I seem to run across some amazing projects and people that have a passion for their vision and desire to get their story told. This one jumped out at me possibly because I am a woman in a male-dominated business but probably even more my curiosity about who the woman are behind the camera. What they have shot, and why they would choose this professional and expression for themselves.

Women Behind the Camera" is the first documentary to examine the lives, work and challenges of camerawomen around the globe, including camerawomen who survive the odds in Hollywood, Bollywood, Afghanistan, Canada, China, England, France, India, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Senegal, the U.S. and other countries. Thomas McKenny of the International Cinematographers Guild has called it "an important film for everyone who collaborates on motion pictures and all who watch them. The most world-wide film since 'Winged Migration.'" The camerawomen in the film range from top pioneers like African-American camerawoman Jessie Maple Patton--who had to sue the union and television networks to get jobs...to Shu Shi Jun, who traveled throughout the New China as Mao Ze Dong's cinematographer...to Ellen Kuras, ASC ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind")...to Rozette Ghadery, one of the first camerawomen in Iran, who DP'd a film about chemical warfare in Kurdistani Iraq...to Marina Goldovskaya, the Russian filmmaker who learned the art from her father, her choice of career told as a love story. The film includes footage shot by camerawomen worldwide, and also discusses technical issues such as the invention which won Brianne Murphy, ASC a Scientific and Technical Academy Award.

I recommend you pop on their site to learn more and by a DVD: www.womenbehindthecamera.com

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of working with two men who are really informed and leaders in this technology revolution. I don’t know why I am constantly amazed with the wealth of knowledge that I get to tap into at HD EXPO but I am!

Michael Cioni, PlasterCITY Post and Aaron Latham of Panavision are the two I am referring to. They are instructors in the upcoming HD FUNdementals conference in Chicago at HD EXPO June 6th and I am so very thrilled to have them joining us. We had our dry run through of the curriculum yesterday and it turned into two hours of amazing information.

We have over 50 people joining us for this one-day conference HD FUNdementals. Not to mention names BUT we have attendees joining us from the many of the major advertising agencies, a couple of the largest networks, that is also known for pushing the envelope on TV, and one of the largest consumer technology companies to name a few of our attendees.

So many folks in the content creation industry, I say content not to leave anyone out, are lost in this transition to HD or even worse, they think that they are not be truly are LOST. I hear horror story again and again about HD and miss information that a production got and had to live with. We will address the basics and hopefully guide a few productions to land softly into HD.

I am proud and humbled by the wealth if information that will be at HD EXPO next week never mind the new technology that has never been shown.

2011 – That number just seems like a space age futuristic number, the time of the Jetsons. An age where people communicate by quickly typing on little black boxes, phones that one can use anywhere on the globe, with no wires, beaming information, and communities of people that are intimate but have never met in person. Well that is 2007 not the Jetsons but from my vantage point, it seems almost like the Jetsons minus the flying cars. 2011 is just around the corner and it is predicted that 151 million homes worldwide will have HDTV.

One of the areas I feel has been lacking in new technology integration is in the advertising agencies and production companies for the agencies. There are no doubt the pioneers who understand the impact of You Tube and the importance of a beautiful picture selling a product, but overall this industry has not been leading the way but following.

At our June 6th & 7th HD EXPO, we are privileged to have the pioneers of this industry discuss what is next and how this burgeoning technology can and will be integrated into advertising. The AICP.Next ROUNDTABLE consist of the true leaders and pioneers of integrating new technology:
Rich Carter, Owner/Executive Producer, Gartner, The Viral Factory, Outsider, Tight; Denise Gilmartin, Vice President, Business Affairs and Non-Traditional Media Issues, AICP; Eriks Krumins, Executive Producer, Backyard; Massimo Martinotti, President, MIA Films; and Don McNeill, President / CSO, Digital Kitchen.