By: Jacob Hall, Abigail Clark

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – During the five-day NAB Show, the company Blackmagic Design introduced many of its latest camera products and production switchers. But perhaps the biggest hit of all was sessions regarding the company’s free editing software, DaVinci Resolve.

David Hoffman, Blackmagic Design’s Business Development Mgr. for the Americas, said that a major emphasis for the company is to market their software out to more colleges and universities to give student creatives the chance to have a cheaper, high-quality alternative.

“We really look back to the emerging creators and look at how our tools are available to them,” Hoffman said. “It’s been a big part of the Blackmagic soul and ethos. Being able to give young creators access to the technology, while maintaining the high quality and the integrity of the production value of our tools. So, the whole suite has continued to grow. We just released version 18 of the product and it’s free.”

Sherwin Lau, an associate professor at New Mexico State University, said that he has completely transitioned to teaching DaVinci Resolve in his classes and it has allowed students to continue working on projects post-graduation.

“It’s free so they can download it right now on their laptops or their home computers and when they graduate, they don’t have to change anything,” Lau said. “Because I know that when you graduate, you lose the student discount. So, maybe student discounts are good and they can afford it right now. But as they’re gone, they don’t have their emails anymore, so they can’t do that. So, being able to have a continuous flow from as a student all the way through post-graduation. It’s been a game-changer for a lot of students.”