Opportunities for ICT students and faculty
in the M&E Business in the next decade:
A look behind and a look ahead.
Steven B. Cohen,
Solutions Architect
Daystrom Technology Group
M&E Business (A look behind)
 Motion Pictures
 Broadcast Television
 Radio
 Commercials for Broadcast TV
 Industrials/Corporate
 Legit Theatre
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
2
M&E Business (A look ahead)
 Video Games
 Motion Pictures
 Television: Broadcast/Cable/ Internet
 Radio: Broadcast/Cable/Internet
 Commercials: Broadcast/Cable/Internet
 Industrials/Corporate : Websites
 Legit Theatre: Cable/Theatrical Exhibition
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
3
Thousands of Media Distribution Channels
…with nothing on?
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
4
Content Delivery Options
•Physical Media: DVD/Bluray
•Broadcast Television (Over The
Air/Cable)
•OTT (Internet through Cable Box)
•Video Game Platforms
(Wi/Playstation/Xbox/PC
•Digital Download/EST
•Mobile (App /Streaming)
•Motion Picture Exhibition Venues
•Virtual Reality
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
5
New Capture Technologies
“Free viewpoint” demonstrations with
content captured using 4 to 30 4K video
cameras simultaneously. Capturing TB of
Data. This technology would require new
technicians with a broad skill set.
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
6
New Capture Technologies
•S3D
•4K
•Ultra HDR (High Dynamic Range/Image)
•HFR (High Frame Rate/Image)
•High Definition
•Ultra Hi Def.
•Hi Res Cameras:
•Red Dragon
•Canon 7D/5D
•Novo
•Phantom
•Sony F5, F55 & F65
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
7
2 Cameras Are Not Enough
• 3D was just the beginning. New
technologies enable High Frame
Rates (HFR)beyond 24fps to 48fps,
60fps and may even go as high as
300fps
•Cameras that support 120fps are
available now-240 fps in 2014
•Special Cameras can support up to
3000fps at high resolution
•High Dynamic Range (HDR)
requires 2 exposures of each frame to
yield greater detail that can be
manipulated in Post
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
8
Exabyte Workflows are Coming!
•With greater amounts of data capture. Dailies of 410TB per camera per day will be common.
•Cheaper digital storage encourages the director to
keep shooting (not turning off the camera)
•Smaller and less expensive camera system encourage
3-10 cameras running simultaneously
•4K production is commonplace - 6K and even 8K
movie production is starting to appear - and 16K or
higher is being considered
•Within 10 years we could see pro video projects
generating almost 1 Exabyte of content
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
9
New Display Technologies
Within the next 10 years we could see a
display allowing you to move within the
action—leading to holodeck-like experiences.
This would require data from many different
angles rendered in real-time.
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
10
New Display/Experiential Technologies
•Oculus Rift (VR)
•Glasses Free 3D
•Location-Based Entertainment
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
11
New Storage Solutions for Professional
Data Capture & Storage
•SD Cards
•S x S Cards
•RAID SSD Systems
•Optical Disc
•On Board Camera Recorders
•Cloud/ Object-Based Storage
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
12
Content Production
Technical Job Opportunities
Cameraman/DOP) Production
Sound Mixer (Production & Post)
Sound Utility (Production)
Sound Mixer (Production & Post)
Sound Editor (Post)
Production VFX Camera (Production & Post)
Editorial/ VFX Editorial (Production & Post)
Digital Media Wrangler (Production)
Digital Imaging Technician (Production)
Game Programmer (Post)
Website Creator (Post)
Digital Media Technician (Production & Post)
Digital Cinema Packager (Post)
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
13
Post-Production Annual Demand for Editorial
Storage
• 24.7% of 2013 Survey participants said that they use cloud-based storage in their
post production (15% in 2012) and 23% of these had >1TB of cloud storage (27%
in 2012)
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
14
Content Production (VFX)
Technical Job Opportunities
Previz Artist (Production)
VFX Technicians (Post)
Roto Artist (Post)
Lighting Tech Director (Post)
Line Up (Post)
CGI Artist/Maya/Nuke/After Effects/Photoshop (Post)
3D Modeler (Post)
Rigging Technician (Post)
Shading Artist (Post)
Digital Compositor (Post)
Motion Tracker (Post)
Match Mover (Post)
Scanning & Recording Operator (Post)
Matte Painter (Post)
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
15
Content Distribution
Technical Job Opportunities
Digital Media Operator
QC Operator
Metadata Wrangler
Compressionist
Encoding Technician
Network Admin
SysAdmin
Storage Admin
Web Developer
SEO Specialist
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
16
More Compression = More Storage
 New technologies like MPEG H.265 HEVC encoding will
increase data production (up to a 50% additional
compression beyond H.264 -1/2 the size)
 Requires more processing an encode and decode
 The use of HEVC and technologies such as Adaptive
Dynamic Streaming over HTTP (DASH) enable more
content streamed over existing channels with smaller
bandwidth.
 Delivery of more higher resolution content encourages
more 4K+ production as well as higher resolution
consumer applications and generates more storage growth
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
17
More Compression = More Storage
H.265
Codec
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
18
Content Storage Costs Decline with Time
•1PB of storage using
standard 1TB HDD with
proper environment, HVAC
etc. can cost up to $1.49M for
20 years
•Tape is roughly half that
cost
•About 40% of the total cost
of preserving that 1PB of
content is realized in the
first year
•Lower costs encourage
more digitization and
larger content libraries
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
19
Content Storage Costs Decline with Time
•Lower storage costs encourage repurposing of older
media assets
•Repurposing assets generate new masters and
version to amortize the creation costs and generate
additional revenue
•Content creators duplicate assets at “edge of
Network” to provide better user experience
•All these versions and copies must be tracked and
QC’d (Quality Control)
•Increase in Digital Media Technology jobs
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
20
Who can Educate & Train for these new Careers
 Community Colleges
 Trade Schools
 Websites
 Training/Books & Certificate Testing
 4 Year Colleges & Universities
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
21
Provide Infrastructure: Hardware & Software
 Train students on hardware they will see in real-world
 Give students experience with software and
applications they need to get the jobs
 Provide an infrastructure that simulates a real-world
media production/post facility
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
22
Encourage Internships for Students
 Studios
 Broadcasters
 Post Facilities
 Video Game Creation Companies
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
23
Professional Organizations
Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers SMPTE
Society Broadcast Television Engineers
Audio Engineering Society AES
Hollywood Post Alliance HPA
Visual FX Society VFS
American Cinema Editors ACE
Motion Picture Editors Guild MPEG
American Society of Cinematographers ASC
Reach out to these organizations and start Student Chapters
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
24
Attend Trade Shows & Conferences
SMPTE Fall Conference-Hollywood
AES Conference -San Francisco
CES Show-Las Vegas
Storage Visions-Las Vegas
HPA Technology Retreat – Palm Springs
NAB-Las Vegas
Reach out to these organizations get sponsorships for attendance
by Students, Faculty and administrator
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
25
Software-Defined Systems in Media & Entertainment:
4K datasets, complex workflows, and global distribution are all pushing companies towards
the financial breaking point around their "technology spend", and it is up to the collective
engineering leadership to harness automated systems to increase utilization and avoid
wasteful, peak-load designs. Fortunately, Software-Defined Systems are poised to address
these pressure points, and more, and will soon transform how media Infrastructure is
designed, deployed and optimized.
Join us as our CSC panelists debate the "state of readiness" for Software-Defined
technologies and deployments, and discuss if "the machines are ready to program the
machines.”
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
26
Here is a code for Administrators,
Faculty and Students to get $150 off
early registration for CS 2014
(this ends on June 20):
https://cs2014.eventbrite.com/?
discount=onehundredoff516381
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
27
Thank you for the opportunity to share my
thoughts with you.
Steven B. Cohen, Solutions Architect
Daystrom Technology Group
Cell: 310-920-1008
Email: steven.cohen@daystrom.com
4/13/2015
S. Cohen-Digital Media Conference
28