NAB SHOW REVIEW INDUSTRY
company’s scope is in the M&E sector. There was plenty to explore across capture, audio and cloud, but my eye was caught by the stunning imagery beaming out from the Crystal LED VERONA – first revealed at IBC last year. The display immersed us in the making of EUROPA, an intergalactic short film shot on the Crystal stage, with VENICE 2 8K cameras, and powered by Sony’s Virtual Production Tool Set. As Sony’s investment in VP deepens, what’s emerging is a complete virtual production system – with very exciting potential. We also made sure to visit Michael Cioni at the Strada stand (incidentally housed on the Atlas Lens Co booth, where we admired the 18mm Orion Series: the world’s widest production anamorphic lens, no less!). I interviewed
Cioni – industry vet, serial entrepreneur and all-round visionary – in our last issue to find out more about his latest venture Strada, so it was great to get a proper demo and see it in action. It’s easy to see why this powerful AI-based platform was generating such a buzz and picked up a trio of best in show awards. With a host of useful features, including automated cloud sound syncing, language detection and translation, face detection, object and emotion recognition, cloud rendering – the list goes on – it’s a glimpse at the future of workflows for creatives. Speaking of artificial intelligence, predictably, the topic dominated both the official talks on the main stage and the casual catch-ups around the halls. AI was unavoidable, featuring in more than 150 of the sessions across the four- day show. But was there a shift in the dialogue? Previously the conversation was dominated by generative AI and its potential to take our jobs, upend the industry and bring about pretty much a complete paradigm shift. This time we were hearing about useful applications and integrations that subtly enhance workflows, help with menial tasks and other less exciting – but wholly more practical – uses. As Cioni said to me: ‘What’s interesting now is utility AI.’ In the AI in Media & Entertainment talk at the Main Stage on Sunday, Renard Jenkins (president and CEO, SMPTE), Paige Johnson (VP, worldwide media industry at Microsoft), Hao Li (CEO and co-founder, Pinscreen), Alejandro Matamala Ortiz (co-founder, Runway) and Sam
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