NATHAN GOLLAY
Compassionate ∩ Curious ∩ Persistent ∩ Innovative ∩ Collaborative
R&D Movie Studio Lab Manager
Lab Manager & Creative Technologist under Academy Award Winner, Jack Cashin
Summary
I was a Lab Manager in the Expressive Technology Studio, a movie mixing R&D Lab under Jack Cashin. Jack, having worked on over 1000 movies and with prolific directors like James Cameron and George Lucas, is a twice Academy Award Winner for Technical Achievement- once for theater sound and once for theater projection.
I worked with Jack in and on this studio, configuring, maintaining, and operating the technology, conducting R&D for various projects, and facilitating donor relations with high profile executives.
Key Contribution: Managed and operated a reference-grade Dolby Atmos and 3D cinema R&D studio under Academy Award–winning technologist Jack Cashin. Led immersive systems integration (spatial audio, projection, mocap, VR), conducted exploratory psychoacoustic R&D, and delivered high-impact zero-failure demos for filmmakers, researchers, and executive donors.
Skills
Immersive Systems Integration ▪︎ Professional Movie Studio Operation ▪︎ Show-Critical Technical Systems ▪︎ Technical Storytelling ▪︎ Creative R&D ▪︎ Reference-Grade Cinema System Configuration ▪︎ Motion Capture ▪︎ Licensing ▪︎ Donor/Investor Relations ▪︎ Lab Lifecycle and Resource Allocation Management ▪︎ Projectionist ▪︎ Dolby Atmos/Object Based Audio ▪︎ R&D Management ▪︎ User Experience Testing ▪︎ Technical Procurement ▪︎ AGILE
Highlighted Role
Details:
Dolby Atmos Sound System
Dolby Atmos Sound System
Sitting at the acoustic sweet spot, with nothing and no one else in the room absorbing and reflecting sound, is truly a life affirming experience. I had the opportunity to not only experience it regularly, but to share and witness that experience with others- donors, investors, etc. and see the resulting look of “wow.” I also, of course, worked on the technical side: configuring, operating, creating, and experimenting for various projects. I also dealt with licensing movies and resources, lending technology, and facilitating outside projects.
Dolby Atmos Configuration
Dolby Atmos bed mixes default to 9.1 channels, with up to 118 audio objects- meaning 118 things making noises as they fly around the room. With 8 height channels, 18 surround, and 6 subwoofers, this studio is the height of immersion. It is beyond most commercial theaters and is on par with the movie studios used by Lucasfilm, Warner Brothers, etc.
I also worked programmatically with the system, experimenting with new vector based sound object paradigms, increasing immersion with psychoacoustics, and so on.
Facility Design
The main listening room was constructed with 3 feet thick solid concrete walls layered with high grade soundproofing. This means no outside noise, and no reflections from noise inside. When you clap your hands, you only hear a very sharp noise, no echo. The noise floor is 20dB-30dB, which is incredibly quiet, almost unnerving to work in without music or a movie playing.
Avid S6 Mixing
Standard to Dolby Atmos mixing is the Avid S6 Board, which was connected to Pro Tools. This board provides incredible control of the sound objects, and their location can be steered around with joysticks as if you’re playing a video game.
This is the type of technology that I find most interesting: technology whose goal is to feel like magic, to create out of body experiences. And, working with this technology in the studio, I felt as an arbiter of sharing this magic with others.
Projection- 3D Barco
Projection
While it wasn’t my original intention to become a projectionist, I can say that I pretty much am one by now whether I like it or not (and I do). I had the opportunity to own and operate the IMS3000 (the media ingester), run calibration with the projector, configure the entire system to work together with ATMOS and DCP (Digtital Cinema Package- a large, glorified hard drive containing massive movie playback files). I also put on several events with movie showings, operated the technology for them, and managed the licensing (playing a movie at a facility like this is NOT like playing one on Netflix).
Photo by Emmy Scherer
Licensing and DSPs
Movies, as they are played in theaters are not streamed. They are ingested (ie loaded), at least partially beforehand. Getting one of these is not simple. There are specialized services that send them out to theaters and pretty crazy licensing fees that go along with them.
I coordinated setting up ETS to be able to receive and play back these large hard drives. Here pictured is the DCP for Interstellar.
The Projection Room
Our 3D Barco projector once belonged to Bob Iger, CEO of Disney. Basically it is top of the line, set up in its own ventilation room. There is a PC that interfaces with it via custom programming and command line.
Here I am conducting a tour for a local newspaper.
Photo by Emmy Scherer
Photo by Emmy Scherer
3D Movies and Effects
Playing a 3D movie requires some extra setup. Essentially, a wheel with difference filters has to spin fast in accordance with the frame rate of the movie. Each alternate frame lines up with an alternate filter which in turn corresponds to the right or left eye. Due to persistence of vision between eyes, we see the 3D image when using the special glasses.
This is the type of technology that I find most interesting: technology whose goal is to feel like magic, to create out of body experiences. And, working with this technology in the studio, I felt as an arbiter of sharing this magic with others.
Production Technology
Production Technology
Also in this studio is essentially all the technology a filmmaker or experience designer may need for their project. I worked with these technologies hands on and oversaw their use in various projects.
Rokoko Motion Capture Suits
These suits are inertial (i.e. use gyroscopes instead of cameras) besides the facial expression gear. I managed use of the full systems, from the suit to the gloves to the facial expressions camera mounts, the software that goes with them, and custom API’s in python, C, and Blender’s scripting language for various projects.
VR/AR
I was part of the effort to set up a dedicated VR/AR booth in the studio. In this booth is an Alienware PC with connectivity to all the mainstream VR headsets and a spatial audio system.
Speciality Equipment
While in this studio I worked with and facilitated many other technologies. Here are a few: Hydrophone, Underwater Camera, 360 Camera, Animatronics, Lights/Cameras/Sound Equipment, Gyroscopes, Audio Interfaces, etc.
The studio was built and run to provide tools for all sorts of projects, and it was a happy day when everything was being used to that end.
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