To kick off ETC@USC’s eight-part Executive Coffee with… series, Verizon’s Albert Lao led a Zoom discussion on September 23. “How will advances in network technology over the next 36 months impact the way we watch movies, play video games, and create and produce immersive and engaging experiences?” was the framing question for a wide-ranging discussion. Three students each from the cinema school and the engineering school, plus two students from the business school participated. Lao set up the discussion by showing a brief video explaining 5G and edge computing, and describing how they would impact entertainment creation, distribution and analytics. Continue reading ETC Executive Coffee: A Discussion with Verizon’s Albert Lao

The next ETC Digital Town Square — Breaking Down “Ripple Effect”: A Case Study on COVID-19 Safety Protocols, Advanced Workflows and Virtual Production — will be hosted by Equinix and the Entertainment Technology Center@USC on November 19, 1:00-3:30 pm PST. Free and open to the public, the webinar will dive into “Ripple Effect,” a recent live-action short produced by ETC that leveraged Safetyviz as well as remote and virtual production to improve safety in the return to media production. Register today for your virtual front row seat to this important webinar. Continue reading REMINDER: Virtual Production Webinar Slated for This Week

The next ETC Digital Town Square — Breaking Down “Ripple Effect”: A Case Study on COVID-19 Safety Protocols, Advanced Workflows and Virtual Production — will be hosted by Equinix and the Entertainment Technology Center@USC on November 19, 1:00-3:30 pm PST. Free and open to the public, the webinar will dive into “Ripple Effect,” a recent live-action short produced by ETC that leveraged Safetyviz as well as remote and virtual production to improve safety in the return to media production. Register today for your virtual front row seat to this important webinar. Continue reading Ripple Effect: Webinar Covers Virtual Production Case Study

We need your input! SMPTE and the Entertainment Technology Center have joined forces to investigate potential areas of standardization around Artificial Intelligence in media. We are currently surveying the industry in order to gain a better understanding of where there are the greatest needs for new standards. You can help by filling out our online survey. Feel free to answer as many or as few questions as you would like, and we invite you to forward the survey to anyone either inside or outside your organization who might be able to provide input. Continue reading Join the ETC-SMPTE Survey: Artificial Intelligence in Media

Unless there is breaking news, ETCentric and The Daily News Brief will not publish during the upcoming national holiday. We wish you and your families a very happy and safe 4th of July weekend. Our team will return on Monday with the latest in entertainment technology news. Continue reading Happy Independence Day: ETCentric Will Return on Monday

The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC@USC) VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication. ETC’s specification, which aims to standardize the process for media production, is available online for anyone to use. Continue reading ETC Publishes Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences

Unless there is breaking news, ETCentric and The Daily News Brief will not publish during the upcoming national holiday. We wish you and your families a very happy Memorial Day. Our team will return on Tuesday with the latest in entertainment technology news. Continue reading ETCentric to Return After the Memorial Day Holiday Weekend

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jim Houston, a longtime friend and supporter of The Entertainment Technology Center. In addition to attending our events and contributing to many of our programs, Jim served as a moderator and panelist for several of ETC’s Digital Town Square symposiums. He was a two-time Academy Award-winning engineer, SMPTE member, and 34-year veteran of the industry, serving senior positions at media leaders including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pacific Title & Art, Walt Disney Feature Animation and, most recently, Samsung Research America. Continue reading ETC@USC Mourns the Loss of Industry Veteran Jim Houston

ETC’s Immersive Media Challenge judges selected four submissions that best meet the criteria of “a great idea, well told.” Jack Vomacka’s Audio-Visual Animation describes a blend of physical objects and projection technologies that would create more believable LBE experiences. Sam Clempson’s Mind Palace is an AR-based memory-improvement tool. Courtney Zhang’s Affa Streaming AI Experience uses mood detection to make content recommendations. And Lance Newby’s MIC (ML for In-game Content) turns non-playable characters into minor characters who participate in and can influence the action of a video game. Pitch videos and answers to challenge questions for all submissions are posted on ETC’s homepage. Continue reading ETC@USC Announces Winners of Immersive Media Challenge

The Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (ETC@USC) has published its annual CES report, in which ETC analysts examine new and emerging products, technologies, companies and trends important to media and entertainment. This year’s conference followed through on promises from earlier shows regarding tech and products that offer compelling personal experiences. In our report, we present perspectives from CES 2020 most relevant to our industry and member companies. We’re pleased to deliver the report using Microsoft’s Sway instead of the traditional PDF file. It is our hope that this storytelling app with adjustable autoplay settings and navigation feature will make the presentation more enjoyable. Click here to access the report. Continue reading ETC Analyzes the Latest Products and Trends in CES Report

A panel of six undergraduates from the USC Iovine and Young Academy and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences spent an hour answering questions about their media habits. The questions were asked by ETC member company executives at the December 12, 2019 All Members Meeting held in Burbank at Disney. Where do students get their media recommendations? What’s a good length for a viewing experience? What do they think about having their personal data gathered, and about data analytics in general? What do they pay to subscribe to? Watch this 9-minute highlight video to find out. Continue reading USC Students Respond to Media Questions at ETC Meeting

A panel of six undergraduates from the USC Iovine and Young Academy and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences spent an hour answering questions about their media habits. The questions were asked by ETC member company executives at the December 12, 2019 All Members Meeting held in Burbank at Disney. Where do students get their media recommendations? What’s a good length for a viewing experience? What do they think about having their personal data gathered, and about data analytics in general? What do they pay to subscribe to? Watch this 9-minute highlight video to find out. Continue reading USC Students Respond to Media Questions at ETC Meeting

Unless there is breaking news, ETCentric and The Daily News Brief will not publish during the upcoming holiday break. We wish you and your families a very happy holiday season. Our team is currently gearing up for CES 2020 in Las Vegas and will be back in January with the latest in entertainment technology news. Continue reading Happy Holidays: ETCentric to Return for CES in the New Year

Led jointly by ETC’s Seth Levenson and Cisco’s Randy Zhang, the Adaptive Production’s Blockchain working group at the Entertainment Technology Center is tackling issues regarding identity and onboarding/offboarding workflow within the entertainment industry. The working group examined the numerous inefficiencies and inconsistencies of production staffing. From temporary contracts to the inconsistent methods of bringing members on and off productions, a great deal of efficiency, legitimacy, and security is lost. The group’s technical white paper, Consortium Shared Identity (CSI) over an Enterprise Blockchain, presents solutions and lays the groundwork for a potential proof of concept down the line. Continue reading ETC Publishes White Paper on Consortium Shared Identity

Focusing on the idea of “fixity,” Guidelines for the Preservation of Digital Audio-Visual Assets in the Cloud, the Entertainment Technology Center’s Archive working group white paper is now available online. This Adaptive Production working group, co-chaired by Paramount Pictures’ Andrea Kalas, was tasked with looking into a specific issue regarding archiving in the cloud and settled on pursuing the idea of fixity: an archivist’s term for ensuring the prevention of data loss in digital preservation. Continue reading ETC Archive Working Group Publishes White Paper on Fixity