes are just too gigantic. Last month, the ITU standards body approved a new codec (yes, Michael) that will solve this problem: H.265 (also called HEVC). This week, we talk with Benoit Fouchard, Chief Strategy Officer for ATEME. His company is taking this new standard and turning it into products. We want to learn more about this new codec. Sean Mullen, CEO/Lead Creative, Rampant Design Tools Sean Mullen is an Emmy-award winning visual effects artist with over 60 feature film and television credits, hundreds of music videos and features to his credit. His company, Rampant Design Tools offers drag and drop and royalty-free stock elements for video production and graphic design. We talk with him about the changing world of stock video. Larry Jordan, Executive Producer, Digital Production Buzz Last week, Larry Jordan took the Buzz microphones to the Broadcast Video Expo in London to see the latest new gear. This week, he presents: Chuck Silber, COO, NewTek, talking about the latest news from NewTek; Martin Toovey, Director, Build Your Own Drone Ltd., about new technology that makes inexpensive flying camera platforms possible; and Alex Panton, Agent, 4K London, about a new company that is an agent for DIT’s, helping them find work. Phillip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance The Hollywood Post Alliance, HPA, is an organization at the forefront of technology as it pertains directly to post production in Hollywood. Last week, Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance premiered: “Lumberjack,” a new application designed for reality programming. This week, Philip joins us to explain what it is and other new stuff that premiered at HPA.

New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan this week as he talks with: Richard Symons, Filmmaker, Spirit Level Films Spirit Level Films is an independent studio the handles both production and distribution. Recently, they spent two years working on a multi-part documentary series called “The Price of Kings.” The series features in-depth interviews with Presidents Yassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, along with other political leaders in the Mideast. We want to learn more about how they created this series on global leadership. Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy, joins us this week with a look at the rapidly changing world of digital video on the web. How has the shift away from Flash toward HTML/5 changed how movies are compressed and distributed. Can HTML/5 replace Flash? And what about this new-comer: H.265? If you want your movies to look great on the web, you need to listen to what Bruce has to say. Nicholas Recagno, Online Stereographer, SGO There are the stars, then the people behind the stars, then the technical people that support them. Nicholas Recagno, Technical Consultant for SGO, helps filmmakers work with Mistika, a high-end finishing tool that was used in The Hobbit, The Amazing Spiderman, and other films. What we find fascinating, though, is Nicholas’ understanding of the challenges in 4K, 5K, even 8K images, stereo 3D, and whether our computers can even edit this stuff. This will be a fascinating interview. Deborah Calla, Chair, PGA Diversity Committee Just a few days ago, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) opened online applications for their annual Diversity Workshop. Here, 10-12 lucky producers will be personally mentored in how to bring their projects to life. Deborah Calla, Chair of the PGA Diversity Committee, joins us to explain what the Workshop is, who can participate, and why it even exists.

This week we are looking into the future of technology. New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan this week as he talks with: Michael Cioni, Founder/CEO, Light Iron Michael Cioni, Founder/CEO of Light Iron, runs a high-end post-production facility based in Hollywood. Recently, they acquired Off Hollywood in New York City. Seeing as post facilities are on the endangered species list, we asked Michael why he did it. What we discovered is that Michael has a vision of the coming “post-studio” world. This will be a fascinating look into the future with one of our industries leading technologists. Norman Hollyn, Professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts Last week, we spoke with Jeremy Hunt about his comedy short film called “Fix It In Post.” This week, we continue our discussion about comedy by visiting with USC Professor Norman Hollyn. Norman has edited a number of major feature film comedies, and we want to chat with him about how we can keep the “funny” in our films. Michael Kammes, Director of Technology, KeyCode Media One way to judge what the future holds is to look at the high-end of the market. This week, we asked Michael Kammes, Director of Technology for KeyCode Media, to give us his perspective of what’s happening in the high-end that’s likely to trickle down to the rest of us. Michael found three companies that he wants to talk about. Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter Jonathan Handel believes you can get a good idea of what’s happening with labor by simply looking at the calendar. So, we asked him to look over the next 18 months and let us know if we are in for a rocky ride; labor/management-wise? Jessica Sitomer, President, The Greenlight Coach The best way to get a job is to nail the interview. But, what’s the best way to do that? Jessica Sitomer, President of The Greenlight Coach, stops by to share her thoughts on how to turn “Thanks, we’ll put you on the list,” into “Glad to have you with us!”

Tonight we are look at the creative process – and how to make money with it! New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Vincent D, Production Manager, Switronix Vincent D. has been the Domestic/International account manager with Switronix for over 6 years. His personal experience in the acting and entertainment industry has led him to the role of production manager for Reel Dreams, a new web series about student filmmakers. Jeremy Hunt, Filmmaker, Screaming Death Monkey Jeremy Hunt just released a new film called: “Fix It in Post.” Combining a fanciful sense of humor with some great effects, this is a showcase for what can be done using Autodesk Smoke. If you haven’t seen it, watch it here. Then join us for this week’s show as he explains how he created it. Rob Chipman, Founder/CEO, BizVision BizVision provides expertise across the country to simplify the often-complex task of webcasting and last week, BizVision announced the public launch of a nationwide videographer network that will be integrated into the company’s turnkey webcasting/streaming video platform. This sounds to us like jobs; which is a good thing. Founder and CEO Rob Chipman joins us to explain this in more detail. Kevin Spark, Graphic Artist, Onion Creative Kevin Spark is a Australian graphic artist with an interesting side profession, writing scripts. (OK, we know, everyone in LA is also writing a screenplay.) But,since we enjoy talking with creative people, we thought we’d invite him on the BuZZ to talk about the artists’ life “Downunder.” Sophia Milton, Program Director, Broadcast Video Expo 2013 BVE is the largest film/broadcast industry trade show and conference in Brittain, and it starts Feb. 26. This week, we invited BVE Program Director Sophia Milton, to tell us more about the show, why she sees a need for training to be provided at a trade show, and how you can get in for FREE!

Tonight’s show contains lots of strong opinions. Bring a few yourself! New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Michael Cox, Filmmaker Michael Cox has over 20 years experience as a grip on major projects, an MBA and has recently produced three short films about public art. He has some very strong opinions about the state of our industry and we think you’ll be interested in his point of view. From one filmmaker to another… we’re just saying! Paul Babb, President, Maxon Maxon’s Cineversity continues to find new ways to deliver technical training in interesting ways. This week, we talk with Paul Babb, President of Maxon, about what they are doing with their latest training and how they are delivering it in their on-line training arm called: Cineversity. Jeremy Danger, Fetish Photographer Jeremy Danger is a Los Angeles-based photographer who takes immense joy in shooting beautiful naked women, the macabre, and anything that’s on fire. Coming from San Francisco as a fetish photographer, Jeremy has been shooting commercially for the last three years. The more we looked at his site the more we wondered whether this was art or over the edge. So, we invited him to join us this week to find out. Philip Hodgetts, President, Intelligent Assistance Philip Hodgetts, president of Intelligent Assistance, is here in advance of the upcoming HPA Retreat, to give us a sneak preview of Lumberjack, a new logging application designed for reality and episodic TV producers. Anytime Philip wants to talk about technology, it pays for the rest of us to listen. Highlights of MacWorld Expo 2013 For many years, MacWorld Expo, in San Francisco, has focused on the consumer. But, tucked away in small booths surrounded by iPhone covers and iPad accessories were several companies with interesting ideas for filmmakers. Cool hardware and software that can make your life easier. Host Larry Jordan took the Buzz microphones to the show and brings back some of his highlights.

Join Larry Jordan this week as he talks with: Dylan Higginbotham, Creator, Stupid Raisins Ever want to know what it’s like to create plug-ins for video editors? Well, Stupid Raisins founder, Dylan Higginbotham designed some cool and easy to use transitions for FCP X, called “Block Pop.” We want to learn why he started his company, how he created the plug-ins, and what’s the reaction. Dr. Philip Storey, CEO, XenData The preferred method for archiving media is LTO, which is a tape-based archive system. Recently, the entire LTO industry upgraded to LTO-6. This week, we talk with Dr. Phil Storey, CEO of XenData, about this new format, what it offers media creators, and different options on archiving our media. Terry Curren, Founder/President, Alpha Dogs, Inc. Sean Stack, Finishing Editor, Alpha Dogs, Inc. Terry Curren, President of Alpha Dogs, Inc., and Sean Stack, Finishing Editor at Alpha Dogs, have been busy. First, Terry is promoting a new video editor for the iPad called Touch Edit. Then, he got a last-minute call last month to handle post production on Google’s “Zeitgeist 2012 Year-In-Review.” Sean Stack stepped right up and did a great job, ultimately serving the video to over 13 million internet viewers. This week, we talk with Terry and Sean about both, and discover some tips to creating a really efficient post-production workflow. Josh Apter, Founder/President, Manhattan Edit, Inc. Ever had an idea for a new product and wished you had acted on it? Josh Apter, Founder and President of Manhattan Edit, put his money where his idea was and built a new product: the Padcaster. This is a frame made to hold an iPad for shooting video. This week, we talk with Josh about what it is, how it works, and why he did it!

Join Larry Jordan and Cirina Catania this week as they talk with: Durin Gleaves, Product Owner, Adobe Professional Audio Adobe Audition CS6 is winning accolades for its speed, power, and ease-of-use as a professional audio editing system. Durin Gleaves, Product Owner for Adobe Professional Audio, joins us in the studio to tell us more about the current version of Audition and give us a sense of what we can expect for professional audio in the future. John-Paul (J-P) Smith,CEO, Imagineer Systems, Inc. Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences announced that Imagineer Systems had won a Scientific and Technical Award for mocha and its Planar Tracking technology. In other words, mocha won an Oscar! (This was one of only nine technical awards given this year!) This week, we talk with J-P Smith, CEO, about the award and what it means. Ross Shain, Chief Marketing Offices, Imagineer Systems, Inc. As a follow-up to our segment with J-P Smith, we talk with Ross Shain, the chief marketing officer for Imagineer Systems, in more depth about what mocha is, who can use it, and what we can expect in the latest version. If you ever want to do motion tracking, you need to listen to this segment. Randy Chan, Product Marketing Manager, Promise Technology We’ve been talking a lot about storage recently, and probably the reigning speed champ for Thunderbolt systems is the Pegasus family of RAIDs from Promise Technology. This week, we talk with Randy Chan, product marketing manager, about speed, more speed, and still more speed in storage.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Steve Wright, Senior Compositor/Master Trainer, VFXIO.com Last week, we spoke with the founder of YUVsoft – Dmitriy Vatolin – about their new software tools to convert 2d video into 3D video. This week, Steve Wright, a 20 year veteran of feature film visual effects compositing with over 70 feature film credits, joins us to talk about the new training materials he is creating for YUVSoft, specifically targeted towards streamlined stereo 3D conversions from regular 2D media. Meagan Eisenberg, VP Marketing, DocuSign Meagen Eisenberg, vice-president of marketing for DocuSign, is an award-winning tech industry consultant and an IT Engineer with an MBA from the Yale School of Management. Recently, the IRS ruled on the use of electronic signatures for contracts, so we wanted to talk with her about what this means and how DocuSign can help us manage our contracts. Michele Yamazaki, VP – Marketing, ToolFarm Michele Yamazaki, VP of Marketing for ToolFarm, has an update for us on noise! Sam Bogoch, CEO, Axle Video Also at the Storage Visions 2013 Conference, we met Sam Bogoch, CEO, Axle Video. Sam tells us they created “radically simple media management.” We want to know more, since tapeless media files seem to breed like rabbits, and keeping track of them is almost impossible! Their software is especially helpful for small workgroups.

New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Steven Chu, COO, Toon Boom Animation Steven Chu is the COO of Toon Boom Animation, a highly-respected Emmy-Award-winning software company. He’s currently at CES, showcasing some of their latest products. We want to talk to him about what’s new, and where he sees the animation industry going in 2013. Dmitriy Vatolin, CEO, YUVsoft YUVsoft started ten years ago as a software developer based in Moscow, focused on video. Recently, they branched out into a new market – converting 2D images into stereoscopic 3D images. We talk with company founder and CEO, Dmitriy Vatolin, about what got him started, their clients, and the products they offer. Chris Bross, Strategic Technical Alliances Manager, DriveSavers One of the worst feelings in the world is discovering your hard drive crashed and took all your files with it. DriveSavers specializes in getting your data back. In this interview from the recent Storage Visions conference in Las Vegas, we talk with Chris Bross, Strategic Technical Alliances Manager at Drive Savers, about what to do when your hard drive dies and how they go about recovering crashed SSD drives. Dr. Doug Hansen, CTO, Millenniata We’ve known for a while that CDs and DVDs don’t store data indefinitely. But, until recently, they were our only options for low-cost archiving. Now, a new company – MDisc – has created a modified version of a DVD that etches your data into stone, using off-the-shelf DVD burners. And, according to the company, they offer a shelf-life of hundreds of years! We spoke with Doug Hansen, CTO at Millenniata, the makers of MDisc, at the recent Storage Visions conference in Las Vegas to discover the secret behind their products. Cirina Catania, Producer, Digital Production Buzz This week, more than 200,000 geeks descended upon Las Vegas for the annual CES (Consumer Electronics Show) event. Our producer, Cirina Catania, was part of the mob. She has been taking notes like crazy and joins us this week to share her take on what’s new and what’s dead at CES.

Welcome to 2013! New interviews every show! Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Michael Cioni, CEO, Light Iron Digital Michael Cioni, Founder/CEO of LightIron Digital, works at the high-end of post-production. As such, he gets to play with hardware that hasn’t yet made it to the mainstream. We want to talk with him about trends – and hardware – that he saw developing in 2012 that we need to watch in 2013. Michael is always a great guest – if you want to know the state of the future, listen to what he has to say. Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance, joins us to reflect on Michael Cioni’s thoughts, then to discuss how to prep files for post-production. One of the questions we get asked a lot is how to get organized for editing. Philip has the answers. Rajesh Ramachandran, President/CTO, Qube Cinema Rajesh Ramachandran, President and CTO of Qube Cinema, is a digital cinema equipment manufacturer based in Burbank, California. Rajesh oversees the development of technologies that are contributing to the high frame rate and high resolution innovations in filmmaking. We want to talk with him about what these new technologies mean, their impact on production, and whether they will become niche or mainstream. Anna Easteden, Actress Anna Easteden is an Award Nominated Actress who has appeared on shows such as “Two and a Half Men,” “Bones” and “Days of Our Lives”. As a model Anna has worked with Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Hermes, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire. We want to learn how Anna is marketing herself to get acting gigs, because her use of social media and newsletters is intriguing.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: Cirina Catania, Producer, Digital Production Buzz Cirina Catania is the Producer of the Digital Production Buzz. As such, she is integral to everything we do, from booking guests to keeping her eye on our entire industry to figure out what guests we need to book, and what issues we need to talk about. She will be on mic with us during the entire show, which is a rare treat for us, providing her perspectives on the industry. Ned Soltz, Contributing Editor, DV Magazine We start our look back at 2012 with Ned Soltz, Contributing Editor for DV Magazine. We asked Ned to share his thoughts on the key hardware trends, cameras, codecs, and interoperability issues that caught his attention during the last year. Then, we’ll ask him the hard question: “What do we need to pay attention to in 2013?” Philip Hodgetts, CEO, Intelligent Assistance With Ned Soltz setting the basic hardware scene, its time for Philip Hodgetts, CEO of Intelligent Assistance, to join the conversation on key software trends for 2012. We asked Philip to expand his gaze beyond editing software and look at some of the bigger software issues that we are grappling with. Michael Kammes, Director of Technology and Marketing, Key Code Media Michael Kammes, Director of Technology and Marketing for Key Code Media, then adds his thoughts to the discussion as he looks at the trends revealed by the editing software we use every day. Not just the latest features, but how are they perceiving where the industry is headed, and what have they done to position us for it. Michele Yamazaki, VP of Marketing, Toolfarm Next, Michele Yamazaki, VP of Marketing, Toolfarm adds her thoughts on how plug-in technology is changing. Plug-ins are now doing tasks that we used to expect our main editing software to handle. How did plug-in developers see the market evolve over the year and what trends can we look forward to next year? Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy Bruce Nazarian, The Digital Guy, is back after a long absence doing radio. So we want to pick his brain about how audio has evolved over this last year. Not just the tools but the music. He’ll also give us his thoughts on key audio plug-ins that helped to define the audio market in 2012. Jonathan Handel, Entertainment Labor Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter We wrap up with labor issues and getting jobs. Jonathan Handel, entertainment labor reporter for The Hollywood Reporter, takes a look back at the Hollywood Guilds, the election, and the challenges for labor in the current economy. This time, we asked him to use a wider view as he shares his take on 2012 trends. Jessica Sitomer, CEO, The Greenlight Coach The Buzz would not be complete without Jessica Sitomer, President of The Greenlight Coach, sharing her thoughts on how the job market evolved during 2012 with her ideas on where the jobs are and the trends we need to watch in 2013.

Join Larry Jordan and Michael Horton this week as they talk with: David Lewandowski, Filmmaker and Animator David Lewandowski is an animator turned director. In 2008 he began creating original works, and in 2011 his focus shifted to the intersection of comedy and visual effects. Recently, he created an amazing animated arm for Elijah Wood in Flying Lotus’ video “Tiny Tortures.” We want to talk with him about how comedy informs his animation. (By the way, David created the animated graphics and opening titles for Tron: Legacy.) Terry Curren, Founder/President, Alpha Dogs, Inc. Terry Curren, Founder and President of Alpha Dogs, Inc., has been hosting the Editor’s Lounge since 2004. This is a regular roundtable discussion on the craft of editing. This week, he shares his insights on the industry with a look back at 2012 in the world of post production. (And, knowing Terry, we’ll probably get some good stories in the bargain.) Brian Arrowood, National Sales Director, StreamVu StreamVu is a branded portal that distributes video content via the Internet. Brian Arrowood, National Sales Director for StreamVu, has a long background in broadcast sports and entertainment. We invited him to join us this week to share his insights on how filmmakers can leverage this new platform to distribute their projects. Kathleen Kinsolving, Author, “Dogs of War” In memory of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticutt, we invited Kathleen Kinsolving, author of the book “Dogs of War,” to talk with us about the K9 Rescue dogs that just journeyed 800 miles from Chicago to Newtown to comfort the families of the victims at funerals and other gatherings.