Jamie Dickinson, Freelance Colourist
Jamie Dickinson
dickj10
For Jamie, IBC was as much about the people as the technology.
Alongside checking out what was happening on the show floor, he spent time networking, catching up with industry friends and getting a feel for some of the wider conversations happening across post-production.
And, unsurprisingly, AI was right in the middle of a lot of those conversations.
One thing Jamie has noticed across the industry is just how much easier access to AI and large language models has become. And that’s opening up some interesting possibilities for post professionals.
People who might previously have had little or no experience writing code or scripts can now create their own tools to automate specific, often very niche, parts of their day-to-day work.
For editors and colourists, that could mean building something that solves a very particular problem in their workflow, then sharing or selling it to others who have the same problem.
At the same time, established software companies are bringing similar AI-powered tools directly into their own platforms, potentially reducing the need for third-party solutions.
AI assistants are now appearing everywhere, but Jamie points out an interesting consequence: if manufacturers are all integrating similar third-party AI models, it becomes harder for any one company to stand out with a single “killer” AI product.
There’s also a noticeable difference in how companies are approaching generative AI. Some are embracing it head-on, while others are taking a more hands-off approach and allowing users to connect AI tools themselves.
For Jamie, that raises an interesting question around just how much control users should have over the AI they bring into their own workflows.
Alongside checking out what was happening on the show floor, he spent time networking, catching up with industry friends and getting a feel for some of the wider conversations happening across post-production.
And, unsurprisingly, AI was right in the middle of a lot of those conversations.
One thing Jamie has noticed across the industry is just how much easier access to AI and large language models has become. And that’s opening up some interesting possibilities for post professionals.
People who might previously have had little or no experience writing code or scripts can now create their own tools to automate specific, often very niche, parts of their day-to-day work.
For editors and colourists, that could mean building something that solves a very particular problem in their workflow, then sharing or selling it to others who have the same problem.
At the same time, established software companies are bringing similar AI-powered tools directly into their own platforms, potentially reducing the need for third-party solutions.
AI assistants are now appearing everywhere, but Jamie points out an interesting consequence: if manufacturers are all integrating similar third-party AI models, it becomes harder for any one company to stand out with a single “killer” AI product.
There’s also a noticeable difference in how companies are approaching generative AI. Some are embracing it head-on, while others are taking a more hands-off approach and allowing users to connect AI tools themselves.
For Jamie, that raises an interesting question around just how much control users should have over the AI they bring into their own workflows.
Paul Hawke Williams, Head of Training & Engagement, Gorilla Academy
GorillaAcademyTV
GorillaAcademyTV
Gorilla Academy
Paul was coming at IBC from a slightly different angle.
As Head of Training & Engagement at Gorilla Academy, alongside his work with Gorilla Post, he was interested not just in what the latest technology can do, but what it could mean for facilities, clients and the people coming into the industry.
For Paul, IBC is about much more than seeing the latest kit.
“IBC is always an important date in the calendar for us, not simply to see shiny new kit, but to understand what is genuinely useful, what is coming next and what could make a real difference to our clients and learners.”
AI was, of course, a big talking point.
What particularly interested Paul was seeing AI develop into more of a practical assistant within established post-production platforms such as Avid, Adobe and DaVinci Resolve.
From organising media and creating sync maps to speeding up repetitive tasks, these tools have the potential to become genuinely useful parts of everyday workflows.
Avid’s current Media Composer assistant, for example, connects to Google Gemini and can carry out a range of assistant-level jobs.
But for Paul, the really interesting question is what comes next. Could these systems eventually become model-agnostic, allowing facilities to connect their own locally hosted AI models and tools?
That could be particularly important for secure or air-gapped environments where production media and data cannot be sent to an external cloud service.
Of course, there are still plenty of questions around cost, implementation and where human skills remain essential. The key, Paul says, is understanding the technology properly rather than simply reacting to the headlines.
AI wasn’t the only thing on Paul’s radar either. He also looked at Avid’s latest storage developments and its partnership with Baselight, as well as Projective Strawberry’s approach to managing media across multiple projects, platforms and locations.
One development that could have wider implications for some facilities is Avid’s recent licensing change, with support for third-party storage now only available through its enterprise-level licence.
As a NEXIS-orientated company, this is unlikely to have a major impact on Gorilla Post. However, Paul notes that it could be significant for facilities using systems such as EditShare, particularly when looking at future costs, support and infrastructure decisions.
And for Gorilla Academy, keeping up with all of this is about more than simply knowing what’s new. It helps inform where training needs to go next, making sure learners are developing skills that remain relevant to the tools and workflows they’ll encounter in the industry.
So, what did we miss?
One of our favourite things about the post-production community is that everyone sees the industry from a slightly different angle.
And that was particularly clear from Jamie and Paul’s IBC takeaways.
For Jamie, it was about the growing accessibility of AI tools for individual creatives, as well as the value of getting together with people across the industry.
For Paul, the focus extended into facilities, workflows, infrastructure and the future of training.
But there was one clear thread running through both perspectives: AI is moving quickly, but the interesting question isn’t simply what it can do. It’s how we can use it well.
There’s a lot of noise around AI at the moment, and IBC is a pretty good place to see just how quickly things are changing. But understanding what’s genuinely useful, asking the right questions and working out where new technology actually fits into our workflows is where the real value lies.
So, a big thank you to Jamie and Paul for doing the homework for us. We might not have made it to the show floor this year, but thanks to our community, we feel a little more caught up. 👀
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