Jerome De Baecque (He-Him)

The recent NAB conference showcased many companies promoting AI as a magical solution that would revolutionize the industry. Unfortunately, many of these so-called "magic buttons" were underwhelming, providing only marginal improvements to existing tools. It's important for people to understand that subjectivity and creativity are difficult to replicate, and it will take a long time before machines can truly replace humans. That being said, incorporating machine learning into products can enhance human capabilities and improve efficiency. It's crucial to recognize that AI is not a substitute for human input, but rather a tool to augment it. Let's continue to push the boundaries of technology while valuing the unique contributions of human creativity. #AI #MachineLearning #HumanEnhancement #NAB2024 #VFXartists

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Introducing Stability AI’s Stable Fast 3D Exciting news from Stability AI! The launch of Stable Fast 3D is set to shake the world of 3D rendering and visualization. This innovative technology promises to deliver high-quality 3D graphics with unprecedented speed and efficiency, opening up new possibilities for industries ranging from gaming and film to architecture and product design. What is Stable Fast 3D? Stable Fast 3D is an advanced 3D rendering engine developed by Stability AI. It leverages cutting-edge algorithms and machine learning techniques to provide rapid, high-fidelity 3D visualizations. This breakthrough technology significantly reduces the time required for rendering complex scenes, making high-quality 3D content more accessible and cost-effective.

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The Australian screen industry has been waiting for nearly ten years for the Australian Government to regulate digital streaming platforms for the benefit of Australian audiences. With legislation on the horizon, now is the critical time to get the details right. WHY IS REGULATION NEEDED? In short: Australian audiences deserve to see Australian stories on screen. Regulation is needed to ensure that, like other platforms, streaming services fulfil their mutual obligation to invest in minimum levels of Australian content now and in the future. This will bring streaming services into a regulatory system for Australian screen content that has served audiences and our industry so well for the past 70 years and deliver on a promise made to us in our National Cultural Policy, Revive. Audiences are currently able to see some great Australian stories on their screens and we want to know that this will continue into the future, irrespective of offshore business decisions. HOW CAN I GE INVOLVED? In the coming months when laws to debate this issue are in Parliament, we need your help. Everything you do to support our campaign helps us and our industry. We have tough, influential, and well-resourced opponents, and so we need you to use your own voice to support our efforts.

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FOMO of not being able to grab time at the #YellaUmbrella booth at #NAB2024 (West Hall — W3921V — PropelME)? Missing out on all the juicy #Subtitle, #audiodescription, #dubbing and #voiceover technology? Maybe you didn't get to NAB? Well, no problem, just email sales at yellaumbrella.tv, and we'll arrange a time for discussion after the show. YellaUmbrella have developed #nebula and #stellar over the last 7 years to enable subtitling to be good again, and at prices that anyone can afford - pure pay per use, so your costs match your productivity, and that productivity can be higher with Yella. Automated processing and sharing of tasks with staff or freelancers - no more file transfers - and integration of world leading #media #AI tools to ensure you always have access to your choice of the best services. Plus, use your own cloud storage for DRM protected assets, your own cloud compute for the servicing of tasks - own your data. Oh, and did I mention Audio Description & Dubbing? Well, I don't need to really, you should already know that Stellar is probably the most comprehensive tool for that... including for highly adaptable TTS.

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A teaser for our upcoming feature-film 'The New Peasants'! Please check out our page on Documentary Australia if you're keen to help this film be made: https://lnkd.in/gaQbUrea The New Peasants provides an intimate look into the life of Meg, Patrick, and their son Woody. A family who, for 20 years, have been transitioning away from modern industrial culture toward a radically simple, sustainable, and beautiful way of life. Building upon our two previous short films with this family – Creatures of Place (2.4 million views) and From Weedy Forests (2.1M views) – this feature film dives deep into their story in a way we haven’t captured before. Concerns about the industrial food system and environmental crises provided the family’s initial motivation to live differently. Now it’s 15 years since they’ve eaten food from a supermarket or owned a car. They intentionally live below the poverty line, meeting 80% of their needs without using money – yet they’re rich in so many ways. Wealth is found in their cellar of preserved foods, connections with community, saved seeds, homesteading skills and the time to focus on what really matters in life. This film offers insight into the unfolding journey of a family rejecting the mainstream culture and working to create a new one. A culture and economy that draw on ways of the past while stepping joyfully into the future. For everything they’ve let go, something has been gained. With every challenge, something learned. The environmental, social, and economic challenges the world is facing are better understood and more widely discussed now than ever before, but many of us lack a vision for what we can do to address them. This is one family’s response to the predicament of our time, offering an inspiring glimpse into the kind of future, culture, and economy we can create. This family’s way of living shows that transformative change begins at the home and community level and that we can all participate in creating a better world.

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Read about the recent animation we made!

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Two shifts in the global landscape of film tax incentives already this month: 1. AUSTRALIA Australia is nearly doubling their offering from 16.5% to 30% for productions with budgets of at least AUS$20 million (US$13.3 million) for production, or AUS$1.5 million (US$1 million) per hour for a TV series. ”With the offset, the country is looking to keep pace with the U.S., U.K., Canada and other top international production hubs in drawing Hollywood movies and TV series for local shoots” says the Hollywood Reporter. This can be combined with up to 15% from state and territory incentives. Details on Australian VFX credits here: https://lnkd.in/gp7zKQ-F 2. GERMANY Germany has a 30% rebate lined up for its 2025 budget too, pending approval by their Cabinet. “Industry groups have been lobbying Berlin for months to improve the country’s incentive system, complaining that Germany is no longer competitive with neighboring European countries with more generous programs.“ They're not wrong. On top of their 30% rebate, France already applies a 10% bonus for VFX-intensive projects with more than €2M of VFX-related eligible French expenditure. Once the €2M threshold is passed, the 40% tax rebate applies on all of a project's eligible spends, including live action spends which are not VFX-related. Which France needs to do to keep pace with generous incentives in the UK. Local industries rightly celebrate the positive impact these changes are going to have for them. At the same time, keep in mind that tax incentives create artificial economic conditions which last only as long as the incentives are in place. Sébastien Moreau of Rodeo FX put it succinctly: "Unfortunately, despite the immense talent in Quebec, a region's competitiveness is determined by tax incentives." That’s true of any region today when it comes to the big budget Hollywood productions that drive the global VFX industry, including Hollywood's local industry in California. #vfx #vfxjobs #taxincentives https://lnkd.in/gUe49afk https://lnkd.in/gDjVxxJw

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LALICORN conveniently transformed Statrys’ small meeting room into a Youtube Creator studio : This is the Behind The Scenes ⬇️ Soundproofing the train sounds from the window out, advising and setting up light, camera and sound equipment, providing media training, implementing the creative branding. An artistic direction isn't just about aesthetics; it's a carefully crafted narrative that creates a meaningful message for your brand. Dive into the ideas behind Lalicorn’s creative direction for Statrys. For more info, follow us on https://lnkd.in/gp_4jREH Statrys reached our video expertise to level up their SEO! Videos have become a game-changer for website SEOs! Studies show visitors spend over twice as long on pages with video content. This increased engagement signals quality to search engines, boosting rankings. Videos also keep people explore website, reducing bounce rates. Et voilà ! Dive into the world of Online Banking with this educational video we've crafted for Statrys! Thanks Bertrand Theaud , Beatrice OZANNE and team for your trust. #creativity #management #digitalmarketing #careers #socialmedia #socialnetworking #branding #personalbranding #technology #future #businessintelligence #fintech #entrepreneurship #startups #innovation #bankingindustry #money #markets

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This live broadcast use case of studio AR/MR using Unreal Engine & Pixotope (was The Future Group) from the The Weather Channel is - 6 years old! (2018) yet is still wowing audiences for the first time, today. The reason it has aged so well is that it is a fantastic use case for live on screen visual storytelling using the right virtual production technology and softwares for deeper audience education and immersion. The use of cutting edge visual technologies is only fantastic IF they enhance the viewer experience, otherwise it becomes merely an expensive production gimmick. This is why combinations of the best broadcast virtual production tools, content designers and strategic consultancy services are crucial to unearth the best features and use cases that will truly resonate with audiences as virtual production technology develops even further. Something i'm proud that Hypothesis Media are continuing to shape with broadcast visual innovation alongside our expert partners across the industry. #AR #MR #LiveBroadcast #ImmersiveStorytelling #UnrealEngine #Pixotope

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🐝 Want to lead culture rather than ride the coattails? 🌸 Cross-pollination might be your secret weapon. Last Thursday, at an event held by ARIA - Australian Recording Industry Association and Sony Music Entertainment for #OurSoundtrackOurAds, Ricky Simandjuntak made a great observation: "There's a tendency for us to silo ourselves. I see the opportunity right now for [the advertising and music industries] to be working really closely together: The best cities are the one where you see cross-pollination. You go to New York or London and see the fashion kids with the music kids with the design kids with the sports kids. Look at the NBA: that's an amazing intersection of so many different things beyond just selling basketball. There's a massive opportunity to cross between product and lifestyle by asking ourselves: how are we telling the story?" Spot on. Cross-pollination is sadly uncommon in our market. But Australian brands have an opportunity change the narrative by leaning into local music, film, fashion, art and sport to tell our stories. Why bother? Because when it comes to changing behaviour, cross-pollination works. Want some theory to back it up? Start with Dr. Robert Cialdini's principle of social proof, highlighting how we look to others to determine our behaviour, with creators of culture serving as powerful social proof of a shared belief. Why do shared beliefs matter? Ask Dr. Marcus Collins, he calls what we're talking about cultural intersectionality: the blending of different cultural domains to create richer narratives by uniting various tribes under shared beliefs. Tribes are groups that share common interests, values and cultural characteristics; bonded through shared experiences and consumption. They determine far more behaviour than any demographic or persona a marketer can invent. Using cross-pollination and social proof to tell a more authentic story and unite more tribes means more people willing to act for your brand. Kimberlé Crenshaw originally coined intersectionality in 1989 by showing how overlapping social identities drive unique experiences and opportunities. In today's hyper-connected world, we’re only overlapping more. This is what you've probably heard called the "flattening of the curve". Simply: people are less concentrated in the mainstream middle. That's more unique tribes and more opportunity for you. It’s no wonder music is such a powerful driver of intersectionality, just look at the origin of hip hop, described by Dr Murray Forman as driven by connective marginalities: the vibrant spaces created by marginalised communities that allow for the blending of diverse influences – like spoken word, sampling and dance – to foster expressive, innovative subcultures that give a voice to underrepresented groups. Sound familiar? It’s cross-pollination, starting at the fringe and snowballing through shared beliefs to create a global movement 🌏 🚀 #Culture #BrandStrategy #Sociology #AusMusic

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The New LumaAI Dream Machine – Image/text-to-video tool stands out 👏🏻! I just made a quick test with some Midjourney-generated images of mine, and the results hint why it’s the best in its class, available right now: • The movement and continuity are on a new level compared to Runway + many other tools. • It’s easy to use, with no need to tweak much -> New success rate in the video generation roulette! • Tip: I built the clips by creating the prompts in GPT - based on the photos, which helped generate a high-quality short prompt to add the desired movement to the images. • It’s already up & running, and the pricing also for heavy users seems reasonable: https://lnkd.in/dCd823ur What does it mean? If you have a real or generated photo, you can "dream" the establishing shot or an illustrative clip that sets the scene. Yet, you would need to upres the clips though in another tool. Further, as these solutions will be integrated into Premiere soon, making prototypes of creative story ideas will be FAST. #LumaAI #AI #VideoGeneration #AItools #VideoEditing

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Got the opportunity to chat and record a podcast for No Film School with Grant Petty, the CEO of Blackmagic Design, at the NAB Show this year. If you're curious about the new Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K camera, or the future of AI in video, check it out as we cover a wide range of topics, including: -Developing the URSA Cine with a post-production mindset -Zero-cost options from Blackmagic for beginners -Why Grant doesn’t like to compete with others -PYXIS camera and its features -Creating products that lend to an efficient post-production workflow -Exciting new changes and updates to DaVinci Resolve 19 -Grant’s opinion on AI and the future of editing -The moment he fell in love with color correction -Feeling lonely and misunderstood -Why you have to be a ruthless, yet empathetic product engineer Give it a listen here or, you know, wherever you get your podcasts!

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Chroma 0149 - In Which There are 6 Realities! When I was teaching compositing, I coined the term and phrase, the 6 Realities of Visual Effects to explain to my students what it is that we are trying to do. The vast majority of VFX that appear in modern films and television are “invisible effects,” which means that ideally the audience has no idea they’re watching something that’s either been digitally altered or is completely synthetic. To create this effect, we have to observe reality and then replicate it. And there is not just one reality an artist has to deal with. There are in fact 6 of them. 1. The Physical Reality, the real world; 2. The Photographic Reality, the reality that is captured by the camera; 3. The Perceptual Reality, how you perceive the world; 4. The Imagined Reality, how you imagine reality to be; 5. The Expected Reality, how your leads, supervisors, and directors want it to be 6. Approximate Reality, how the computer mathematically creates a virtual reality. Here is, Erik Winquist the Overall VFX Supervisor of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes at Wētā FX talking about the Photographic Reality. 💬#AlphaChromatica #ACE #Chroma #HeyGanz #WETAFX #KingdomOfThePlanetOfTheApes

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Domestic and international film shoot locations are ratcheting up the incentives to get our productions! and here's why ... ... I have compiled the "Coles notes" answer for you! (mainly because I had some time on my hands this morning while waiting on a project link). Even if you feel you are comfortable as to why these incentives are offered I'm pretty sure there are a few you may not be aware of ... Economic Benefits: Film productions often spend significant amounts of money on local goods and services, including hiring local crew, renting equipment, booking accommodation etc. Job Creation: create jobs for local talent, from actors to technicians, boosting employment in the region. Infrastructure Development: film productions can lead to the development of local film infrastructure, such as studios and post-production facilities. Tourism Boost: Promotional Exposure: Films and TV shows can serve as global advertisements for the locations where they are shot, encouraging tourism. Iconic scenes often attract fans to visit filming locations, benefiting the local tourism industry. Global Presence: Hosting international film productions can enhance a country’s cultural influence and visibility on the global stage. Cultural Exchange: Collaborations between local and international filmmakers can lead to a rich exchange of ideas and skills, fostering a dynamic cultural environment. Soft Power: Promoting a country as a film-friendly destination enhances international relations and cultural influence. Industry Growth & Skill Development: Local professionals gain valuable experience and skills by working on international productions, which can elevate the overall quality of the domestic film industry. Attracting Investments: A thriving film industry can attract further investments, both from within the country and internationally. Tax Revenue: While the incentives might reduce tax income in the short term, the economic activities generated by film productions can lead to increased tax revenue from other sources, such as sales and income taxes from newly created jobs. Examples of Film Incentives: Canada: Offers various tax credits and rebates to film productions. Provinces like British Columbia and Ontario have additional incentives that make them attractive destinations. and here's why... United States: States like Georgia and Louisiana have generous tax incentives that have made them popular film hubs. New Zealand: Known for its incentives, which played a significant role in attracting the "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies. Australia: just raised incentives to 30% to attract more international productions. United Kingdom: Provides tax relief for film and high-end television productions, boosting its appeal as a filming destination. By offering these incentives, countries can reap significant economic, cultural, and social benefits, making it a strategic investment for their long-term growth and development.

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