Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

Envy began to attack mercilessly at my conscience as the red carpet led me through brilliantly illuminated composite cubicles holding DV treasures that promoted creative ease and excellence. I was definitely deep within the belly of the DV beast. On my first press assignment, I couldn't afford to become entranced and lose myself in the spectacle, but I did anyways.

In its' entirety, the DV Expo provided amateurs, pros, and enthusiasts with an ideal environment for educating themselves on what to expect in the upcoming months from some of their favorite developers/manufacturers. That is of course with the exception of JVC's absence. Where was JVC anyway?

Before I could draw any conclusions, I overheard the same question surface between a few other onlookers at the Canon booth, but all questioning soon silenced after realizing we were next to test the XL2 on a couple of hot models posing for the camera, or were they actually posing for us...?

At any rate, with or without JVC, the Expo carried on without a glitch; Canon, Panasonic, and Sony had no trouble handling the event on their terms. Without a self-proclaimed "Victor" in the wings promoting HDV at a DV Expo, the other manufacturers would have the advantage of emphasizing media format advances, 24P, 16:9, low light capabilities, and many other finely tuned advances.

Apple, Avid, Adobe, Sony, and Discreet all brilliantly highlighted their DV editing, authoring, and effects programs throughout the event.

Interestingly stationed on the same corner, Apple and Adobe reaffirmed their increasingly competitive relationship with equally consistent attendance numbers, followed closely by Sony, while Avid and Discreet respectively rounded out the numbers.

Apple is beginning to branch out into Adobe's territory with an enhanced product line that features their new effects program, Motion. Having this new application bundled with Final Cut Pro HD, Soundtrack, and DVD Studio Pro 3, Apple can now provide its' users with an interoperable software package that seriously rivals the PC competition.

Avid's Express Studio was probably the most dynamic PC editing suite to do battle at the Expo, but the high price points push economic editors into Adobe's arms.

Meanwhile, Sony exhibited Vegas 5 + DVD Architect, and Discreet showcased Cleaner and Combustion; a high quality encoding and conversion application, and an advanced editing and effects program.

Andrew Laszlo and Jacob Mason at Studentfilmmakers.com

After stepping away from the madness, I was fortunate enough to spend some time talking with Andrew Laszlo/ASC, who did a wonderful job at the expo. We spoke for a while about the progression of filmmaking in general, from the birth of Panavision, and the overwhelming emergence of DV.

The DV Expo was a great experience all around, and was well worth it. So, with tons of free DV literature crammed into my complimentary DV Expo Press Bag, I leave the DV Expo with an interesting outlook on the future of digital production, and hope to actually use some of the products Ive already fallen in love with.