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Pre-Holiday Expo by Ken Pyle ([email protected]), Viodi, LLC |
December 15, 2004 Issue |
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| Independent producers and entities without Hollywood-size budgets are the target of the DV West Expo trade show and conference. The focus of the show is the technology and techniques that allows Prosumer DV technology to be used to create professional-quality video productions. Although it is significantly smaller than the grand-daddy of video shows, NAB, it may be more relevant for independent telcos. The show provides a good mix of sessions, led by speakers who are involved in some with the production of video content, tutorials and exhibition hall displays. Training is a big theme of many of the larger vendors, such as Sony, Adobe, Ulead and Apple. Adobe went as far as eliminating their booth and, instead, replaced it with a trade-show classroom, where non-Adobe experts provided tutorials on Adobe’s various products. I sat through one of the Adobe Premiere Pro classes and picked up some good, time-saving tips (if I can remember what they were). Training is a major emphasis in this industry. Video and audio post-production software can be rather complex because it uses completely different metaphors from the normal office productivity suites. As a testimony to the challenges of staying current with the many available tools, there are companies, such as Total Training and Lynda.Com, which are dedicated to providing CD and DVD training resources. The sessions dealt with all aspects of video production and there were tracks covering the capture and editing of audio and video, DVDs, lighting, high definition and business issues. I sat in on a few of the business tracks and was particularly impressed with Rich Harrington of Rhed Pixel. This founder of a small video production company gave some great tips regarding project management in the context of video production, although his advice was universal enough for any sort of business or project. He stressed that defining the scope, budget and schedule of a project is critical to a producer’s success. How well a producer performs against these three criteria defines the quality of the work. On the topic of quality, high definition seemed to be one topic that appeared to be much more matter-of-fact this year, as compared to last year’s show. The new standard HDV is getting some significant traction as it seems to be supported by most of the non-linear editors and the price on a complete editing system seems to be significantly less than last year. More importantly, capturing HDV has just gotten cheaper. One vendor had a show special of $3,495 for Sony’s new, 3 CCD, HVR-Z1U. DV411, a Los Angeles system integrator, showed a complete HDV editing system including the Sony HVR-Z1U camera for less than $8,000. Last year, HD editing systems, without any sort of camera, started at around $20,000, so this is a major shift. Granted, we are probably still in the early adoption stage of HD by the creative community, but with these price points the cost hurdles for producing in HD are starting to disappear. There were a number of neat little gadgets at the show; way too many for this article. Here are a few that caught my eye. The rest not mentioned here will probably be included in the next local content workshop.
Even for people who have been in the video production industry for decades, it can be difficult to keep up with the major shifts caused by the dramatic improvements in the technology value equation. These shifts are allowing video to be produced at lower costs and by less skilled people. The technology effectively eliminates the need for specialists, on the lower end productions (e.g. internal corporate videos). What is happening in the video industry is akin to what happened when software presentation tools (e.g. PowerPoint) replaced overhead transparencies and slides, eliminating the need for specialists to create those final presentations. This shift presents an opportunity for independent telcos. In one sense, an independent telco is playing catch-up as they enter a completely new area of business. On the other hand, the ever-improving technology is completely changing the industry forcing seasoned video veterans to continually train and study to keep up with changes. In the end, training, preparation and good program management skills, things which independent telcos already excel, are going to be what differentiate the successful video producers from the ones who are left behind by tomorrow’s technological advances. All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. © 2004, Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved |
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