02 Jun Get to Know H. Loren Nielsen
Canon Club Advisory Board Member H. Loren Nielsen
Xperi | VP Content & Strategy
IN THIS JOB 4½ Years
PRIOR EXPERIENCE Prior to joining Xperi, I ran a boutique consulting group focused on digital cinema development and innovation for over 20 years.
HOMETOWN Ojai, Calif.
LIVES NOW La Cañada-Flintridge, Calif.
ENJOYS, OUTSIDE OF WORK Family, travel, wine, dancing, yoga
CURRENT BINGE Emily in Paris
CONTACT loren.nielsen@xperi.com
DEG: Do you have a personal philosophy when it comes to your work? If so, how does it translate into what you do?
LN: I have two guiding principles: 1. Say yes (and follow through) 2. Love what you do and the people you do it with. These ideas may sound like aphorisms, but they’ve helped me build a successful career while remaining true to myself. As an example, saying yes has led to my participation in multiple industry organizations which, in turn, have provided a great sense of community within our industry. Saying yes has also led to repeated opportunities to be involved with fascinating, impactful projects as a consultant and within Xperi. Loving what I do and the people I work with is an essential part of staying engaged, productive and happy. It’s a choice that I make every day.
DEG: What excites you about the future of our industry?
LN: I believe that young consumers are no longer interested in passively consuming content. They want to create their own content. That runs the gamut from entirely original content to fan-fiction to creative game-play. This presents enormous challenges and opportunities to provide platforms and tools that allow for new, more personal forms of content creation and sharing.
DEG: You really have built your career at the nexus of content and technology. How did you get started in this area?
LN: In the mid-1990’s I was asked to introduce a new projection display technology to the motion picture industry. It was clear right away that content needed to be optimized for the display to demonstrate what the technology was capable of. My partner and I dragged a huge projector into a telecine suite to view and color correct the projected images. It was the first time that had been done. That was the beginning of a circle of collaboration with filmmakers, craftspeople and technologists that continues to this day. That particular display technology turned into DLP Cinema which is deployed in over 95 percent of movie theaters today and the content optimization techniques we first used are now part of digital workflows in use from pre-visualization through mastering.
DEG: Is there a new immersive technology that you are particularly excited about right now?
LN: I’m excited about technology that can identify and layer relevant data over real-world scenarios. Imagine the ability to understand and see the history of a place by looking at it. What if a visit to a historic site could be populated with a story playing out in geometric proportion to the actual site? What if buildings could be removed in your field of view and the scene restored to 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago? Imagine the stories that could be told. This is an advanced form of AR, AI and game play, layered with amazing stories told by gifted filmmakers. The technology could also be used to create a palette for content creators to build their own stories wherever they are.
DEG: You are such a big advocate for diversity, where are some areas where the industry could use more support, and in what ways can more people help?
LN: It is a part of human nature to gather with those like ourselves, to find our tribes. This makes it even more important to think of diversity broadly, not only in terms of demographic groupings. Affinity groups are important, but I believe that diversity means being open, curious and accepting of all groups, thought patterns, cultural references and life-styles.
Learn more about DEG’s Canon Club here.