I’m looking for something that will change the landscape of production and post.

[By Philip Hodgetts, dv.com]

Innovation is what I seek every year while I walk the halls of the NAB Show. While I really appreciate the great tools that the major companies continue to bring us, the “innovation” is generally found around the edges and “down the back” of the halls in the 10′ x 10′ booths populated by the upstarts and… innovators.

This is also where I’ll be looking for the “cool toys.” They may not be crucially vital to production, but there’s some fun stuff, like a helicopter that can carry cameras and wireless links for under $300!

I suspect that my ongoing interest in metadata is not going to be shared by most, but I am looking forward to checking implementations of content metadata in the relatively new SMPTE-2021 (BXF) standard, and any innovative uses of metadata to drive postproduction automation. Disregard the importance of metadata at the peril of your career. I’ll be partnering with MediaSilo with metadata-related presentations at the Marriott near the Convention Center.

At least one 3D pioneer, Tim Dashwood, is planning new stereoscopic 3D tools for postproduction, and there will likely be a slew of new 3D tools released this year as the whole post workflow gets reworked for stereo images. Then there’s the meta trend toward large sensors, so I’ll be checking the latest from RED, Sony and Panasonic and hoping for a DSLR that’s more like a video camera.
In early February, Avid showed Media Composer 5.5, moving in exactly the direction it needs to.

If Steve Jobs’ e-mails are to be believed, we’ll see a new version of Apple Final Cut Pro in “early 2011.” Adobe will likely also have a new release of the Production Suite. I’m really hoping that Final Cut Pro (and the rest of the Studio) become even more “Applish” and really bring some innovation to the NLE interface, which hasn’t changed much since Media Composer version one — we have more polished and additional features, but the NLE is essentially the same as it was 20 years ago.

I’m looking forward to delivering my two three-hour in-depth sessions at the Post|Production World conference: “The Future of TV: How to Grow and Monetize an Audience” on Tuesday from 10 a.m.; and “The New Now: How to Grow Your Production or Postproduction Business” at the same time on Wednesday.

The other important thing I look forward to at NAB is the socializing. Friends and associates from around the country and the world converge at NAB. As well as the many informal socializing events, I’ll be at the MediaMotion Ball on Monday night and the Supermeet on Tuesday night.

Finally, I’m hoping for a little less change. With an ever-increasing number of codecs and formats to support, it’s time that the camera manufacturers consolidate formats so we can derive best-practice workflows. At a minimum, pleasedon’t introduce any more new formats at NAB 2011.

See the original post here: http://www.dv.com/article/104496