By Martina Nilgitsalanont

I recently had the opportunity to attend the IBC show in Amsterdam. My husband, Mike Nuget, was asked to demonstrate workflow and features of FilmLight’s Baselight software, and since I was in between projects — I’m an assistant editor on Showtime’s Billions and will start on Season 4 in early October — we turned his business trip into a bit of a vacation as well.

Although I’ve worked in television for quite some time, this was my first trip to an industry convention, and what an eye opener it was! The breadth and scope of the exhibit halls, the vendors, the attendees and all the fun tech equipment that gets used in the film and television industry took my breath away (dancing robotic cameras??!!). My husband attempted to prepare me for it before we left the states, but I think you have to experience it to fully appreciate it.

Since I edit on Media Composer, I stopped by Avid’s booth to see what new features they were showing off, and while I saw some great new additions, I was most tickled when one of the questions I asked stumped the coders. They took a note of what I was asking of the feature, and let me know, “We’ll work on that.” I’ll be keeping an eye out!

Of course, I spent some time over at the FilmLight booth. It was great chatting with the folks there and getting to see some of Baselight’s new features. And since Mike was giving a demonstration of the software, I got to attend some of the other demos as well. It was a real eye opener as to how much time and effort goes into color correction, whether it’s on a 30-second commercial, documentary or feature film.

Another booth I stopped by was Cinedeck, over at the Launchpad. I got a demo of their CineXtools, and I was blown away. How many times do we receive a finished master (file) that we find errors in? With this software, instead of making the fixes and re-exporting (and QCing) a brand-new file, you can insert the fixes and be done! You can remap audio tracks if they’re incorrect, or even fix an incorrect closed caption. This is, I’m sure, a pretty watered down explanation of some of the things the CineX software is capable of, but I was floored by what I was shown. How more finishing houses aren’t aware of this is beyond me. It seems like it would be a huge time saver for the operator(s) that need to make the fixes.

Amsterdam!
Since we went spent the week before the convention in Amsterdam, Mike and I got to do some sightseeing. One of our first stops was the Van Gogh Museum, which was very enlightening and had an impressive collection of his work. We took a canal cruise at night, which offered a unique vantage point of the city. And while the city is beautiful during the day, it’s simply magical at night —whether by boat or simply strolling through the streets— with the warm glow from living rooms and streetlights reflected in the water below.

One of my favorite things was a food tour in the Jordaan district, where we were introduced to a fantastic shop called Jwo Lekkernijen. They sell assorted cheeses, delectable deli meats, fresh breads and treats. Our prime focus while in Amsterdam was to taste the cheese, so we made a point of revisiting later in the week so that we could delight in some of the best sandwiches EVER.

I could go on and on about all our wanderings (Red Light District? Been there. Done that. Royal Palace? Check.), but I’ll keep it short and say that Amsterdam is definitely a city that should be explored fully. It’s a vibrant and multicultural metropolis, full of warm and friendly people, eager to show off and share their heritage with you.  I’m so glad I tagged along!