Re: The Fog Thickens

[Andrew Richards] "What gives? If every film and TV pro is flocking back to Avid, why are they back in the red? Was everyone waiting for CS6 to hop to Premiere? Does Smoke 2013 change everything?

I feel like this NAB asks more questions than it answers for me. What about you?

Best,
Andy
"

From my conversations during NAB I heard the opposite of any "flocking" behavior in any direction.

We got tons of sizzle this year. (clearly more resolution at lower prices on cameras are a rapidly accelerating technological fact) and a lot of spin.

But this year, underneath the well-earned buzz of Smoke, the Black Magic Camera, the CS6 rebuild et al - what I saw on the show floor was very, VERY retro.

Lots and lots of guys in suits making the traditional contacts, deals and relationships to move as much product out the door as possible - and the vast majority of it has nothing to do with me.

My interests are not the core interests of NAB and haven't been since I worked in Broadcasting in my early career.

NAB is still actually a "wholesalers" convention at it's core. In previous years, consumers, prosumers and even significant but still relatively small players like creative boutiques, ad agencies or production houses use the show to scout for solutions - but the real bulk of NAB has always been that it's a "trade show" in the classic sense.

Which reminded me that what I think is "important" is a smaller part of a small part of the big picture that is "the production industry."

Evolutions or even "revolutions" in this stuff can make my life easier or harder for few years now and then. But it's the "long game" that matters.

I was joking on day one from the airport that the theme this year is "everything changes everything" but on reflection, after the show, that was silly.

Nothing changes everything, because "everything is" unchangeable. Its too overpoweringly massive and complex to ever understand.

Something can change what *I* do. If they target me properly. And manufactures certainly "wish" they could move the industry to their will, but only a small handful can and even those ebb and flow in clout.

Perhaps BlackMagic shook the beast this year. Good for them. From their presence at NAB (right near Apple's old space near the South Hall front door) they generated the new eras most valuable commodity - buzz.

But for how long?

Morgan Spurlock noted in his Supermeet presentation that ephemeral thing we call "buzz" has a shorter and shorter life cycle these days. He noted that about 2 weeks is all you can even hope for before something ELSE is the "next big thing" in peoples brains.

He struck me as a pretty darn smart guy.

So I'm going to try to be a bit more "reflective" and a bit less "reactive" this year.

That seems a better bet for long term results.

Personally, other than the Supermeet craziness of last night (way too much to go into here) the most "fun" I've had was actually that initial meeting of a few "or Not" folk. Walter Soyka and I even sat together for most of the Supermeet program last night (when I wasn't bouncing all over heck and back trying to help put on the show.

And as cool as forum participation is, nothing meets sitting down with people to talk about the past, present and future of an industry we all enjoy.

That's been the whole point, after all. The studying the things we use is all well and good. But the people are where the real value always resides.

Time to lace up the Asics - the show awaits.

"Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions."-Justice O'Connor