NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2001
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YOUNG INDUSTRY PERSON'S
AWARD SMPTE 2001
Chris Patten Reports: YIPA a great success
This year was the second occasion for this award, where the SMPTE
Australia Section sponsored Young Industry Professionals Award (YIPA)
to attend the SMPTE Conference and Exhibition 2001, aimed specifically
at young people who would not normally get a chance to travel to
Sydney.
The requirements were that they had to be under 30 and live more
than 100km from Sydney, and be a part of the Film and Television
Industry. A total of 17 recipients were awarded prizes, $500 for
those living up to 1000km away and $1000 for those greater 1000km.
There were seven winners from New Zealand, two from Perth, one
from Townsville, two very young and enthusiastic lads from Alice
Springs, some from Brisbane and the rest from Melbourne.
As part of the prize, a full Conference Registration was included,
allowing these young people to attend the Papers Sessions. The feedback
was excellent, all of them attending an event like this for the
first time, and thoroughly enjoying the experience.
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FROM THE CHAIR
By John Maizels, Chair, Australia Section.
Big congratulations to Gerry Brooks on his six years as Chair,
and now his election to the position of Governor.
SMPTE01 has come and gone, and we have another extraordinarily
successful event on the books.
By all measures, the committee, led by Gerry, exceeded their targets
and delivered an event of which we can all be justifiably proud.
Attendance was up at both the exhibition and the conference and,
as Papers Chair Eric Hitchen reports, we covered a lot of ground.
At the conference, I indicated my desire to deliver an improvement
in our Section Meeting activity, and to look for ways to provide
more value to members who reside outside Sydney. The good news is
that we can announce two initiatives which are already under way.
Running an event the size of SMPTE01 takes a lot of effort, much
of it being voluntary and from our ranks. To be honest, we know
that in the past it's been hard for the Board to focus on both the
conference and the regular job of running Section Meetings - simply
not enough cycles to go round. The first change we've tackled is
to leverage the Board through a Committee structure, and the first
of these is the Section Meeting Committee.
The SMC has created a schedule of meetings through to next October
and is chasing some exciting events. Put the dates in your diary
now - we'll tell you more about the schedule at the October 30th
meeting.
And with a little help from our friends, we'll host a Section Meeting
in Melbourne on November 30th. This is the first time that the Australia
Section has run an out-of-Sydney event, and it's going to be a great
get together with the Melbourne members. Don't forget, like the
meetings held in Sydney, this event is open to all SMPTE members.
If you're in town, you're invited. Details will be sent out closer
to the event.
Everything doesn't happen at once, and over the next few months
the Board is going to be very active working on programs to add
value to members in the rest of Australia. You can help. Firstly,
send me your ideas. We want to know what you think we should be
doing, and when. Secondly, let me know if you're able to pitch in
and help on a Committee. Ultimately, our Section is as strong as
your commitment to it.
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PAPERS PROGRAMME SMPTE
2001 - Largest Papers Programme ever
Eric Hitchen Reports:
The guidelines in the Call for Papers for the subjects we would
like covered, means the range can be extensive. As the definition
between 'broadcasting' and the 'Internet' becomes more and more
blurred, it becomes more difficult to slot Papers accordingly.
Using the new auditorium and the adjacent hall that can be split
in two, gave great flexibility for the Papers Programme. Splitting
the second hall in two allowed us to run three streams on the Thursday
morning.
The "TV Anytime, Anywhere" segment was interesting and
a similar session should be promoted for 2003. The interaction of
the viewer and the medium will become more important as time goes
on. It may also give us a new group of participants in the Conference,
as against engineering and production.
Production is a very important stream and we did a lot of advertising
and promotion to encourage this in 2001. The enthusiastic response
is very encouraging and ensures that we will do more in 2003.
As in 1999, the 'training' papers were well attended and as we
continually support training and education in our industry, I think
it must be on the agenda for the 2003 Conference.
The new venture into providing a public forum for training and
education took place on the Friday morning. We were delighted to
have 250 people turn up in the audience.
The panel delivered a spirited and passionate message, followed
by a lively question-and-answer session. This event is sure to be
repeated at the next conference.
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SECTION MEETINGS - Start
of a Section Meetings' Committee: the "SMC"
SMPTE section meetings are a great opportunity to mingle with other
industry professionals, have interesting conversation, hopefully
learn something and possibly have some fun too.
We are working towards offering better services to all our members
Australia-wide and look forward to your support in achieving a successful
future for the SMPTE Australia Section.
The SMC was launched in August this year. It is made up of the
SMPTE board managers, Kathy-Anne McManus, Brett Smith and Chris
Patten. Also on the committee are Mike Seymour, Peter Chamberlain
and Peter Swientek.
Our focus has been to re-launch the section meetings into more regular
events as well as introducing a Section Meeting 1 Christmas function
for our Melbourne members.
Our first event is on the October 30th at AFTRS from 6pm - 1Opm.
The theme is Digital/HD television.
"Someone should have told me that!" - Have the rules changed
for Digital Production and Broadcasting?
There will be plenty of food and drinks for all as well as lucky
door prizes.
Tickets are $5.00 for SMPTE, ACS, AES, SPAA, ASDA, AEMA, ASTRA members
and students. $10.00 for all other guests.
Have you done your RSVP? It was due by 23 October by e-mail to:
heidi@miller.com.au
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ANECDOTE CORNER - This
really happened!
Just a little story. Long, long ago, back in the days of Black
& White TV that no one will remember, back in days of UK Commercial
TV, there was a Weather reporter, of ATV Birmingham if I remember
correctly.
In those days the weather man (yes, it was always a man) stood
in front of a black steel board with white magnetic letters to spell
out the Temperature, Wind, Forecast etc., etc. This picture was
then keyed over another camera with a local map of the area.
On this particular winter's night, there was one thing to report,
just FOG, FOG, FOG and to come ... more FOG.
There was obviously a bit of grease or dirt on one of the "F"
letters, because as the camera cut to the weatherman, one slipped
slowly down the board to the bottom of frame while the weather man
recited that there was only fog to report, and only more fog to
come.
As the camera cut back to full face of the weather man, he smiled
apologetically and said "I am sorry for that 'F' in Fog"
and froze as he realised what he'd just said, as the vision mixer
slowly dissolved to the ATV Caption.
Got anymore Anecdotes? E-mail me at brooksg@rexel.com.au
Gerry Brooks, Editor
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