Come together, in tech-rich creativity

Stop gatekeeping technology and focus on creating media-driven experiences, says Martin Izzard, head of media & entertainment at tech PR Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

It’s time to stop gatekeeping technology. Over the last few years, we’ve seen technologies from the AV industry, the broadcast space, filmmaking and gaming all come together in different ways to deliver new and exciting ways of creating, managing and delivering media. So instead of gatekeeping those technologies, they should be shared so everyone can take advantage of them.

The term 'media' has been used by those industries in different ways for years. Instead, it should be brought together and looked at as a singular term alongside what it enables; rich and immersive experiences.

Media Experiences

A great example of how sectors can come together to create some great media experiences can be seen across the VFX and post production industry. With competition in the film and TV space fiercer than it’s ever been, the VFX/ post production studios doing the best are the ones who have moved into the AV space. You can now see their work in corporate installations, retail spaces, themed attractions or other immersive experiences.

Theme park attractions are a particularly interesting thing to look at as a proof point. We saw complaints from enthusiasts a few years back (guilty!) that screen-based media was making rides boring or less immersive. But now, screen-based media is being integrated with physical elements in interesting ways. Holographic displays, interactive or ‘gamified’ real-time media, projectionmapping – all staples of the AV industry – are now being bolstered by visuals from the same studios that deliver VFX and animation for the biggest cinematic blockbusters.

One area that could do with some more cohesion is virtual production. AV, filmmaking, post production, VFX and broadcast have all tried to ‘claim’ virtual production as their own technology. There are of course major differences in the roll-out of VP techniques depending on where it’s going and what it’s doing, but in any regard, this is an area that needs to be much more joined up.

Virtual Production

Virtual production takes lots of cool bits of technology from all those different sectors and allows its users to deliver something so much better than the sum of its parts. Content management systems and displays from AV, the highest-quality 2D assets and 3D environments from VFX and post production, and real-time and live production tech from games and broadcast.

What I saw at a recent broadcast-driven show this year was the broadcast sector talking about virtual production like it was all their doing. And the people who were talking about it from a perspective of creating filmmaking or immersive experiences were sort of the outsiders. What I’d love to see, as we head out to InfoComm this month, is an opening of the doors to a much broader range of visitor from all these different sectors to see what everyone can learn from everyone else.

So, stop gatekeeping technologies. Instead, peek over the fence to see what you can learn from other sectors so we can all create the best possible media experiences, wherever they are.