By Mike Nuget

I have been lucky enough to attend NAB a few times over the years, both as an onlooker and as a presenter. In 2004, I went to NAB for the first time as an assistant online editor, mainly just tagging along with my boss. It was awesome! It was very overwhelming and, for the most part, completely over my head.  I loved seeing things demonstrated live by industry leaders. I felt I was finally a part of this crazy industry that I was new to. It was sort of a rite of passage.

Twelve years later, Avid asked me to present on the main stage. Knowing that I would be one of the demo artists that other people would sit down and watch — as I had done just 12 years earlier — was beyond anything I thought I would do back when I first started. The demo showed the Avid and FilmLight collaboration between the Media Composer and the Baselight color system. Two of my favorite systems to work on. (Watch Mike’s presentation here.)

Thanks to my friend and now former co-worker Matt Schneider, who also presented alongside of me, I had developed a very good relationship with the Avid developers and some of the people who run the Avid booth at NAB. And at the same time, the Filmlight team was quickly being put on my speed dial and that relationship strengthened as well.

This past NAB, Avid once again asked me to come back and present on the main stage about Avid Symphony Color and FilmLight’s Baselight Editions plug-in for Avid, but this time I would get to represent myself and my new freelance career change — I had just left my job at Technicolor-Postworks in New York a few weeks prior. I thought that since I was now a full-time freelancer this might be the last time I would ever do this kind of thing. That was until this past July, when I got an email from the FilmLight team asking me to present at IBC in Amsterdam. I was ecstatic.

Preparing for IBC was similar enough as far as my demo, but I was definitely more nervous than I was at NAB. I think it was two reasons: First, presenting in front of many different people in an international setting. Even though I am from the melting pot of NYC, it is a different and interesting feeling being surrounded by so many different nationalities all day long, and pretty much being the minority. On a personal note, I loved it. My wife and I love traveling, and to us this was an exciting chance to be around people from other cultures. On a business level, I guess I was a little afraid that my fast-talking New Yorker side would lose some people, and I didn’t want that to happen.

The second thing was that this was the first time that I was presenting strictly for FilmLight and not Avid. I have been an Avid guy for over 15 years. It’s my home, it’s my most comfortable system, and I feel like I know it inside and out. I discovered Baselight in 2012, so to be presenting in front of FilmLight people, who might have been using their systems for much longer, was a little intimidating.

When I walked into the room, they had setup a full-on production, along with spotlights, three cameras, a projector… the nerves rushed once again. The demo was standing room only. Sometimes when you are doing presentations, time seems to fly by, so I am not sure I remember every minute of the 50-minute presentation, but I do remember at one point within the first few minutes my voice actually trembled, which internally I thought was funny, because I do not tend to get nervous. So instead of fighting it, I actually just said out loud “Sorry guys, I’m a little nervous here,” then took a deep breath, gathered myself, and fell right into my routine.

I spent the rest of the day watching the other FilmLight demos and running around the convention again saying hello to some new vendors and goodbye to those I had already seen, as Sunday was my last day at the show.

That night I got to hang out with the entire Filmlight staff for dinner and some drinks. These guys are hilarious, what a great tight-knit family vibe they have. At one point they even started to label each other, the uncle, the crazy brother, the funny cousin. I can’t thank them enough for being so kind and welcoming. I kind of felt like a part of the family for a few days, and it was tremendously enjoyable and appreciated.

Overall, IBC felt similar enough to NAB, but with a nice international twist. I definitely got lost more since the layout is much more confusing than NAB’s. There are 14 halls!

I will say that the “relaxing areas” at IBC are much better than NAB’s! There is a sandy beach to sit on, a beautiful canal to sit by while having a Heineken (of course) and the food trucks were much, much better.

I do hope I get to come back one day!

Mike Nuget (known to most as just “Nuget”) is a NYC-based colorist and finishing editor. He recently decided to branch out on his own and become a freelancer after 13 years with Technicolor-Postworks. He has honed a skill set across multiple platforms, including FilmLight’s Baselight, Blackmagic’s Resolve, Avid and more.