An exhibition where media companies showed their products was set up and a big recruiting area where companies from germany were happy to interview new talents.

The new location Karlruhe might have kept away a few people but lots of local students and professional visited the event.

One criticism that people people told me was that the workshops were more used to present the company then to communicate know how. The spirit of internationality was missing completely compared to the fmx in Stuttgart.

Overall it was a professional, nice and personal event. I was happy to talk to top people from the business and also happy to see that the media industriy has regained strength compared to 2-3 years ago.

However the event was again not as professional as it should be by now: Big audio problems disturbed the event, Günther the DVD Player even crashed once. The handover of the awards lost its glamour as soon as the applaud became silent. The integration of international production into the award lost also its glamour since no one showed up. At least Bully sent a funny videomessage, although playing it twice did not make it better. The videomassage from Waltdisney was an extract from the bonus material from the Ratatouille DVD – very sad.

BUT: Most important are the cgi productions which made the audience laugh and wonder how they have done it. The award is great to get new inspirations and motivation. Meet friends from the German industry. Time will tell, where and when the next award will take place.

animago AWARD 2007 – The Winners:

In the workshop 120 cameramen worked with all avaible HD cameras on all kind of sets simulating most of possible filming conditions. Work with high-end postproduction equipment like the eQ, Avid Nitris, Lustre or Final Cut Pro was also part of the one-week workshop. Producers, technicians and digital artists were informed about the development in Germany at a congress from companies like Zeiss, WDR, Chroma TV, Apple, Canon, Sony, Fujinon, Quantel, Sennheiser, Arri, Band Pro and Cine Postproduction. Luckly most of the seminars were not marketing reports but packed with helpfull basics for filming with HD.

Special Guest: Michael Ballhaus

As special guest Michael Ballhaus responsible as the director of photographie in many Hollywood movies like “The Departed” (2006), “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003), “Uptown Girls” (2003), “Gangs of New York” (2002), “Wild Wild West” (1999) or “Outbreak” (1995), taught a master class using the F23 shooting a short movie. In an interview at the congress Michael Ballhaus usually dedicated to Arri said that the new sony F23 (Film 2/3″ CCD Chip) is a big step forward. Although the technology is advancing in his opinion film will always be a part of the filmindustry. It will always be a question of the aesthetics if traditional film will be used or HD equipment. Therefore cameraman have to be more skilled. Especially finding good camera assistance in Germany is almost impossible Mr. Ballhaus said. Therefore an initiative has been formed to educated this job. In the US it is a common well paid job, in Germany due to small budget the position has been rationalized. Ballhaus hopes that the media industry returnes to well educated production crews to enhance the quality.

Working with HD

“Hands on HD” was a great success. Although the TV Stations in Germany change to real HD TV (720/50p) (yes, we are so slow due to missing benefits on the audience side), most production companies know that HD is already there. HD is great, may be not for news but for series or TV movies. UHD is already in development and Digital Cinema will even more change our perception of viewing images.

By the way: All HD cameras were there, but the “RED” was missing, although the organizer had tried to get it…

This Years IBC at the RAI Center was as always spoiled with good weather and you could feel that companies are willing to invest again. This spirit could also been felt at the official IBC party, which was great especially the band and the finger food. Also eating some pepperoni instead of a sweet byte of cake – what it looked like- was confusing sometimes. At 11pm the light was turned on and the party people had to move back to their hotelrooms to prepare for the next party next day. IBC is not only showing what is going on in the market but also bringing the media people together. Of course content providers are not the people that have a booth, but they were among us.

As you see we did quite a few very interesting interviews on the IBC, showing the vast range of products. What was for me most amazing is the battle of resolution. There is no useable cam around yet that can make 4K pictures – mab the RED Cam. Well, the Japanese say why 4K, lets do 8k! Yes, live and in color at the IBC. They invest in the future. Although nobody knows what the future will bring. I am personally waiting for 3D beamers like the ones in Minority Report. I have not found any innovation for that. But there is another trend: businesses that provided product for a small buyer group now aim toward the low budget market. Also today everybody can produce media content fortunely there is still a lot of know how involved to create great things. At least this time every system was involved in the Da Vinci Code – which might assume you need it all for doing a Hollywood movie.

So when you look to see, what is possible concerning media technology never miss the IBC when you are from Europe. We will all be back in the RAI Centre from 6 to 11 September 2007. I guess, going to the NAB would also be as exciting.