Ranch hosts WebDVD Publishing workshop for NATAS

Written by Cynthia Zeiden, NATAS Program Director
Republished from Off Camera

The workshop started bright and early on Saturday, November 20th as the many participants ate a tasty breakfast and introduced themselves to one another. Steve Michelson, owner of Lobitos Creek Ranch, spent the morning explaining the history of media publishing, how DVD is the dominant medium right now and he shared his vision of using DVD video in conjunction with DVD-ROM and the Internet. He went over an extensive handout presentation that covered the many types of DVD’s, storage, byte budgets, layers and moved on from technical aspects to packaging/marketing and market usage. After the basics of DVD were covered. The participants split up into several groups and went to each of five workstations to see examples of how the three aspects of the DVD can be used in conjunction to create multidimensional value:

· Publisher: Yoga Journal (Health Fitness) Title: Yoga for Your Pregnancy, Yoga for Managing Stress Producer: Dan Young
· Publisher: Oil on Ice Partners/Sierra Club Productions (Documentary) Title: Oil on Ice
Grassroots Toolkit co-producer: Tim O’Connor-Fraser
· Publisher: Premier Pictures Title: Marco Polo, Return to Xanadu Designer- Dan Newitt
· Publisher/Label: Lobitos Creek Ranch/ Scabeba Entertainment Title: The Buddy Rich
Collection Co-producer: Chris Ammen
· Publisher: Real Food Entertainment Titles: From Deborah Madison’s Kitchen, The New Basics Producer: Steve Kirsh

After everyone had a chance to see all five projects, there was a lunch break. In the afternoon, there were two concurrent sessions one was technical and the other focused on what type of special features and content is appropriate for specific projects. In the beautiful setting, a wonderful time was had by all.