Download the free DS app and be the fi rst to read the latest issue on your mobile devices. BIGGER Richard Hammond on his new show BIG ROYAL JURORS DS Awards — Meet the judges PLUS NEWS OPINION INTERVIEWS TECHNOLOGY COMMUNIT Y TRENDS EVENTS PRODUCTS PIERRE TABET, MANAGING DIRECTOR, 7 PRODUCTION ON EXPO 2020, COVERING THE FORMULA 1 CHAMPIONSHIP AND INTRODUCING THE REGION TO 4K Vol. 22 Issue 02 February 2020ROCK IN RIO, Brazil BASTILLE DAY, France HYPERX ESPORTS ARENA, USA GEARHOUSE COLUMBUS, USA GRANGER COMMUNITY CHURCH, USA www.lawo.com Join us @ CABSAT #B4-21 Getting the Thrill Across. World Cups and countless other games. Global album launches streamed live over the web, major rock festivals brought to millions, classical performances in any venue. Lawo is where the thrill is. By appointment to the most talented people on the planet. All over IP, in cutting-edge quality.CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2020 5 UPDATE 4 ARAB FILMS MAKE THE OSCARS 2020 CUT; SHARJAH GRAND MOSQUE REVEALS PLANS TO BROADCAST SER- MONS; STARZPLAY PARTNERS WITH MENA ARABIC PODCAST SPECIAL- IST, FINYAL MEDIA; ANIMATED ARABIC SERIES IN THE WORKS BY SAUDI AND UAE; ETISALAT’S E-VISION LAUNCHES MULTI- TENANT OTT SERVICE; EXPO 2020 DUBAI APPOINTS DUBAI ME- DIA INCORPORATED AS OFFICIAL HOST BROADCASTER 34 DS AWARDS 2020 MEET THE ECLECTIC MIX OF INDUSTRY PROFES- SIONALS WHO WILL BE JUDGING YOUR NOMINATIONS 37 SPECIAL REPORT CINEMATIC LIGHTING 42 5 MINUTES WITH KANE RODRIGUES, SOUND ENGINEER 18 IN FOCUS Richard Hammond on the impact of social media has had on TV 22 COVER STORY Pierre Tabet, managing director of 7 Productions reveals what the company has in store for 2020 28 INTERVIEW Meet one of Egypt’s youngest video editors Ahmed Hafeez 34 DS AWARDS 2020 Meet the judges of the Digital Studio Awards 2020 37 SPECIAL REPORT: CINEMATIC LIGHTING Latest trends in lighting 42 5 MINUTES WITH Kane Rodrigues, sound engineer 05 22 34 42 37 18 www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 3 SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE WWW.ITP.COM /SUBSCRIPTIONS WWWWWWW W.W.W.W.W..WW ITITII P.COM/SUBSCR IPTIONS DON’T MISS AN ISSUE! CH-1CH-2 Published by and © 2020 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC MEDIA PO Box 500024, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 444 3000 Web: www.itp.com Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London & Mumbai ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO Ali Akawi Managing Director Alex Reeve EDITORIAL Editor: Nikhil Pereira Tel: +971 4 444 3419 email: nikhil.pereira@itp.com Editorial Assistant: Saher Suthriwala ADVERTISING Sales Manager: Thomas Lambert Tel: +971 4 444 3637 email: Thomas.Lambert@itp.com ITP LIVE General Manager Ahmad Bashour Tel: +971 4 444 3549 email: ahmad.bashour@itp.com PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Photographers Efraim Evidor, Adel Rashid Staff Photographers Aasiya Jagadeesh, Fritz Asuro, Ajith Narendra, Jessica Samson PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION Group Production & Distribution Director Kyle Smith Distribution & Warehouse Manager Praveen Nair Production Manager Basel Al Kassem Production Co-ordinator Manoj Mahadevan Senior Image Editor Emmalyn Robles CIRCULATION Circulation Executive Loreta Regencia MARKETING Director of Awards & Marketing Daniel Fewtrell Events Manager Teri Dunstan ITP GROUP CEO Ali Akawi CFO Toby Jay Spencer-Davies Subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek specialist advice before acting on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use and may not be appropriate for the reader’s particular circumstances. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publishers in writing. An exemption is hereby granted for extracts used for the purpose of fair review. www.digitalstudiome.com4 / JANUARY 2020NEWS UPDATE A total of four films from the Arab region have been nominated for awards in both the Documentary Feature and Live Action Short Film categories at the 92nd Academy Awards, which is scheduled to take place on February 9, 2020. The Tunisian short fi m Brotherhood is a nominee for the Best Live Action Short Film category. The fi lm’s director, Meryam Joobeur, is the fi rst Tunisian female director in history to be nominated for an Academy Award. The 2018 short fi lm Nefta Football Club, directed by Yves Piat and Damien Meghrebi, was also nominated alongside Brotherhood in the same category. Elsewhere, in the Documentary Feature category, Feras Fayyad’s The Cave and Waad Al-Kateab’s critically acclaimed documentary on the Syrian Civil War, For Sama, are both up for an Academy Award this year. A Syrian refugee herself, Al-Kateab’s haunting documentary recently became the most-nominated documentary in BAFTA history. The fi lm also won several other accolades in 2019. Regional fi lms have been nominated across two categories at the 92nd Academy Awards 4 ARAB FILMS MAKE THE OSCARS 2020 CUT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT THIS MONTH IN THE TV AND FILM PRODUCTION INDUSTRY 07 UPDATE 14 EDITOR’S LETTER 18 IN FOCUS 22 COVER STORY 34 DS AWARDS 2020 In 2019 actor / producer Nadine Labaki was amongst the only Arabs on the Oscars’ shortlist. www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 5 Details of the Sharajah Grand Mosque’s AV broadcast of sermons have been released which involves Broadcast Solutions ME and Ross Video as the technology providers. The Sharjah Government Planning Department appointed the Sharjah Broadcasting Authority (SBA) as a consultant to implement a modern and innovative broadcast system to cover the events within the mosque. SBA also approached Broadcast Solutions ME to deliver a broadcast system to support the mosque’s busy calendar of Islamic events that includes several cameras, an impressive control room and consultancy. The Sharjah Grand Mosque, which has been in the making for more than fi ve years, opened its doors in 2019, becoming UAE’s second-largest mosque. The building occupies 185,806 m2 with a capacity to accommodate over 25,000 worshippers. 5,000, with allocated seating for 610 women, can be SHARJAH GRAND MOSQUE PLANS SERMON BROADCASTS UAE’S SECOND LARGEST MOSQUE CONTRACTS BROADCAST SOLTUI- ONS AND ROSS VIDEO TO MAKE PRAYERS AVAILABLE TO ALL FILMS INCLUDE THE 1954 FEATURE LES STATUES MEURENT AUSSI AND THE APOLLO OF GAZA ARTISTS’ FILMS TAKE CENTRE- STAGE AT JAMEEL ARTS CENTRE Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai’s contemporary art institution has a focus on fi lm this January, with a range of screenings running through the month. UAE premieres include fi lms and documentaries by renowned artists and cineastes Ghassan Halwani, Haig Aivazian, Arjuna Neuman, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, Ghislain Cloquet and Nicolas Wadimoff . The fi lms were be screened in Jameel Arts Centre’s Gallery 9 free and accessible to all. The programme started on January 9 accommodated inside. To not spoil the artistic impression, the approach to AV had to be a thoughtful one, and the system integrator had to meet a time-frame for completion of the full system. Broadcast Solutions approached Ross Video which in return off ered a white version of its PIVOTCam compact camera (12 of which are used around the mosque) and added the full broadcast equipment to the mosque’s impressive list of hard- and software tools. UAE premieres include fi lms and documentaries by Ghassan Halwani, Haig Aivazian, and more. and will run until February 8, 2020. The multi-fi lm programme brings together artists’ fi lms that explore themes refl ected in the exhibitions on show at the Jameel Arts Centre including Phantom Limb, which includes works by 13 artists and interrogates material heritage, posing critical questions around the writing of history and the weaponization of heritage. Ghassan Halwani’s fi rst feature fi lm Erased_Ascent of the Invisible weaves archival footage with animated sequences and documentation of his interventions on the walls of Beirut. BASELIGHT’S FILM GRADE SETTINGS SEEN IN UNCUT GEMS UNCUT GEMS IS IN CINEMAS AND WAS RELEASED ON NETFLIX ON 31 JANUARY 2020 Uncut Gems, the latest movie directed by the Safdie Broth- ers starring Adam Sandler as a New York City jeweler and gambler, took advantage of Baselight’s BLG metadata workfl ow to speed the grade from dailies through to fi nal deliver- ables. Van Der Cruyssen collaborated closely with cinematographer Darius Khondji, as well as the Safdie Brothers, all of whom he had worked with previ- ously on the Jay-Z video for Mercy Me. Cruyssen said: “I actually graded the dailies on Baselight. We saved those precious settings in BLG fi les as a start- ing point for the fi nal DI – that saved at least a day. The show LUTs were then created and adjusted through produc- tion so we had a solid base.” 12 PIVOTCam compact camera are used around the mosque. NEWS UPDATE www.digitalstudiome.com6 / FEBRUARY 2020 Arabsat dishes in Saudi’s Riyadh [Representa- tion image]. Ahlan Simsim is brought to life by a creative team from across the MENA region. BBC News Arabic television has inked another long-term agreement with Arabsat to exclusively launch their fi rst Arabic news channel. MENA region viewers will have access to BBC News Arabic channel in HD, available exclusively for viewers on Arabsat BADR-4 satellites at the hotspot 26ºE. BBC News Arabic television has inked another long-term agreement with Arabsat to exclusively launch their fi rst Arabic news channel in high resolution to the region, onboard of Arabsat BADR-4 which covers the entire MENA region and most of Western Europe. Starting January 1st, 2020, the HDTV FTA channel will join the same video neighbourhood with sister channel BBC News Arabic SD, and among other leading From the creators of Iftah Ya Simsim and Sesame Street shows from around the world comes Ahlan Simsim, a children’s show on MBC3, YouTube and local broadcast channels across the Middle East. Designed for children ages 3 to 8 years, Ahlan Simsim features familiar Muppet friends Elmo, Cookie Monster and Grover as well as two new characters - Basma, a 6-year-old purple Muppet and Jad, a yellow-furred Muppet. Each episode of Ahlan Simsim follows Basma and Jad as they explore their world alongside animated characters and friends. Designed in close collaboration with regional and international education experts, Ahlan Simsim presents a social- emotional curriculum modeling for BBC ARABIC DEBUTS IN HD ON ARABSAT SESAME WORKSHOP DEBUTS CHILDREN’S SHOW ACROSS MENA BBC NEWS ARABIC INKS ANOTHER LONG-TERM AGREEMENT WITH ARABSAT TO EXCLUSIVELY LAUNCH FIRST ARABIC NEWS CHANNEL AHLAN SIMSIM WILL FEATURE MUPPET CHARACTERS INCLUDING ELMO, COOKIE MONSTER AND GROVER important for people to be able to turn to trusted, independent news providers, and it is very exciting that our audience can now tune into BBC News Arabic’s award- winning journalism in HD quality.” Khalid Balkheyour, Arabsat President and CEO said: “This new agreement with BBC News Arabic will enrich the audiences experience in MENA region, and matches Arabsat strategy to continue being the leading HD neighborhood for Middle East & North Africa. BBC News Arabic is one of the pioneer channels to broadcast in Arabic language and we are delighted to be the fi rst choice every time the channel wants to increase its presence across the region. Exclusively broadcasting in HD format, is something unique and signifi cant to this strategic partnership”. Alam Simsim to Hikayat Simsim, Sesame’s Muppet characters have entertained, educated, and inspired families in the Middle East for decades. We are excited to bring Ahlan Simsim to life and introduce this new Simsim for a new generation of children across the region.” Sherrie Westin, president of social impact and philanthropy at Sesame Workshop commented: “We are proud to collaborate with regional experts to create Ahlan Simsim, which off ers engaging, culturally relevant storylines and characters that children can relate to. At Sesame Workshop, we know the power of media and Muppets to transform lives, and we are honored to share this new program that will provide playful learning to millions of children across the Middle East.” children how to manage feelings. Produced in Amman with Jordan Pioneers, Ahlan Simsim is brought to life by a team of writers, producers and performers from across the Middle East and North Africa. Khaled Haddad, founder of Jordan Pioneers and executive producer of Ahlan Simsim said: “From Iftah Ya Simsim to international and regional news channels, which can be received across the region with the minimum receive dish size. Sam Farah, head of BBC News Arabic said: “I am pleased BBC audiences can now watch BBC News Arabic TV in high resolution across the Middle East, and elsewhere in Europe. It’s never been more NEWS UPDATE www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 7 MASSTECH LAUNCHES ADOBE PREMIERE PRO PANEL FOR KUMULATE Adobe Premiere Pro users can access the functionality of Masstech’s storage, workfl ow and lifecycle management solution, Kumulate from directly within Pre- miere Pro via an intuitive panel. The Adobe panel can be added to any Kumulate system with minimal confi guration. Storage movement and workfl ow tools are then presented as a plug-in within Adobe Premiere Pro, allowing users to access their entire inventory across any type of online or deeper storage tier, including cloud, local disk, optical disk, and LTO. All assets on all storage tiers are searchable to Premiere Pro users from within the new panel, using intuitive search criteria including structured, unstructured, and time-based meta- data. These powerful tools allow users to quickly access their content libraries from within Adobe Premiere Pro, dra- matically speeding up workfl ows. StarzPlay has partnered with Finyal Media, a production business specialised in podcast creation, to produce an Arabic podcast series. The announcement follows StarzPlay’s focus on Arabic content production on multiple digital mediums, having also announced its fi rst original content series. The SVOD service will collaborate with Finyal to produce a series of 12 episodes to be released around the same time as the historical drama series Vikings depicting the tales of the lives and adventures of raiders and explorers of the dark ages. Titled Vikings — The Nine Realms the podcast’s storyline revolves around the Norse Mythology of Vikings and will feature two weekly episodes. Nadim Dada, director of content acquisition at StarzPlay said: “This podcast greatly complements StarzPlay’s existing and ever-popular STARZPLAY PARTNERS WITH FINYAL MEDIA THE PARTNERSHIP WILL SEE PRODUCTION OF A PODCAST SERIES OF 12 ARABIC EPISODES BASED AROUND ‘VIKINGS’ DRAMA SERIES ANIMATED ARABIC SERIES IN THE WORKS BY KSA AND UAE SAUDI’S VISION ENTERTAINMENT TO WORK WITH IMAGE NATION ABU DHABI ON A SHOW WHICH WILL FEATURE ANIMATED ADVENTURES Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia-based content creator, Vision Entertainment have partnered to produce an animated television series. The Arabic language television series about dates, the traditional Arab fruit will showcase the culture and history of Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab region. Princess Sarah bint Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, executive producer and co-founder of Vision Entertainment said: “We set out to create iconic characters that are rooted in our traditions and culture. The palm is such Viking themed content, allowing fans to go beyond the movies and series and learn about the history and mythology of their favourite characters. The partnership further underlines our commitment and focus towards Arabic content production as we continue to off er unmatched content to our customers on multiple fronts.” The SVOD service will collaborate with Finyal to produce a series of 12 episodes. into the Saudi Arabian media industry, following the landmark production partnership with MBC and Majid Al Futtaim announced at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Ben Ross, chief content offi cer at Image Nation Abu Dhabi said: “The region is home to a huge consumer audience with a major appetite for locally-made content that represents and resonates with them. Through this partnership, we’re attracting top talent and creating dynamic content.” a big part of our history and heritage and the date is a ubiquitous staple in our homes, so we decided to bring the world of dates to life in a fun animated series for the whole family. We are creating this series to embody our rich heritage and culture and hope audiences of all ages across the region will relate to its authentic, homegrown story.” The project, tentatively titled Tamr is currently in pilot production with series production slated to begin in 2020. The partnership with Vision Entertainment is part of Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s foray NEWS UPDATE www.digitalstudiome.com8 / FEBRUARY 2020 HH Sheikh Ahmad Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Walid Al Ibrahim. MBC unveiled the all-new version of its video on demand (VOD) service, Shahid. The refreshed VOD service from MBC will include premium quality diverse content, as well as additional content via regional and global partnerships. Disney and Fox will be partnering with Shahid providing close to 3,000 hours of family entertainment. Also announced was a partnership with global music streaming platform Spotify. MBC’s channels will also be included in the revamped Shahid, which include nine HD channels, streamed live, as well as a catch-up service. Shahid Premieres will focus on fi rst- look exclusives from the world of cinema and television, as some new series will, from now on, start their lifecycle on Shahid even before MBC channels. Meanwhile Shahid Originals will focus on a variety of local and regional productions, set to include long-form content such as drama series, as well as short-from content, which both will be fully exclusively featured on Shahid. The unveiling took place as part of an exclusive event held at the Dubai Opera in Downtown Dubai, attended by HH Sheikh Ahmad bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; HE Turki Alshabanah Saudi Minister of Media; MBC group chairman, Waleed Al-Ibrahim, MBC group general manager Ali Al-Hedeithy, newly appointed CEO, Marc Antoine d’Halluin; and top businessmen from the region, VIPs and celebrities from the world of entertainment and Arab media. Saudi national Al-Ibrahim commented about the social and economic reforms in the Kingdom in his opening speech. Paying homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Al-Ibrahim said it “is something we have always dreamed of”. “It gives me great pride to witness this dream being fi nally MBC’S SHAHID PARTNERS WITH DISNEY AND FOX FOR MENA REGION ALL-NEW LOOK OF MBC’S VOD SERVICE UNVEILED DURING EXCLUSIVE EVENT AT DUBAI OPERA Kingdom is currently witnessing”, which includes expanding on the local and regional media content industry — and fostering talent as a key enabler. d’Halluin demonstrated fi gures from the track-record of the company over the past decade. He said: “During the past 10 years, MBC has acquired and produced approximately 46,000 hours of Arabic-language entertainment content, valued at an estimated $1.3bn. This is broken down into 26,000 hours of media, entertainment and other content, plus 20,000 hours of television series, which includes about 600 dramas.” The new group CEO said: “We aim to substantially increase the size of our investment into drama productions, thus increasing them fourfold, of which the majority will be original and exclusive content. Shahid will certainly benefi t from MBC’s proven experience in investment and growth to provide the best and most diverse international digital media experience in the region.” realised. Today, it is almost apt that we face a new start for our group, albeit with a diff erence in objectives,” he added. “As we look ahead, we strive to take control of our own narratives, showcasing our stories to the rest of the world through the very best in original fi lms, series, and other media content, produced and marketed via MBC Studios,” he continued. He also said that the group is “leveraging the pivotal moment the LIVE PRODUCTION SWITCHERS IP and 12G? 4K and HDR? Remote Production? Built-in Format Conversion? YES WE DO THAT! www.grassvalley.com/switchers GV YES Switchers 116x85.indd 121/01/2020 12:45:13 NEWS UPDATE www.digitalstudiome.comFEBRUARY 2020 / 9 Next >