Two inspiring keynotes from the commercial and public service worlds opened the annual EBU Production Technology Seminar today in Geneva, with both predicting big changes ahead.

Disney's Vice-President of Production Technology, Howard Lukk, gave his 140-strong audience an insight into some exciting technologies that are revolutionizing the way movies are made.

In addition to visualization tools that help directors to pitch and develop their ideas in virtual spaces, there are also what he called "the competitive H’s", namely High Frame Rate, High Dynamic Range and High Resolution. He believes that, of the three, High Dynamic Range will have the biggest impact on audiences, by allowing much greater detail to be visible in, for example, night scenes that have previously been difficult to light and shoot.

The second speaker was the BBC’s Head of Sustainable Production, Richard Smith, who leads a team dedicated to embedding sustainable working practices across all BBC productions.

Mr Smith called on European colleagues to join efforts to develop a common Carbon Calculator that can be used to measure the impact of productions. It is only by measuring the impact that the necessary changes can be made, he said.

The EBU's strategic programme on Green Broadcasting is coordinating a push to align work already under way in the UK, France and elsewhere.

Other sessions on the first day of PTS 2013 focused on new approaches to broadcast workflows and on the latest developments in video codecs. During an animated Q&A session, representatives of Sony and Panasonic fielded questions from broadcasters wanting to know their future plans for the video compression schemes used in production.

The day finished with delegates breaking into smaller groups to attend tutorials on a range of topics. The event continues until Thursday and the presentations are available for download to EBU Members.

Photo: Hans Hoffmann (EBU), Richard Smith (BBC) and Howard Lukk (Walt Disney Studios), at the EBU Production Technology Seminar 2013