I was in Union Square recently and walked past this group of film students shooting a scene. Aside from a flashback to my days in film school when I used what looks like an Arri SB camera in the photo, I was also surprised by what was absent, namely any form of modern technology for creating content in this white-hot field of IPTV.

Now, the fundamentals of filmmaking are not solely technology driven. As a DP, learning about composition, lighting, working with boards, and the rest does not require a DV camera connected to a laptop running WM Encoder. What I wonder when I'm looking at this photo is what do these aspiring filmmakers know of IPTV, the coming transformation of analog to digital content delivery, and how well prepared will they be in a field where, I believe, differentiation is the key to success.
I worked on a shoot in the early 1990's with a successful DP who at the time had purchased an Aaton Super 16. It was not long before he was mostly getting requests for tape as that movement took root. What that person had to do ultimately was purchase a Betacam package in order to stay current with technology and the trend in content delivery.

My question is how many film schools are creating curriculum to teach students about IPTV production? Topics include: Shooting content for fixed or mobile devices (mobile has its own set of requirements), compression, extensibility across different players and platforms, embedded adverts and consumer conversion, digital rights management issues, technologies and authentication, revenue share models, and so on?

I welcome speaking with educators out there who are interested in discussing this in greater detail....