Kevin Smith @ NAB

Walter Biscardi Biscardi Creative Media Buford Georgia USA ©2011 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Thousands of members of Creative COW were at the 2011 NAB Show, and we are pleased to bring you some of their reports. In this entry, Walter Biscardi found that Director Kevin Smith has such passion for his craft, with working as a director during the day and cutting at night, and sharing his edits with the crew the next morning, he energizes all around him. After spending a few moments with Kevin, Walter was ready to go straight to his office and start working!

What I knew about Kevin Smith prior to the NAB quite honestly was that he was quirky independent filmmaker (Clerks, Silent Jay, etc..) and that he was an Executive Producer of one of my favorite documentaries, "Small Town, Gay Bar." That's a great film about a small gay bar in the heart of the bible belt of Alabama. I also heard he was a pretty funny guy in person.

What I didn't know is that he's a cutter. He edits his own films on Avid systems. I discovered he has the same philosophy that I have about Directors, the best ones either are or were editors because we understand the Post process. I loved the fact that he directs during the day, cuts at night and then shares the cut with the entire crew the next morning. That's a great way to include everyone in the creative process and give them more ownership in the project each day.



Filmmaker Kevin Smith


He mentioned repeatedly that he's only directing one more film after Red State so one of the questions from the crowd was whether or not he'd miss out on directing a 3D project. His answer: "I am f*ckin' 3D! The movie ends and I come out on the stage in full 3D and say, 'Hey man, here I am!'" Brought down the house and that really made me want to attend a screening of Red State. How cool is that to see the film and then have the Director come out for a Q&A after the screening, and not just at some fancy film festival, but screenings in theaters across the country.

He has such a passion for his craft, it would be incredible to spend a couple of days on the set with him -- or even just share a dinner with him. He really energized me and I could not wait to get back to my offices and get back to work.


AJA Video Systems
For the first time, they brought engineering prototypes onto the show floor with my favorite being Code Name "Riker." It's a modular I/O box that can handle anything from 5k to SD, and fully configurable. So think of a Kona 3G on major steroids. It's a 2RU box that connects to a card internal to your machine, but instead of it being a fixed unit like the breakout boxes that come with the current Konas, you can custom configure the box for your own needs. Need more I/O spigots, fine; need a specific realtime function, fine -- just configure the box to your needs and it's pretty much realtime, all the time.

 

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Walter Biscardi Buford, Georgia USA Walter has been a Professional Video Editor, Producer, and Director since 1990. His credits include multiple Emmys®, Peabodys, Tellys, and Aurora Awards. Walter is the Owner / Operator of Biscardi Creative Media, a full service video and film production company in Atlanta, GA. The show you know him best for is "Good Eats" on the Food Network. He is currently in development of two original television series and is the Co-Producer of the feature documentary "Foul Water, Fiery Serpent", narrated by Sigourney Weaver. EMMY® is the trademark property of ATAS/NATAS.