Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also the name of the academic field of study which studies how to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behavior. Major AI researchers and textbooks define this field as "the study and design of intelligent agents", in which an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success.John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1955, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines".

AI research is highly technical and specialized, and is deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. Some of the division is due to social and cultural factors: subfields have grown up around particular institutions and the work of individual researchers. AI research is also divided by several technical issues. Some subfields focus on the solution of specific problems. Others focus on one of several possible approaches or on the use of a particular tool or towards the accomplishment of particular applications.

David Hanson (robotics designer)

David Franklin Hanson, Jr. is an American robotics designer and researcher, responsible for the creation of a series of realistic humanoid robots.

Early life and education

In the 1980s, Hanson spent two years studying at the University of North Texas in Denton. In 1992, he was accepted into the BFA program at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. He received his Ph.D. in aesthetic studies and interactive arts and engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas in spring of 2007.

Career

Hanson develops human-like robots with realistic facial expressions and conversational abilities [Hanson et al., 2006]. Hanson currently serves as president and founder of Hanson Robotics.

Hanson previously worked at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Hanson’s robots were shown first at the 2002 AAAI conference in Edmonton, Canada [Hanson, 2002] and in 2003, he showed the Kbot at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting [Ferber, 2003]. In 2005, Hanson and team received an AAAI award for their "intelligent conversational portrait" of Philip K. Dick [AI Magazine, Fall 2005]. First shown at the 2005 Nextfest, the robot incorporated thousands of pages of the writings of PKD, including journals and letters, into an LSA corpus and conversational system constructeandroid [Hanson et al., 2005]. Hanson's work on the PKD robot is documented in the nonfiction book, How To Build An Android.

Production company

A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.

Tasks and functions

The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising for the production or may accomplish this through a parent company, partner, or private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, the supply with talent and resources, the organization of staff, the production itself, post-production, distribution, and marketing.

Production companies are often either owned or under contract with a media conglomerate, film studio, entertainment company, or Motion Picture Company, who act as the production company's partner or parent company. This has become known as the "studio system". They can also be mainstream, independent (see Lucasfilms), or completely independent (see Lionsgate). In the case of TV, a TV production company would serve under a television network. Production companies can work together in co-productions.

Executive producer

An executive producer (EP) enables the making of a commercial entertainment product. The EP may be concerned with management accounting and/or with associated legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). An EP generally contributes to the film's budget and may or may not work on set.

Motion pictures

In motion pictures, an executive producer oversees the filmmaking with regard to film finance. Executive producers liaise with the line producer and report to production companies and distributors.

Television

In television, an executive producer often supervises the creative content as well as the financial aspects of a production. Some writers (for example Stephen J. Cannell and Tina Fey) have been the creator and also the producer of the same TV show. Other dual roles may include the executive director(s) starring in the show they produce, such as Full Throttle Saloon reality TV star, Jesse James Dupree. Still other shows may have more than one executive producer working on a TV show where there can be one among them who outranks the others. This position is known as the "showrunner," or operational executive producer.

Production assistant

A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget and specific requirements of a production as well as whether or not the production is unionized.

Production assistants on films are sometimes attached to individual actors or filmmakers.

Television and feature film

In unionized television and feature film, production assistants are usually divided into different categories: "Set PA", "Truck PA", "Locations PA", "Office PA", or "Set Runner" and "Extra PA or Daily" - Variations exist depending on a show's structure or region of the United States or Canada.

Office PAs usually spend most hours in the respective show's production office handling such tasks as phones, deliveries, script copies, lunch pick-ups, and related tasks in coordination with the production manager and production coordinator.