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ADVC: Where Business & Community Go Digital By L. Joanna Cash You may have heard that there is a digital revolution going on, and nowhere can that be better seen than at the Austin Digital Video Center. Located in a funky orange and yellow building on the hip south side of Austin, the centers long, large windows overlooking South Lamar are adorned with a life size cardboard cutout of Austin Powers and a hefty looking Movieola. Inside, the walls are decorated with framed movie posters; digitally shot movies, of course, a constant reminder of the format of choice within these walls. The ADVC is the brain child of Tom Rhodes who, last year, envisioned a location that would be a resource center for the digital film community and where several businesses, all involved in the exploding digital video industry, could run their day-to-day operations under one roof. As a digital resource center, the ADVC offers a mix of classes including a six week class, Introduction to Digital Filmmaking, which covers equipment, lighting, audio, post-production, streaming media and a directors round table, in addition to other classes which have been held such as a hands-on Final Cut Pro editing class and a ten hour crash course in producing and preparing streaming media for the Internet. The classes are taught by various companies at the center, depending on their specialty, and are available to the general public regardless of level of knowledge or skill. "We've offered a hand-full of classes since the beginning of the year and we have already received a tremendous response from individuals eager to explore digital technology," says ADVC founder, Tom Rhodes. "From the beginning, it was important to me to select companies who complimented each others services and who would also support and participate in the centers goals to offer education and facilities to the digital film community." Tom's vision of the center encourages an open door atmosphere where new or seasoned digital filmmakers can stop by the center to check out the latest in the industry, find resources for projects or just hang out on the balcony where the BBQ keg parties are building a solid reputation for networking. Most recently the center has set up a fully equipped non-linear editing suite that is available through a newly established ADVC membership. On the business side of the center, the companies that reside at ADVC all offer a range of services including video production, music composition, NTSC and PAL equipment rental, post-production, streaming media, web content development and information design. Digital, of course. Although some of the services do overlap between companies, a major benefit of being a part of the community is the ability to refer and receive work from across the hall. In a recent project, Kevin Triplett of Mopac Media, rented digital video equipment to a dotcom that also utilized his post-production facilities. When Kevin realized the dotcom wanted to deliver the final clips as streaming media over the web, he introduced his client to SharedStar who have facilities across the hall. Once editing was complete, Kevin simply handed off a miniDV tape to SharedStar who encoded the clips for surestreaming and worked with the clients engineers to secure them on the clients RealServer. The collaborative nature of the center gave this client access to a full range of services in one convenient location. On the other hand, its not all about business either. There is a pure love of digital filmmaking and its delivery resounding in the hallways of the center. Almost every company has some sort of in-house pet project underway including Austin Sessions, which will showcase the diversity of Austin area musicians and promote recording of music on location, Sparko and SpectrumDV's Remote Controlled, a pilot for a new online science fiction series called Nebula Network and SharedStar's interactive pop-up packages that use streaming media to cover a range of interests and activities. Another example is The Big Idea: six filmmakers, six shorts, six months. The goal is clear, yet there are rules. There is a $200.00 budget for each short with each filmmakers contributing an equal share (the director is responsible for costs over $200), each short must cameo at least one actor from the previous film, and it must be edited in three months. The result is that everyone involved will get experience in major roles (i.e. director, writer, editor, production manager), honing their craft, learning new skills and experiencing the challenge of time and money management under "brutal" conditions. There is a low hum throughout the center; businesses at work, coffee brewing, meetings in the conference area or informal chats on the balcony. Yet, at any given time, all the doors open up and activities spill into the hallways. A client, strapped into steadycam equipment and on a test run, wanders into rooms capturing images of filmmakers planning their next shoots, you hear the sounds of editing, and while raiding a fully stocked refrigerator you overhear the latest great idea for a new class that will inspire and encourage a new group of digital explorers. The ADVC is an unique space. It provides a location for a diverse group of companies to grow their businesses while remaining grounded in their roots; a love of filmmaking, an excitement for technology and its applications, a meeting place for an exchange of ideas and an ability to share their knowledge through classes and community projects. There is this huge enthusiasm for digital filmmaking and its delivery at the ADVC; an enthusiasm that is catching and, when you get into your car to leave, all you're thinking is "I want to make a digital movie." Exiting onto South Lamar, a life size Austin Powers catches your eye in the window, he can only be saying, "Think digital, baby!" For more information about the ADVC go to www.austindvcenter.com L. Joanna Cash is a co-founder of SharedStar, an Austin-based company at the ADVC that produces and prepares streaming media for the nets. |
