Hello Readers!
Story 118 is an interview with the talented producer/director Jeff Heimbuch, President of Bamfer Productions. A recent award winner at the Garden State Film Festival (Home Grown Horror Award) and a devoted fan of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise, Jeff is determined to follow his passion of making films in New Jersey, instead of Hollywood.

http://futureincite.com/Story118_BamferProductions.html

Things went much smoother today; I arrived in plenty of time to get a seat in the front row for Clint Hocking’s (Creative Director, Ubisoft Montreal) stellar keynote about the immersion factor in games and how it relates to the different generations. Utilizing prose from Borge, clips from Kubrick’s “Path’s of Glory”, and Terry Gilliam’s soon to be released “Dr. Parnassus”, Clint presented an insightful look at how objective journalism has been corrupted over time to become subjective and how this has become a point-of-reference for dramatic, creative design, from film to games. It was an outstanding talk.I had audio taped the first hour, but for some unknown reason my tape recorder failed to tape the final summation. Darn. What was so exasperating is that it worked just fine for the next panel discussion. Ah, well- yet another reason to upgrade my gear.
Next, I sat in on the Narrative Design panel discussion in which the panelists, Sande Chen (Writer and Game Designer) and Jeff McGann (Creative Director, Red Storm Entertainment) and moderator Russ Pitts (Editor-in-Chief, The Escapist) related their experiences of focusing essential elements of games into a cohesive story, the rise of emergent gaming and the limitations of current technology game AI to offer more varied reactions to user input.
Lastly, I attended Richard Rouse’s (Lead Single Player Designer, Kaos Studios/THQ Inc.) keynote address on the origins of game concepts. Sometimes inspired by classic art, sometimes by film and often times by other games, Richard pointed out that the games that truly become paradigm shifts are the ones that are based on real or documentary supported sources and utilize proven design/game engine methods to readily understood play mechanics. Some examples provided were Doom, Half-Life Gears of War and Crackdown.
As mentioned, I have quite a few interviews I have to transcribe and/or digitize and edit before I release my “official” report on the Summit and Expo. Stay tuned!

Bad directions and bad weather do not make great travel… Which is why I found myself fifteen minutes late to the keynote address.
This was a very well organized, if not pleasantly eclectic event; Games and gamers were in ambundance as were film makers, Cosplayers, Prop makers, Classic game sellers, Comic book artists and more. There was plenty of room to get around to the various booths and suprisingly, each booth had its fair share of traffic.
I was able to sit in on two presentations; one for the storyboarding development techniques for KAOS Studios Fuel of War and the other for an insight into how music composers rough out quick instrumental themes based on game concepts.
In addition, I had the opportunity to interview the team at X-Strike Studios, Dennis Yu of EA, Michal Adam of HI-REZ Studios, John O’Neill of Spark Plug Games and a host of others which I’ll post as soon as the audio is edited. Onward to day two!

Hello Readers,
Story 117 marks part 2 of the discussion with Euro-Pacific Film & Video owner/producer David G. Calderwood. This time, he raises concerns about using technology in place of talent, who really judges at film festivals and his views on what keeps NJ from being a media mecca like NYC.

http://www.futureincite.com/Story117_DavidCalderwood_pt2.html

Hello Readers!
It is my pleasure to bring to you an interview with the “One Man Band” himself, John Mulrenan of Acorn Digital. A veteran of the live band music scene for thirty years, John has molded himself into more than just a musician- he is a showman! Check out this video and contact him if you need music for your next production.

http://futureincite.com/Story116_AcornDigital.html

Stop what you’re doing and cancel ANY plans you might have made for the coming weekend! The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center will host this year’s Game Expo and Game X Industry Summit. Future iNCITE! will be there, walking and talking to get interviews of emerging talent and advice for aspiring game makers.

GameX Industry Summit is a 2-day conference with game development-focused lectures, panels and keynotes from more than 40 games industry leaders, designed exclusively for game industry professionals.

Co-located with GameX (Games & Media Expo) on October 24-25, 2009, GameX Industry Summit is presented by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) chapters in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Keynote speakers include Chris Foster, Design Director for Harmonix Music Systems; Clint Hocking, Creative Director for Ubisoft Montreal; Jason Della Rocca, President of Perimeter Partners; and Richard Rouse, Lead Designer for Kaos Studios/THQ.

You can learn more by clicking on the link(s) below:
http://www.gamexpo.us
http://www.gamexpo.us/summit/

Hey folks, it’s done! Hopefully a better interface with a definite media management improvement on my end. What’s new?
1) Similar to a blog, the top story will be most recent story.
2) The archive and ad pages have been removed.
3) A Top Story section (itemized based on internet traffic) has been added.
4) Stories from now on will be listed as numbers and not issue based.
4) Way better file management on the server!!!

So to start off, Story 115 is about MMC – Panasonic HDTV studios, located in Paterson NJ. Great tech, great people and a great place to work!

Okay, last night was pretty interesting. I was camera two operator for a medical production out of a three camera shoot. The trouble began when we started shooting- the tally lights and the control room monitors were incorrectly patched. That meant, when my camera was actually “live” I had no tally light and vice versa. Confusing to say the least. I had to forget what I had learned over years of studio shoots which is to not move the camera when your tally light is on. The Director did a great job- recognizing the problem early on and instead of calling us by camera numbers, addressed us by name. It was challenging fighting against years of technical instinct but we managed and the shoot went well.

Hello Readers! Since I decided to list stories by number instead of issue date for the upcoming version 5.0 of the webzine, I’ve discovered that I have written over 116 articles. Whoa. Not much in terms of a blog, but I started this before blogging was even popular. Plus unlike a blog, it has been all original material, researched, written and photographed by yours truly. Am I tooting my own horn? Yes!
Here’s to another 116.. in less than seven years.