ShowBiz Expo 2000
by Matt
Kregor
Except for the Editors Guild booth itself, and to the surprise of many in the post-production community, ShowBiz Expo featured very little of relevance to our members. Out of all the professional and ‘prosumer’ editing systems available today, only Avid (courtesy of 3-Point Digital) made an appearance at the show.
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Tracy Williams, Joanne D’Antonio, Sharon Smith Holley, Maggie Ostroff, Andy Larson and visitor. |
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Local 700 used our booth to promote the arrival of the new Guild Magazine and Membership Directory. Blown-up covers of the first three issues hung on the booth walls next to the directory cover, making for a colorful and comfortable ‘living room’ atmosphere. There were chairs and tables, bookcases to hold the literature, and our website was available, via an Internet link, for exploration. Passersby were given copies of the magazine, and the directory sold for $25.00. Visitors were heard to comment, on more than one occasion, that the Magazine could be seen in every post production house around town (signatories only, of course). Hats and Tee-shirts were sold for the usual prices. Also on board this year were our newest members, the story analysts, a few of whom volunteered their time at the booth in order to answer questions. Field reps Andy Larson and Jim Saunders were there for the full three days, answering questions and chatting with members, many of who came by to say hello. The most asked question was, as always, "How do I become a member?" and basic literature explaining the process was handed out in large quantities.
Avid was present at the show via the 3-Point Digital booth, where Media Composer version 10 could be seen. The new software/hardware combination offers a few new features, such as more real-time mattes, 3-point motion-tracking, and 9-camera multicam (hardware-based and not standard). But, the major change in version 10 is that all of the features that have been exclusive to the Windows NT platform for some time are finally available on the Mac. Previously, editors who wanted the functionality of versions 8 or 9 along with film capabilities had to switch to NT. Avid derives considerable income from upgrades, but at the show, company representatives indicated that Mac users were so adamantly opposed to switching platforms that they were simply not upgrading. The company is now committed to ‘feature parity’ across platforms.
When released, version 10 will include new features to allow the creation of streaming media directly from the program. It also introduces ‘Universal Offline Editing’ on the Mac platform, which will permit editors to cut widescreen 24P materials, output 24 fps EDLs and automatically record pan and scan information. The company also announced that it had created a new division, Edgestreme Systems, focusing on Internet delivery systems for streaming media. Their first product will be Edgestreme Cluster, a media server. They also showed their Internet approval technology, ‘Review and Approval’ (formerly called ‘Send and Review’). It allows editors to show their work to others over the net and receive comments the same way. To use it, a company will use their own LAN or rent server space from Avid at their new web site, AvidProNet. Reviewers download a frame-accurate, time-coded scene into their browser. A simple mouse-click at any point during the presentation allows the reviewer to either type or dictate notes which, when retrieved by the editor, will show up in a sequence as locators. This will be available in Version 10, which is now slated for release in September.
Panavision was absent from the show, but Sony was there, presenting dailies shot from one of their ‘Panavised’ 24 frame-per-second HD cameras (the same ones Lucas is using for the next 'Star Wars'). Sony claimed the impressive footage they showed was unaltered camera original. The material looked terrific, even though the video projectors employed are no longer the best available. This was a strong indication that 24P video could have a place in theatrical release.
ShowBiz Expo is a big show and this year was no exception. But the dearth of editing systems left some observers uneasy. The high-end post-production world is still a niche market for the major equipment manufacturers. Many more systems are sold for industrial, ‘prosumer’, and consumer use than for features and television. That focus was partially reflected at the show. One can only hope it will not lead to manufacturers to sacrifice quality for volume.
Matt Kregor is a Guild member and serves on the editing faculty
at the American Film Institute and USC.
He can be reached via email
for organizing this year’s booth at the Expo. She would like to
extend her thanks to all members who volunteered their services,
and to those who stopped by.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine
Vol. 21, No. 4 - July/August 2000
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