by Nancy Jundi as originally published by CinemaEditor Magazine
For all the years I have been in postproduction I had managed to avoid going to NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters convention) until this past April when 92,000 other tech heads descended upon Las Vegas with me. Admittedly, I am not the geekiest of gadget lovers. While I adore my Mac book and recently converted from the iPhone to have an affair with an HTC Droid, I’m not the person you run to with questions on the latest app. I can walk you through a hundred different workflow solutions for your Avid or Final Cut Pro, but at the end of the day I’d rather you talk to any number of the well versed technicians I have on my staff. From where I stand, which seems to be alongside most editors, NAB just wasn’t my bag of tricks. I’d rather people far more obsessed with the impeding announcements and releases to disseminate what’s actually important to our field than attend myself. That being said, I was quite surprised what all I walked away with. Free software, thumb drives and swag aside, this is the epitome of that “Chappelle Show” skit where they depicted a real life Internet. Make no mistake, that place is what my nightmares look like, but this is where demonstrational videos were being filmed and product launch stories were being written. The entirety of my Linked In database was running around in the convention center and I’m sure plenty of people left Vegas with a virus or two. You get the point. While I didn’t get a tattoo at the Red Camera booth like some, it’s a networking experience to be had and an educational event most should bask in at least once.
One of the biggest events at NAB was A.C.E.’s CinemaEditor panel featuring Dan Lebental, A.C.E. (the Iron Man franchise, The Break Up, Cowboys & Aliens) and Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E. (Avatar, the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise, Ali) moderated by Norman Hollyn, Associate Professor and Head of the Editing Track at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. With both Rivkin and Lebental having spent the better part of a decade being entrenched in VFX heavy films after careers that flourished before the dawn of such mind bending schedules and the inclusion of empty plates, the talk was geared toward how our industry has changed. “We’re now able to separate the performance from the shot,” said Rivkin. “A scene from take 1 and from take 4 can marry in the virtual world – sometimes a week or a year later.” Lebental, who has worked with material from the king of the improvisational acting, Robert Downey Jr., noted, “The improv is better able to fit now that effects can be built around it.” Referring to Avatar, Rivkin mentioned “With Jim (Cameron, director), if he had a shot, he wouldn’t fatigue the actor by doing a long shot, wide shot and a close up. The performance is there, they didn’t miss their marks and we were able to make those shots happen in post.” Also addressed was the disappearing gap between mega blockbusters and low budget independent films. “The mid level has become so diminished,” said Lebental, who makes a point of hiring A.C.E. interns or USC students on each of his films to serve as apprentice editors. “A First Assistant has to take a massive pay cut to do a micro budget film in order to get where they want to end up as an editor.” While it certainly has become far more difficult to rise in the ranks, Rivkin did note how much easier it has become to practice the craft as “Access to material has become much more open and easily produced.” Each editor showed clips from their respective films and took questions from the audience. As a first for A.C.E. and CinemaEditor at NAB, this was a wild success I hope to see repeated.
Red Camera was represented in full force with their current release, Tattoo, by an enormous tent that doubled as a tattoo parlor where you could get inked on camera. Also being demoed was LivePlay, a virtualized video village for iPads. Media can be uploaded to a server that up to 30 iPads can access at one time. Stolen media access concerns are calmed as the access is only granted within 200 feet of the server. Lightiron Digital’s CEO and Founder, Michael Cioni, was on hand to navigate the demonstration for the Red juggernaut. Also participating in the theatrics of NAB was 3ality Digital, which set up a basketball court and it’s own video village to show off their stereoscopic 3D capabilities in sports viewing using their 3flex camera platforms. Digital Vision held a lunch announcing their acquisition of Image Systems and introduced their new CEO, Michael Jacobson. Digital Vision had always been a leader in image processing, color grading, and restoration while Image Systems creates solutions for 2D-3D, motion analysis, film scanners, and other image tools used in media. With “image science” becoming the focus of our industry they decided to take on Image Systems name in the evolution of their new company. Our friends at Post Magazine also had an interesting corner of the Convention Center floor where they were streaming live videos with panelists from around the conference. I was able to watch it on my phone while they sat there filming it three feet away. People 3,000 miles away had on their phones what was happening right in front of me. In itself that’s one more reason to “phone it in.”
With NAB 2012 scheduled for it’s return to Las Vegas April 14th – 19th, I can’t say I’ve already booked my hotel, but I’m far more open to the excursion now that I know what to expect and how to make the most of the most of my experience. Having gotten the maiden voyage out of the way and learning that there is apparently a shuttle with shots of tequila being served to numb the sound of mega phones and the eye strain of strobe lights I just might be on board. Then again, you might have a much less coherent article next year so let’s pretend I didn’t write that and Randy Roberts didn’t read that.
