The Editblog

It’s less than a week before the first SuperMeet of 2012. This Thursday the San Francisco SuperMeet will take place right in the middle of the days of MacWorld, or iWorld or whatever it is called. There’s the usual smattering of raffle prizes from software to hard drives to I/O devices to camera accessories. It’s over $33,000 at this point. The lineup looks pretty good thus far with the dude who is the DP for the Saturday Night Live film unit, a dude who worked as both a Director of Photography and on site editor for A&E’s Taken, Jesse the guy who made the hilarious “Fotoshop,” Philip the fella who loves to talk about the future of post-production and a dude from DigitalFilm Tree who will be debuting a new mobile app. That’s the lineup thus far as there may be more added. Grab some tickets here.

There’s also some very interesting looking SuperMeet Workshops presented by Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Light Iron. Here’s all the info you need about the SuperMeet Workshops:

• Where? - Mission Bay Conference Center (William J. Rutter Center)- UCSF
  1675 Owens Street
  San Francisco, CA 94158
  Phone: 866.431.UCSF
  http://www.acc-missionbayconferencecenter.com/gallery/
• When? - Friday, January 27, 2012 (Onsight registration begins at 9:00AM. Workshops begin at 10:00AM and will be held throughout the day. Times are subject to change.
• How Much? - $10.00 per workshop. They are listed, along with registration here.
• What – Workshops will be presented by Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Canon and Light Iron. You may choose a maximum of 3 workshops.
• Any raffle prizes? - Maybe
• Who should attend? – Everyone who wants to learn more about the craft of editing, digital filmmaking, finishing and Digital Cinema.

I wish I was going to be there. Have fun!

It’s less than a week away from the next SuperMeet, this time in Boston at Stuart Street Playhouse (Radisson Hotel Boston, 200 Stuart Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116). It happens this Thursday, October 27. If you follow the SuperMeets, held around the world at this point, then they are always billed as the biggest and best yet but this particular second Boston SuperMeet might just be the best lineup yet. If you’re interested in feature films then the top of the bill is an appearance by Walter Murch. This will be Murch’s “FIRST public appearance by Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning editor Walter Murch since the launch of Final Cut Pro X” so I’m sure everyone will be on pins and needles to hear his thoughts on the new software. Prediction: He likes the underlying technology but thinks FCPX isn’t quite ready for everyone as of yet. Also on the bill is a presentation from Avid by ANDREW WEISBLUM, A.C.E., editor of both Black Swan and The Wrestler among other fine films. In addition to the feature editors there will be demos from Autodesk and DaVinci.

Those tech demos translate into the prizes as well as there’s going to be a full version of Autodesk Smoke for Mac in the “world famous raffle.” That’s a $14,995 value that’s second only the the full Resolve control surface that was given away at NAB 2011! Other raffles prizes include Avid Media Composer, an Avid Artist Color control surface, a number of goodies from Blackmagic Design, a Sidekick HD ProRes recorder and various things from Adobe, NVIDIA and other software galore. Grab your tickets soon in case this one sells out.

It’s hard to believe that the NAB SuperMeet was some two months ago. That’s two months that we’ve all had to speculate and rumormonger about Final Cut Pro X! A week from this Thursday, on June 23, the London version of the SuperMeet will happen. From the looks of the agenda there’s a few topics that were cut from the NAB SuperMeet (when Apple took over the agenda) that are going to be presented on London. Alexis Van Hurkman will demo DaVinci Resolve 8 and there will be a presentation on Demystifying Smoke on Mac OS X with Joe Billington. There’s quite a few other presentations scheduled as well (including FCP guru Larry Jordan talking about something) plus the world famous raffle. There’s an iPad listed in the raffle prizes so that’ll be a nice non-production/post win for someone. Grab your tickets now if you’re going to be in London on June 23 … I’d love to be there too if that wasn’t my birthday.

We are just a week away from the NAB 2011 SuperMeet. Have you gotten your tickets yet? We all know that there’s (supposed to be) the raffle grand prize of a $30,000 DaVinci Resolve system but there’s other great prizes (maybe) like an AJA Io Express, an nVidia Quadro 4000 for Mac, lots of Blackmagic hardware and way more software than you can imagine.

The presentations will may be great (possibly) including director Kevin Smith who has created quite a stir recently with his new film Red State. He’s apparently an Avid user! At least that’s what HAS BEEN THE PROMOTED AGENDA THUS FAR. The agenda had been posted and it looks like there’s something for everyone from Avid, to Autodesk to color grading to DSLRs (can there be anything today without DSLRs!!??). Here’s the specs:

• Where? - Bally’s Hotel Event Center – on the Las Vegas Strip.
  3645 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas Nevada, 89109
• When? – Tuesday, April 12, 2011 (Doors open 4:30PM for SuperMeet Digital Showcase featuring 35 vendors and PLENTY OF NETWORKING)
• How Much? $15.00 per person plus ticket fee. $10.00 for Students with valid ID plus ticket fee. $20.00 at the door
  Ticket will include 2 raffle tickets.
• Any raffle prizes? Of course. $2.00 per ticket or 3 for $5.00
• Who should attend? – Everyone who wants to learn more about Final Cut Studio, HDSLR and digital filmmaking and meet others who may know more than you do.
• Food and Drink? – Food (free) and Cash Bars will be available.

So I wrote this post up on Sunday with the intention to post it on Tuesday, one week before. But rumor has run rampant today that Apple has bought out the entire event and is planning a big surprise. If you notice the SuperMeet website as of 3:00 central on Tuesday there is no second half agenda as of yet and all the non-Apple sponsors are still listed. But word has it that the presenting sponsors were told that they wouldn’t be able to present on-stage but would still be able to attend as well as leave their signage up for the event. Who knows what the truth is at this point but I doubt there would be as many strong rumors coming from quite a few sources if something wasn’t going on.

While it would be a most interesting SuperMeet if Apple chose to launch FCPx there at the event (and the Final Cut User Group network would be deserving of such an event that’s for sure) it really seems like a rather mean thing to do if all these sponsors and presenters are dumped a week before the event. And a good question that has been asked on the ‘net is what happens to the sponsor raffle prizes if SuperMeet is “bought out” by Apple?  I think there’s quite a few folks that are eyeing the DaVinci Resolve panel as one of the main reasons to attend. Stay tuned as this drama unfolds!

Normally I try to post a note up a week or so before a SuperMeet as a reminder to grab your tickets if you haven’t done so already. Plus it might help you decide to attend if you haven’t decided already. We’re still over a month away from the 10th Annual Las Vegas NAB SuperMeet (which is also the 10 anniversary of FCPUG SuperMeets) but the grand prize that was very recently announced was so good I wanted to spread the word.

This year that grand prize will be a DaVinci Resolve System that includes the full DaVinci Control Surface. That’s the Resolve software (it doesn’t specify but that’d be for Mac) and the $30,000 hardware panels. That’s quite a grand prize. I think this is significant as some of the big prizes in recent years were cameras and camera gear. This grand prize is all post-production.

The SuperMeet will be held on Tuesday, April 12 at the Bally’s Hotel Event Center on the Vegas strip. No trekking over to the Rio this year (but I guess that means no lingerie show going on next door either). There’s a whole lot more prizes to be given away besides the Resolve system. All the details can be found on the official SuperMeet page. Tickets are only $10.00 but that’s the earlybird special that runs through March 15. Keep your eyes on the SuperMeet page for the agenda to be posted soon.

If you’re in and around Boston this Friday then you may want to make some time for the First Ever, First Annual Boston SuperMeet. As is the case with all SuperMeets there’s a great lineup for the even and lots of prizes for the world famous raffle.

A few of standouts IMHO: Mitch Jacobson will be discussing mulitcamera madness and discussing his new multicam book (which I had the pleasure of contributing to if only a bit), Avid will be  back onstage at a SuperMeet with a discussion with Erin Gallagher, editor on Discovery’s “Build It Bigger” show and, of course, you can’t have an event like this today without discussing DSLRs and DP Rodney Charters will be doing just that as well as talking about his impressive body of work.

As for the raffle: An AJA KiPro, two DaVinci Resolve for Mac licenses, an nVidia Quadro FX 4800 graphic card for Mac, hard drives, lighting and camera gear, software plug ins and the full spectrum of software from Avid, Apple and Adobe.

The doors to the event open at 4:30, Friday June 25 at the Back Bay Events Center, John Hancock Hall. Tickets are usually $10 in advance but you can get a ticket for free with our Discount Code. Here’s how:

1. Go to: http://supermeetbos10.eventbrite.com/

2. Click on the ENTER DISCOUNT CODE link.

3. Enter discount code: editblogvip

4. Fill out registration with legitimate email and address for EACH name.

Enjoy the Boston SuperMeet this coming Friday, it looks like another good show.

The 2010 NAB convention begins in less than a week. In exactly one week (from the time this was posted) many of us will be attending the 9th annual Las Vegas SuperMeet. It will be held at the Rio Hotel again this year and from the looks of the world famous raffle that’s going to be reason to enough to attend with over $78,000 in prizes. Giveaways will include a Canon 7D (of course!), an AJA Kona 3 and AJA Breakout box (maybe separate, maybe together), an Apple iPad (of course again), nVidia Quadro FX 4800 forMac graphics card, two Blackmagic Design DeckLink Studio cards and software galore including a Final Cut Studio, Adobe CS4 Production Premium, Maxon Cinema 4D Broadcast edition and a copy of Avid Media Composer. It’s crazy to think about Avid and Adobe products at the FCP User Group SuperMeet but this is a big year for the 3 Big A’s at the SuperMeet. According to organizer Mike Horton this will be the first time that representatives from all three big A’s will appear together on the same stage on the same night.

As of right now it looks like we might see Adobe’s Jason Levine highlighting the new capabilities of Adobe Production Premium CS5, Avid’s Angus Mackay introducing editor and filmmaker Misha Tenenbaum who will explore his use of the AMA plugin architecture with Sony XDCam HD and Canon 7D cameras for his new show, “Handicapped John” and Apple’s FCP Sr. Product Manager Steve Bayes returning to the SuperMeet stage to talk about new partner support for ProRes and Stereo 3D. That’s going to make for an interesting SuperMeet. Plus there’s a number of other presenters that will be onstage next week as well.

Grab your tickets at this link before they are all gone. And if you want to show off your content get there early for a new event called the Open Screen Theatre sponsored by Arri.From the SuperMeet website:

GET SEEN and interact with other Filmmakers via “Open Screen Theatre,” sponsored by ARRI.

Filmmakers and digital content creators wanting to get seen will have a a 10 minute chance to do so in an informal, collaborative setting. We want all Digital filmmakers to screen your content and interact. Just show up and sign up, get up and show off. It’s first come, first serve in our “Open Screen Theatre.”

Bring your content on a DVD or a QT movie on a flash drive. Sign-ups begin at 3:45PM.

Definitely click over and look at that list of raffle prizes. There’s some really good stuff in there. See you in a week!

You got less than a week to get tickets for the next FCP User Group SuperMeet. This one is February 5 in San Francisco. It will be at the Robertson Auditorium with doors opening at 3:30 pm for the “Digital Showcase” and the show beginning at 7:00. Just looking at the event’s website it looks like there’s a great list of raffle prizes … as always. This one includes a Canon 5D Mark II, AJA Ki Pro, Adobe CS4 (!), Avid Media Composer 4 (!!) and several BlackMagic cards among a lot of other great goodies. Prizes aren’t the only thing on the schedule and this agenda looks to be a strong one:

* Smoke on Mac OSX – Alexandre Domingue
* “Destroy Me” – Jordan Livingston (music vid)
* AJA KiPro – Jon Thorn
* Best Workflow for Canon File-Based Cameras – Joe Bogacz
* Motion 4 Does 3D – Mark Spencer
* The Idea behind IDEO’s Living Climate Change – Matt Silverman
* The New Speed Tools in FCP 7 – Kevin Monahan
* Hand Held Hollywood – Taz Goldstein
* And MORE

Both the Smoke demo and the Canon workflow should be of interest to many. I would say to click here and sign up for some free workshops but most are sold out. As of this writing 2 aren’t so click here anyway and try to get them or to see what you might be missing. Grab your tickets before they are all gone.