Since 2003, the DGA has hosted Digital Day events dedicated to providing our members with exclusive knowledge and access to innovations designed to enhance and improve productions. On Saturday, August 24, DGA members and guests returned to the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters for Digital Day 2024: LIVE FROM THE DGA: All Hands On Tech!.
Co-hosted by DGA Special Projects Digital Day Subcommittee Co-Chairs Randal Kleiser, Susan Zwerman and Michael Goi, DGA Digital Day 2024 welcomed more than 400 members and guests to the live and in-person event that featured engaging presentations, panels, exhibits and hands-on demos about the latest developments in VFX, cutting-edge production tools and virtual production.
Welcome & Co-Hosts
Special Projects Committee Chair Jeremy Kagan began the day by welcoming all the attendees to the 22nd annual event and thanked Digital Day Subcommittee Co-Chairs Randal Kleiser, Susan Zwerman and Michael Goi and all the members of the Subcommittee for their efforts in educating the Guild’s membership with an eye on the cutting edge.
Kleiser, speaking on behalf of his co-chairs, noted the work of the Subcommittee members: Valdez Flagg, Brian Frankish, Julie Gelfand, Scott Rindenow, Oz Scott, Arthur Allan Seidelman and Jay Torres, and thanked the Western AD/SM/PA Council for their valuable contributions in creating year’s program. Noting that the programming highlights the synchronization of film and television with a robust and impressive lineup of presenters and vendors he also gave a quick slide presentation of the exciting lobby exhibits before welcoming the first panel of the day.
The Chilling Power of Practical Effects on Alien: Romulus.
In a conversation moderated by Kleiser and illustrated by clips from the film, Director Fede Alvarez, VFX Supervisor Eric Barba, Creature Effects Creator Alec Gillis and Effects Supervisor Shane Mahan gave an inside look at the cutting-edge effects and new technologies utilized in the newest installment of the Alien franchise.
Alvarez kicked off the conversation by emphasizing the importance of going back to basics and utilizing practical effects to honor the franchise.
They all explained in depth the step-by-step process on how they brought the Xenomorph to life through the use of animatronics, basic tools, and minimal digital intervention.
Both Mahan and Gillis — pioneers and practical effects artists from the franchise — agreed that each film allowed them to experiment freely and dig into their creativity.
On the digital side, Barba shared how practical effects needed to play a central role when creating virtual environments and ensure the film fittingly showcased the best of both worlds.
Content Integrity in the Age of A.I.
In this presentation introduced by Digital Day Subcommittee Co-Chair Susan Zwerman, Adobe Sr. Strategic Development Manager Morgan Prygrocki revealed how the Content Authenticity Initiative is working to promote transparency and protect creative control in the rapidly evolving A.I. landscape.
She shared the different methods to safeguard content through the use of Adobe’s A.I. tools and explained how these tools help promote authenticity. Revealing that there are thousands of members from major media and tech companies behind Adobe’s Content Authenticity — an initiative to allow better evaluation of content — she reiterated throughout her presentation that these tools allow one to still work with A.I. consciously while combating misinformation.
A Close-Up on Filming Concerts & Awards with Director Sam Wrench.
In this presentation introduced by Digital Day Subcommittee Co-Chair Michael Goi, Director Sam Wrench and CuePilot Senior Vice President Danny Hodgetts spoke about utilizing CuePilot — a software tool for creating and executing live performances with precision and creativity — in the world of concert filmmaking and multicamera production on live shows such as The People’s Choice Awards and the Andrea Bocelli 30th Anniversary concert event film.
Covering it from planning to shooting, Wrench explained his process of utilizing the CuePilot technology as he did on Billie Eilish Live at O2, Vogue World, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film. He showed how the technology workflow functions with pre-production allowing one to add features such as lyrics and musical bars to the digital software, so that in-production, the visual information is already provided for camera operators as they film in real-time.
Hodgetts explained how this technology consolidates existing software tools to simplify the pre-planning process for Directors and their teams working in live productions.
Elevating Large-Scale Productions: Director Robin Hofwander on American Song Contest.
Kleiser returned to the stage to introduce this presentation where, Director Robin Hofwander shared information on the process of directing and enhancing large-scale productions utilizing LiveEdit, a technology that reimagines the collaborative workflow and produces live shows with the same precision and polish as post-edited sequences.
Explaining how the process was utilized on the program American Song Contest, Hofwander shared his experience utilizing the LiveEdit technology when preparing for major competition shows such as American Song Contest and Eurovision. He went into detail its features and mentioned it has the ability to provide visual timing when scripting these shows and therefore equips him to be a better director when filming on-site. Other features he highlighted was the Automated Cutting System that allows for cuts when filming and can be intuitive-friendly for camera operators and Directors through the use of a digital tablet.
Directing Live XR with Sports: An Encapsulating Look at 2024 Euros & Copa America.
In the final Theater One offering of the day, Kleiser introduced a presentation where Director Courtney Stockmal and Stage Manager Pete Liska explored how Extended Reality (XR) is utilized in televised sports programs as seen in the 2024 Euros and Copa America.
Stockmal discussed her experience working as Director on 2024 Euros & Copa America for Fox Sports with a set that was primarily run on XR/AR technology. As these were filmed live, she explained the prep process by collaborating closely with Fox Sports’ Creative Services Team to fully understand the virtual sets being built ahead of the broadcast.
Liska highlighted his duties as Stage Manager and his close collaboration with Stockmal to grasp how the technology needed to operate in order to properly execute a live production that was primarily digital versus tangible.
The Craft of Live Television: Directing on the Fly.
Throughout the day in Theater Two and from the NEP Denali Truck parked outside, DGA members were able to witness the process of live storytelling through a behind-the-scenes demonstration incorporating multiple cameras, graphics, playback and more with theater performances directed by Gregg Gelfand, Lucinda Margolis and Scott Rindenow and tours of the NEP Denali Truck led by Nicole Gauthier Tominberg, Michael Meilan and Peter Margolis.
Digital Day 2024: LIVE FROM THE DGA: All Hands On Tech! closed with wrapping comments from Digital Day Subcommittee Co-Chair Susan Zwerman, who thanked the audience for their participation and the subcommittee members for all their support in making the event possible and everyone to take advantage of all the hands-on demos still going on in the DGA Los Angeles lobby.
Exhibits & Hands-On Demos:
Digital Day 2024: LIVE FROM THE DGA: All Hands On Tech! also featured Exhibits & Hands-On Demos including:
- A demonstration of how to use Adobe GenAI to help boost creativity, speed up workflows, add or remove objects, add additional frames, clean up audio, retime music to match your visuals, auto transcribe and work with text-based editing.
- How to use All Ears Inc.’s equipment on your production to project and capture the audio needed to tell your story.
- Ways to fuel your production from Apache Rental Group & Holley Video a premiere production rental company with over 30 years of experience.
- Information on how to outfit your production with ATK Audiotek’s highest-quality systems and gear.
- A demonstration of ATK Versacom’s state of the art technology to deliver reliable communications for some of the industry’s largest events.
- A demonstration by CGLA Studios of how to transport the AR & VR creative, technical and on-set services directly to your location, with a focus on live television — mixed reality production in a box.
- Information on how to plan shots, blocking and camera positions in the virtual world with Artemis XR; the first Director’s Viewfinder that puts the creative team back in control of Pre-Viz in a demonstration by Chemical Wedding.
- Ways to execute your multicamera production through CuePilot — an effective and easy-to-use digital timeline tool that keeps your team in the loop from planning to shooting your live show.
- A demonstration on how to deliver the next dimension of entertainment with Disguise, the platform sitting at the heart of a new era of virtual production and Meptik its services division for creative and technical excellence.
- A solution to achieve your look with FilmLight’s tools: Nara for convenient color-accurate streaming of all your media and Baselight’s Chromogen look development tools enable creating unique looks for use on-set and in post.
- A way to manage your production’s visual aesthetic with Funicular Goat’s state-of-the-art multi-camera equipment and workflow.
- A demonstration by Fuzzy Door Tech on how to transform production visualization with the ability to simultaneously visualize VFX elements and live action, in camera in real time any time during production.
- A formula to visualize workflows utilizing AI tools for quick and iterative previs and postvis projects and to turn your pitch concept art into a highly developed 2.5D animatic from Halon Entertainment.
- A way to capture unique moments through the aesthetic angles that can be achieved with Jitacam’s specialty camera equipment, including the JitaCam — a dynamic jib with a 360-degree arm rotation.
- How to use Live Show Backtimer to see a show’s rundown and its exact duration in real time, allowing the operator to make adjustments and inform the production team when to get off the air on time for a live show or finish on time for a taped show.
- A demonstration of LiveEdit, a real-time collaborative platform that streamlines your workflow with secure, flexible tools for seamless collaboration and efficient production, while enhancing your creative process into a smooth, integrated experience.
- Movella’s way to create true-to-life animations and streamline your workflow with production-ready mocap data anytime, anywhere with Xsens motion capture.
- A demonstration by NEP Denali of how to take your production on the road with their fleet of mobile units that are staffed and supported by a team of engineering and operational experts that understand the challenges unique to remote production.
- ProdPro’s way to access exclusive intel to find your next job, stay connected with colleagues, and streamline your hiring process.
- Pronology’s method to simplify the tasks of content creation for today’s IP and SDI workflows by streamlining file-based production processes from acquisition to post.
- A demonstration by Saunders Electric on how to energize your production by using award-winning power systems backed by the best technicians in the industry.
- A solution to revolutionize your workflow with Scriptation, the app that instantly transfers your script notes — including shotlists, set plans, photos, and facing pages — into new drafts in seconds.
- A formula to accelerate your film production with Shamel Scheduling: a cutting-edge solution that delivers script breakdowns in no time.
- A demonstration by Sony that explores a new immersive 3D experience with their high-resolution Spatial Content Creation System that creates motion capture contents anywhere to stream anytime.
- How to optimize signal integrity and seamless connectivity with Soundtronics Wireless’s Phoenix antenna system — precision-tuned active filters and smart frequency management, which provide clear, consistent audio transmissions that adapt to changing conditions and coverage areas.
- A way to gain the technical edge necessary for exceptional production quality in your upcoming projects, with stYpe’s ultra-high-precision optical camera-tracking solutions and unparalleled color matching for virtual production in LED volumes.
- A demonstration by Sweetwater Live Events of how to support your production with the 30-year experiential industry-leading supplier with a full range of A/V gear — including flypacks, camera packages, and LED video walls — and a staff of professionals that deliver reliable, high-quality results for a successful project.
- A solution to power hyperconnected ecosystems with globally scalable glass-to-glass media-focused solutions to manage services built on the Tata Communications Global Infrastructure.
- Teradek TV’s simplified remote viewing platform that offers Directors, Producers, and other creatives real-time visibility over color-accurate camera feeds, playback, and post review sessions from anywhere in the world with faster decision-making.
- A demonstration by Zullavision of how to control the creative process from production to post with a game-changing wireless tablet that provides real time monitoring, recording and playback, generates and shares time stamped notes, and syncs script to recorded content and more.
See video from this event in the gallery below.
About the Panelists:
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The Chilling Power of Practical Effects on Alien: Romulus
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 Director Fede Alvarez
In addition to Alien: Romulus, Alvarez’s directorial credits include the feature films The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead; episodes of the series Calls and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; and the short film Ataque de Pánico (Panic Attack!). He has been a DGA member since 2014. |
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 VFX Supervisor Eric Barba
Barba’s resume includes his Academy Award-winning work on David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, as well as Fincher’s Gone Girl and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate; and episodes of VFX heavy shows such as SeaQuest and Sliders. |
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 Creature Effects Creator Alec Gillis
Gillis’s resume includes James Cameron’s Aliens, Ron Underwood’s Tremors, Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game, Andy Muschietti’s It, J.A. Bayona’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong. He was part of the Academy Award-nominated team on Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers and David Fincher’s Alien³. |
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 Effects Supervisor Shane Mahan
Mahan’s resume includes Guillermo del Toro’s DGA and Academy Award-winning feature The Shape of Water; well as Jon Favreau’s Zathura: A Space Adventure and Cowboys & Aliens, James Cameron’s The Terminator and Avatar: The Way of Water, Dean Parisot’s Galaxy Quest, Francis Lawrence’s Constantine, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3. He was part of the Academy Award-nominated team on Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. |
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 DGA Special Projects Digital Day Subcommittee Chair Randal Kleiser (moderator)
Internationally known since his first feature, Grease, Kleiser’s other credits include The Blue Lagoon, Flight of the Navigator, Big Top Peewee, North Shore, It’s My Party and White Fang. Always involved in cutting-edge technology, he worked in 70mm 3D for “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience,” for the Disney theme parks and developed a virtual reality simulator to train American soldiers encountering IEDs in the Middle East. In 2019, he released the 12-part virtual reality series Defrost, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown at Cannes. Experimenting with Paramount and Intel Studios, he reimagined the song “You’re the One That I Want” using 20 dancers captured with volumetric technology. Kleiser currently serves as Co-Chair of the DGA’s annual Digital Day and is Chairman of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council. He is currently the Senior Creative Advisor for Occidental Entertainment. Kleiser joined the DGA in 1974. |
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Content Integrity in the Age of A.I.
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 Morgan Prygrocki
Prygrocki is a Sr. Strategic Development Manager at Adobe supporting Hollywood post-production video workflows. She has spent the bulk of her career working in high-end camera technology & virtual production solutions and has been supporting productions ranging from major league sports broadcasts to award-winning films & and commercial productions over the last 15 years.
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| A Close-Up on Filming Concerts & Awards |
 Director Sam Wrench
Wrench’s directorial credits include concert films such as Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Mary J. Blige: The London Sessions, Brandi Carlisle: Live at IMAX and Lizzo: Live in Concert; specials such as the 49th Annual People’s Choice Awards, iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023 and 2020 MTV Video Music Awards; and episodes of American Idol, My Kind of Country, Alter Ego, The Real Dirty Dancing and Rhythm + Flow. He received a 2023 Grammy Award nomination for Best Music Film for Billie Eilish Live at the O2. He has been a DGA member since 2017. |
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 CuePilot Senior Vice President Danny Hodgetts
Hodgetts has many years of experience working at the heart of the TV industry, building long lasting relationships & creating sustainable growth. At CuePilot, his team is challenging and changing the traditional way live events are made with solutions that are remodeling the way Directors, Producers and camera crews work, allowing them to collaborate to unleash their creativity. |
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| Elevating Large-Scale Productions |
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 Director Robin Hofwander
In addition to his work on American Song Contest, Hofwander’s directorial credits include Eurovision Song Contest, Melodifestivalen (the touring pre-selection show for Eurovision Song Contest), the Avicii Tribute Concert, MTV Unplugged - Mando Diao in Berlin and the Opening Ceremony for the World Athletics Championship 2013. He became a DGA member in 2022.
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| Directing Live XR with Sports |
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 Director Courtney Stockmal
Stockmal’s dirctorial credits include servving as lead for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™, 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™. She directs FOX NFL Kickoff and several other premier shows and properties including most recently the 2024 Euros and Copa America spearheading FOX’s fully immersive XR/AR set. Stockmal has been a DGA member since 2013.
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 Stage Manager Pete Liska
Liska’s recent Stage Manager credits include FOX NFL Kickoff and The Jennifer Hudson Show, MTV’s TRL and The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the 2024 Euros and Copa America tournaments at Fox Sports’ state-of-the-art XR/AR set. Liska has been a DGA member since 2008. |
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About the Special Projects Committee
Special Projects is the educational and cultural arm of the Directors Guild of America, providing its members opportunities for creative exchange to advance their craft and celebrate the achievements of Directors and their teams. The Special Projects Committee is chaired by Director Jeremy Kagan with Directors Michael Goi and Rachel Raimist as co-chairs. The Digital Day Subcommittee is chaired by Randal Kleiser, Michael Goi and Susan Zwerman and the Subcommittee members are Valdez Flagg, Brian Frankish, Julie Gelfand, Scott Rindenow, Oz Scott, Arthur Allan Seidelman and Jay Torres.