NeTune Communicationsô Announces ShowRunnerô - The First-Ever Broadband Digital Satellite Communications Service For Motion Picture And Television Productions

Hughes, CAA, PanAmSat, DIRECTVÆ, IBM And Lucent Team As Partners To Aid Swift Adoption By The Industry

22-Aug-00

NeTune Communicationsô announced that it has begun full systems testing of ShowRunnerô, a secure, broadband, fully-meshed, private satellite network offering filmmakers a range of advanced communications services. This service is the first-ever to be commercially offered to any industry. NeTune has assembled an array of leading high-tech and entertainment industry partners, including Hughes Electronics, Creative Artists Agency, PanAmSat, Hughes' DIRECTVÆ, IBM and Lucent. Full system deployment will begin later this year, with services to be provided on one or more films produced by 20th Century Fox Feature Film Group, and by other major studios.The network has been designed to deliver high-quality film dailies, graphics, CGI images, edited sequences, text data, voice telephony and video conferencing via satellite. Emphasis has been placed on ease of use by incorporating Web-based applications requiring only a browser to share information.""Productions shooting in North America and at locations around the world will be able to transmit high-quality dailies and share key production data with studio executives and/or other collaborators in an ultra-secure and interactive environment,"" says Curtis Clark, ASC, President & CEO of NeTune Communications. ""They will be able to teleconference and share any data, voice, image and text with no limits imposed by time or distance."" ""The ShowRunner network has the right combination of partners to deliver premier broadband digital satellite and terrestrial communications,"" said Michael T. Smith, Chairman and CEO of Hughes Electronics, and Chairman of PanAmSat and DIRECTV. ""This is the first time any company has offered such an interactive global service capable of delivering high definition-quality images at the high speeds necessary for such a dynamic application.""""We are always looking to improve the creative experience of our clients,"" said Richard Lovett, President of The Creative Artists Agency. ""NeTune has developed an innovative system that will both enhance and streamline the filmmaking process. We are confident this technology will be embraced by the entertainment community and are excited to showcase this to our filmmakers.""""ShowRunner will provide a much needed missing link"", said Joe Hartwick, Executive Vice President, Feature Production, 20th Century Fox Feature Film Group. ""For the first time, production personnel at any shooting location can instantaneously exchange time-critical production data and digital film images with those who need to be connected to the filmmaking process."" ""We are also encouraged by the potential for workflow efficiencies"", added Cleve Reinhard, Senior Vice President, Feature Estimating, also at Fox. ""ShowRunner Services have been designed to complement and enhance established filmmaking work practices."" Clark is a well-known cinematographer whose narrative credits include ""The Draughtman's Contract,"" ""Dominick and Eugene,"" ""Alamo Bay,"" ""Extremities"" and ""Talent For The Game"" in addition to more than 250 television commercials. In 1996, he developed the concept for NeTune and applied for a patent that was awarded in 1999.""I began thinking about how digital technology was going to affect filmmaking in new and imaginative ways in 1995,"" Clark says. ""I was fascinated with the simplicity of the Web's point-and-click functionality. It employed an easy-to-use graphic interface that made it possible for people all around the world to communicate with images and text in an interactive environment.""Clark notes that new and diverse technologies have created a more complex working environment in the film industry, where multiple tasks have to be accomplished within fixed time frames. He says ShowRunner is designed to address the complex array of concerns facing today's filmmakers by providing quick access to information that can both enhance creativity, as well as contain the escalating costs of production. The service includes a fully integrated and easy-to-use suite of turnkey communications functions and data management applications. ShowRunner uses advanced satellite and broadband wireless technologies at speeds up to 45Mbps to provide comprehensive communications and data sharing capabilities. The network - with it's proprietary technologies that significantly enhance communications processes within the entertainment industry - will support bandwidth-intensive applications, such as high quality digital film dailies and CGI visual effects shots, while seamlessly integrating lower bandwidth data, including storyboards, script breakdowns, shooting schedules, camera and production reports, call sheets, budgets and financial reports, via a simple Web browser-style interface. ""We have the architecture for providing fast and easy access to all types of moving images in high definition or standard definition video formats, in addition to graphics and text in a secure environment with world-class encryption,"" Clark says. ""We will be testing and refining applications, including delivering dailies and production management data, during the next six months, and expect to be fully operational later this year."" ShowRunner incorporates Kodak PreView software, which is designed to enable cinematographers to preview ""looks"" using still digital images as a reference. Clark notes that the ability to transmit these images will enable cinematographers and directors to communicate their visual ideas more efficiently - while coordinating their live-action shooting with CGI composite elements being rendered at visual effects facilities.Eric Rodli, Chief Operating Officer, Kodak Entertainment Imaging division, observes that, ""Kodak PreView software can be a useful addition to ShowRunner's mission of dramatically improving collaboration in the filmmaking process across far-flung locations.""The ShowRunner system will also incorporate business-to-business e-procurement features, enabling producers to maintain connectivity with vendors and suppliers throughout the production process. ""The main goal is to significantly improve communications, so better decisions can be made more efficiently,"" Clark says. ""We believe ShowRunner will save time and money - and perhaps more importantly, it will enhance the collaborative creative process, leading to better films."" ShowRunner was developed to work with the advances in digital technologies that are transforming film production. Clark cites the pervasive use of computer generated images and digital compositing tools, digital sound and picture editing, and compression technologies. The range of applications is only limited by the boundaries of imagination. He points to advances in both space and ground-based satellite technologies during the past five years. ""Onboard satellite power and bandwidth have more than doubled, and ground-based digital processing technology, along with advances in network and data management have also enhanced the data carrying capacity of satellites, which today provide an anytime-anywhere capability"" he says. ""Latency has been eliminated as an issue for data transmission over geo-stationary satellites, and networks can now deliver ultra-high image quality at a cost that would have been prohibitive just several years ago.""""NeTune will be among the first companies to use our 4:2:2 high definition MPEG encoding technology,"" says Andreas Papanicolaou, President, Lucent Digital Video.The NeTune Communications management and technology teams include Lucius Gregg, Executive Vice President, Patrick Block, Chief Technology Officer, Peter Au, Vice President, Software Technology, Robert Ehrenberg, Vice President, Satellite Systems, Ram Nagarajan, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Technology and James Ellis, Managing Director of Software Architecture, Design and Product Development.For additional information visit the NeTune Web site at http://www.NeTune.com.

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