LDV Vision Summit 2016: Innovation & Trends in Video & Digital Imaging

Details

Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 17 May 2016 15:03

Written by John Matthews

The LDV Vision Summit, running May 24th and 25th at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd St, New York, NY), will examine the future of digital imaging. Organized by Evan Nisselson of LDV Capital, the summit brings together top technologists, visionaries, startups, media/brand executives and investors to explore how imaging and video technologies will empower or disrupt businesses and society now and in the future. Computational photography, computer vision and other technologists and thought leaders will be rubbing shoulders and exchanging ideas and insights with content creators, photographers, and investors all of who are working in the emerging visual technology eco-system.

While digital photography and video is not new in fact the creator of the show was one of the first photo editors on the Internet in 1995, there is a quickening of pace and convergence of technologies and creators taking place that is transforming the digital or what can also be called computational photography and computation video landscape. Of course currently virtual reality is gaining a lot of public, press, and investor interest, and will form one of the central themes of this year LDV Vision Summit. A play on words about the envisioning the future of computer vision as it applies to new creative and content possibilities.

Huge numbers of images and photos are created and shared everyday and many of us are aware of the impact of photo and video sharing. However, few of us are aware of perhaps even care about the computational work that takes place in the background that enables beautiful images and video possible. This year will see further innovations such as the Light camera that harnesses multiple smartphone lens and computational solutions blurring the lines between conventional digital photography and small form factor pocketable digital photography and video with the power of DSLR devices.

The first day of the LDV Vision Summit is a technology deep dive featuring the technologists talking about what is just around the corner and in some cases just around two or three corners in the future of pocketable small form factor photography and video, and computational photography and video. Topics being covered include Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Augmented Reality, and all topics related to Visual Content. We will hear about possibilities, challenges and be offered glimpses of the future including new emerging vision markets like virtual reality and augmented reality. The second day we’ll be getting down to business and also talking product for commercial content creators and distributors, technology platforms, and the investment opportunities. The second day features talks about the revenue opportunities and avoiding being disrupted by old and new competitors. Among the topics being discussed will be the future of cameras, visual analytics, advanced advertising, distribution and publishing.

The LDV Vision Summit also rewards both the technology and business innovators with its awards that take place on each day, on the first day awarding technology innovation in computer vision, and day two awarding business innovation.

During the two days of a conference just three years old, attendees will hear presentations and panels with speakers from household technology names like Facebook, Apple, Google, GoPro, Microsoft, Samsung, Yahoo/Flickr and others, content businesses like NBC Universal, Mark Burnett Content Studio, Hearst, Refinery 29 and innovators like Magic Leap, JauntVR, OlaPic, Lytro, and investors like First Round Capital, Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Pereg Ventures, and Rothenberg Ventures.

Evan Nisselson who created the Vision Summit conference is a serial entrepreneur, digital media expert, and professional photographer since the early 1990s. Evan is professional photographer who was an early convert to digital photography and the potential of smartphones as small footprint digital photographic devices.

Those who should attend the Vision Summit are:

• Technology executives evaluating imaging and video companies for partnerships & acquisitions
• Media and brand executives interested in boosting revenue by leveraging new imaging and video products and technologies
• Investors: Visual technologies & businesses deliver tremendous upside - don't miss the next Instagram, Youtube, Oculus, Snapchat...
• Imaging and video startups interested in meeting investors, customers, recruiting and potential partners
• Creatives: Photographers, Videographers and anyone creating content
• Computer Vision & Artificial Intelligence experts and professionals

To learn more, go to: http://www.ldv.co/visionsummit/

LDV Vision Summit
May 24 - 25, 2016

SVA Theatre
333 W. 23rd St.
New York, NY

Indiecade East 2016 Takes Games In New Directions

Details

Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 28 April 2016 20:48

Written by Renzo Adler

Now in its fourth year, Indiecade East (April 29 - May 1, 2016) returns to the Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Ave, New York, NY), to celebrate and explore the possibilities of video games. Newcomer devs and industry names alike will be attending this festival. The keynote, VR Games: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why, conducted by Richard Marks of Sony Interactive Entertainment, explores the great potential virtual reality headsets have for video games, but also how developers will have to go back to the drawing board for many aspects of game making.

Panels and workshops tackle a wide range of subject matter from analysis of how characters die in games, how to program games using Unity, how games can be more inclusive and how the New York Public Library is looking to promote “gaming literacy” and how schools and libraries can utilize games to create a new type of learning environment.

Indiecade is not just where people come to discuss games though, it is also where you can see games that embrace and defy traditions and excite audiences. Disc Jockey Jockey has players juggling music and DJ’s making sure one fades out into the other at the correct time in order avoid dead air (payolla bribes not included). Crank Tank makes teams of two cooperate to move their tanks with specially designed controllers that are, you guessed it, giant cranks. MASK is a project that aims to take the sleek utilitarian design of phone based VR headsets, and convert them into wearable art installations that explore the nature of identity and interaction. The vector graphics of Asteroids and Tempest return in Vec9, the first new vector based arcade game to be released in 30 years, which puts players in control of a Soviet jet with controls and components from actual military hardware(!). But this is only a small sampling of the genre defying and embracing games available to try out at the show.

Indiecade is a great event that looks back at where games have come from, ahead to the future, and completely off the beaten track to find new ideas.

To learn more, go to: http://www.indiecade.com/east2016

Indiecade East
April 29 - May 1, 2016

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Ave.
New York, NY 11106

MoCCA Festival 2016: Indie Comics & Animation

Details

Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 12 March 2016 16:51

Written by Renzo Adler

(art by Noelle Stevenson)

MoCCA Fest, one of the best conventions for indie comics, returns to New York City this year, now at it’s new venue, the Ink48 Hotel (653 11th Ave, New York, NY), on April 2 - 3, and it’s bringing indie comics fresh faces and old pros with it.

Along with the usual cavalcade of independent artists and publishers, this year’s special guests include:

• Cece Bell
  Her colorful, fun and quirky drawings can be found in her best-selling books Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover, Crankee Doodle, Bug Patrol, Itty Bitty, Bee-Wigged, and the Sock Monkey series. In 2015, Bell received the Newberry Medal Honor for her graphic novel El Deafo, a story based on her own experiences growing up deaf.

• R.O. Blechman
  His many books include the groudbreaking 1953 graphic novel The Juggler of Our Lady and the forthcoming Amadeo & Maladeo: A Musical Duet. He has received multiple recognitions including a Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Cartoonists Society in 2011, was inducted into the Society of Illustrators’ Hall of Fame in 2012. His work has been shown at The Norman Rockwell Museum, The School of Visual Arts, and MoMA.

• Phoebe Gloeckner
  Phoebe Gloeckner began cartooning after moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, and was greatly influenced by the underground comix movement led by artists including Robert Crumb, Aline Kominksy, Bill Griffith, Diane Noomin, and Terry Zwigoff. Her early work appeared in anthologies including Wimmen’s Comix, Weirdo, and Twisted Sisters. Both her 1998 collection A Child’s Life and Other Stories and the 2002 novel The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures received notable recognition as well as controversy for its honest portrayal of teenage sexuality with themes of drug use and childhood traumas. The book has been adapted into a theatrical production and a critically acclaimed feature film of the same name. She is the recipient of the 2000 Inkpot Award, received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008, and is currently the Faculty Fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities.

• Sonny Liew
  Sonny Liew is a comics artist, painter, and illustrator whose work includes the New York Times best seller The Shadow Hero (with Gene Yang), Doctor Fate (with Paul Levitz), Malinky Robot and titles for Marvel Comics, DC Vertigo, and Image Comics. He has been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards for his collaborations on The Shadow Hero, Wonderland, and Liquid City, a multivolume comics anthology featuring creators from Southeast Asia.

• Rebecca Sugar
  Animator, composer and director started making comics like Pug Davis and Don’t Cry For Me I’m Already Dead, before heading to Cartoon Network to write and storyboard Adventure TIme. Now Sugar helms the show Steven Universe, and became the first woman to independently create a series for that network.
  
  

MoCCA Fest also includes a series of panels and Q&As from the guests of honor and exploring topics like the dangers of being a satirical cartoonist, feminist alt-comic anthology Wimmen’s Comix, and making comics for a younger audience. Leading up to the festival is The Society of Illustrator’s Comic and Cartoon Week with events at the Society of Illustrators (128 E 63rd St, New York, NY) and throughout NYC.

See our coverage of MoCCA Fest 2015 here:

To learn more, go to: http://www.societyillustrators.org/

MoCCA Festival 2016
April 2 - 3, 2016

Ink48 Hotel
653 11th Ave.
New York, NY 10036