6:00 pm - What's the BuZZ?

6:06 pm - Steve Griffiths and Carey Dissmore - Organizers MediaMotion Ball at NAB

The 9th Annual MediaMotion Ball (MMB) will be held Monday April 24th at the Stardust Casino and Hotel Las Vegas from 6pm. This event is brought to you by members of the International Media Users Group and the AE-List - totally independent, non-profit and volunteer organizations.

The MMB, now a tradition at NAB, is for media professionals who work in post production and motion graphics. Everyone is welcome. The ticket price includes a multi-course buffet meal, entry onto the prize draw and the opportunity to mix with your peers. Advance tickets are $49.

Steve Griffiths (IMUG co-chair) has been in the television and film production field for 20 years starting with live variety TV and Australia's version of Candid Camera in the early 80's. In the mid 80's Steve spent several years touring with international performers such as David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the final performances of 'The Police' providing giant screen video coverage. Steve is also a partner in Visionlink a production company formed in 1988 and based in Sydney Australia. Visionlink has a wide ranging roster of clients from large corporates to event managers. Work in early 2001 includes clients IBM, Dell Computers, Pizza Hut/KFC and Cable and Wireless Optus.

Steve also directed the very first 'concert' version of 'Les Miserables' for the Australian Bicentennial in 1988 at Sydney's outdoor 'Domain' with an audience of 70,000. Recently Steve was director of Stadium coverage for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Paralympic Games in 2000. Steve has just begun teaching After Effects at Sydney's Computer Graphics College. The Internet has created communication and collaboration on a scale never seen before. Steve see's IMUG's role to facilitate that collaboration within and beyond the internet community. Happily married to Jane, Steve has 3 dogs, 2 horses, chickens, ducks and a Ducati.

Carey Dissmore (IMUG chair emeritus) has been passionately involved in film and video production his entire life. A filmmaker from age 7, he began his professional career in 1985 at a television station in Kenosha, WI. In 1990 Carey relocated to Minneapolis, MN to start Carey Dissmore Productions. Carey has shot and/or edited for many national network programs, particularly newsmagazines such as Dateline NBC, 20/20, 60 minutes and Primetime LIVE.

Carey Dissmore Productions currently serves a diverse clientele: medical, broadcast, agencies, airlines and more, providing film/video, animation, internet/web/interactive production services. Carey has received numerous Addy, ACE and Telly awards for his work. He is happily married to his lovely wife, Donnetta.

Carey has been a Media 100 user and active on the Media 100 list since 1995. He co-founded the International Media 100 Users Group in 1997. He is committed to the IMUG, as well as his local users group. In March 2000, he helped launch the IMUG Media 100 list, migrating existing subscribers and offering tremendous improvement to this essential community resource.

6:21 pm - Pick our Brains

Your chance to get your technical and creative questions answered. This week we talked about: Questions about future development of Final Cut Pro, What writing tool to use.

6:32 pm - Aaton Cohen-Sitt and Ethan Markowitz - Cofounders Jungle Software - Gorrilla Film Production Management software

Aaton Cohen-Sitt is a graduate of the Columbia University Film School in New York City and graduated in 1989. He has written seven feature-length screenplays and directed several short films, including Dr. Ded Bug, an award-winning film that has been aired on Showtime and the Movie Channel. Aaton has been working in the film industry for over 15 years, both independently and at companies such as Miramax Films, Orion Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox. In 2000, he co-founded Stolen Apple Productions, LLC, a production company based in Studio City, CA that was created to foster projects that synergized technology and film.

Ethan Markowitz is a graduate of the Northwestern University film school and has worked as an advertisement agency producer, and as an executive for the feature film director Roland Joffé. Ethan currently travels the country presenting seminars on independent film production.

Aaton and Ethan design software for filmmakers because they are filmmakers -- independent filmmakers who know what is needed to make an independent film. The software that was on the market at the time they started creating Gorilla:

• did not do everything we needed it to do;
• was not completely compatible with each other, and;
• way too expensive for our budget.

Since they are software developers by day and filmmakers by night (and weekends), they knew how to build better software. So, during pre-production and production on their own film, they took a look at the software they created and thought that other independent filmmakers out there might benefit from it. They spent the next year and a half programming, refining, adding more features and testing the software... and a Gorilla™ was born.

6:50 pm - BuZZ in Depth

We'll take the important BuZZ from the week and look at it in depth so you know what's really important now, and what will become important in the future.