Digital Day 2011: Game Changers Past Present and Future

July 30, 2011 A Special Projects Committee Event

Digital Day audience gathers in Los Angeles Theatre 1
See more photos in the gallery below

On Saturday, July 30, 2011, nearly 600 DGA members and guests gathered at the Guild's Los Angeles Theater complex for the ninth annual Digital Day symposium to experience some of the new technologies they have at their disposal. In keeping with the theme of the Guild’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, this year's event, was entitled Game Changers: Past, Present, Future … What’s Next?, featuring an entire day of learning and networking around the creative, technical and business issues emerging from the latest digital technologies.

1st AD Josh McLaglen demonstrates a Cutting Edge App.

Cutting Edge Apps

The day kicked off in DGA Theater One with a welcome from DGA Special Projects Committee Chair Jeremy Kagan and Digital Day subcommittee chair Randal Kleiser. Kleiser also served as moderator for the first panel of the morning, Cutting Edge Apps which featured five presentations. In Light Stage Advances, Paul Debevec, USC ICT Graphics Lab’s Associate Director of Graphics Research, demonstrated the latest advances in digitizing facial performance and full-body reflectance to show how actors can be scanned, turned into avatars, and then animated and lit in post. Next, Executive Producer/1st AD Josh McLaglen and Visual Effects Producer/Associate Producer Ron Ames delivered a behind-the-scenes look at how they did the Real Time Performance Capture on director Shawn Levy’s upcoming robot boxer sci-fi drama Real Steel. Livescribe CEO & Founder Jim Marggraff demonstrated how the new Livescribe Smartpen can be used to share notes and audio to enhance productivity and communication. Silverdraft Mobileviz’s Director of Business Development Michael Cooper and Commercial Director/VFX Supervisor Alex Frisch revealed the capabilities of Silverdraft Mobileviz’s virtual production studio on wheels. In the final Cutting Edge Apps presentation, Sony Digital Cinema Production’s Market Development Manager Keith Vidger demonstrated the latest 4K Advances in Capture and Projection with cinematographer Curtis Clark who screened The Arrival, the first short shot with the ultra-sharp 4K Sony CineAlta F-65.

The Show Me the Money panel looked at producing professional content for the web.

Show Me the Money: A Realistic Look at Producing Professional Content for the Web

The panel discussion that followed was entitled Show Me the Money: A Realistic Look at Producing Professional Content for the Web. Director Jessica Landaw (The Booth at the End), Executive Producer Hieu Ho (The LXD) and Director/Executive Producers Kim Moses and Ian Sander (Ghost Whisperer) screened examples of their work for the evolving internet marketplace and discussed the challenges and opportunities with moderator Brent Weinstein, UTA’s Head of Digital Media.

The 3D What's New panel.

3D - What’s New

After the lunch break, things shifted into the next dimension with 3D - What’s New, a set of presentations moderated by AD/UPM Council West’s VFX/Digital Technology Committee Chair Susan Zwerman on the technology that’s revolutionizing the industry. Beginning with Making Great 3D, Sony Pictures 3D Technology Center Instructor and Stereoscopic Supervisor Grant Anderson demonstrated the benefits and challenges of shooting in 3D vs. post production conversion. In-Three/Digital Domain Stereoscopic Supervisor Matthew DeJohn followed up with Types of 2D to 3D Conversion, where he explained common approaches to achieving a 3D effect through conversion. Venture 3D Lead Stereographer Todd Cogan then revealed the New Tools & Techniques for Theatrical, Legacy & Hybrid 3D Conversion, and Sony Electronics Director of 3D Business Development Rob Willox revealed how the technique can be utilized for live broadcast in 3D on the Fly. Wrapping the 3D section of the program with a presentation on Complex Composite Conversion, Legend 3D’s President Rob Hummel explained how conversion works in a visual effects-heavy film.

The Production in the Cloud panel explored
the usesof cloud computing for production.

Hollywood Production in the Cloud

Leaving explorations of the third dimension, the program next delved into the possibilities for collaboration offered by cloud computing, where information once stored on a single computer now exists on a virtual network and is accessible via a wide variety of devices. The panel was called Hollywood Production in the Cloud: From Film to Digital to Virtual...What Does the Cloud Have to Offer?, featuring Cinematographer Curtis Clark (Talent for the Game), Casting Society of America President Pam Dixon (Green Lantern), Co-Producer/VFX Producer Steve Gaub (TRON: Legacy), Internet Entrepreneur/Author Andrew Keen (The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture) and Co-Producer/UPM Sally Young (Modern Family) in a conversation moderated by Pensé Productions CTO Art Hair.

Digital on a Dime 2 revisited frugal
production through technology.

Digital on a Dime 2

Closing out the day was the return of a popular series of discussions on low cost production methods entitled Digital on a Dime 2 and moderated by Randal Kleiser. In Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot, Stargate’s Vice President of Digital Effects Mark Spatny and Virtual Backlot Systems Manager Erik Nelson gave a behind-the-scenes preview of the virtual sets for the upcoming period dramatic series Pan Am. In The Wereth Eleven, Lumiere Media President Frederic Lumiere revealed how he helped to create an action-packed war movie with director Robert Child with just five actors, no extras and a limited budget. Directors/Writers/Executive Producers Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James (Goldilocks) unveiled how to get large scale results from a small scale platform in Using Your iPhone to Shoot & Edit a Feature Film.