Giorgio Ungania

Apps and the Mad (Middle) Men

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:54:00 +0000

Kevin Rose (Digg.com) posted this on his blog: "This will change everything" Apple is throwing again one of its regular "Event" this September, and aside from the highly anticipated iPod line revamp Kevin and others are speculating that Apple will launch a revolutionary product that will turn AppleTV from an hobby ( Steve Job quote ), to potentially one of the strongest revenue streams for the Cupertino company."

Apple TV is currently running a streamlined version of FrontRow, a viewing application to playback iTunes files on a home TV; what Kevin is forecasting is that the new AppleTV will instead run on a new version of iOS (currently running on iPods, iPads and iPhones ) and will introduce the concept of "product based Apps" instead of "iTunes centered playback".

This is a revolution because it will allow content producers the possibility to create their own Apps for streaming shows directly to consumers, bypassing the traditional local distributing companies. So in theory I can buy House MD episodes ( produced by Fox ) without having to subscribe to an OSN Network package. In all honesty, I don't want to pay for a bundle of channels I am not interested in. I want to decide how and where I watch my content (TV, my iPad, my computer) rather than it being restricted to my television and digital decoder.

Content producers will eventually prefer to pay a small cut to Apple (and directly interact with their audiences ) rather than selling entire seasons to local broadcasters and have them generating revenues through their advertisement. Apple is also intensely working on their iAd solution that will give Apps producers the opportunity to generate extra revenue through targeted advertisements.

Apple has already revolutionized the music industry and there is no doubt they are willing to do the same with the TV business. The main opponents to this new model are without question the local telecoms and broadcasters who are the "middle-men", "the one-stop-shops" of the industry. They have been surviving for years by simply redistributing (usually old) programs produced by principles. The only other player that can suffer from this innovation is BitTorrent, but then again, this is something that content producers will also see as a great opportunity.

Here's a simple analogy: Instead of going to Carrefour to buy groceries, you'll have a range of Apps, each specializing in its own specific product. These Apps will then give you the possibility to purchase products directly from them and have it delivered to your doorstep. It is really looking like we are moving towards an economy where big conglomerates that offered one point of sale for a vast array of products (in Carrefour I can buy onions and a big chainsaw, if I need one) to an economy where producers can go directly to consumer via an App and cut out the middle men. Mass distribution is becoming more and more accessible over the web (Just look at viral content); therefore, the added value will be in the expertise that niche providers have to offer.

The local media industry will then need to change accordingly and only FTA ( Free To Air ) broadcasters will survive either via government subsidizing ( Dubai Media Inc ) or via specific revenue generating models ( MBC ) that are still somehow sustainable because they target emerging markets with limited access to technology.

Pay per View will be strong for live events ( sport, the Oscars etc..) where the Apps model still can't work due to bandwidth limitations, but for all other content where the live component is irrelevant, consumers will prefer to purchase single programs rather than having to subscribe to a entire packages.

The App model allow independent producers to bypass the existing local media landscape and self publish themselves directly to consumer. As I type these letters, there are thousands of A list music artists that put their music on iTunes and don't pay a single cent to Virgin and other mass distribution outlets.

This is a fantastic opportunity for Middle Eastern based independent producers. No more knocking on the office doors of the VP Pf Acquisition as the only entry point.

Also this will push local telecoms to start looking into content production rather than acting as simple pipes to distribute data and I am sure Etisalat and Du are already looking into this avenue.

Some might argue why people would buy a product via an App when they can acquire it for free on file sharing platforms? In 2008, Kevin Kelly posted an entry on his blog listing eight things that are better than free, and one of them was "immediacy"; I totally agree with him.

Why we still see masses of people going to watch movies in theaters when they know that if they wait a little time they can download the movie for free (or buy it cheap via a DVD lady) ? It is not simply because we want to enjoy the experience on a big screen or share a night out with friends, it is because we want to be the first to see it so we can then share our opinion with our peers: we want to be the first to know, that's part of being human.

The same psychology will work with Apps : I am ready to pay a premium to be the first to see an episode of Dexter perfectly knowing that I will be able get it for free after two weeks. The proliferation of social media tools will also foster this behavior. I will not only be able to tell my close friends how the last Entourage episode went, but also share it with my entire extended (Facebook, Twitter) family.

So, locally who is against all this? The middle-men. Those who have centered their media business on monopolizing the distribution chain. Its time to reinvent themselves and start producing original, home made content. Either this or they will be destined to disappear while we, the consumer, become the winners of this revolution.

We will be able to buy what we like and enjoy the content on our terms.

So, Apps anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:31:00 +0000

TEDxChangeDubai

10 years ago, in year 2000, the United Nations (UN) defined 8 major goals to reduce extreme poverty in the globe by year 2015. Those goals were named as: “Millennium Development Goals” (MDG). Which are as follows:

1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2 - Achieve universal primary education
3 - Promote gender equality and empower women
4 - Reduce child mortality
5 - Improve maternal health
6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7 - Ensure environmental sustainability
8 - Develop a global partnership for development

The United Nations defined for each of these goals measurable targets that are regularly visited and evaluated to ensure the progress. Those goals are essential for any nation’s sustainability & continuity. Placing those goals was very essential by the UN with so many nations being at risk because those goals were compromised at their end.

This year, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a parallel vision to the UN’s MDG, decided to co-host with TED a TEDxChange event on the 10th anniversary of the MDG commandment. This TEDx will reflect on the MDG achievements that happened during the last 10 years and what still needs to be done. All of this will be under the slogan “The Future We Make”.

This event will be on 20th of September 2010. The speakers will be from across the community, thinkers & doers who are contributing with changes that reflect in a way or another on the MDG, and to the wellbeing of humanity.

This TEDx will be live streamed to all the TEDx partners across the globe. TEDxDubai will be partnering with TEDxChange and to shed some light on the people from Dubai’s community who are contributing in a way or another to the same causes.

Iman Ben Chaibah and Uzma Atcha will be co curating this edition of TEDxDubaiChange that will take place on September 20 in a venue still tbc.

To get involved you can contact directly Iman and Uzma at tedxdubaichange@gmail.com.

The Future we Make, September 20 2010

To register to attend TEDxDubaiChange please fill the form HERE

Please notice that only registered delegates will be able to attend

TEDxDubaiLive : TEDGlobal Live Webcast in Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I am off to TEDGlobal2010 in Oxford. It is the tip of the iceberg after the adventure of TEDxDubai.

After importing the TEDx brand to the UAE we succeeded in reverse engineering the process exporting two of our speakers to the main TED event: Jamil Abu Wardeh and Dr. Naif al Mutawa will be addressing the audience at TED Global and the will surely carry with them a little bit of TEDxDubai.

Here are the links to their talks at TEDxDubai2009 :

Dr.Naif al Mutawa at TEDxDubai2009

Jamil Abu Wardeh at TEDxDubai2009

Furthermore I will also have the opportunity of speaking at another TEDGlobal panel specifically tailored for all the TEDx licensees worldwide, and I will share with them the story about the passion, commitment and devotion of the UAE community making TEDxDubai2009 the global success that it has been.

TED is all about Ideas Worth Spreading and the entire TEDxDubai team is extremely proud to have contributed to spread ideas coming from the Middle East.

The TEDGlobal2010 edition runs under the the theme " And Now The Good News " and we are also very happy to share another Good News : TEDxDubaiLive , the live stream of the TEDGlobal Conference directly to Dubai.

TEDxDubaiLive is made possible by the kind support of AlAanTV, Dubai Media City and the collaboration of TEDxDubai and TEDxDuctac.

TEDxDubaiLive is a free event taking place in the Dubai Knowledge Village auditorium during the days of the TEDGlobal event.

To access the venue you will need to register here and bring with you an ID to access the auditorium.

The detailed program of the speakers is here

TEDxDubaiLive will run from the 13th to the 16th and after the registration you can come and go at your convenience.

Don't forget to register and again many thanks to ALAanTv, Dubai Media City and TEDxDucatc to make TEDxDubaiLive possible.

Please tweet the event under the #TEDxDubaiLive hashtag,

UNTOLD - NEW MEDIA | NEW STORIES

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:26:00 +0000

On June the 30th we are celebrating the UAE Social Media Day at the Shelter in Dubai.

During this one day event UAE residents with different backgrounds will gather and explore how they are living this new revolutionary new age of communication.

There will be also a list of speakers that will address the audience on specific projects and activities they are passionate about.

On the back of my previous blog post about the UAE being a new frontier for creative content productions, I will be sharing my view with the audience and throw some ideas on the opportunities that might be worthwhile exploring.

UNTOLD is all about stories and audiences, and I am absolutely confident that we are living in a time and age where fresh and original content is highly in demand.

Can the UAE community cater for these demands? Is the Arabic mainstream media industry ready for all this? Where do we start?

If you work in media or just want to discuss your point of view please do come along; it will be a fun night , you will meet some of the most open minded people living in the UAE and you will also understand why we need to preserve our local superhero fish, the Hammour..

If you can't physically attend you can tune into the live stream here.

A big thanks to Mita and the team of volunteers for making this happen.

See you then.

Links
Meet up page
Google site
International Facebook page
UAE Facebook page

UAE : the new frontier of on line content creation

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:46:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago was announced that Google was working together with Sony, Logitech and other blue chips on a project under the name of GoogleTV. The new device will be powered by Android 1.5 and will "bring the Web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes"

Now this is by far not the first time that somebody is trying to bring the Web to the living room, but we also know that when Google decides to go towards one direction, they might be in beta for quite some time, but they will get there; furthermore as Google is the largest advertising agency on the planet there are no doubts that this move is both strategic and inevitable.

Bringing the Web on our TV sets is clearly a move generated not only by the efforts of generating more ad revenues but also a sign of the big failure of mainstream content producers and broadcasters that have "ignored " the new medium and its potentials.

Mainstream producers have experienced a constant loss of revenues due to the raise of file sharing and broadband's growth and instead of rethinking their business models they have focused their efforts in developing new controlled distribution models that could contain their losses. This is exactly the same mistake that the music industry made through the DRM ( Digital Rights Management ) model: it did not work because on a technology point of view there is always a " way around ", and once this way around is of public domain the copy protection model becomes immediately obsolete.

TV is also responsible for generating tremendously "lousy" content in a run to provide quantity and hardly never quality. The reduced costs of satellite bandwidth together with the developments of highly performing compression codecs have sparked the growth of hundreds of satellite channels; the quality of content in these channels is known to everybody with a satellite decoder.

Not long ago, the ownership of a Satellite TV channel was seen as a political and financial statement, but not anymore; the recent merge of Orbit and Showtime is another sign of the failure of the traditional model because the running costs surpassed largely the potential revenues. It is also my strong conviction that this failed model is not only a consequence of the reduced audience ( migrated on line) but also due of the failure in delivering quality content.

The Middle East has been constantly flooded with western content, mostly subtitled and poorly edited to fit the local cultural environments; media buyers never doubted that local markets will die to watch The Sopranos or Desperate Housewives, but also never hesitate in considering Dr Phil, Oprah or The Bold and the Beautiful as equally appealing products. Now quality series such as the Sopranos do have an international appeal due to its high standards in the story-line and production elements, but I still need to be convinced that local audiences are still craving for The Bold and the Beautiful.

The late nineties have also witnessed the spread of the formats where the " one size fits all " rule developed monsters such as the Middle Eastern version of Big Brother and similar decontextualized amenities. Although some of these productions were initially interesting on a social point of view they did not stand one chance compared to what I can access browsing YouTube in any given day.

Digital multi channel bouquets packages are dead, and if I subscribe to one of any given offer is simply because I am interested in "one" product, whatever that is, a sport event, a documentary or a cartoon channel whose content I cannot retrieve (still) online.

So legions of user are migrating to "random access" virtual places where content is available at any time, for free; mainstream is counter attacking by implementing 3D in any possible sauce, but this will only slow down the inevitable death of its model.

So if the future is online and Google wants to "bring the Web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes", what is going to happen in the Middle East where, according to many TV executives I know, " Change in this part of the globe happens very, very slowly.. "? Well, as a start, it is very entertaining to witness the "digital media convergence" plans of various Middle Eastern broadcasters that believe that attaching a Facebook page and a twitter feed to individual production will do the trick; number one it does not do the trick because digital convergence it's not at all that easy, and number two because the key word for these kind of operation is "conversation" and the only conversation Arab broadcasters are interested into are the ones with advertisers.

The game is much more complicated than this because listening is not a technique you can learn overnight and especially after decades of one way conversations such as "we know better what content you will like, we are the experts after all.. " it is even more tricky.

On the other hand I do strongly believe in a new media renaissance originated also from this part of the world; after decades of importing media goods as if they were commodities like cereals or pharmaceutical products the times has come to start exporting locally generated media contents online and towards the outer world. The internet is offering many opportunities, and couple this with the fast growing generation of young media savvy consumer - producers, it is not a blasphemy to predict that many interesting production will flourish from the Middle East and North Africa.

If we get a closer look at the internet penetration numbers ( Internet World Stats) in the Region we will understand that the UAE is at the top regardless the still costly internet access; furthermore the UAE has one of the strongest expat community in the Region making it the perfect ground for original stories to be generated and exported. If we look at the online social media scene in the UAE we will also be positively surprised by the numbers and depth of the conversations taking place every day; sooner than later one of these conversations will become a catalyst for a web series, a short movie, or a full feature film.

If mainstream media in the Region will still perceive all this simply as user generated content, produced by amateurs for amateurs without embracing the change, it will result into another nail in their coffin.

The UAE as the new frontier for on line content creation? Yes, why not? The signs are all there.

Above, Fujairah hills.

A small step for Apple, a giant leap for mankind.

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:12:00 +0000

I have a strong feeling that after Jan 27 2010 nothing will be the same anymore.

Can't really express why I do believe so so strongly, but I have no shame in forecasting that the advent of the Apple tablet will revolutionize the way we access contents, forever.

I am also very confident that this shift will be much more impactful than the Gutenberg revolution as it will involve also a big behavural change not only on the producer's side, but most of all from the side of the consumers.

If we look back to the introduction of the iPod in 2001 we will remember that the novelty of carrying all your music library in our pocket was seen as a tremendous improvement in the music and audio usablity, but nobody did predict that it would have also changed the entire music industry. Of course the revolution was caused by combining of the spreading of file sharing with the introduction, for publishers, of a brand new outlet/competitor such as iTunes.

The iPod and iTunes have set new standards to wich every musician, studio owner, record label , music executive and shop owners had to cope with. Many jobs were lost, multimillion contracts vanished and the only really beneficiary of all this ( apart from Apple ) was us, the consumer; only considering the freedom of buying one single song instead of the whole album is a clear sign of this.

CD will also vanish from shelves, and music will be purchased and stored directly on the cloud in order for us to also have the extra freedom not carry our personal ipod and laptop around the world. All we will will need is an internet connection and an interface to access our storage.

Now let's jump ahead to January 27 and let's pretend that Steve Jobs really pulls off the tablet, and that device will become the iPod and iTunes of publishing ; can you see the shift it will cause?

Let's wear the shoes of the content producers:

Book Writers - They will be able to publish their titles on the tablet . Hardcopy will be sold in the shops, but I have a feeling that soon enough if you will be seen carry a hardcopy book in the streets of NY you will be steared at the same way as smokers are perceived now.

Also as an author, I will be able to publish the book directly on the tablet in all the possible language version. If I want to add a latest chapter I will be able to do so without going to re print.

Magazine Publishers - Sport illustrated tablet edition will have international and local news ( dected by the internal GPS feature . I will be able to subscribe to the magazine and store it on the cloud in order to retrieve it ten years from now without having to search in my cellar. The E-Copy will also embed audio and video.

Advertisers- Their will be able to place multimedia location based ads ; I will be reading my E version of teh National sitting on a JBR bench, and if I am hungry the tablet will display all the nearby restaurants, I will be able to browse the menus, compare the prices and make my decision.

Now let's wear the shoes of the end user:

I will be able to carry my entire music library, books library, magazine library office documents etc, on a 10" screen device. I can copy paste and send links with a swipe of my finger, I will be able to do everything, I mean everything as long as that I have an internet connection. Live video chats, watching a movie, buy a song, e banking etc; the entire digital experience.

There will be no looking back, it will be the change of an era.

Who loses and who wins in this shift?

The consumer will win because more options will be available, many more options.

The media movers will lose. For media movers I intend all those entities that don't create but only buy, sell, distribute content ( Record Companies, retailers etc,)

We are going toward an age where creativity only matters, and we will be able to deliver our "content " autonomously without having to give a cut to the "Middle Man" ( Dubai , ouch ! ..)

In an enviroinment like this the pure talent and the innovators will emerge due to the natural selection that the internet has get us used to; the rest will slowly vanish.

And all this, to my belief will commence on October 27 2010 : A small step for Apple..

A Wave in the Cloud

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Google Wave , conventional emailing and application based communication is dead, from today. A Wave in the Cloud is what we need.. Now this gets very interesting because a browser is all we need ( on the laptop , on the phone , etc ).

The timeline function in Waves is awesome and the common excuse" I did not receive your mail, maybe it was filtered by the spam firewall.." is gone forever.

Check the video, it is definetelly showing the way we are going to communicate in a couple of years time.

Illuminato

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Vatican City decided to embrace the new technologies to spread the Word.

So, condoms are still questionable and still in beta testing mode, but social media wow, this is something good for the people, and right here right now.

Vatican have a YouTube channel hosting among the most HD'sh moving pictures I ever seen on the platform.

Of course comments, voting and interaction is disabled but that is understandable as they are new to the medium ; the "social" add on will be included shortly, maybe within the next couple of hundreds years.

Now we are all waiting for the Twitter account.

Well done, Galileo would be very proud.

On the floor, rather than inside..

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:56:00 +0000

40 years already, amazing.

We never stop learning

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Giorgio Ungania, Apple Distinguished Educator Middle East and Head of Commercial Services for SAE International introduces the The Digital Classroom Program

"Step into the future of education and learn how to create cutting edge lessons for your students"

This 4 day workshop provides educators with the skills and knowledge to develop engaging student-focused effective projects using digital resources.

Educators will work collaboratively to develop an original project that incorporates pictures, audio, video and text.

At the end of the course participants will be given an SAE internationally recognized certificate.

The New Skill Sets

Upgrade your teaching skill-set to modern standards and master the new tools to communicate and educate This training program helps teachers in fully integrate digital technologies into their classes.
The Basics of the New Language

The Digital Teaching Academy training program provides teachers with foundational technology skills and high quality integration strategies to become confident an comfortable with the technology in their classrooms.

Now running in Dubai but soon in other SAE Institutes arounf the world.

For more information go to http://www.sae-dubai.com/academy

On Line Migration

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:51:00 +0000

Ok, we need to move all on line, documents, files, pictures etc.. Our entire life needs to find a time and place in the cloud. My company is he largest creative technology training educator in the world, so we need both to give the example and lead the way...
So here we go; we are starting with a series of podcast teasers that have the mission of getting the online community interested in our products.

This one is an introduction to audio EQ by our head of audio Pete.

Enjoy

SAE Imagine 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:05:00 +0000

SAE Imagine 2009 By Giorgio Ungania
View in HD Download 720p Version Visit Giorgio Ungania's ExposureRoom Videos Page

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:51:00 +0000

Here is a test I am doing for my presentation of the MBC2 Two Minute Movies competition starting in a month time. Music is temp. I am just playing around at this stage. This clip is entirely produced and rendered on Motion3

TMM 08 bumper test By Giorgio Ungania
View in HD Download 576p Version Visit Giorgio Ungania's ExposureRoom Videos Page

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:35:00 +0000

A segment from a show on Dubai One TV on the Digital DJ Curse offered at SAE Dubai

Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:44:00 +0000

On my way to Byron Bay. Another Shift seminar, this time on the Gold Coast.

The Spotlight effect - Mouspose'

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:02:00 +0000

I have been contacted by many readers asking how I achieved the " Spotlight cursor " effect in my tutorials. The app is Mousepose'and is produced by Boinx.

I will produce another tutorial very soon on how to utilize Mouspose to produce tutorials and walk troughs.

Stay tuned

50

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Hasseblad announced the release of the first 50 megapixel camera in the world !

Can't wait to put my hands on and check out the file size of the shots ( RAW).

Maybe I will need to put 8 gigs of RAM on my eight cores if I want to play around with the sliders of the RAW camera support plug in..

What Technology Wants ?

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:16:00 +0000

A stunning speech by Kevin Kelly, a true inspiring figure.

A business that can't go wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:51:00 +0000

For the first time in many years I flew with Alitalia, Italy's national carrier. My country welcomes 36.5 million tourists every year, and Italy is the the most visited country in the world.
Despite these data, Alitalia is broke, and Italian's government is trying to put cash in the business in order to avoid bankruptcy. This is against the European Community regulations as local governments cannot fund enterprises like Alitalia , which needs to be considered as a private business.
The flight I was on was half full ( when i travel Emirates it's an headache even to find business class seats). The average age was of flight attendants was 40, food was average and there was no on flight entertainment.

Alitalia needs to be declared broke, the business needs to be reinvented, and I don t see how it can go wrong ( 36.5 million visitors a year)

In Rome still no AC/DC

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:30:00 +0000

In Italy, AC is not as diffuse as in Rome, and I am heavily suffering this. I am sweating like a donkey and I feel really uncomfortable.
We are living in year 2008 DC, but AC is still to come , in Rome.

Apple Motion 3 - Audio Behaviors

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:52:00 +0000

Got many readers asking me about the Pink commercial production, especially how to use Audio Behaviors within Apple Motion 3.

I put together a very simple tutorial on how to get you started using audio behaviors, and I hope this will get you started using this technology. The old time of manual keyframing is gone !

The Blogger video encoder it is not really top quality, so I use ExposureRoom to upload content.

ExposureRoom is truly amazing website where professionals can share HD material without quality compromise.

Apple Motion 3 Tutorial - Audio Behaviors By Giorgio Ungania
View in HD Download 1024p Version Visit Giorgio Ungania's ExposureRoom Videos Page

Apple Motion 3 gets Pink!

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Some months ago Pink came for the first time to the Middle East and preformed one concert in Dubai.

At SAE Dubai we also run a commercial division and we offer our services for clients interested in our expertise. In this specific case we have been asked by our good friends at Mirage Promotions , ( now Live Nation Middle East ), to produce a TVC to promote the concert on TV and Cinemas across the Region.

As source material we had nothing but the commercial DVD of her concert, which we got from the local Virgin Megastore. The official Digibeta tape was late on delivery and we had to release the clip asap.

Having considered that the promo had to run on big cinema theatre screens , I was a little bit concerned about using the ripped footage from the DVD as all the digital compression will show up pretty bluntly. So I decided to use the footage as simple background and to use a lot of motion graphics to " mask "it.

I used entirely Apple Motion , and created a series of animations that run all across the promotion. To sync the graphic movement with the music groove I intensely used the audio behavior feature , which allows you to analyze the rhythm of a song and create automatic keyframes that you can then use to trigger any given parameter.

If I had to do it manual keyframes matching the beats , it would have took ages!

In the commercial particles emitters are generating the flying objects creating continuos move across the screen ( distracting the eye from the background...)

The only non Apple tool utilized, is the Idustrial Revolution Volumetrix plug in to highlight the text on the end page.

We edited the music to the desired length and I could not resist in adding some guitar parts especially to reinforce the ending part.

Keynote tip #2 - look the audience in the eyes and go infrared!

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:52:00 +0000

There is one thing that really turn a Keynote presentation in a success, and that is being able to talk directly to the audience while the slide is projected in the background. In a few word the trick is to know your presentation by heart and never turn your back to the audience while presenting.

I have been attending many presentations where the speaker was looking at the text on he slide and reading it loud.

This is non sense because the content of the slide is already there, and there is no need to repeat it twice. In my presentations I am always re enforcing the message already present on the slide using alternative information, and while I am doing so I am always facing the audience to try to see if there is any message that is not understood properly.

Of course I always have the preview of the current and next slide on my laptop screen so I always know what is projected on the main screen.

In my presentations I am always walking around , when possible. as this makes me more connected to the people listening to me.

Because of this I never use the manual slide advance ( using the space bar on the keyboard ) because I always hovering around.

The Apple remote control shipped with all the machines is not really my cup of tea as it requires that you are pretty close to the machine, when you are operating it.

It is cool to use it with Front Row but it really sucks if you are more than 4 meters away ; furthermore the remote is very very directional , so you need really to point at your laptop to make it work.

I have been using so far the Genius Wireless Pointer and I am extremely happy with it. I can go as far as 10 meters away from the laptop and the remote will always trig the desired command. The unit sports programmable keys so you can even use it in conjunction with other apps I usually run together with Keynote, such as Mouspose'.

The unit comes with an USB Infrared receiver key that you need to plug in your laptop to make the unit work.

One final tip, if you use the Genius Wireless Pointer , always remove the batteries when you are not using it, as the device does not have an on off led and sometimes you might leave it on unintentionally.

Amman wake up

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:26:00 +0000

Just woke up in Amman. Sunny day and crystal visibility ( unlike Dubai). This is the view from my hotel room. Breakfast and then straight to SAE Amman. My keynote starts at 3.

The Importance of the “Sort by Date” command

noreply@blogger.com (Giorgio Ungania) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:58:00 +0000

An overview on the evolution of post-production environments

Over the years, with the advent of hard disk-based post-production tools, the average distance covered by a conventional tape has fallen dramatically. Only a few years ago a tape would move from edit to graphics to sound and back to edit again.

The material would be stored onto the master tape and producers could walk down the facilities corridors knowing that the original copy of their masterpiece would be safely tucked underneath their armpit.

Now that all the resources are shared on hard disk raids, and that different facilities can access these raids, new problems are rising.

On one hand, we are entering a magic world where the time wasted shuttling through tapes is zero. On the other, we are trapped in an inferno whereby multiple versions of the same product are spread all over the network.

Let’s face it, the chances of simultaneous edits of a single project in edit, graphics and sound considerably reduces costs, and we all know that money, in post-production, is a key issue.

For example, take a look at the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the filming and production of which took place at the same time. Accomplishing such a huge task would have been impossible had it not been for the possibility of sharing the footage across multiple platforms at the same time. For the first time ever, a film director could preview CG effects and do composite movie tests while he was shooting the second episode, making it a turning point in the movie industry.

I know that the amount of post-production data in the Lord of the Rings was enormous, but we can downscale the scenario to a conventional TV company.

As an example, let’s look at the production of a generic promo for a TV program. The producer logs the source tapes and creates an EDL for the video editor. While the editor loads the material into the editing system, the producer goes to the graphics department and asks his graphics designer to come up with ideas for some text effects.

As the graphics designer sips his coffee thinking of the options, the producer goes to the sound department and explains his concept to the sound engineer and leaves 2/3 CD from which to grab some music.

At this point three different facilities are operating at the same time and on the same project with no visual references. So far so good.

What do we have 24 hours later?

The video editor has cut a 45-second promo and has saved the rendered file labeled “promo1.0” on the shared drives. The graphics designers have imported the file in their compositing system and have started rendering a couple of text effects. Now what should the graphic designer do? Save the rendered effects previously composed on the footage and call it, say “promo 1.1”, or save the file with the alpha key so that the editor can composite the effect into his system?

Just remember that today’s video editing systems are much more powerful than in the past. Some system features such as color correction, keying and tracking are really competing with traditional Graphics systems such as After effects or Smoke.

Now back to our promotion. The sound department has produced the 1-minute “promo music1”, requested by the producer basing it on the “promo1.0” low -res video from the shared drives. As it is being sent across the network, the producer pops into the room and with a smile announces: “Bad news guys, we don’t have the rights to use some of the footage so I have to re-cut the promo from 45 seconds to 30. Oh and by the way, the beats per minute in music should increase to fill that gap…

What we have now is the video version “promo1.1” and audio version “promo music 2” and possibly a “promo 1.2 “file from graphics.

After 2/3 days of work the number of files increases exponentially and just like that, we will find our shared drives and the local machines storage packed with multiple versions of the same projects.

At this point there is a computer command that has become as essential as the “copy paste” function and that is the “sort by date” function.

It is exactly like spotting the last thing on a conventional tape, but is much quicker… Regardless of the label or the file type format, the “sort by date” is the only tool that can show the most recent files produced and indicate which ones can be deleted.

Unfortunately not all the technology allows simultaneous editing on the same physical file, so for the time being we will be forced to copy files from and onto the shared storage.

The above “promo 1.0” is of course an example and all producers can overcome these file-conflict issues. At the same time drive-based file management is essential for big post-production facilities or multi channel TV stations.