SMPTE 06 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition Celebrates Industrys Past, Present, and Future

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The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE ), the organization whose standards work has supported a century of technological advances in entertainment technology, today announced that the SMPTE 2016 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition , held on Oct. 25-27 in Hollywood, California, drew nearly 2,500 registered attendees for a landmark event featuring 72 expert presentations and more than 108 exhibitors spread across two exhibit halls. This years event culminated with the SMPTE Centennial Gala, a celebration of the Societys 100th birthday.

"Attendance for SMPTE 2016 was higher than for last years event, with guests from around the world joining us in Hollywood for an exceptional technical program and historic Centennial Gala," said Barbara Lange, SMPTE executive director. "In fact, it was a fantastic week, offering everything from the latest creative and technical innovations to a beer garden, 20s-themed honors and awards reception, and black-tie gala featuring great entertainment and honoring top motion-imaging innovators."

SMPTE Executive Committee of the Board of Governors pose on the red carpet at the Centennial Gala. (l-r Paul M. Stechly, Alan Lambshead, William C. Miller, Wendy Aylsworth, Robert Seidel, Patrick Griffis, Matthew S. Goldman, Barbara H. Lange, and Peter Wharton)

The day before the official start of SMPTE 2016 featured the SMPTE 2016 Symposium, titled "The Future of Storytelling and How to Save It." The daylong symposium featured a keynote by Daniel Teruggi, director of the Research and Experimentation Department at the National Audiovisual Institute in Paris and recipient of this years SMPTE Archival Technology Medal Award. Teruggi placed preservation of data in a historical context and pointed out that preserving creative content, such as a piece of music, is about more than storing something away. "The general problem is not to conserve," he said. "It is to be capable, after any period of time, to perform the piece of music again." Teruggis suggestion that the preservation of content must be oriented toward restitution was a fundamental theme throughout the symposium.

Also on Oct. 24, a record number of attendees at the Women in Technology Luncheon were treated to a conversation with Victoria Alonso, executive producer and executive vice president of physical production for Marvel Studios. Joined by interviewer Kari Grubin, vice president of mastering for The Walt Disney Company, Alonso spoke of her experiences in the industry and offered advice to other women working to succeed in the business. "Sometimes women need to learn to take each other and hold each other as were going up Theres only so much you can do to break the glass ceiling if no ones following you."

The SMPTE Honors & Awards Ceremony set a glamorous tone for the week. The Roaring 20s-themed event welcomed guests on the red carpet before moving on to recognize the elite group of individuals who earned accolades from the Society. The ceremony was followed by a poolside reception at the Loews Hollywood Hotel.

On Oct. 25 filmmaker, innovator, and entrepreneur Douglas Trumbull joined SMPTE President Robert Seidel, vice president of engineering and advanced technology at CBS, to present the SMPTE 2016 opening keynote. With Trumbull addressing cinema and Seidel speaking to broadcast, the pair opened the conference with a rich look at the past, present, and future of media and entertainment technology, as well as supporting standards work. Each speaker presented archival video from pivotal points in imaging innovation, and many video clips clearly resonated with the SMPTE 2016 audience. Both Trumbull and Seidel emphasized the importance of immersion to the audience experience a fundamental goal, noted Trumbull, for sweeping epics such as "Napoleon" ; todays groundbreaking films, such as Ang Lees "Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk;" and the virtual, augmented, and mixed reality experiences of tomorrow.

During SMPTEs Annual General Membership Meeting later that day, Lange discussed the Societys mission, vision, and current work, while also taking a look back at its rich history. Through stories, images, and some of the industrys earliest moving pictures, she provided a look at the remarkable life and work of C. Francis Jenkins, the prolific inventor and founder of the Society back in 1916. In reviewing the 100-year story of the Society itself, she reflected on some of the critical standards introduced by SMPTE with the largest number published in 2016; noted the current growth and the success of the Society across the globe; highlighted the Societys rich educational offerings and its partner, the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA ); and thanked members for their tireless work across standards, membership, and education. Lange also announced a new SMPTE Section in Poland, as well as three new student chapters: George Mason University (Fairfax, Virginia), Media Arts Charter High School (Albuquerque, New Mexico), and University of Surrey (U.K.).

Like the Societys centennial celebrations, the three-day conference program built on the theme of the past, present, and future. Sessions addressed the industrys continued embrace of ultra high definition (UHD) and 4K/8K resolution, higher frame rates (HFR), high-dynamic-range (HDR), and wider color gamut (WCG) from perspectives ranging from aesthetics and psycho-visual effects to workflow, monitoring, distribution, and display. Sessions on video compression described low-bandwidth usage for over-the-top (OTT) internet delivery to mobile devices and mezzanine encoding for high-end, intra-, and inter-studio/facility applications.

Sessions on broadcast infrastructure discussed current and future use of coaxial cable and serial digital interface (SDI), including its potential to deliver 100 Gigabit services and enable a seamless

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