M+E Europe

The 15th Nov British Hollywood Innovation & Transformation Summit (HITS) event in London will stress the growing importance of the UK film industry to media and entertainment as a whole, with the new standards and tools required to manage the growth, and the need for innovation and transformation to drive opportunity among the themes of the day.

Here’s a look at what attendees of the day-long event can expect:

• Following opening remarks, the very first panel — “Transforming M+E: Advocating Data Infrastructure Standards” — will set the tone for the day. Software and digital equipment operate only as well as the digital infrastructure that supports them. The data industry with its decades of hard-won experience has developed all standards and practices in the design, construction, security, and maintenance of the digital foundational layer to support any data driven operation.

Advocating that M&E facilities adhere to these digital infrastructure standards and practices supports a better customer use experience of a manufacturer’s software application and/or data equipment. In this opening session attendees will learn why our industry needs to collaborate for the same reason the airline industry depends on the Federal Aviation Agency: performance, reliability, sustainability, security, and customer experience.

Eric Rigney, EVP of the Media and Entertainment Data Center Alliance (MEDCA) will moderate the panel with Brad Blackbourn, virtual production manager for Third Floor; Simon Kebeiks, virtual producer with Holobay TV; and Hugh Davies Webb, product manager for Brompton Technology.

• Brompton Technology’s Webb will follow the panel with “What to Consider When Purchasing LED Panels.” What should producers, integrators and studios take into account when considering an LED wall (or upgrading their current facility? And how do we get beyond all the jargon and acronyms being thrown around as this part of production becomes more accessible for all content creators? This session helps set the stage for the “virtual production” discussions throughout the day.

• “Better Data Management to Keep Virtual Productions on Time and on Budget” will feature Gerhard Krüger, professional services consultant for Perforce. Virtual productions rely heavily on 3D assets. When you are shooting in a volume, the assets being rendered in real-time need to be right! The process of getting those assets pixel perfect starts early, and involves many versions, artists, and even different organisations.

Learn how the Perforce Versioning & Collaboration Suite can not only help in the early stages of a virtual production but also when you are shooting in a volume, keeping your production on track and on budget. ​

• Webb returns to the stage with “Panel Performance and Rec 2020 ‘At-a-Glance,’” with a look at the innovative approach to understanding performance across your LED volume. Coupled with Their Hydra Callibration System, the DynaCal reporting app offer a quick and easy way of comparing panels and checking they can deliver what is needed at any given point or for a specific project. In a fast-paced and mission-critical environment, you’re one click away from data that can help inform decisions about how their panels should be used.

• A must-hear presentation from James Clark, GM of media and entertainment for GeoComply, and Brian Paxton, managing director of Kingsmead Security, precedes the lunch hour: “Residential IP Addresses: A Rising Threat to Content Exclusivity.” Over-the-top (OTT) streaming services are facing a new threat: hijacked residential IP addresses. An estimated 200 million people unknowingly have had their home IP addresses hijacked by premium VPN vendors or during cyber-attacks. Pirate viewers use these IP addresses to access territorially restricted content for free or at a reduced price. By hiding behind a legitimate domestic IP address, pirate viewers can easily bypass VPN restrictions because streaming providers can’t risk blocking genuine users. Yet the failure to stop this form of geo-piracy puts OTT streaming services at risk for non-compliance with rights holders’ agreements for content exclusivity.

Join this session to learn strategies for protecting your content from this latest, yet little-understood, threat, so you can uphold your contractual obligations, stop fraud and safeguard your revenue.

• Chris Evans, head of pro video for Futuresource Consulting, offers “Virtual Production – An Industry Analyst Perspective.” Prior to the pandemic the term virtual production was little discussed let alone implemented. Fast forward two years and the world is a very different place. If nothing else the pandemic has taught us that a huge amount can be achieved remotely, and that technological change can happen at breakneck speed when it needs to. However, for virtual production to continue its growth trajectory there is a massive learning curve the industry needs to climb. Hear about the key trends and developments which are taking place in the industry right now and the future roadmap.

• Dom Robinson, founder of Greening of Streaming, presents “Green Streams – The Green Mile is More of a Marathon.” Each week seems to see the roll-out of more streaming services across the globe, with consumers insatiable appetite for content leading to more conversations around sustainability and the impact on energy consumption. With the myriad of services on offer and the number of players involved the industry needs to look at best practices to encourage a more efficient use of energy across the entertainment supply chain. Hear from those that are leading these conversations and who are looking to exact real and positive change for all.

• “Innovating within ESG: Environmental/Social/Governance” will see Jason Bautista, solutions architect of enterprise strategy and technology for Commscope on stage. Network evolution has always been a conversation about ever increasing speeds and feeds to help process and access data. However new architectures also provide an opportunity to reduce materials in these networks and thus providing network operators the opportunity to achieve ESG goals.

CommScope has ESG as part of its DNA from its facilities and people and passes that down to its customers.

• Guy Finley, president and CEO of MESA, leads the panel “Why Data Centres are the New Frontier in the Fight Against Climate Change.” Recent predictions state that the energy consumption of data centres is set to account for 3.2 percent of the total worldwide carbon emissions by 2025 and they could consume no less than a fifth of global electricity. By 2040, storing digital data is set to create 14 percent of the world’s emissions, around the same proportion as the U.S. does today. Bautista, Dean Nelson, founder and chairman of Infrastructure Masons, Robinson, and Sean Tajkowski, technical director of MEDCA, will discuss.

• Beginning at 15:45 BST, the EIDR Annual Participant Meeting (APM) kicks off with opening remarks by Hollie Choi, managing director of EIDR.

• “What is the Cloud Localisation Blueprint (and Why does it Matter?)” tackles the implications of the Cloud Localisation Blueprint, launched during IBC’s Accelerator Program this September, and involving 10-plus companies across the localisation supply chain.

“The CLB” pioneers a streamlined, cloud-based workflow approach to increase efficiencies and transparency among the participants.

Often described as “spaghetti-like” the process of content localisation lacks visibility, and with the vast number of vendors, studios, and service providers involved, it is ripe for innovation, transformation, and disruption. The CLB is the catalyst for changing how partners engage and interact along this chain with the help of automation and transparency.

James Crossland, SVP and head of global content operations for WarnerBros. Discovery, Rob Delf, CEO of Fabric, Lucia Johnstone-Cowan, senior sales manager for Codemill, and Nicky McBride, global business development and client relationships for Iyuno, will be on the panel.

• That discussion will be followed by “Behind the Scenes: The Technology of The CLB.” This session takes a quick tour of the companies and technology behind the Cloud Localisation Blueprint, with an emphasis on automation, scalability, and collaboration. From the cloud backbone to the tools that drive efficiencies, we’ll highlight the most important aspects and innovations that can transform our industry approach.

Join us to learn more about the tech behind the scenes! Choi and Ryan McKeague, principal specialist solutions architect, media supply chain and archive for Amazon Web Services, will be on hand.

• “Introducing the EIDR Board of Directors” closes the day. EIDR is the single source of truth for entertainment content. Whether episodic or feature, streamed, web or other distribution method, it needs an EIDR to ensure the content moves efficiently through multiple technology systems on its way to the consumer. This session discusses the future vision for EIDR that is wrapped up in a single concept: Added value. Through EIDR’s Registry (product) we are designing our own future to add value to our members, to the industry, to our workflows and to our future members (knowing the explosion of content production to satisfy the international streaming audience in the post-pandemic world).

EIDR is evolving in many ways: technically, conceptually and through adoption and the next iteration is exciting. In this closing conversation, you’ll learn more about where EIDR’s going.

Greg Geier, SVP of digital media supply chain strategy and operations for Sony Pictures; Kyle Mattus, manager of Google TV content operations EMEA; Sarah Nix, senior director of archives and global data governance for Paramount; Thuy Kim, VP of content data services for Warner Bros. Discovery; and Chris Steck, senior director of technology, strategy and standards for Xperi will be on stage.

The British Hollywood Innovation & Transformation Summit, being held in conjunction with the EIDR Annual Participant Meeting, is sponsored by Whip Media, GeoComply, Perforce, Signiant, and EIDR, and is programmed under the guidance of the content advisors of the Hollywood IT Society and is produced by MESA and the Hollywood IT Society (HITS).

To register for the event, click here. To find out more about upcoming MESA events or to get involved as a sponsor contact [email protected].