NAB Summit To Explore Technical And Creative Innovations

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has announced that the 2015 NAB Show's Technology Summit on Cinema (TSC), will be dedicated to exploring the technical and creative innovations that will define the cinema experience of tomorrow.

The two-day summit, titled "Building the Future of Storytelling," will take place April 11-12 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"This year's TSC will look ahead to the future, examining both the creative and technical forces that will shape the art and science of storytelling," said Pat Griffis, education vice president at SMPTE. "From advances in content creation tools and workflows to the evolving cloud-based postproduction world and the next steps in exhibition, this event will provide a roadmap to the future and explore potentially disruptive innovations, some still in the lab, that could redefine the 'movie' – or, indeed, any episodic content as we know it."

During the TSC, attendees will have the opportunity to attend an exclusive "first-look" at SMPTE's "Moving Images" documentary. Produced by Randall Dark and directed by Howard Lukk, with cinematographer Travis LaBella, the SMPTE documentary currently in production will explore the exciting evolution of motion-imaging technology from the turn of the 20th century through the present while speculating on what the future has in store.

"New Developments in Cinema Screen Technology" will be moderated by Michael Karagosian, SMPTE Fellow and founder of MKPE Consulting LLC, with speakers including Keith Watanabe, sales director of the Americas for Harkness Screens and Kang Ahn, senior vice president, cinema product management of RealD. Representing the top solution providers in the field, the group will look at evolving screen technology, including new screen surfaces, engineered particles, and the wider viewing angles now available, as well as techniques for improving uniformity of illumination and for optimizing laser illumination with polarized screens.

"Immersive Sound for Cinema – An Update on Adoption, Standardization, and Postproduction" will be moderated by Julian Pinn, managing director of Julian Pinn Ltd. Pinn will lead a discussion with Brian Vessa, chair of the SMPTE Cinema Sound Systems Technical Committee (TC-25CSS) and executive director of audio, digital audio mastering at Sony Pictures Entertainment; Will Files, sound designer at Skywalker Sound; and Dan Huerta, vice president of sight and sound technology at AMC Theaters. The group will examine new technology from the perspectives of theater operators, studios, and engineers; review current progress on an interoperable standard for immersive sound, as well as adoption of this technology in theaters; and discuss content authoring implications.

"Cinematic Virtual Reality, Multiscreen, and Immersive Cinema" will look ahead at the potential of virtual reality in the theater. The panel discussion will be moderated by Richard Welsh, SMPTE governor for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Central and South America region, and CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit Ltd. Welsh will be joined by David McKimmie, post production supervisor at 20th Century Fox, and Ted Schilowitz, futurist at 20th Century Fox and "CinemaVangelist" at Barco.

"Navigating Big Color: Lessons and Opportunities for the Future" will focus on image capture and display for enhanced color gamuts; highlight recent case studies in audience perception of increased color gamut, including potential traps for observer metamerism and variability; and use the latest laser projection technologies to demonstrate the creative possibilities of "big color." During this session, moderator and speaker David Long Program Chair, BS Motion Picture Science, School of Film and Animation at Rochester Institute of Technology, will be joined by Robert Atkins of the Applied Vision Science Group at Dolby Labs and Stefan Luka, senior software engineer, color science, at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Jim Whittlesey, SMPTE Fellow, will moderate "DCP Update and Future Delivery Options: Satellite, Fiber, and Internet," a session featuring John Hurst, co-founder and chief technology officer of CineCert LLC; Mark Waterston, vice president of business development and general manager at CineActive Solutions; John Wolski, vice president, exhibitor services of Deluxe Media Management; and Chris Witham, director of digital cinema at The Walt Disney Studios. Following a discussion of existing hard drive workflow, distribution of keys to enable digital cinema playback, and trailer and preshow advertising content distribution; the industry experts will examine SMPTE Digital Cinema Packaging (SMPTE-DCP), recommended by the current Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) specification, and its value with regard to captioning, object-based audio, stereoscopic 3D, and high frame rates (HFR). The group will also discuss SMPTE-DCP's support for higher bit rates, dynamic 3D subtitles, Material eXchange Format (MXF), fully encrypted subtitles, and auxiliary data.

www.smpte.org

(CD/JP)