Alejandro Franceschi

Moonshine’s Key Takeaways from the “State of the Industry” at Trilith Studios Our very own Brooke Sonenreich joined industry veterans for insightful discussions on how new technologies and creative models are reshaping the film and music sectors. Here’s what stood out: →AI is Expanding Across Creative Fields 🤖 AI isn’t just a film tool—it’s transforming creativity. Visionaries like Chris Ledoux (Crafty Apes, Lumalogic) and Grammy-winner Fernando Garibay shared how they use AI to refine ideas and streamline pipelines, empowering creators to focus on what truly matters: creativity and experimentation. →Funding for Atlanta Indie Filmmakers During the “Make It Rain” panel, legal expert Chiquita W. Banks, Esq. offered innovative ideas for funding indie projects. From crowdfunding to blockchain, indie filmmakers now have new ways to finance passion projects beyond the traditional studio system. →Supporting Homegrown Talent 🌱 Trilith Institute’s Emerging Creative Residency (ECR) program, led by Jeffrey Stepakoff, is a game-changer. This program nurtures Georgia’s next-gen filmmakers, and we’re proud to support inaugural resident Ebony Blanding by providing color and finishing post services as she moves toward her first feature film. →Our Film Festivals Evolve to Meet Change The “There’s No Place Like Home” panel featured leaders from the Atlanta Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, BronzeLens, and Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. These festivals are adapting to showcase diverse voices and unite communities in a shifting industry landscape. →New Production & Distribution Models Are Here to Stay 🚀 YouTube is competing with streaming giants, and creators are leveraging decentralized production models to control costs and logistics in a post-COVID world. Atlanta’s empowered creators are embracing SEO, retaining IP, and reshaping the industry. If the event’s purpose was to unite the community and spark collaboration, it was a resounding success. But the industry doesn’t rest! At Moonshine, we host events year-round to foster meaningful connections and keep the momentum going. From Film Fatales to PGA Atlanta and Georgia Script Supervisors, we love welcoming everyone—from longtime collaborators to new transplants—into our space. Ready to host your next industry gathering? Reach out to us! https://lnkd.in/erUpvsTk #MoonshinePost #PostProduction #FilmCommunity

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Why I predict consumers will increasingly gravitate towards AI-fueled video games - it's the Transformation Economy! Evidence shows that we are living in the Transformation Economy, a shift in consumer behavior from the traditional consumption of merely products and services to consumption of products and services tied to an experience. And, we're moving beyond consumption merely focused on the experience (that's the ol' Experience Economy). Rather, consumers now are increasingly seeking experiences that do something specific; namely, facilitate their personal growth and well-being. In other words, experiences that are transformational. Video games infused with AI-driven choices provide players with infinitely greater agency than pre-scripted narratives with limited choices. So, AI-fueled games have the opportunity to create an environment where players have a more meaningful, personalized opportunity to explore, reflect, and grow through highly personalized choices and therefor consequences, thereby making them powerful catalysts for self-actualization. My prediction - games integrating AI are likely to be much more competitive than others in an economy where self-actualization reigns supreme. Joe Pine

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📍DON'T MISS THIS: Calling all current University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts undergrad and graduate students!! Next semester I am co-teaching "CNTV 475: How to Make 'It': Mapping your Way to Success in Showbiz - Getting your first project made!" along with a powerhouse of faculty who are currently working in the industry as writers, directors, producers, showrunners, executives, attorneys and more! 📌Enrollment is still open and there are some spots left! 👉🔗https://webreg.usc.edu/ 📚This 16-week course is an immersive, hands-on roadmap to navigating the entertainment industry immediately after graduation. Designed to guide students through the most viable career paths in entertainment, it provides essential tools and insights needed to launch a professional journey in commercial directing, independent filmmaking, and executive leadership. Through workshops, industry analysis, guest speakers and strategy sessions, students will learn to develop their creative vision and business acumen, starting with learning to make treatments and pitching concepts, all the way to branding, distribution, and funding. The class features panels of established industry professionals-directors, agents, producers, executives, and financiers-who offer real-world advice on building a career from the ground up in TODAY'S world. By course end, students will have a personalized roadmap to success, informed by the experiences of those who have navigated these paths before them.

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The latest update to Gen-3 Alpha Turbo introduces advanced Camera Control features, enabling filmmakers to specify precise camera movements—such as horizontal, vertical, pan, tilt, zoom, and roll—directly within the AI video generation process. This enhancement offers unprecedented creative flexibility, allowing for dynamic and intentional storytelling through AI-generated content. While this update marks a significant advancement, further developments stil needed to make the film makers use it in their works. Integration with Industry-Standard Software - Seamless compatibility with tools like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro would streamline workflows, allowing filmmakers to incorporate AI-generated sequences effortlessly into their projects. Enhanced Motion Tracking - Incorporating advanced motion tracking could enable more complex camera movements and interactions between AI-generated elements and live-action footage, enhancing realism and coherence. Expanded Customization Options - Providing more granular control over camera parameters, such as focal length, depth of field, and motion blur, would allow filmmakers to achieve specific visual styles and effects. These potential enhancements could further position Runway's Gen-3 Alpha Turbo as an indispensable tool in the filmmaker's toolkit, bridging the gap between AI capabilities and traditional cinematic techniques. #AI #Filmmaking #Innovation #RunwayML #Gen3AlphaTurbo #visualcommunication #visualculture https://lnkd.in/gZdwFsHN

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So who is going to SIGGRAPH 2024? AI + VR this year, and your boi is going to be there presenting as well 😇 - Come check out some of our latest developments on using Nvidia AI for VR Filmmaking and production. Keeley Turner ACM SIGGRAPH

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What does a CEO of a Spatial Computing/Metaverse company, XR Metaverse Studios , do on a Saturday afternoon? - Self Edification. "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice." ~ Steve Jobs Three take-a-ways from the "experience" of the tour: 1. I talk too much 2. I need to lose some stomach 3. Apple Vision Pro Updates DOES not compete with Meta Goggles - It Competes with 8K entertainment flat panel and a sound bar. A. The onboarding is great, the lenses are calibrated to vision prescription. Meta offers a plastic extension and my glasses still get stuck in my quest 2 headset. WHAT WE ARE CREATING AND BUILDING AT XR Metaverse Studios See for yourself: https://lnkd.in/gbyVtFqn OUR STORY Founded in 2024, XR Metaverse Studios started actually in a video call in 2016, with a big vision. Over the years, we have been waiting for the right time to launch..IT IS THAT TIME. We are working with leading Metaverse builder experts to provider cutting-edge innovative solutions available in the next internet frontier - on the Web3, serving clients around the world. OUR IMPACT ON INNOVATION We are dedicated to making a positive impact on society through our work. MARKETING - The Latest in Digital Marketing and the new eCommerce Immersive Marketing EDUCATION - Students are familiar with Virtual Reality, so teaching in the Metaverse will make learning and teaching fun again ENTERTAINMENT & ART - In the Metaverse an entertainer or artist can call the shots and perform of show to thousands of fans in a venue that reaches globally. Using NFT for transactions. WHY DID Scott D. Brown create and lead XR Metaverse Studios ? I was guided by a musical, the Man from La Mancha, my mom had me go with my sisters at the Long Beach California City Theater To Dream the Impossible DREAM It is the mission of each true knight... His duty... nay, his privilege! To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go; To right the unrightable wrong. To love, pure and chaste, from afar, To try, when your arms are too weary, To reach the unreachable star! This is my Quest to follow that star, No matter how hopeless, no matter how far, To fight for the right Without question or pause, To be willing to march into hell For a heavenly cause! And I know, if I'll only be true To this glorious Quest, That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I'm laid to my rest. And the world will be better for this, That one man, scorned and covered with scars, Still strove, with his last ounce of courage, To reach the unreachable stars! Musical: Man of La Mancha. Song: Impossible Dream. Broadway musical soundtrack lyrics. provided for educational purposes © 2024 AllMusicals.com If your organization dreams it, XR Metaverse Studios will Create / Illustrate it, builder community builds. #metaverse #education #marketing #entertainment #training #business

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When it comes to generative AI, Roblox doesn’t get enough attention. They’re already using it to create 3D worlds across their base of 77 million daily active users, and now they want to use gen AI to create 4D, where the fourth dimension is interaction. Companies like Roblox, Fortnite et al are becoming (or have become) large media companies, where users create and interact with an enormous amount of content. Moving into the fourth dimension will only accelerate the ability for people to have more realistic experiences. As Roblox specifically builds out their multimodal model that will be able to create a 4D object, physical qualities such as material, mass, and strength will also be added to prepare it to interact with other physically-based objects in the world. They’ve been working on this for some time and are aware of the challenges they face, which they classify as functional (where the system can “look” at an object and be aware of what it is); interactive; and controllable, which will ultimately try to eliminate text prompts and invent new ways of communicating with the AI. How do you think users will continue to interact on these platforms? #ai #roblox #fortnite #4d #genai

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In this interview with HPC, I discuss the renderfarms that powered Pixar’s Toy Story and Elemental, the paradox of Moore’s Law and Blinn’s Law … as well as the narrow use cases of machine learning now essential and in use at Pixar … and the current limitations of genAI preventing the use promoting for serious production. #pixar #renderman #mooreslaw #blinnslaw #machinelearning #ai #genai #machinelearningdenoiser #disneyresearch

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From the Latest FilmLA Report • Scripted TV production in Los Angeles dropped 99% in Q3 2023 compared to 2022. • FilmLA calls for a significant expansion of California’s $330 million production incentive due to a 20% drop in local filming. • Other jurisdictions like New York, Ontario, Georgia, and the U.K. offer more competitive, uncapped or larger subsidies, putting California at a disadvantage. • Strikes in 2023 and a decline in Peak TV also contributed to a production slowdown. • Global production declines occurred, with Georgia and the U.K. also seeing reduced TV releases. • California temporarily boosted its incentives in 2021, but ongoing state budget deficits limit further expansions. • FilmLA warns California must act to support its entertainment industry or face continued market share losses. FilmLA Seeks 'Vast Expansion' of California Tax Credit (variety.com) https://lnkd.in/gps_6c9A

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The reason ARwall's ARFX won AI Product of the Year at NAB Show is because it's an XR/AI filmmaking software suite that promises: 1. A business strategy that doesn't involve stealing or coercing filmmakers out of their hard work, allowing us to promise that we'll never steal that data, 2. Allowing filmmakers to train their own model for their own film, in an intuitive process, 3. Making that data private, even to ARwall, 4. Making that data portable/downloadable, meaning we have to continue delivering value, or you can take your training data and go elsewhere, 5. And we're owned and operated by filmmakers, and have served filmmakers for 8+ years pioneering XRVP. Beta sign up is here, for those interested in learning more: https://lnkd.in/g9rWK8jd *** Here's the part that I'm advised not to put in an official press release, but for the tech nerds, provides more guidance on our rationale and strategy: What do I mean by #1? What "business strategy"? Major legacy software corps are attempting to use the "compute cost to SaaS subs" ratio model perfected on cloud here in genAI. But they will fail, because unlike cloud there's no persistent distributed network needed for genAI, symmetrical hardware constraints for model-building are loosening, and it's a near certainty that people will be able to homebrew their models more effectively than on-prem compute was at replacing cloud compute. With those considerations, here's the theory we're taking a gamble on: generative AI models are content, not products themselves, and the ability to generate them should be shared with creators of content. With current processing hardware innovations, we can return to a more equitable model like envisioned in the early 90s, ditching the mainframe and terminal paradigm, and bringing the data and compute onto your desk and keeping it there. That means this moment is NOT a crisis for labor and indie, as has been claimed, but the greatest opportunity to reclaim ownership. Seeing the opportunity this way requires some anachronistic assumptions about computing, but this is our conclusion: we want to propagate true creator ownership of these tools and processes. Not just because that's how we correct for some of the industry missteps that have been made, but because it's good for filmmakers and good for business. https://lnkd.in/gNfGNUC2

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👇 This article provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of the VFX industry and the role AI will play. While many professionals share their opinions, the consensus is that AI will primarily serve as a tool to enhance efficiency and eliminate repetitive tasks, supporting artists rather than replacing them. However, considering the current state of the industry, the ongoing creative challenges, and the rapid advancements in AI, it seems we are on the brink of a transformative era. Neither the artists, the studios, nor the audience can anticipate what is to come. These are indeed interesting times. 🤔

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