Research
White papers, research reports, and industry analysis from the Entertainment Technology Center.
ETC@USC attended the conference for live reporting on products and services. Our post-show report features extensive coverage and perspectives related to key creative, business, and technology areas. You are free to share with others.
This paper, authored by Noah Kadner, traces the discoveries and challenges of advanced workflows leaning into the maturation of equipment and workflows developed over the past five years since the release of The Mandalorian.
ETC@USC’s annual CES coverage from our team onsite at the convention in Las Vegas, along with others working remotely provide the content to create this final report below. You are free to share with others our full coverage and perspectives.
In this final chapter, key contributors discuss their experiences in what was a collective journey in a new era of storytelling, transcending traditional filmmaking boundaries.
A simple graphical tutorial breaking down the problem between camera and LED wall perception, along with its solution.
ETC@USC attended the convention with an onsite and remote team, once again blending its in-person tradition with a virtual presence. This final report contains our full coverage and perspectives for your reading pleasure. You are welcome to share our final report below.
Everything on this production was done in the cloud, minus the shoot on set, and the paper explains the tools and process pieces that made it possible.
Including interviews with Fathead co-producer Brandyn Johnson and former Sony Pictures executive Erik Rigney, this chapter addresses the challenges of recording clean dialogue on LED volumetric stages and in-camera visual effects during production.
Discusses where virtual production is now and where it is going, with interviews from leaders at The Third Floor, Stargate Studios, Orbital Virtual Studios, Vu Technologies, Lux Machina, nDisplay, Epic Games, and Unity Technologies.
Yves Bergquist attempts to answer key industry questions about what generative AI is, what it means for the media community, and how individuals and organizations should prepare for its use in content production.
A collaborative work produced by the ETC/SMPTE AI Task Force.
Similar to CES 2021 that blended its in-person tradition with a virtual presence, ETC@USC attended the convention with a small onsite and remote team. This final report contains our full coverage and perspective. You are welcome to read and share our final report.
An ETC Adaptive Production Archive Group white paper on practical cloud archive workflows.
The second white paper in collaboration with Charisma.ai and Write Brothers examines the viability of using large language models to assist in generating in-character responses within a structured prompt.
What a difference a year makes! Amid the adjustments of the pandemic, CES 2021 was virtual and ETC@USC’s journalists and analysts attended. This final report contains our full coverage and perspective. You are welcome to read and share our final report.
A short film pushing the limits of virtual production, technology, and COVID safety, documented as an ETC Adaptive Production and Innovative Technology Award white paper.
ETC collaborated with Charisma.ai, Digital Domain, Fable Studio, and Write Brothers to publish this paper on an innovative character definition tool that enables casting audience members within a story.
An ETC Adaptive Production VFX Standards Working Group white paper.
ETC@USC conducted live reporting from the 2019 CES by a team of seasoned analysts and journalists. We published a final report which contains our full coverage and perspective. You are welcome to read and share our final report.
 over an Enterprise Blockchain.png)
An ETC Adaptive Production Blockchain Working Group white paper.
An ETC report exploring machine insights and audience analysis for Chinese film audiences.
An ETC Adaptive Production Archive Working Group white paper.
Technology advances and new vision, not so much new products, made CES 2018 a year for futurists. It is a tale of two shows: one of products fulfilling visions articulated a few years ago, and the other of ideas, inspiring dreams and not just goods and services but the lifestyles of tomorrow.
A technical paper from the SMPTE Journal on managing motion picture data with C4, semantics, and NoSQL.
An ETC Innovation Technology Award white paper.
 New Technologies for Media Production in the Cloud.png)
A case study on new technologies for media production in the cloud.
The 2015 International CES featured major highlights in 4K ultra-HD displays, smart home integration, automotive tech, and early virtual/augmented reality applications, drawing a record-setting attendance of over 176,000 professionals.
A technical publication describing the C4 identification system for universally consistent identification without communication.
