Quintessential Studios’ Weblog

A premier expo for filmmaking is heading to the Southland this September, the Digital Video Expo.

The DV Expo (www.dvexpo.com) comes to the Pasadena Convention Center Sept. 28 - 30.

The expo is comprised of a conference and exhibits. The conference includes education, some free and some that costs extra. The exhibit hall is open to all and a free exhibit hall pass is currently available.

Free exhibit hall passes and early bird pricing is available now and up until Sept. 11th. There is a discount code for add-on conference events as well. Discount code to use for that is “IFIE”. That saves you $50 in addition to any other discounts.

Expos are a great way to learn about the current equipment that’s out there and what’s coming and a great way to try things out, hands on. Many times you are face to face with the heads of the companies, themselves. Suffice it to say, the people representing the products at the exhibit hall booths are highly knowledgeable and can answer any questions you may have.

Some free education and presentations that can be found there are lighting master classes, “The New Now — Surviving the Changing Business of Production” along with first Looks at Panasonic AG-3DA1 3D camcorder and Canon XF305 and XF300 camcorders.

There are also meetings of industry groups such as the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group, International Digital Media Alliance, Digital Cinema Society and the Los Angeles Post Production Group. These are great opportunities to meet and network with working professionals in the film and TV industries.

The Independent Filmmakers of the Inland Empire will be there checking out all the great exhibits and taking in many classes. So, it would be a great opportunity to network with some local filmmakers as well.

Good morning all. Today, will be my first day on the convention floor at NAB, starting with the keynote address which will feature a NAB Distinguished Service Award presentation to Michael J. Fox. (Pretty excited to see that!)

Already, I’ve been (last night) to the Adobe hotel suite where Adobe met with their re-sellers and showed them some of the new features in CS5 (VERY cool stuff to be announced publicly today, that’s all I say for now). I’ve also meet with about 30 people who will be at the MotionMedia Ball later tonight at an impromptu gathering at the Yard House. At that event, I had an interesting talk with both an attendee of the REDucation and a beta tester for the upcoming Media Composer 5 by Avid. (All I can say about that is that I want to get the new Avid now.)

So, with Avid and Adobe going full guns into making editing better and better, I’ve just got to say that at this point, Apple’s Final Cut Pro is looking like it’s just going to be a prosumer app in no time. We’ll see how the shootout goes at FCPUG Network’s Supermeet Tuesday night!

BTW, they still need a camera and shooter for the live stream of the SuperMeet. Hit me up on Twitter if you have a tripod and camera that can stream SD via firewire and want free admission and raffle tickets for Supermeet!

I attended two events last night: Mocha training by Imagineer at New Media Hollywood and the Los Angeles Post Production Group meeting.

I happened to be only one of two that attended that particular session of Mocha training.  I guess people don’t like to go outside in the rain!

New Media Hollywood seems like a chill place.  They have a foosball table in the front waiting area, if that is any indication.  They are your basic post production provider/reseller.  You can get systems, software, editing bay rentals, etc.  After an decent hands-on Mocha class, I decided to tell others about their discounts and took some flyers to LAPPG.

I’ve been impressed with Mocha and Shape ever since they demoed at LAFCPUG a while back.  Mocha is a planar tracker, so it’s very accurate.  It is more accurate if you define more areas to track.  Then you can adjust the “surface” for a clean export of tracker layer data.  It seriously has a lot of “smarts”.

I also learned about another Imagineer product, Mokey.  This one actually tracks and replaces the hole with what should be there.  Pretty cool.  We went through removing a sign from a yard, as a car drives by.

Props to Ross Shain for an excellent training session.

LAPPG

Later, at LAPPG, I met some nice “new” people including a photographer who proclaimed “Stills are dead… Be prepared for millions of new video people.”  I posted that claim on Twitter and it inspired this post: http://blog.jayfriesen.com/2009/10/millions-of-new-video-people-my-take/

Being early to the meeting I was one of the lucky ones who got a $5 gift card to Showbiz Store & Cafe.  I also partook in some coffee, cookies, a piece of pizza and some brownies.

Woody who founded LAPPG said he’s on a panel for “http://backpackfilmschool.com/” which sounds cool.  Check that out.

Jeffrey Way from AJA went on to talk about the AJA KiPro.  I’ve already been aquainted with the KiPro but I did learn some new things.  One, is that the Sony V1U is a small camera, small like JVC GY-HM100 small.  I learned this because one of the LAPPG members brought one and they used it to hook up to the AJA KiPro.

I also learned that Apple’s Pro Res (HD) is 220Mbits/sec.  Random fact, I know, but here’s some more: The AJA Xena card is the same as the Kona card but it’s for a PC and it just uses different drivers.  So I guess that means if you want to use your Kona card on a PC, all you have to do is download the Xena PC drivers.  There are also some ports on the AJA KiPro that aren’t usable yet.  They are for future upgrades.  You can also use your KiPro like an IO HD.  It’s basically the next gen of that product.  Cross, up and down convert to your heart’s content with this little unit.  It also works as a monitoring unit.  By that I mean a hook-up-your-monitor-to-see-your-footage, type of monitoring unit.  (I’m really not hip to that whole side of things yet but those of you that are should appreciate that.)

Then, the best for last, I learned that Philip Hodgetts wrote a book called The New Now.  And in this book, there are lots of pieces of information on how to grow your video business.  His talk was very inspirational, at least I know it was to two people for sure, myself and one friend, Chris, who sends out a newsletter-type email every month or so.  We talked about how we are going to use information from Philip’s talk in our own businesses, after the meeting.

Chris’ website is here: www.chrishartedits.com Hey! He’s done a comedy short that’s winning lots of awards that has that kid from Glee in it!

Philip talked about some things: the clue train manifesto, H.A.R.O. (Help a Reporter Out), caring about the customer and to install Google Analytics on to your site.  I know I’m being random with this post and my facts, I think I’ve been on Twitter too much lately!

If you get a chance to see Philip Hodgetts, do it.  And if you like what he has to say, maybe you’d want to buy his book. It’s available here: http://proappstips.com/TheNewNow/ and I’ll be reviewing it here later.

What Worked and What Didn’t
There were a lot of things that worked. There were a lot of plans that we were able to make ahead of time to make things easier. There were things we should have done but didn’t. There were a lot of things that could have been improved. And, actually doing the things we planned to do, would have helped out a lot!

I think we learned what to do next time and everyone seemed excited about doing it again.

Pre-event Meetings
As I mentioned before, I started having meetings in June. I think we had 8 – 10 meetings total, including meetups and one field trip. The field trip was a seminar on DIY micro-budget filmmaking by John Putch. That was part of the Pizza & Post series given by Video Symphony, a post production school in Burbank. From those meetings we did three “two-hour film projects”. These weren’t completed in their totality in two hours but some portion of the process was completed in two hours (or so!)

This worked because it gave us a view into what our weak points were. We were able to plan more accurately the schedule that would be the 48 hours. It also worked to flush out “bad” attitudes or people or views that I didn’t want to work with on this project. It was good to see what were at first suspicions, grow into actuality and prove to me that if I ever detect those things in the future, that I am right and to just get them off the team right then and there and don’t waste time dealing with them.

People intimate with the team and its progress will know who I’m referring to but I just want to talk about the particulars so that others reading this can form their own opinions. I’m not saying that those “bad” attitudes are necessarily bad, I’m just saying they didn’t agree with my desires and as such were better off doing their own thing and not butting heads with me.

So this is how that all went down:

First person I met (other than people I already knew, who would work on the project) was a lawyer who had experience creating his own pilot home improvement show. Great guy. Very motivated. But, when first exchanging emails with him, I thought to myself, “I don’t think this is going to work out.” As any successful business person is, he was very passionate and very “right” in his opinion of how things should run. He was also a very creative guy and wanted very much to contribute to the creative side of things, writing and shooting, etc. We met the day before my official first meeting and face to face we had a lot of similar interests and creative contacts even.

Being a bit pushy and slightly over-bearing, I immediately thought of him as a good production manager, someone who could get people motivated or “pushed” to complete their intended project, on time. This I figured I was weak in, so I thought he’d fit the bill for that part.

The next day, I had my first meeting. He attended and brought his secretary, an actress. She couldn’t stay the whole meeting but I figured that since her boss was going to be running the show, I didn’t have to worry about whether or not she’d flake out on me.

Also at this meeting was one person from the 20 projects project (a filmmaking group I co-founded), whom I wanted for my 1st assistant director. He of course stayed until the end of the project.

The couple that would eventually quit to start their own team where there. They were very motivated and seemed willing to take on any role. They were also musicians and it’s always good to have a stall of musicians around. More on why they quit later.

Also, there was one classmate from my Intro to Telecommunication class at RCC and one classmate from an Intro to Pro HD class I took at Citrus College. Two more classmates from my Intro to Pro HD class would eventually be on my team but the first one had to quit because of health reasons.

We had a few general meetings; organizing, talking about genres, trying to figure out who wanted to do what, getting to know each other, going to the 48 Hour Film Project meet-ups, etc. These meetings really just served the purpose of “we’re a group, let’s see if we can stick together.”

Of the 10 actors and 9 crew/actors that ended up staying on the team, they came from these areas:
5, myself included, from my side filmmaking group, the 20 projects project – Roles: Producer/Actor, Director, Assistant Director/Actor, Actor and Actor.
5 from local bands (friends and family of ours) or friend of one of the bands (All actors)
4 from classmates of mine (Two soundmen/actors, one Writer and one Cameraman/Editor)
1 from Twitter friend of mine (Editor)
4 from craigslist ads or as a result of someone they knew reading the craigslist ad (Writer, Actor, Grip/Actor and Actor.)

Not everyone made the meetings on a regular basis, especially the band members and friends thereof but we had a core 6-7 that did. This built a solid foundation of “the group”.

To be continued…

Visual Effects for Directors
by Hollywood Camera Work.

Literally years of work went into creating this class and it shows because there is a massive amount of content in this course.  In fact, it’s a 7-DVD course!

The purpose of this course is to learn what is possible and what is not, to give you the ability to predict and make good decisions on the set.

The Visual Effects for Directors course covers digital effects and their principles, so you have a better idea of what can be done.

This is great reference material for Directors or DPs.

It’s not really a how-to, it’s more of a who-does-what and what-exactly-do-they-do.  Knowledge is power and you want the power to know what is required for your film.

Visual Effects for Directors is a complete course that covers:
modeling and texturing, modeling, character animation, 3d, compositing, VFX Cinematography, matchmoving, tracking, how to make 3d more real, lighting, interacting with virtual elements, motion capture, object removal and crowd replication.  All of this in an easy to understand presentation that puts you in command of the terms and concepts needed to fully understand digital VFX.

There are two dvds that are devoted entirely to “Green Screen Intensive”. This is an area that can cost a production tons in post if not set up properly. With this course, you learn the details of all steps of the green screening process, even down to building and painting a green screen set.

Another benefit is that this course is presented from the viewpoint of how to accomplish all for as little money as possible.

How DO you direct and block on a virtual set? Would you like to know how to get your actor to interact within the set? This course takes you through actual demos and gives you the overall big picture.

It is an invaluable resource and will save you untold hours and dollars on all of your productions.

This course is a must for anyone who plans on having any amount of digital effects work on their project.

I’m one who emphasizes understanding the whole process so that you can make smart decisions in your work.   This course embodies that idea and uses real-life examples thus making you a “virtual” expert!

I recommend this course for Directors, DPs or for anyone wanting to get into digital VFX.

Go to http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/vfx_index.html for clips, chapter summaries and order information.

This year I attended my first NAB show.  I set aside three days to attend this event and to go to related events.

A lot of people were saying that this year’s show was smaller than it has been but to me it was gigantic!  Attendance was also down and both of these this I think are rightly attributed to the economy.  While I was there for three days, it definitely wasn’t enough to take it all in.

The NAB show is so large that they have a daily magazine covering all of the goings on.   In addition to this they had (more than) daily podcasts covering different interesting aspects of the show.

There were big names there, Mary Tyler Moore for one.  And lots of book signings.  One of the big draws to this trade show is all of the technology, mostly new, that is on display, showing the future of broadcasting.

While NAB stand for National Association of Broadcasting, the show covers all aspects of film and digital video as well as internet and even gaming.  They understand that merging technologies have made all of these telecommunications areas a part of “broadcasting”.

I am currently taking a telecommunications class and recently learned the following things about NAB: “The first professional code for broadcasters was developed by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1929″ and “On the industry side, lobbyists represent the interests of those involved in the business of telecommunications.  One of the most influential of these is the National Association of Broadcasters.  Organizations such as NAB can influence the decisions of legislators by providing them with information about how certain issues or pending legislation will affect the industry”.

I certainly got sore feet walking the thousands of square feet of the exhibition floors, yes I said floors.  I should also mention that this expo covered multiple buildings.  I saw so much and honestly, there were whole floors that were just beyond me.  I could only imagine that these exhibits were for some very elite public.

The shear massiveness was completely overwhelming to me.  So much so that it has taken me month to gather my thoughts enough to even begin to write about the event.  I know that I’m not alone in this, as there are other publications and writers that have stalled this long as well.

There were a lot of “cool” things to see, even for an independent digital editor and filmmaker like myself.  I spent a lot of time watching demonstrations at the FCPUG (Final Cut Pro Users Groups) “Superbooth” as well as at some other locations.

I attended some classes and seminars and other external events.  More on these later.

Before I went, I heard one of the executives of NAB talk about why going to NAB was important.  He echoed why the LAFCPUG leader says people should attend events, to get in touch with people and meet them face to face.  I have to thoroughly agree with them.  The most valuable experience for me was meeting and talking to so many people, especially the people that I have meet on line and even done business with bt had never, until NAB, met face to face.

Being active in attending events, especially in the post production arena, I have met some great people and it is always so cool to run into familiar faces.  The more I am active in meeting people, the  more opportunities open up for me.  In fact, it is because I attended NAB this year, that I had a common point to share with an interviewer and got an upcoming assistant editing job.

My original purpose for going to Las Vegas that week was to attend one external event, the FCPUG SuperMeet.  This is an annual event where Final Cut Pro user groups from around the country get together and it’s a fantastic event.  With all of my new social networking ties, through Twitter, etc.  I learned of a few other external events that I attended as well.  Then NAB gave out free exhibit passes, so I, of course wanted to “check it out”.

I learned so much and made so many great contacts at NAB this year, that I have decided already to set aside a whole week for next year’s event!

Stay tuned for more reviews on other industry events and I’m sure, more from NAB.

These NAB Posts may or may not be edited in the future. Here is a list of the magazines we picked up at the NAB Show this week. Most were picked up on Tuesday, so there could have been more if I checked each day but here’s the list:

1. SCN - System Contractor News - April 2009 - systemcontractor.com
2. Sound & Communications - April 20, 2009 - soundandcommunications.com
3. Sonovision Broadcast - April 2009 - a french magazine
4. ICG - International Cinemagraphers Guild - April 2009 - icgmagazine.com
5. highdef - Mar/Apr 2009 - highdef.com
6. In-Sync - April/NAB edition? no content, all ads - www.insyncpubs.com
7. Produccion & Distribucion Technologia - Apr/NAB 2009 - latin mag - www.produ.com
8. Millimeter - April 2009 - www.millimeter.com
9. Playback - April 13, 2009
10. Post Magazine - April 2009 - postmagazine.com
11. P3 Update - April 2009 - www.p3update.com
12. Multichannel News - April 20, 2009 - www.multichannel.com
13. Multicast - nov-dec 08 - latin mag
14. Multicast - sep-oct 08 - latin mag
15. Movie Maker - issue 80, vol. 16 (Spring 2009) - moviemaker.com
16. SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal - April 2009
17. Asia Image - March-April 2009 - www.onscreenasia.com
18. Antenna Systems & Technology - March-April 2009 - www.AntennasOnline.com
19. Television Week - April 20, 2009 - TVWeek.com
20. B & C - April 20, 2009 - www.broadcastingcable.com
21. Multicast - Jul-aug 08 - latin mag
22. Broadcast - 17 April 2009 - www.broadcastnow.co.uk
23. Animation Magazine - April/May 2009 - www.animationmagazine.net
24. American Cinematographer - April 2009
25. Wireless Week - April 2009 - www.wirelessweek.com
26. Videomaker - May 2009 - videomaker.com
27. The Hollywood Reporter - April 21, 2009 - THR.com
28. Daily Variety - April 21, 2009 - variety.com
29. CGW - April 2009 - 3D edition (w/glasses)- www.cgw.com
30. Church Production - April 2009 - www.churchproduction.com
31. CSI - march-april 2009 - www.csimagazine.com
32. BET - Broadcast Equipment & Technology - Vol 10, no. 1/2009, NAB Special
33. FOH - Front of House - April 2009 - www.fohonline.com
34. Film And Digital Times - April-July 2009
35. Editors Guild Magazine - March-April 2009
36. Pro AV - April 2009 - www.proavmagazine.com
37. EIJ - Earth Imaging Journal - Mar/Apr 2009
38. Radio Ink - April 20, 2009 - www.radioink.com
39. Stash - DVD Magazine - www.stashmedia.tv

Extras:
R&R Directory Special Supplement vol 1 2009 - www.radioandrecords.com
7th Annual Digital Signage Resource Directory - digitalsignagedirectory.com
China Broadcasting Directory 2009 - 7th edition 2009 - http://www.e-expo365.com

Also, the NAB is so huge that they publish a big daily magazine for it. I picked up one each of the three days I was there as well. (Mon-Wed)

Just wanted to post things, as I get them up.

Pics I took at the REDUser.net party are here:

http://wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net/REDUser_Party2009.html (page in progress, but up)

Chris Hart, an L.A. area editor and shooter, sends out a regular email to his industry contacts met through various events. Usually you get one reminding you about upcoming events that he might attend and sometimes one after events he’s attended to share information from the event.

Both Chris and I attended the April LAPPG meeting and here are our email notes from it:

Chris Hart:
“At the LAPPG last night I learned a lot about all the latest digital cameras, a little of which I share below, and I won the Duck. That’s right, a free Automatic Duck plugin with which to translate all my FCP timelines into AE timelines with a keystroke. WHOOOOOO!!!! I’m still stoked, as you can tell.

…

“Aaron McNally of Moviola gave a breakdown of all the latest cameras. Here are various interesting tidbits from what he said: The RED camera, on which Knowing was shot, can use a 16G card that will store 9 minutes of its 4k footage; it can also use a DLT tape which can store more. It produces 32-bit raw files that probably require serious color adjustment. In a discussion of cards vs tapes, Aaron remarked that some cameras can record and transmit the data wirelessly to a capture device! No card OR tape! Also, some 2k and 4k cameras can simultaneously record a low-res proxie on an SD card.

“Panasonic’s HVX200, which uses P2 cards, is getting a fair amount of professional usage: studio footage in Dancing with the Stars and certain Biography channel docs use it. It records @ 480 but can enhance that signal to 1080 @ 100 mbs. On the other hand, Discovery channel requires all its docs to be shot with a 1920×1080 native 3cc camera or better. Project:Runway shoots with 10 cameras simultaneously, using the HVX900 DVCPRO50, which uses cassettes, at 24p. An HVX900 is a $20,000 camera.

“Wes Plate then spoke about Automatic Duck, which translates timelines from FCP to Avid or Avid to FCP or Avid or FCP to AE, depending on the plugin. An awesome product, which as I mentioned I now own. Sweeeeeeet!”

My reply:
“WTG Chris! I was there too but all I won was a mouse pad…. lol

“I’d like to add a little more to that camera part you wrote, Chris. Here’s something else that I learned from last night’s talk. This is in regard to the compression rates Aaron spoke of. He basically compared Sony to Panasonic (as well as others) but it went basically like this. Sony can capture at full 1080 but it compresses the file down to like 30mbs and you lose a lot that way. Panasonic HVX200 is like you said and you lose less with the 100mbs compression of the file, but it captures at a lower (res?) and computes the rest to make up the HD.

“So, either way you lose something, it just depends on where you want to loose it. He also said that the Panasonic Cine-gamma developers were really good and in the computing of color for your shot came up with some nice end results.

“That’s where RED is different because it doesn’t compute any color to save to the image. It’s just raw and you have to create the color you want in post. (basically) The other cameras have to compute to create the color data to save to tape/data card or what have you.

“Also, the wireless transmitter still has to send to some sort of recording device but that it’s not on the camera.

“The other part I learned was that sensor size, 1/3″ or “2/3″ etc. determines depth of field. The smaller the sensor the less depth of field there is and the larger the sensor, the greater the DOF. And RED with their “Big Ass” sensor has a depth of field like film cameras, very shallow. (Which I have heard at various RED demos too.)

“Sorry to get all technical on you. I just really learned a lot from that part of the talk and sure wish I had recorded it for future reference! I definitely will call Aaron up at Moviola if I need to know any camera specs!

“I’ll just add that Wes Plate was very cool and funny and I did learn a lot about FCP and Avid and AE workflows from him. Good stuff.

“Also, shameless plug here. I was on the Digital Production Buzz tonight, should be archived soon for all to hear. Read my blog to get more of the info I wanted to say: http://wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net”

LAPPG is the Los Angeles Post Production Group and they meet every second Wednesday of the month at Allied Post Audio in Santa Monica. RSVP is required as space is VERY limited.

P.S. Don’t forget to call HD Expo to get a 20% discount on one of their two upcoming P2 camps:
Either April 19-20 in Las Vegas or August 6-7 in Los Angeles. Info here: http://wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net/?p=44

Just finished listening to the Filmmaking Central pre-NAB podcast (available here: http://filmmakingcentral.com/fmc2/) and it got me thinking about MY list of things to see and attend at this year’s NAB.  (Note: you can still use the promo code for a free Keynote and exhibit hall pass: http://wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net/?m=20090418&cat=84.)

First and foremost is the FCPUG NAB SuperMeet.  I’ve attended almost all of the LAFCPUG meetings this last year and I learn something new at every one.  January’s Macworld FCPUG SuperMeet was “off-the-hook”.  I enjoyed it so much that I made plans immediately to go to NAB’s FCPUG SuperMeet.  

Honestly, since hearing that Apple and RED and Avid were pulling out of NAB, I had no reason to go to NAB but I still decided to go to the FCPUG SuperMeet.  I just hoped that there would be some way to go to NAB via free passes from somewhere and lo and behold, NAB themselves offered up free promo codes.  Thus I’m going to attend my first NAB.

Since NAB is fronting the $150 exhibit pass, you should treat yourself to something extra, like a Super Sessions pass or specified training.  There really is a TON to do the week of April 18-23.  Not only just the NAB events but lots of related external events and parties.  Like HD Expo/Createasphere’s P2 Camp! (Get 20% off.  Details are here: http://wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net/?p=44)

Don’t let the name “National Association of Broadcasters” fool you.  There is a lot more to the event than that.  There is gaming, mobile and filmmaking too.  Yes, even Indie filmmaking!

The Super Sessions include:

Monday, April 20

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Disney & Adobe: Reinventing the Boundaries of Storytelling
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Independent Filmmaking — A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget: 2009 Edition
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Henry Selick: Blending Classic and Digital Techniques for a Timeless Experience
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Alternative Stereoscopic 3D Content: The Next Breakout Hit?

Tuesday, April 21

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Rob Cohen: In Defense of the Action Film
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Cool Gadgets, Hot Content
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. The Making of Battlestar Galactica: Or, How to Create a Dark, Desperate, Nihilistic Franchise in the Age of Comfort Food Television
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Mass Animation: Crowdsourced Creativity on the Social Networking Frontier
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Mobile Video Entertainment to Go

Wednesday, April 22

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Reality Check: The New Content Paradigmi
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Generations: Media Consumption Habits and Preferences
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Josh Schwartz: Creating in the New Media Landcape
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Personalized Content: Is It TV’s Next Given?

In addition to exhibits, there are a lot of other free NAB things to do.

There are book signings.  The book signings I recommend are:

Monday, April 20
12 - 12:30 p.m.
Larry Jordan Edit Well: Final Cut Studio Techniques from the Pros
2 - 2:30 p.m.
Norman Hollyn The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling
Stories for Film, TV, and the Web
3 - 3:30 p.m.
Stu Maschwitz The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap

Stu will also be speaking at: Independent Filmmaking — A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget: 2009 Edition Super Session

The complete book signing schedule is here:
http://www.nabshow.com/2009/attendee/booksigning.asp

My personal itinerary:
Monday, April 20:
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. – Independent Filmmaking — A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget: 2009 Edition
2 - 2:30 p.m. — Book signing: Norman Hollyn The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling
Stories for Film, TV, and the Web
3 - 3:30 p.m. — Book signing: Stu Maschwitz The DV Rebel’s Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap
4:40 – 5 p.m. — Anthony Artis - Down and Dirty Filmmaking Crash Course” (FCPUG SuperBooth)
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. — NABTweetup (Luxor)
7 - 10 p.m. — MediaMotion Cafe (Money Plays)

Tuesday, April 21:

10 - 10:30 a.m. -– Rick Young - Affordable HD Overview (FCPUG SuperBooth)
11:20 - 12 p.m. -– Rob Birnholz – Building a Broadcast Promo in After Effects CS4 (FCPUG SuperBooth)
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. — Cool Gadgets, Hot Content
2 - 2:30 p.m. -– John Flowers - How Fast Are You, Really? (FCPUG SuperBooth)
4:30 - 11 p.m. — FCPUG NAB SuperMeet
One of the items on the agenda that I am most interested in seeing is:
Wounded Marines Careers Foundation
The current class from the Wounded Marines Careers Foundation in San Diego returns to the SuperMeet to show off thier latest video. I read about this foundation last year and it is amazing!

Wednesday, April 22

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. — Final Cut Studio Class by Promax (Palazzo)
3 - 11 p.m. — Reduser Party (Rio)

Interspersed among these days, I will also be visiting the FCPUG SuperBooth (#SL10129 in the South Hall) as they will be having all kinds of cool demos there. Also, hanging out at the ProMAX Digital Lounge, visiting the Digital Production Buzz booth and the Birns & Saywer booth (Central Hall C-3447), not to mention trying to see all the other exhibitors’ booths. This is going to be SOME event!

Hope to see you there!