M+E Daily

Amazon Studios Brings Innovation, Virtual Production Insights to May 23 HITS

An inside look at the latest production innovations, a panel covering the state of virtual production and game engines, and a Prime Video discussion around consumer privacy and security, all are on the agenda May 23 at the Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS), at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles, and online via MESA’s virtual platform, the MESAverse.

First up is the opening keynote — “Inside the Innovation Lab” — with Jonathan Lee, head of media engineering and innovation for Amazon Studios, where attendees will learn and witness what Amazon Studios is making available to production teams.

The pace at which technology innovations are impacting the creation of content is rapid and accelerating. These innovations are revolutionary in their impact on workflows.

They will enable a speed-to-market advantage which will enable teams to react faster to customer demand and retain highly sought-after creative talent.

Then in the panel “Virtual Production: The Next-Level” five virtual production experts with Amazon Studios will dive into everything from game engines and real-time applications to LED screens and more. They’ll discuss how emerging technologies are changing the way we envision, produce, and distribute the stories we want to tell and how it will impact audiences today and in the future. Ken Nakada, head of virtual productions operations, moderates the panel with Bobby Evans, virtual production executive; Manny Francisco, virtual production engineering supervisor; Heidi Hathaway, virtual production stage coordinator; Dan Smiczek, virtual production supervisor; and James Thomas, virtual production executive.

And in the presentation “The Give and Take of Innovation and Security” Nicole Little, head of anti-piracy strategy and technology for Prime Video, highlight recent content protection pitfalls, and offer methods and frameworks to better protect future efforts on innovation’s digital frontier.

New technologies bring excitement and opportunity into every part of the creative environment, but they often also bring new and previously unforeseen challenges with respect to security.

The explosion and popularity of Web3, blockchain and cryptocurrency-tied distribution, and now AI content generation has revealed new avenues for creation and distribution, but with that comes a whole host of new considerations around intellectual property, ownership, and consumer privacy and security.

The annual Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) Spring event is the industry’s largest gathering of media and entertainment’s CIOs and top technology minds, bringing together the IT, data, and security communities of the industry.

Held as a “hybrid” in-person and virtual event, those not in Los Angeles can attend via Zoom or the MESAverse, MESA’s virtual work environment for its members and communities to watch live presentations, network, and step on the stage to share opinions.

The MESAverse uses ICVR’s RendezVu, a proprietary, interactive 3D-world application that will allow for hybrid live and virtual events and regular day-to-day interactions that go far beyond video conferencing.

The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event is produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and presented by Amazon Studios Technology, with sponsorship by Fortinet, Genpact, Prime Focus Technologies, Signiant, Softtek, Convergent, Gracenote, Altman Solon, AppTek, Ascendion, Coresite, EPAM, MicroStrategy, Veritone, CDSA, EIDR and PDG Consulting.

To register for the event, click here.

To find out more about upcoming MESA events or to get involved as a sponsor please contact [email protected].