D.W. Leitner Garners SMPTE Fellowship

This past year New York’s own David Leitner garnered acclaim from the nation’s motion media tech elites via Fellowship recognition from SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers). David combines deep creative and technical chops. Over decades of production, he has built a solid, near unique rep with the city’s indie film and digital media communities as a solve-it-all tech ninja. He’s piloted films that premiered at Sundance, built custom optical printers for fabled DuArt, and has even seen his product suggestions turn up in the latest camcorders.

While David wonders what such distinction could have meant for him earlier in his career, he still expressed gratitude for such recognition by his peers.

I could go on and praise his tech writing too, but that’s just inside pool (I edited his writing while a staff editor at Millimeter magazine). If you’re interested, read more here from SMPTE about him as well as the other 2017 awardees.

Mark Schubin

SMPTE also made a Presidential Proclamation recognizing another New York tech media notable, Mark Schubin. The award committee noted his “status and reputation in the motion picture, television, and motion-imaging industries worldwide.” Another good writer, too.

The Presidential Proclamation recognizes individuals of established and outstanding Mark Schubin will receive the award in recognition of his five decades of contributions to the television technology industry. An internationally recognized expert with an insatiable intellectual curiosity, Schubin has worked in every aspect of television production, including design, manufacturing, lighting, sound, camera, editing, distribution, as well as talent, and his projects have spanned every continent of the globe. Today, he supports the broadcasting of Metropolitan Opera (The Met) productions to cinemas and televisions around the world. Schubin is an active SMPTE Life Fellow and a sought-after resource in educating the industry on the history and current state of motion-imaging technology.

From SMPTE’s announcement in August 2017 regarding the awardees.

About Dan Ochiva

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

RED Digital Cinema says that its “highly anticipated” KOMODO 6K comes to market after extensive engineering to incorporate production-tested innovations, including a breakthrough global shutter sensor (27.03mm x 14.26mm) that maintains RED’s high standard of image quality and dynamic range.

The camera is packaged in a small 4-cubic-inch (101.6 mm) form factor and weighs only 2.1 pounds (0.95 kgs), a tiny package with great ambitions.

To read the full article on ProVideo Coalition’s website, click here.

New York City could have 40 or more productions underway by year-end, bringing it decisively back to pre-COVID-19 levels as an industry ramp-up that started in September gathers steam into the fall.

That’s great news for the entertainment business, a welcome shot to the local economy and a heartening boost of in-person bustle — with strict protocols — in a city where block after block of offices towers sit empty, tourism is shot and unemployment soaring.

“The parking lot is full,” said Doug Steiner, the real estate developer and CEO of Steiner Studios. “Everyone’s back,” he said, referring to nine productions that include Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel…

To read the full Deadline article on returning New York production, click this link.

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.

Radha Blank keeps her Sundance directing award on the mantel in her New York City home. “It’s still a little surreal to me,” she tells Variety of receiving the prize from the indie nonprofit where she’d workshopped her movie “The Forty-Year-Old Version.”

“From what I understand, me and Ava [DuVernay] are the only Black women to [win].” Even more surreal has been promoting her directorial debut during a pandemic. Much like the full-circle nature of winning that trophy, Blank’s film — which follows a down-on-her-luck playwright who turns 40 and adopts the rap persona RadhaMUSPrime on the way to finding her true voice — mirrors the city’s attempt to rebound from the devastating pandemic…

To read the full article on the Variety website, click this link.

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

The Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) plans to launch 3 different codecs in 2020, its last being HEVC (H.265/MPEG-H) back in 2013. Prior to that, AVC (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) was launched in 2003. Both codecs have become an integral part of image capture and final delivery.

The new MPEG codecs include Versatile Video Coding (VVC), Essential Video Coding (EVC), and Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC). Will any of them benefit creators? Let’s dive into each and find out.

Read the full article on the No Film School site.

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