Los Angeles, Calif. – The Visual Effects Society (VES), a visual effects organization, revealed that it will hold its second annual Production Summit for the greater entertainment industry on October 23rd. Production Summit 2010: Navigating Tomorrow’s Business Models will convene a unique consortium of leading creatives, executives, and visionaries to look at how to thrive over the next five years in a rapidly changing global economic and technological entertainment environment. The event will bring together the entertainment community for a day of inspiration, conversation, and collaboration. It will be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey.
This year’s summit will feature ongoing interaction between directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, technologists and visual effects leaders internationally acknowledged for their innovative thinking and responsibility for moving the industry into the next decade. Attendees will be encouraged to not only think outside the box but also to reinvent the business models of tomorrow which will guide the future of the entertainment industry as its technologies, financial challenges, shrinking schedules, globalization and proliferating distribution platforms continue to evolve.
The Sessions will include:
Does It Come with Wheels? How Pushing the On-Set Tech Envelope Affects Your Business
Major industry identifiers are telling us to change. Pre-postproduction is now a common term on-set. Smaller, faster, cheaper technology, aggressive timelines, unrealistic budgets, and unrelenting competition are all prompting us to do something different. With the proliferation of the digital cinema/HD cameras, the post industry is now much closer to actual content capture. With all this technology creeping nearer to the director and cinematographer, we’re heading toward an unprecedented intertwining of relationships between creatives, technologists and manufacturers.
If this becomes the new operating paradigm, what kind of business model is needed – do producers need to budget for more resources up front? Should greater creative collaboration between creatives, producers, and technologists in the pre-production phase become even more pronounced? Ultimately, what will working on-set in the future look like and how will ever-advancing changes in technology impact creative decisions and everyone’s bottom line?
It’s So Cool! How an ‘Aha’ Moment Offers New Business Opportunities
Creativity arises from various starting points. We will take a look at individuals and companies who have unleashed their creativity and generated solutions which allow filmmakers and fellow artists greater fluidity in telling stories. R&D is a challenging and expensive proposition. There is no return on investment unless the product is used or sold in the marketplace and becomes an industry standard. Find out the motivation behind companies that stick with R&D on new and uncharted technology. What made them choose to stay with products that weren’t yet tested globally?
If you or your company has an ‘aha’ moment, how do you capitalize on this creativity and move it forward? Do you market it internally or seek outside help? This panel of innovators will discuss the motivation and processes for turning in-house tools into products and profit centers.
Tomorrow's Production Renaissance: Adapting to Ever-Changing Roles
As pre-production, production, and post-production methods blur, so too do traditional craft roles. Today more than ever, the roles of visual effects professionals, production designers, animators, cinematographers, editors, and even wardrobe and makeup artists are starting to converge. How can one maximize their creativity in this new infrastructure? How does one move fluidly between narrative, hybrid and animation? And what do creative professionals need to know as the entire process shifts to a more blended world? What roles will be part of production in the future and how early in the process do such decisions need to be made? How does all this change impact business decisions?
The Madonna Approach: The Only Constant is Change
The industry is in a state of flux. Traditional barometers are being knocked about by globalization, creative mandates, technology advances, and financing challenges. The list is long. 3D – shoot in 3D, convert to 3D or remain in 2D, and how to capitalize on the trend. International Opportunities and Tax Incentives – open satellite offices or partner up with another company abroad. Animation v. Hybrid v. VFX – better to remain with one core service or diversify to attract more business. The Hub Approach – become or remain a behemoth company or offer centralizing management of outside services. Creating Your Own Content – assessing risks, rewards and new distribution options. Standardization – files, formats, pipelines, positions. Company Size – does size matter. Niche Expertise – be the ‘go to’ company with one great strength or diversify your company’s skill sets. Being Green – is addressing environmental concerns financially feasible.
The panel will discuss myriad topics and look at how companies and individuals can stay relevant, make good decisions, and stay ahead of the next trend. How would you approach the above concerns? A brief Q&A will follow.
VES board chair Jeffrey A. Okun adds, "It is of the utmost importance that we focus the entire entertainment industry on our collective future. It is time to work together to insure that we, as a community, will be here to inform, create, and operate within this new future. Now is the time to understand where it is going, to stop thinking of what we used to do, how it used to be done, and look forward to explore how to do it now, well and profitably. In short – prepare for thriving in the new paradigm future!”