The UK Section holds monthly evening meetings, where we get together to socialise and discuss topics impacting our industry. Below are write-ups of our meetings in 2024.

December meeting in London

SMPTE UK visits... Visualskies Ltd

On Thu 12 Dec 2024, 45 SMPTE UK members and friends visited Visualskies, one of the premier 3D scanning companies for the motion picture industry, at their Battersea headquarters in London. We were treated to an evening's insightful exploration into the cutting-edge world of 3D scanning in film production.

The Visualskies team broke down the increasingly critical role that 3D scanning plays in getting pictures to screen, demonstrating the myriad of different techniques they employ to support productions such as "Napoleon", "Ted Lasso" and "Exodus".

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We're grateful to our hosts Visualskies for the Ample refreshments!

December meeting in Manchester

SMPTE UK and RISE visit… Versa Manchester Studios

On Tue 3 Dec 2024, 45 SMPTE UK members and friends had a very festive visit to Versa Studios in Manchester, in partnership with RISE!

Versa Studios kindly opened their doors for a very special SMPTE and RISE seasonal visit to Manchester’s biggest city centre TV and film studio facility, formerly the iconic home of Granada Television. It was amazing to see how traditional technologies have evolved to operate in a high tech modern environment. 

Delving into the Versa journey with a fantastic tour, learning about the history locked within the studio walls. Lots of interesting stories including how using monopoles and the extremely high tech wheels along with amazing people, they were able to turn around a 3,000 sq ft studio to film Lorraine, Loose Women and Champions League all in a single day.

We are grateful to our hosts Versa Studios for the talk, tour and the Ample refreshments!

November meeting in London

SMPTE UK holds an audience with... Chris Johns, Sky

On 26 November 2024, 75 SMPTE UK members and friends met at NBCUniversal in London to hear from Chris Johns, Chief Engineer - Broadcast Strategy at Sky.

This was one not to be missed, as we heard from one of the most influential technical minds in broadcasting today. Chris was joined by several industry friends, and talked from his perspective about the journey of Sky from the very beginning. He covered some of the amazing innovations and people he's met along the way, and onto the achievements of his latest recruits.

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We're grateful to our generous hosts NBCUniversal for the ample refreshments!

This meeting was recorded, and a video will be posted here shortly.

October meeting in London

SMPTE UK visits Google... for an evening all about Cloud for Media

On Weds 16 Oct 2024, 150 of us met at Google in London for a second evening all about Cloud for Media. This was a big meeting for SMPTE UK, very well attended by people from right across the media industry!

Media In The Cloud - Learn from practitioners how it’s really done. 

Session 2: Cloud Best Practice and Security

The Cloud is the future for media production, but opinions vary as to what exactly this means, the implication for future architectures, and how close those currently deploying solutions will get to the emerging industry best practice. In this second session we visited Google to consider Security and Architectural best practice, issues that are undoubtedly at the heart of a successful cloud deployment.

Security is a much-debated issue, sadly often after an exploit, but with the footprint of a cloud deployment spread over so many platforms and services, responsibility is difficult to pin down. A structured approach is definitely warranted, if potential attacks are to be mitigated at a network, infrastructure or application level. Likewise, best practice for cloud architecture depends on a wide range of factors to fully exploit the potential benefits of the cloud. All too often cloud based workflows are often reincarnations of legacy appliance-based infrastructure that miss out on the functionality, performance and cost benefits of a more virtualized, software approach.

The session and topics of security and best practice were introduced by Ian Trow, who hosted the event..

Idunn Sofie Riise from Zille discussed workflows and security for cloud-native media localisation.

Raymond Drewry from MovieLabs then outlined the core principals behind “2030 Vision” namely, a cloud foundation, security & identity and software defined workflows. We then rounded off the evening with a panel session where Idunn and Raymond were joined by Martin Richards to answer the audience's questions.

As with the first session at Amazon, the aim of this session was to present and discuss, at a practical level, the issues facing those planning and architecting for cloud hosted production solutions.

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We're grateful to Google for providing the venue and the ample refreshments!

October meeting in the North

SMPTE UK North visits... Picture Shop Manchester

On Weds 2 Oct 2024, 40 SMPTE UK members and friends met at Picture Shop in Manchester for a run-down of what we saw at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, plus a tour of Picture Shop's fabulous facilities. This was our third meeting in the North of England, and was a huge success!

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We're grateful to Picture Shop for opening up their facility for us for the evening, the fabulous tours and for providing ample refreshments!

Social event in Amsterdam

IBC Drinks: SMPTE drinks at the International Broadcast Convention

On Sat 14 Sept 2024, 200 of us met for drinks in the sunshine at the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam! Many students were present, including those sponsored by SMPTE UK to attend, and a large group from the SMPTE Germany Section.

We were also joined by SMPTE President Renard Jenkins, and Exec Director David Grindle. It was great to be able to reflect on a busy and successful IBC with fellow SMPTE members and industry friends, as well as encouraging students and younger members at they begin their careers.

We are grateful to BT Media and Broadcast for hosting the drinks on their stand!

September meeting in London

SMPTE UK visits Amazon UK... for an evening all about Cloud for Media

On Mon 9 Sept 2024, to kick off our exciting 2024-25 season of meetings, 130 of us met at Amazon UK's headquarters at Principal Place, London for an evening all about Cloud for Media. 

Media In The Cloud - Learn from practitioners how it’s really done. 

Session 1: Current state of play and future architectures for cloud native production

The Cloud is the future for media production, but opinions vary as to what exactly this means, the implication for future architectures, and how close those currently deploying solutions will get to the emerging industry best practice.

The first session was introduced and hosted by Ian Trow.

Martin Richards drew on his considerable experience in cloud-based production, to give the session a firm grounding in current cloud-hosted production solutions.

Robert Wadge then explained the motivation behind the BBC’s Time Addressable Media Storage initiative and how this approach opens the door to greater flexibility, scalability, and agility for Cloud Production in the future.

This was the first of two SMPTE UK Media in the Cloud sessions, the second to be hosted in October at Google UK HQ focusing on Cloud Best Practice and Security. The aim of both these sessions is to present and discuss, at a practical level, the issues facing those planning and architecting for future Cloud hosted production solutions.

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We are very grateful to our hosts Amazon for the ample refreshments!

July meeting in Leeds

SMPTE UK visits... ITV Leeds

On 25 July 2024, 60 SMPTE UK members and friends had a very special visit to ITV Leeds for a tour of the Emmerdale set, and to hear ITV's future thinking on technology and change.

ITV Leeds is the home of many of the UK's most cherished TV programmes. SMPTE UK was invited to a 'behind the scenes' tour of the Emmerdale set, and to hear about the future of ITV's technology.

This was our second SMPTE UK North meeting in 2024, this time in Leeds! Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We were joined by students from Salford, Surrey and Solent Universities, as well as from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

We're grateful to ITV for hosting the evening, providing ample refreshments, and providing the wonderful tour of the Emmerdale set.

July meeting in London

SMPTE UK screening: The HBO Camera Assessment Series

On Thurs 11 July 2024, 70 SMPTE UK members and friends visited Channel 4 in London to watch a a screening of the HBO Camera Assessment Series.

Synopsis: This sixth instalment of the HBO Camera Assessment Series (CAS) is a one-of-a-kind project that seeks to create a rich and expansive image library for the Warner Brothers  Discovery family. CAS 2023 features 35mm film, Alexa Mini, Venice 2, V-Raptor, Ursa 12k and Alexa 35  in environments stressed with colors, patterns, skin tones, dynamic range, image  elasticity, mixed color, and available light. Our goal is not to determine what camera is "best", but what camera is appropriate for each scenario.

Watch the trailer here:

Just like all SMPTE UK events, this meeting was open to existing professionals and students alike. We're grateful to our generous sponsor for this evening, Amazon Web Services, for enabling us to provide ample refreshments, and to Channel 4 for hosting the event in their private cinema.

June meeting in London

SMPTE UK visits... GB News

On Weds 12 June 2024, 50 SMPTE UK members and friends including students from Salford, Solent, Surrey and Aberdeen universities met at GB News in London for a tour of their fascinating newsroom, and the opportunity to understand how the technology behind it works.

The facility is a great example of pragmatic engineering, with technology choices optimised to fit the commercial and operational model that GB News needs.

We're grateful to Stephen Wilmott, Head of Technology & Operations at GB News for hosting us, and for being a good sport as he was peppered with questions from an enthusiastic SMPTE UK group.

Following the tours, our evening was held on the spectacular rooftop terrace of The Point. We're grateful to GB News and their technology partners DiNA and Mimir for supplying the drinks and food!

UK Conference

SMPTE UK and MPTS present... The Media Technology Conference 2024

On 15 and 16 May 2024, SMPTE UK produced the Media Technology Conference, an industry-leading event that took place as part of the Media Production & Technology Show in a conference suite within Olympia London.

Designed to bring together senior technology leaders and experts in the field of broadcasting and innovation, the 2-day conference provided a platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and exploring the latest trends and innovations.

Attendees experienced a mix of insightful keynote presentations, interactive panel discussions, hands-on workshops, and technology business insights. It was a must-attend event for anyone in the broadcast industry looking to stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

Topics included:

• Emerging technologies
• AI in media
• IP workflows
• Cloud for live production
• Virtual production
• Sustainability
• Security
• Skills

And much more!

More information can be found at mediaproductionshow.com/technology-conference.

May meeting in Salford

SMPTE UK North: Launch Event!

On 1 May 2024, 75 SMPTE members and friends met at Salford University's facility at MediaCity for our very first event of SMPTE UK North.

SMPTE UK's Chair, John Ellerton, opened the meeting, talking about SMPTE and the UK Section.

We were then treated to an in-depth tour of Dock 10's impressive studio facilities!

The main part of the meeting was an interactive debate about the future of SMPTE in the North of England. Lots of great ideas were shared. There is clearly a lot of energy and enthusiasm for networking and knowledge-sharing!

As ever for a SMPTE UK meeting, there were ample refreshments, this time courtesy of our kind sponsors, Dock10. Many thanks to Dock 10 for this, and for providing the studio tours. Many thanks also to Salford University for providing the meeting room.

April meeting in London

SMPTE UK debates... The future of media infrastructure

On Thu 25 Apr 2024, 85 SMPTE UK members and friends met at the iconic BT Tower in London.

Our evening was all about the future of infrastructure for media production and distribution. As we head inexorably towards a cloud-centric world, interoperability remains paramount to maintain inter-working between organisations. But innovation is moving at such a fast pace, is this happening or are we facing a number of closed, proprietary environments?

Andy Rayner, CTO at Appear chaired this evening's fascinating debate with his industry expert panel: Richard Hastie, Kieran Kunhya and David Atkins. Unfortunately Claire Wilkie, our 4th panellist was unable to join us.

This event was filmed, courtesy of the BT Tower events team. Enjoy!

March meeting in London