The Advanced Authoring Format Taskforce has incorporated as the AAF Association and has appointed Brad Gilmer as its first chief executive. Gilmer was formerly director of engineering and operations at Turner
The Advanced Authoring Format Taskforce has incorporated as the AAF Association and has appointed Brad Gilmer as its first chief executive. Gilmer was formerly director of engineering and operations at Turner Broadcasting Systems and runs his own consulting company, Gilmer & Associates. He also chairs two SMPTE committees. Represented on the board of the AAF Association are some of the prime movers behind the format, which include Avid Technology, Microsoft, the BBC, CNN, Discreet, Pinnacle, Quantel and Sony. The primary role for the format, according to Gilmer, is to allow the exchange of programme content between different vendors' equipment and to exchange relevant metadata and keep it intact. Gilmer said: 'The AAF Association presents a rare opportunity for vendors and users to work together to resolve a challenging problem in the production community.' He added: 'To realise the full benefits of digital technologies, the media industry must come together to create an effective standard for exchanging files and metadata between systems and between applications - that is what the AAF intends to accomplish.'