For the past twenty years, the Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Tech Retreat has gathered a veritable who's who in engineering, technology, creativity, and strategic business together for a structured yet informal meeting of the minds; where top industry leaders engaged in all aspects of production, distribution, post production, film, television, web and related endeavors, gather in an environment conducive to the exchange of knowledge and information. This year's 20th Anniversary confab promises all of that and more from February 17-21, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Indian Wells near Palm Springs, CA.

The Tech Retreat offers attendees the chance to explore the opportunities and the complexities facing an industry in transition, and to investigate new solutions and technologies that impact its many constituents.  

The HPA Tech Retreat offers lively conference sessions, networking events and technology demonstrations to an engaged audience of participants and panelists that hail from a pool of the top technical, creative, business and hands-on experts. Topics will take the Tech Retreat audience from the nitty gritty to the very precipice.
 
For a full schedule, visit http://bit.ly/1cwt7B2.  On Monday, February 17th, the event opens for early registration and a pre-Retreat course titled Physics, Psychophysics, and Vision for Advanced Motion Imaging from Charles Poynton and John Watkinson. Tuesday launches the HPA Tech Retreat, with the HPA Supersession: The New Normal is Anything But, focusing on the impact of new distribution platforms in production and post. Wednesday through Friday mornings feature breakfast roundtables where any industry relevant topic goes. The HPA Demo Room opens on Tuesday with demos and cocktails and is a hotbed of new products and technologies that feature curated and expert-demos which illustrate the latest developments. Wednesday focuses on the consumer experience and impact, and Thursday production and post. The Tech Retreat concludes Friday morning, with highlights and an emphasis on engineering. The entire event features many opportunities for one-on-one discussion with industry innovators, technology experts, business executives and other top professionals.  

Mark Schubin, Multiple-Emmy-award-winning SMPTE Fellow has been working in television since 1967, writing about it since 1972, and chairing the HPA Tech Retreat program since 1997, commented on the engaging presentations set for next month. “We are dealing with fundamental changes in the very nature of our industry, from changing methodologies – broadcast, cable, DVD, DVR, for example- to the previously unthinkable, such as giving fans in a stadium access to their own instant replays, letting social media shape programming, and all of those things that lay beyond. This is a challenging but expansive time. For example, at the Tech Retreat, we'll feature a presentation that may appear to be purely tech-focused and narrow (i.e., new display connections) but it will show how the consumer technology is powerfully driving the professional world. As always, we'll be digging into important topics that are thought provoking, but are also important in terms of our businesses and careers, including two of the most critical issues in our industry: the change from video-specific technology to commodity information technology, and the question of what comes next on the screen, and what delivers the biggest bang for the buck?” Schubin notes, “Maybe it's something a lot simpler than “4K.”  He concludes, “And, we're spending a day with a provocative dive into one of the most important topics there is – color.”

Leon Silverman President of the HPA noted, “This year is a significant milestone for the HPA Tech Retreat as we look back over the incredible effect that technology has had on our industry over the past 20 years. As the world of film and television became increasingly impacted by computer and digital technologies, the HPA Tech Retreat served as an important common ground for our industry to experience and drive transformative change together. Now more than ever, the Tech Retreat serves as an important bridge between so many of the rapidly changing aspects of our industry. As I do every year, I look forward to spending time with the most interesting people I know, and ones I hope to know, at the HPA Tech Retreat.”

Early bird registration pricing will end on January 10 and the Tech Retreat demo room still has a few remaining spaces left. For full information and registration visit www.hpaonline.com or call the HPA office at (213) 614-0860 or email Eileen Kramer – [email protected].

About the HPA Tech Retreat
The HPA Tech Retreat is an informal gathering, in the Palm Springs area, of the top industry engineering, technical, and creative talent, as well as strategic business leaders focused on technology, from all aspects of digital cinema, post-production, film, television, video, broadcast, and related technology areas, for the exchange of information.
 
The HPA Tech Retreat will be presented with generous support from Foundation Members: Avid, Company 3, Deluxe, Dolby, EFILM, Encore; Gold Sponsor: Rohde & Schwarz and Brand Sponsor: Cloud Sigma.

About the Hollywood Post Alliance
Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) serves the professional community of businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools and the infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content.