CCW: Big Show at Javits to Answer Your Production and Post Questions

Content and Communications World (CCW) opens at the Javits Convention Center this Wednesday for two days. A regular part of the yearly production & post tech scene in the City, CCW remains the best place in town to see the latest in gear and software outside of NAB.

But the panel sessions (“Super Sessions” in CCW parlance) and “complimentary” training from the likes of Manhattan Edit Workshop might be a good deal too. Complimentary, that is, when you’ve paid the full $945 conference tab. That pass is available for $445 for just one more day, through November 12^th. Floor or exhibit-only passes are free if you sign up by 11:59pm Tuesday, otherwise it’s $50 on site unless you have one of the freebie passes given out by a number of industry organizations and companies.

I’ll be moderating one of the 50 some panels at the show. Headlined “Your Digital Dark Age and the Failure of Archive Planning in a Tapeless World” – the Wednesday morning session will present real world production experience from panelists Evan Schechtman (CTO of @radical media), Mark Gray (CEO of Archimedia Technology), and Dave Satin (Digital Imaging Tech for Local 600 among other duties) who will help point up just why you probably aren’t as prepared as you might think for both file backup and the future use of your precious media as you might think. Like all of the panels at the show, you’ll have a chance to ask questions to help you figure out your own media archiving approach. This session and those throughout the two days are also good places to meet and trade business cards, since top tech folks will be there.

See you at the Javits!

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Film permit requests in the city were up 43 percent this past month compared to the top of the year.

Filming in Los Angeles is beginning to pick back up again.

FilmLA, the organization that tracks production in the city, says it received 777 film permit applications in February, representing a 43 percent increase compared to the month of January. The organization notes that a late-month surge in production took place, making February the third busiest month the city has experienced with regards to filming since last June.

For the full story in the Hollywood Reporter, click here.

When the Seattle grunge band Nirvana recorded their breakthrough album, “Nevermind,” at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif., in 1991, they used a massive mixing console created by a British engineer named Rupert Neve.

The Neve 8028 console and others he made had by then become studio staples, hailed by many as the most superior consoles of their kind in manipulating and combining instrumental and vocal signals. They were responsible in great part for the audio quality of albums by groups like Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Grateful Dead, and Pink Floyd.

Read the full obit in the New York Times.

After nearly a year of closures, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given movie theaters in New York City permission to reopen at limited capacity starting on March 5.

During his daily press briefing, the Empire State leader said cinemas in the city will be permitted to operate at 25% capacity, with no more than 50 people. Moreover, other safety measures such as masks, social distancing, and heightened sanitizing measures will be required. Last October, New York venues outside of the city were allowed to reopen with similar restrictions.

To read the full article in Variety, click here.

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Chris Lindahl and Dana Harris-Bridson outlined Amazon’s position in IndieWire: “When Amazon made a unilateral decision in early February to stop accepting documentaries and short films via Prime Video Direct (a policy that also covers ‘slide shows, vlogs, podcasts, tutorials, filmed conferences, monologues, toy play, music videos, and voiceover gameplay’), the announcement also served as a quiet purge.

The above continues on to some surprising conclusions on DOC NYCs Monday Memo,

Various sources have reported that Disney is in the process of shuttering Blue Sky Studios, the largest animation studio on the East coast. The former 20th Century Fox animation division pulled in $5.9 billion churning out 13 feature films including the Ice Age franchise.

Publications have noted how Disney – which had three animation studios including Pixar and Disney Animation – couldn’t make the case to have these many houses when the pandemic took a toll on the company’s profits.

Some 450 employees will lose their jobs, though some hope to get into one of Disney’s other animation houses.

Here’s Deadline’s report.

Here’s Variety’s report.

Epix revealed that the second season of “Godfather of Harlem” will premiere on April 18. Set in 1964, the crime drama series explores the collision of the criminal underworld and civil rights movement. The second season will follow Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker) battling the New York crime families for control of the French Connection, a pipeline for heroin that runs from Marseilles to New York Harbor.

To read the full Variety article, click here.