THE NAB FUTURE OF CINEMA CONFERENCE HDR LIVE ACTION SESSION

[Peter CINERAMAX]

https://youtu.be/1MOHArypsUQ
On minute 20:20 the most excellent Mr. Nakamura of Company 3 explains that there is a bottleneck decision being made regarding the wide color gamut timing (or lack of it) due to grading needing to satisfy the lowest common denominator 99% of all theaters. I found this unacceptable and subsequently made a comment which Mr. Legato of Jungle Book fame took as applying to his colorists team, I was really addressing Mr. Nakamuras comment on compromise.


https://youtu.be/I8n78rqAarw
https://youtu.be/x8lu2V-4Pek

So at end of reel 3 I get up to take the mike

I introduced our company as one that during the last 4 years had deployed the most overengineered immersive private screening rooms anywhere, and that I considered myself as a custodian of the high end home cinema that is why the aspect ratio and wcg comments made early. When I sat down Ben Rosenblatt co-producer of Star Wars stopped and said he wanted to make a  point. He asked the audience for a show of hands. "How many here are in Exhibition?" 200+ hands went up. "How Many Here are in Home Cinema?" My hand. "The point Im trying to convey is passion. You gentlemen need to embrace the level of passion this gentleman over here has shown us today."

From then on I went from becoming a distraction to a panel co particiapant.....as seen in reel 4.

https://youtu.be/nn0XU0V79TM

Greatest moment in my career. So these guys are true fans too, and if you feel you would like to influence the creative decisions pertaining to immersion, they more than welcome your input, if you trully care....

After the session I had some Industry vip's come in and say hello including Don Shaw chief innvoation officer at Chrisitie " I see you are up to your troublemaking again" he said! LOL. Afterwards we sat side by side at Ang Lees 120 fps, 3d 4k amazing tour de force...Certainly the future of cinema. Chrisite is trully at the forefront of electronic projection, I wonder why they don't bring this wizardry quicker to the private screening room arena. Apparently the hdmi 2.0a 18gbps is still a year away for projectors.... The future does look amazing.

[donaldk]

Amazing that NAB let you set-up your camera Peter, IBC explicitely forbids all recording, audio and video in the conference sessions.

[Peter CINERAMAX]

Well I pay my dues for SMPTE and The Society For Advanced Imaging so just getting my moneys worth.

[donaldk]

Of course, this day was an SMPTE sponsored event, pre-NAB .

[donaldk]

And SMPTE has a nice round up report of its conference online, and in the next issue of its Journal.

Including video of the full keynote by director Ang Lee, and a variety of interviews with speakers.




NAB Show's 'The Future of Cinema Conference,' Produced With SMPTE®, Is a Highlight of 2016 NAB Show

Special Screenings and Sessions Make Newly Crafted Conference a Success

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — May 17, 2016 — The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®), a leader in motion-imaging standards and education for the media, entertainment, and technology industries, today announced that the NAB Show's "The Future of Cinema Conference: The Immortal Movie," produced in partnership with SMPTE, drew crowds of 2016 NAB Show attendees to both its conference sessions and special screenings. These events featured top industry minds and creative talents, who joined to discuss forward-looking techniques and challenges related to making content for theatrical release and beyond.

"An array of remarkable presentations, screenings, and panel sessions at this year's event made 'The Future of Cinema Conference' a show highlight for many 2016 NAB Show attendees," said SMPTE President Robert Seidel. "Featuring an impressive gathering of industry leaders and showcasing the latest advances in motion-imaging technology and creative techniques, the conference reflected the high degree of interest — from content creators and technical practitioners — in the incredible potential of new formats such as high-dynamic-range and higher frame rates."

On April 15, the day before the official conference start, show attendees flocked to screenings of high-dynamic-range (HDR) clips from acclaimed theatrical releases including "Inside Out," "Zootopia," "Tomorrowland," and "Jungle Book," which were shown in Dolby Vision HDR along with full-length versions of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice," thanks to SMPTE, Advanced Imaging Society, and Dolby with support from The Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, and Warner Bros.

Many of the technical and creative minds behind these releases took part in the subsequent conference sessions titled "First Forays: High Dynamic Range in Animation" and "First Forays: High Dynamic Range in Live Action and Visual Effects." Cynthia Slavens of Pixar Animation Studios moderated the first session, which included panelists Dominic Glynn of Pixar; Kim White, director of photography and lighting on "Inside Out"; Mark Dinicola, colorist on "Inside Out"; Stefan Luka, senior software engineer, color science, at Walt Disney Animation Studios; and Brian Leach, director of lighting on "Zootopia." Moderated by SMPTE Education Vice President Pat Griffis of Dolby Laboratories, the second session featured Thad Beier of Dolby; Rick Sayre of Pixar Animation Studios; Jeroen Schulte of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM); Ben Rosenblatt of Bad Robot; Stephen Nakamura of Deluxe's Company 3; and Rob Legato, visual effects supervisor and second unit director/cameraman.

Award-winning director Ang Lee, known for films including "Life of Pi," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Brokeback Mountain," and "Sense and Sensibility," presented the conference's April 16 keynote address along with editor Tim Squyres and production systems supervisor and engineer Ben Gervais. The trio, speaking to a standing-room-only crowd, described their vision of cinema and the creative opportunities for the future of filmmaking. "I'm not a technical guy at all," stated Lee. "I just have a lot of curiosity to see drama, examine humanity, storytelling … that's my thing."

The keynote followed the first public screenings of Lee's upcoming release, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," in its native 120 frames/sec, 4K, 3D format. An extra session was added to accommodate the popularity of the screening. During the follow-up session titled "Deep Technical Dive Into 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk,'" Lee, Gervais, and Squyres were joined by stereographer Demetri Portelli of Sony Pictures, along with Scot Barbour, vice president of production technology for Sony Pictures Entertainment, and David Cohen of Variety, in a discussion of the technical challenges of production and postproduction in 120 frames/sec, 4K, stereoscopic 3D. The session demonstrated that constant collaboration between the studio and the technical and creative teams enabled the efficient use of technology to tell a story in a way that is both emotionally moving and comfortable for the viewer to watch. The official trailer for "Billy Lynn" was just recently released by Sony Pictures and is now available on their website at http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/billylynnslonghalftimewalk/.

Further conference sessions delved into the creative use of HDR; the use of content captured on 35 mm film to feed into high-end digital exhibition formats; the filmmakers and projects testing the limits of cinema; and the next-generation filmmaking efforts of students and recently graduated filmmakers. Other sessions addressed questions related to next-generation distribution, HDR mastering and delivery to the home, the impact of advanced technologies — 4K, 8K, and wider color gamut — on event cinema, and the potential of light field imaging. A session focused on diversity engaged panelists and attendees in a discussion of how to build a richer, more expansive, and more dynamic filmmaking community.

The conference program committee included program chair, Richard Welsh of Sundog Media Toolkit; writer and director Abi Corbin; media technology consultant Christy King; motion picture consultant Bill Hogan; Pete Ludé of RealD; digital cinema consultant Jim Whittlesey; Chris Witham of The Walt Disney Studios; Griffis of Dolby Laboratories; and Slavens of Pixar Animation Studios.

Photos and video of conference proceedings, including the Ang Lee keynote, are available at www.smpte.org/2016NAB. A complete recap of "The Future of Cinema Conference" will appear in the May/June issue of the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, available in the SMPTE digital library (online at journal.smpte.org).

Further information about SMPTE is available at www.smpte.org.