Event
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Digital Cinema and 3D: Business, Production, and Distribution Trends

Speaker Bios:

Marty Shindler, The Shindler Perspective, Inc. Moderator/Meeting Co-Producer

Our management consulting firm, The Shindler Perspective, Inc., was founded on the principle that a successful creative organization is one with the right balance of creativity and technology on a business base. In setting up our business nearly 10 years ago, we concluded that there were a number of companies in the entertainment industry that could benefit from our range of business oriented experience.

That experience has been gained by management roles in companies as 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lucasfilm/Industrial Light & Magic and Kodak/Cinesite. Professional service work includes the past 10 years of independent consulting and as well as prior employment in the entertainment practice of Coopers & Lybrand (PriceWaterhouseCoopers).

Our clients represent a wide range of industry segments, representing many of the links along the entertainment and entertainment technology value chain. These include those involved in production, post production, distribution and exhibition of movies, TV and special venue projects as well as related services such as sophisticated software tools, Internet and broadband infrastructure and camera design and fabrication.

In addition to the Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH, Marty is a member of the HPA, the LA Press Club and the Visual Effects Society, where, as a member of the Awards Committee, he was responsible for the first online view and vote system.

Marty has a BS from Bentley College, MBA from Suffolk University and is a non-practicing CPA.

Visit our web site at http://www.iShindler.com

Neil Feldman, Senior Vice President, In-Three

In-Three is co-owned by Neil B. Feldman. Mr. Feldman is also the President and owner of Video Post & Transfer in Dallas, Texas, a leading video and film post production facility. Mr. Feldman holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and has 2 patents to his name. Video Post and Transfer has been the leading post production company in the southwest ever since its inception in 1981. Mr Feldman has also pioneered and pushed the technology envelope related to video and HDTV post production for well over two decades. Mr. Feldman’s Video Post & Transfer facility has done pioneering work in film to videotape image processing and in digital video (and audio) enhancements. The company manufactures the industry standard Meta-Speed Digital Servo system for film telecines. In January 2000 Mr. Feldman created yet another Post-Production facility in Santa Monica, CA called Pacific Data Post, Inc. (which was later renamed The Syndicate and is now part of the ComputerCafe Group).

Mr. Feldman is a member of the IEEE, SMPTE, SPIE, SBE, and the ITVA. He has served in a variety of positions within the SMPTE. He was Dallas Section Chairman for two consecutive terms. He was then elected as one of the Governors for the Southern Region in 1990-91. He served as an At-Large Governor in 1992 and then was re-elected Southern Governor in 1993-94. He became Financial Vice-President in 1996-97. He also served as the National Membership Chairman and on various committees (Education, Sections, Financial and Fellows) during those years.

Joshua Greer, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Real D

As co-founder and chief executive officer, Joshua Greer brings more than 20 years of experience architecting groundbreaking digital technologies to his position at REAL D. As a visionary, Mr. Greer foresees a future in which the continued convergence of technology and entertainment results in incredible new 3D visual experiences for consumers. Mr. Greer's business acumen and unique brand of technology savvy lead to the foundation of REAL D, which is creating the platinum standard for the delivery of premium 3D visual experiences for entertainment and other industries.

 
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Mr. Greer's passion for 3D was ignited while working with Academy Award® winner James Cameron on "Ghosts of the Abyss" when Mr. Greer designed the first all-digital 3D projection system for Walden Media, an entertainment studio co-founded by Mr. Greer and backed by Phil Anschutz. Based on the audience's enthusiastic response to the film, Mr. Greer decided to focus on the development of stereoscopic digital projection systems, ultimately leading to the creation of REAL D.

Prior to his work with Walden Media, Mr. Greer served as President of Digital Domain New Media, the award-winning interactive arm of the special effects facility. Under Mr. Greer's direction, the company produced the first web-based full-motion interactive public service announcement for General Motors' "Concept Cure" campaign.

As a pioneer in interactive entertainment, Mr. Greer co-founded Digital Planet in 1994, the award-winning web and DVD production company that created more than 300 major websites for companies such as Universal Pictures, MGM, Sony, 20th Century Fox and more. Under Mr. Greer's leadership as chairman and CEO, Digital Planet launched the first-ever web-based movie site for MGM's feature film "Stargate." Digital Planet was also the first company chosen to design the first-ever DVD interfaces, eventually producing more than 400 titles for Warner Bros., Sony and 20th Century Fox.

Glenn Kennel, DLP Cinema, Texas Instruments

Glenn Kennel works for the DLP Cinema group of Texas Instruments in a role that includes technology and business development. His primary focus is working with the industry and digital cinema suppliers on interoperability and standardization. In a twenty year career with Kodak, he led the development of the Cineon digital film scanners and laser recorders and the prototype HDTV telecine that became the Spirit Datacine. As a consultant, he has helped DCI draft the technical specifications for digital cinema. Kennel also chairs the SMPTE DC28 Color Ad Hoc Group.

Jon Landau, Lightstorm Entertainment

Jon Landau is an Academy Award-winning producer who has played a significant role in many major motion pictures. In addition to producing James Cameron’s Titanic, with his Lightstorm Entertainment partners Cameron and Rae Sanchini, Landau produced Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris. Previously, he co-produced Dick Tracy, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and produced Campus Man for Paramount Pictures. He has also served as Executive Vice President of Feature Film Production at Twentieth Century Fox, supervising production of films like Die Hard 2, Mrs. Doubtfire, and True Lies. At Lightstorm, Landau is currently supervising the development of a broad slate of projects including Fantastic Voyage and Battle Angel Alita based on the graphic novel series by Yokito Kishiro.

Walt Ordway, CTO Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI)

Walt is the Chief Technology Officer at Digital Cinema Initiatives, DCI, the consortium founded by the 7 major Hollywood Studios. He’s been in this position since it started in July 2002, and his primarily focus has been on the creation of the DCI digital cinema specification. The final version of the DCI specification was published on 27 July 2005.

Prior to that, Walt had been in retirement since 1997.

Prior to his retirement, Walt had worked 30 years for Hughes Electronics, where his primary duties had been in the areas of program management and business development. While in the commercial segment of Hughes, he developed the Hughes Digital Cinema business plan and an end-to-end architecture, utilizing a satellite delivery system (1993-1995).

He also served as the Director of the Development Lab at DirecTV International (1996), responsible for the support of two major DirecTV satellite broadcast systems: Galaxy Latin America, deployed to Central and South America, and DirecTV Japan, deployed to Japan.

He also served as a VP at DIRECTV domestic (1997), involved in investigating system performance as it related to transmission enhancements.

His 24 years in the aerospace segment were primarily spent overseeing the development of major defense systems.

George Scheckel, QuVis

George Scheckel, Jr., Vice President of Digital Cinema & Business Development for QuVIS, Inc., has been a key member of the management team during company formation and product development and now supports QuVIS West Coast branch sales and marketing activities from LA focusing on advancing QuVIS imaging technology with key customers.

Since 1996 he has developed relationships with leading industry companies including the major studios, production and post-production operations. He has been a speaker and panelist at trade conferences and expositions and has consulted on QuBit applications worldwide, including Digital Cinema, 3D, fixed site installations, post-production, content production and image distribution

QuVIS Inc., is the leading provider of hi fidelity high resolution motion imaging technology. The QuVIS line of servers, recorders and players provide guaranteed image quality using Quality Priority Encoding, (QPE™). QuVIS also offers optional JPEG2000, MXF, secure encryption and key management for a complete end to end digital cinema solution. QuVIS offers servers for real-time mastering and recording of content for SD through 4K for production, post production, digital dailies, digital cinema exhibition, simulation and large screen displays. The ASIC version of QPE, embodied in the QuVIS Digital Mastering Codec (QDMC™), offers new capabilities for the image storage, analysis and communication industries and is available for OEM and licensing applications. For information contact QuVIS, Inc., 2921 Wanamaker Drive, Suite 107, Topeka, KS 66614, (785) 272-3656, or visit quvis.com.

Steve Schklair, Cobalt Entertainment

Steve Schklair is the founder of Cobalt Entertainment, a company that anticipated the arrival of digital cinema, and has developed the technologies necessary to acquire, record, and even transmit live-action real-time digital stereoscopic (3D) content. Cobalt’s early vision has enabled the Company to soar ahead of its competition through the development and protection of many of the key technologies that will be critical to the growth of the 3DHD industry over the next five years and beyond.

As the emerging industry leader and a compelling speaker, Cobalt’s Steve Schklair is in demand as a keynote or leading speaker at such major industry events as Stereoscopic Displays and Applications, American Advertising Federation and the China Themed Entertainment Summit. Other organizations at whose events he has spoken are iHollywood, Giant Screen Theater Association, Large Format Cinema Association, Hollywood Post Alliance, Siggraph, and the TED Conference.

Schklair is currently slated to join industry luminaries such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, James Cameron, Matt Groening, Quincy Jones, and Dick Wolf as a speaker at the upcoming EG conference, which is the new event designed and hosted by TED founder Richard Saul Wurman (http://www.eg2006.com/).

Through his knowledge of and passion for the technology, Schklair’s evangelizing has contributed significantly to the growth of 3D. Recent projects have included a trailer for NFL Films that was shot on the field at Super Bowl XXXVIII in HD 3D, a 12 minute 3D special presentation for Toyota and a current project for Grundig.

Charles S. Swartz, Executive Director/CEO, Entertainment Technology Center at USC

Charles S. Swartz assumed his current position at the ETC-USC in 2002, where he has refocused and recharged the research center. Swartz began his career as head of production at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and EVP of acquisition and production of Dimension Pictures, which he co-founded. Swartz developed strategy for media and entertainment in subsequent positions at UCLA Extension’s Department of Entertainment Studies, Anderson Consulting (now Accenture), and e-business consulting firm Sapient.