Draft:C-tv Konferenz

The c-tv Konferenz is a biannual conference organized by the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in Lower Austria. The conference is dedicated to topics related to digital television, media production, media technologies and related areas. Numerous lectures and workshops offer the opportunity to exchange ideas with international experts.

History
The conference is first launched in 2009 under the motto Arbeiten für das Fernsehen (German for Working for Television). The title c-tv Conference is introduced in 2015. This is borrowed from c-tv – Creative Content Channel. The educational television program produces “reports on current topics, short films and pilot films. It also serves as a test laboratory for new TV formats and experiments with the medium of television. All contributions are produced by students.”

Initially an annual format, the conference will become a biannual format from the 2018 edition. Since then, the conference has become a “fixed date for filmmakers, media professionals, students, industry experts and interested parties” and an important platform for the exchange of ideas, research results and best practices in the aforementioned areas. The conference attracts experts, researchers and professionals from various countries and offers them the opportunity to present and discuss their latest findings.

Tony Gregory, director and consultant for broadcasters such as BBC, SKY, ITV, Channel 4, RTL, MTV, PBS and keynote speaker at the 2017 conference, says: “Successes of new tools, workflows and programs can only be evaluated in the rear-view mirror, but "processes, workflows and paradigms of TV production will change more in the next five years than in the previous 80 years of TV history”.

In 2016, around 200 guests attended the conference at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten, Lower Austria.

Topics and speakers
The speakers at the first conference in 2009 are Peter Kullmann, Titus Selge, Kathrin Rothe, Martin Machac and Maria Windhager. Kullmann provides “a personal experience report on working with red cameras.” Selge reports “on the special demands that writing for television places on an author”.

Arman T. Riahi, Janna Nandzik, Nicolas Sauret, Dr. Doris Priesching, Corinna Kamphausen and Andreas Jaritz will be presenting on the topic of The new strategies of content producers in 2014.

In 2017, invited speakers are Tony Gregory, Virgil Widrich, Kurt Danner, Frank Stahmer, Jörg Reitterer, Kathrin Stumreich and Johanna Pirker from the Institute for Interactive Systems and Data Science at Graz University of Technology. At the conference, Christiane Wittenbecher presents an award-winning documentary about the Stasi prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, which was previously shown at the Berlinale as a 360-degree film. Workshops deal with the 3D sound technology of Dolby Atmos, which is also used at St. Pölten UAS, using the example of the band Kraftwerk.

On the subject of disruptive technologies, topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and 5G and how these developments “disrupt established ways of working and how ethically responsible production can be guaranteed” are covered in 2020. The keynote speech on artificial intelligence is given by Tobias Queisser from Cinelytic, which works in Hollywood with Sony and Warner, among others. On the subject of blockchain, several presentations show how blockchain applications are changing film production, complex cash flows and distribution. Among others, Franz Fidler presents the Austrian Blockchain Center research center. Start-up founders Irina Albita and Kim Jackson present outstanding blockchain applications for the film industry. Jackson has previously worked with Universal Pictures, Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee, among others. There are also master classes by industry experts, a pitching session by students and presentations on the latest production technologies. The conference concludes with an ORF DialogForum on the topic of New Technology – New Ethics, which is broadcast by ORF. The conference is broadcast live on derstandard.at.

Under the title Virtual Production for the Films of Tomorrow, the c-tv conference 2022 focuses on virtual production, a rapidly developing area of the film and TV industry. “Virtual production is an umbrella term for the production of content using a combination of computer-generated imagery (CGI), game engines and virtual reality technologies. The integration of high-resolution LED screens and the Covid pandemic as drivers have given the new production method a major boost,” says Rosa von Suess, head of c-tv and organizer of the c-tv conference. Speakers include Lisa Gray, Stefan Kuerzel, Alex Martin, Andreas Göltl and Sven Bliedung von der Heide, Director of Volumetric Studio Volucap, who has worked on projects such as Matrix Resurrections, Marvel's The Avengers and Cloud Atlas. The conference is streamed live by Der Standard.

Program
Keynote speeches by filmmakers and media experts form the core of the conference program. In addition, there are also master classes by industry experts, pitching sessions by students, presentations on the latest production techniques and a showcase of student projects. The program with all invited keynotes and planned master classes are announced in advance on the conference website.

Editions

 * Working for Television 2009: The conference deals with the diverse possibilities of decoding television images as well as the specialized working environments and training scenarios for prospective TV producers in today's era of one-person productions.
 * Working for Television 2010: In its second year, the conference once again focuses on the specialized working environments and training scenarios for aspiring TV producers in view of the proliferation of one-person productions and the upheavals in the media industry. It aims to explore and discuss current issues, boundaries and freedoms within these fields of work.
 * Working for TV 2011: The conference on the 4th anniversary of the launch of c-tv deals with current fields of work and action in moving image production for online and TV media. Prominent TV specialists and producers such as Vivien Bronner, Bernhard Bamberger, Thomas Bräuniger, Alexander Schaefer, Josef Kluger and Lucia Haslauer are guests in the TV studio.
 * Working for television 2012: Since 2009, the c-tv conference has dealt with current fields of work and action in moving image production for online and TV media. In the television studio set up by students, TV specialists and producers from academia and practice discuss TV work in depth, as they did in 2012.
 * Working for Television 2013: The 5th television conference Working for Television 2013 at St. Pölten UAS brought together experts from science and practice to discuss current positions and developments in moving image production. Focusing on the narrative machine of television, topics such as social TV, second screen, HbbTV and catch-up TV as well as the challenges for primetime programs, channel brands, the emergence of YouTube as a platform and creative work in the media were highlighted.
 * The new strategies of content producers (Working for Television 2014): The conference presented insights from high-caliber international format developers into interactive and transmedia storytelling, integrating social media and user activity, and restructuring traditional television formats. With ten presentations on producer strategies, transmedia storytelling and cross-media moving image exploitation from a legal perspective, it offered the latest innovations in the field of new moving image formats.
 * Creative Content | Participative and Transmedial (c-tv Conference on May 5, 2015): The 7th c-tv Conference 2015 focused on the creative content of current television formats and presented new strategies for the use of the linear medium to an interested audience of around 500 participants. Discussion points included the re-design of cross-media weather forecasts, interactive elements in game shows, international multi-platform strategies and research gaps in transmedia productions.
 * Head of Content | Immersive, branded, high graded (c-tv conference on May 3, 2016): The c-tv conference at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences once again attracted numerous filmmakers, media professionals, students and interested parties in 2016, with around 200 guests taking the opportunity to exchange ideas with international experts and find out about current trends in moving image production. Top-class speakers such as tech developer and filmmaker Martin Reinhart, content marketing expert George Nimeh and virtual reality content director and developer Kim Majkut were part of the program.
 * exploring visionary media technologies (c-tv conference on May 9, 2017): The c-tv conference 2017 presented visionary projects from research, art and practice that drive the development or innovative application of new technologies in moving image production. Questions about the control of real images in virtual sets, the future of Trixel compared to pixels, the 3D sound of KRAFTWERK and other technological innovations were the focus, whereby the conceptual application was always guided by visions motivated by content.
 * High-impact content for Generation Z (c-tv conference on May 8, 2018): This year's c-tv conference focused on current formats and production methods for series, particularly with regard to the Generation Z target group and their media consumption. The event provided an overview of the merging of television and social media, especially on platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and showed how Generation Z is fundamentally changing the television experience and influencing innovative storytelling methods and production processes.
 * Disruptive Technologies (c-tv conference on May 13, 2020): The c-tv conference on May 13 examined the radical changes in moving image production brought about by disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and 5G and discussed ways to ensure ethically responsible production.
 * Virtual Production (c-tv conference on June 02, 2022): The c-tv Conference 2022 featured keynotes, discussions and best practice examples from leading figures in the field of virtual productions, complemented by masterclasses for students in collaboration with the WKO Film and Music Industry. The entire conference is available to watch on c-tvthek.
 * Change in technologies, workflows & crews! (c-tv conference on June 02, 2024): Artificial intelligence and cloud-based technologies are revolutionizing the broadcast and media industry by enabling innovation in all processes from development to distribution. At the same time, they are changing ways of working through remote production and collaborative working, while progressive storytelling approaches and gender-appropriate content are also offering new perspectives for a diverse audience.