2nd Symposium 2009

SATURDAY, 23 May 2009

09.15 – 09.45
Registration

09.45 – 10.30
Welcome & Introduction

10.30 – 11.00
Rescue Remedy

• Tom Koch, PBS International, USA

The size of this year’s MIPTV catalogue said it all. There could have been no greater indication of the state of the global economy. Broadcasters, distributors and producers cut their participation drastically, leaving the usually heavy MIP compendium light enough to carry around all week - instead of having to dump it on the first day! The last time the halls were so empty was following 9/11 or when SARS hit. But what’s the real story behind the market? Tom Koch offers his take on how the current situation will play out as well as offering tips for surviving the times.

11.00 – 11.30
Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.30
Go 360!

• Alex Connock, Ten Alps Plc, UK

Just come to the end of another one hour doc? All of that hard work – a year or more to raise the finance, another few months rewriting treatments- and you were probably exhausted before you even started the shoot! Take a moment to think how you can get the most out of your effort. Change your perspective, go 360. If anyone can clue you in on how to take your concept beyond the boundaries of your imagination it’s Alex Connock, Chief Executive of the UK-based group Ten Alps - the factual media company. Be ready - Alex has a surprise or two up his sleeve….

12.30 – 13.00
Wild Man on Campus

• Mark Wild, National Geographic Channel, USA

National Geographic Channel has answered the recession with a move to expand production domestically and internationally. Mark Wild, who previously served as director of production and development for Animal Planet International, has been chosen to oversee development of international coproductions and partnerships for NGT. In this role he will develop television specials and series with independent producers based outside North America. Find out how he intends to conduct his search for new talent and new stories.

13.00 – 14.30
Lunch Break

14.30 – 15.00
Crossover

• Frank Boyd, Unexpected Media, UK
• Jonas Klevhag, Klevhag Media Produktion AB, Sweden
• Heather Leach, Gingerarmy, UK

Crossover is an international workshop of labs and networking events designed to explore the creative and commercial challenges of developing content and services for digital media. Experienced and talented professionals from different sectors of the audio-visual industries (film, TV, games, mobile, new media) work alongside a group of mentors to develop ideas for innovative cross-platform programmes, products or services. Crossover alumni give us a debrief of their experience.

15.00 – 16.30
Ease the Squeeze

• Laura Fleury, A&E Television Networks, USA
• Olaf Grunert, ARTE G.E.I.E., France
• Barbara Truyen, VPRO, The Netherlands

European and US broadcasters showcase their programmes, then turn the tables to fill us in on how they deal with smaller budgets despite the pressure to stay on top. Our panel of experts will discuss how they find their natural partners - and financing – in spite of hard times. Does the burden of greater workloads, fewer commissions and less travel affect the relationship between commissioners and producers? Or is there a way we can work together to ease the squeeze?

16.30 – 17.00
Coffee Break

17.00 – 18.00
Faster, Leaner, Keener, Meaner?

• Andrew Buchanan, UK

Andrew Buchanan (BBC, Partridge, Granada Wild) and Neill Campbell a specialist in Computer Vision and Graphics from Bristol University are trying to create a computer programme that will spit out formatted programmes at the push of a button. Could this be real? Whatever happened to creativity and what other computer solutions have they got up their sleeves. Andrew will give details of how they plan to crack the automatic editing of digitised footage.
(He's prepared for lots of people to shout that they’re destroying the ‘craft’.)

He’ll also ask the assembled documentary filmmakers what problems they’ve got that computer science might be able to help solve.

18.00 – 19.30
Screening: Waltz With Bashir
directed & written by Ari Folman, produced by Les Films d’Ici, Razor and Noga Communications – Channel 8 in coproduction with Arte France and ITVS International. In collaboration with the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema & T.V., Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Israel Film Fund, HOT Telecommunication system Ltd., Format: HDCAM - 35mm, 2008 (86’)

Waltz with Bashir documents the struggle of the filmmaker, Ari Folman, to come to terms with the gaps in his memory surrounding the part he played in the first Lebanese war and the 1982 massacre of Palestinian civilians in the West Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Waltz with Bashir uses vivid, hand-drawn animation to bring to life interviews Folman conducted with friends who were involved in the Lebanese war in the early 1980s to bring to life harrowing memories of death, guilt and regret.

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SUNDAY, 24 May 2009

10.00 – 11.00
Case Study: Waltz With Bashir

• Charlotte Uzu, Les Films d’Ici, France

Walz with Bashir was a challenging documentary story to tell. When Ari Folman decided that the best way to put it in images was to use animation, it fell upon the producer, Les Films d’Ici, to find the right animation studio and to persuade broadcasters and other distributors that this project had legs. No easy feat. Charlotte Uzu gives us the story of the story: behind the scene of the production.

11.00 – 11.30
Coffee Break

11.30 – 12.30
3D or not 3D?

• JP Hersey, Red Vision, UK
• Cat Lewis, Nine Lives Media, UK

CGI often defines big budget, blue chip productions. For smaller productions it can be the first line in a budget that a broadcaster will ask to be cut. So how can you afford to use CGI? With this dilemma in mind we join Cat and JP as they explore the reality of the situation through a hypothetical that will broaden your creative options. Find out what independent producer Cat can and can’t have for her money as JP showcases the latest CGI techniques.

12.30 – 13.00
Case Study: ARTE 360°
How broadcasters utilise 360°. A case study of ARTE’s Twenty Show.

• Sascha Hartmann, ARTE France, France
• Bruno Nahon, Zadig Productions, France

Until now, broadcasters have been thinking about projects in terms of the television programme first, then what potential it might have on the internet and other media. ARTE decided to do it the other way round with “The Twenty Show”. Sascha Hartman, ARTE’s webmaster, and Bruno Nahon, producer of the Twenty Show will explain how the process evolved, from the first idea for webisodes, to the ultimate 70-minute broadcast on the channel in mid-May.

13.00 – 14.30
Lunch Break

14.30 – 15.30
Test Drive: PortalVideo

• Amy Greenlaw, PortalVideo, USA
• Len Sitomer, PortalVideo, USA (via Skype)

PortalVideo has been designed to make the rough cut process easier by using an internet-based video editing application. Its creators claim it accelerates the rough cut process, allows for more efficient collaboration and allows businesses to handle more projects at the one time! Amy Greenlaw and Len Sitomer join us (Amy in person and Len via Skype) to give a hands on demo so you can be the judge.

15.30 – 17.00
Stayin’ Alive

• Ali Hossaini, Pantar, USA
• Vardan Hovhannisyan, Bars Media, Armenia
• Annette Scheurich, Marco Polo Film, Germany
• Charlotte Uzu, Les Films d’Ici, France

From the Ararat Valley to Heidelberg, from the small to the large, factual programme makers from beyond the UK come to share their experiences. How have they changed their production strategies to survive? What adjustments have they had to make above and below the line? Is it simply a matter of doing more for less or have they made a more intrinsic shift in their approach to filmmaking? Feel free to talk about your own experiences, get it all off your chest, ready to be faster, leaner, keener and meaner….tomorrow.

17.00
Farewell

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The programme is still subject to change.

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Concept:
- Ann Julienne, Audiovisual Consultant, Paris, France
- Ruth Berry, Producer / Director, Munich, Germany

Moderation:
- Rudy Buttignol, President & CEO, Knowledge Network, British Columbia's Public Educational Broadcaster, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada