February 18, 2010
Media Arts Center of Orange
109 Boston Post Road - Orange, CT 06477
203-795-6400

6:30 pm - 9:30 pm (doors open at 6 pm for food and networking)
$10 advance purchase (gets you FIVE free raffle tickets)
$12 at door (gets youTWO free raffle tickets)
Students eligible for 50% discount by clicking here and emailing us an inquiry (valid ID required)

"WATCH CAREFULLY"

6pm - 6:30: Networking and food.  As always, Digital CONNtent Creators will supply food and beverage for our members while you mingle and swap stories and business cards!

6:30 - 6:45pm: AJA's NAB Video Contest.  Learn how you can land your work on the NAB show reel for AJA and win some great stuff in the process!

6:45 - 7pm: Digital Anarchy's Beauty Box plug-in.  See the next generation in skin retouching software.  Using advanced techniques such as face detection, this skin retouching plug-in for FCP and AE/Premiere Pro will automatically identify skin tones while preserving important facial features.  Digital Anarchy makes the process of retouching video easier than ever.  Say goodbye to manual masks or frame-by-frame retouching. 

7pm - 7:15pm: Future Technology from Adobe.  We've arrived in the era of 64-bit processing across the board.  Processors have been 64-bit on the Wintel and Mac platforms for years.  Operating Systems have finally arrived as full 64-bit workhorses and now Adobe will be following up with some new 64-bit releases that will make our workflows fly.  Learn about Mercury engine acceleration and what's coming from the "Big A" in San Jose.

7:15 - 7:45pm: BREAK.  Not enough time before the meeting to mingle?  Here's your chance.  Enjoy food and beverage while you swap anecdotes and business cards with your peers.

7:45 - 8pm: Auto install Final Cut Studio.  Tired of losing an entire day to install Final Cut Studio's bombastic amount of material?  Here's how to beat it and exponentially increase your install time.

8pm - 9pm: Watch Carefully.  AJA's Jay Ignaszewski has an interesting history in the realm of visual effects and he will bring his knowledge to this meeting by presenting the process of visualizing, shooting, and compositing the famous Speeder Bike Chase scene in Return of the Jedi.  Come hear Jay's stories about working with George Lucas on such a groundbreaking piece of cinema special effects and how these techniques can still be applied in today's digital world.

About Jay: Jay came east after wandering off the Honor Farm at the Shirley Temple Black Home for the Cinematically Bewildered in Palm Springs.  Having worked in the film industry for over 25 years on the West Coast, Jay came back to the East Coast seeking four seasons and the perfect ear of white corn.  He has worked with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, and Mel Brooks to name a few.  His skill set includes editing (Emmy for co-editing the pilot for Twin Peaks), visual effects (Producer of VFX for Eraser, development tests for The Matrix and What Dreams May Come), sound (location and post for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Black Stallion), camera (Panavision and Arriflex), and he also makes a mean Bolognese.  Jay also teaches production courses at two local universities, sharing his vast reservoir of hearsay and misinformation with the upcoming generation of image-makers.  Hoping to steer these impressionable youths to a better life path such as animal husbandry or fly tying.  He is now seeking a crisp, brilliant Sauvignon Blanc to go with that perfect ear of corn.

9pm - 9:30pm: "The Michael Vitti Big Prize Raffle".  As always, we end the evening with our prize raffle named in honor of the late Michael Vitti, Founder of the New York Final Cut Pro User Group/NY Moving Pictures Collective.  Michael was a good friend to the CT community and helped to found this organization.  Our industry has suffered a massive loss.

PRIZE LIST AS OF 02/11/10 (value $1,322)

- Artbeats Stock Footage Voucher (for clips of your choice value $500)

- Digital Anarchy Beauty Box (value $199)

- (2) Conoa EasyFX 3.1 (value $109)

- Noise Industries idustrial revolution SupaWipe 1.0.2 (value $99)

- Telestream ScreenFlow (value $99)

- Final Cut Pro 6 Essential Effects from Larry Jordan Associates (value $99)

- Apple Pro Training Series: Compressor 3.5 by Brian Gary from Peachpit Press (value $40)

- Original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD (featuring Return of the Jedi--value $25)

- Jay's FX Special Pick: Hardware Wars 30th Anniversary Edition on DVD (value $18)

- Movie of the Month: Zombieland Exclusive Edition on Blu-Ray (value $25)