by Christine Bunish

Anyone who's been in the film and video business longer than five minutes knows the rapid pace at which things change. Some changes — black-and-white to color TV, analog to digital, Standard Definition to HD — are truly revolutionary. Others, such as moving from early cumbersome, tethered HD cameras to today's compact solid-state models and HD-enabled DSLRs, are more evolutionary in nature.

In this issue of Markee 2.0, our New Media E-volution feature looks beyond broadcast at projects designed for emerging — and fully-emerged — media platforms. Illuminating Choices explores how revolutionary LED lighting fixtures have migrated to film and video production along with moving lights once used only for live events and concerts. That's not to say that tried-and-true lighting solutions aren't still in demand, as shooters tell us.

While our cover story, on creating music and sound effects for films, TV and commercials, doesn't deal directly with change, many of the projects cited by composers and sound designers spring from cable television's now vibrant programming options as well as broadcast's efforts to cut through a cluttered media landscape.

Revolutionary change has come to many of the Great Lakes states, sadly due to the loss of much of the region's industrial base. But the evolution of film and video production in the Upper Midwest is making a difference to some states' bottom lines as our Spotlight shows.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same" is no motto for the film and video industry.