IBC 2012 which, this year, ran from September 7 through September 11, was more than a simple exhibition. Visitors experienced fourteen themed halls, housing the latest innovations from more than 1,300 leading brands! In addition, when the numbers are finally tallied, guests will have rubbed-elbows with CEOs, COOs and Presidents of some of the largest entertainment and media-related companies in the industry! Along with Chairmen, Owners, Partners, VPs, EVPs, Directors, Managers, Department Heads, or Other Executives, these titles made-up over 80% of the attendees in 2011! How exciting is that?
Some of the attractions at the show included (of course) the Exhibition Halls, IBC Connected World, IBC Production Village, Workflow Solutions Village, IBC Big Screen and
Future Zone.
The IBC Big Screen stole the show! High frame rates and high resolution imagery were displayed in IBC's state of the art auditorium. With the ability to seat 1,700 people as well as both 4K and stereoscopic 3D digital projection, and audio presented in Dolby 7.1 surround sound, technology from the likes of Red, ARRI and Canon set the stage for an awe-inspiring futuristic cinema experience. "
Prometheus" -- in Dolby Surround 7.1 and Dolby 3D 'Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox International' -- was shown on Saturday night, while Christie presented the first-ever showing of a 3D feature length film screened using laser projection technology. Martin Scorsese's "
Hugo 3D" -- the first complete screening of a feature length 3D movie using laser projection, was specially prepared for a 14ft lambert presentation (2D brightness levels with 3D glasses) courtesy of Paramount Pictures International, Christie and XPAND 3D was shown on Monday.
In the Future Zone, technologies from Faceware Technologies Inc. (FTI) demonstrated how they could meet the needs of professional animators in the video game, film, television, and commercial industries with their facial performance capture hardware for capturing hyper-accurate facial reference. In 2012, this company spun-off from Image Metrics, the people who brought you
Live Driver, software to animate computer-generated characters in real-time via a simple webcam; NTT Network Innovation Laboratories displayed an ultra-high speed video server system which delivers multiple uncompressed and/or compressed 4K video images simultaneously in real-time through a high-speed network; and 3D VIVANT, presented by the School of Engineering and Design at Brunel University, offered a number of advances in the 3D holoscopic imaging technology for capture, representation, processing and display of 3D holoscopic content -- presenting a significant step forward and beyond in 3D Stereoscopy.
A fully-equipped professional set accessorized by the
Vitec Videocom awaited those who ventured into the IBC Production Village, where attendees had an opportunity to have a hands-on interactive experience with advanced acquisition technology arrayed side-by-side. Innovative DSLR, ENG camcorder and 3D technology from
Canon,
JVC,
Pure4C and
Stereotec were just some of the things situated next to each other for comparison.
The IBC2012 Conference sessions gave the industry's most influential and authoritative speakers a forum within which to educate with stimulating debate and sharpen strategies by informing on the latest trends and developments. The 6-day program was packed with headline-grabbing keynotes, master classes, technical papers and posters, Q&A's, panel discussions and more. In 2012, there was nowhere else you could network with representatives of Microsoft, The Walt Disney Studios, Facebook, Sony, the BBC, Google and the European Commission. Intel's Director of Creative Innovation, will.i.am, joined other notables such as James Cameron of the Cameron-Pace Group and dozens of others to provide both information and their unique take on where the industry is headed.
Although present at IBC, there was no immediate word from James Cameron on Digital Domain's filing for Chapter 11 protection, coming just after they announced the closing of the Port St. Lucie, Florida facility, firing/laying-off around 300 workers. In protest, the company's second-largest shareholder and CEO John Textor resigned. DD reached a deal to sell the company's operating subsidiaries in the U.S. and Canada to Searchlight Capital Partners LP for a mere $15 million dollars, although higher offers can be considered through the auction process to be held on September 21 and must, inevitably, be approved by the bankruptcy court. This will not affect the California and Canadian facilities currently working on "Ender's Game," a sci-fi feature film DD is co-producing, starring Harrison Ford.
ALL of the IBC 2012's keynote conference speakers can be seen in the On-demand session playback of Keynote Sessions, Sports Day sessions and the Content Creation and Innovation Streamat:
http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm/link=580
The IBC 2012 Brochure can be downloaded at:
http://www.ibc.org/page.cfm?LinkType=PowerBar__&LinkTarget=http://www.ibc.org/files/conference_brochure_15_8_12.pdf
All in all, IBC was a tremendous success, once again this year. Top industry executives were able to mix, contacts were shared, networking occurred. The IBC Big Screen played host to many mini-conferences and talks, while the many different halls gave visitors a chance to see the technology of the future and understand where the media industry is headed. No other show can boast the recognition of its worldwide appeal nor can match the prestige and honor of being awarded by the IBC.
Thank you, Amsterdam -- Looking forward to IBC 2013 (September 13-17)!
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