Every December, we dig into our weblogs and tally pageviews for stories published at StudioDaily in the last 12 months. The traffic stats reveal what we've been thinking about, and what's been generating discussion, when it comes to product reviews, case studies, NAB news, and other business stories. And they often point toward what will be making news in the next year, too. Here are the stories that drew the most traffic and drove the most discussion this year. (If you missed it, take a look at the rest of the top 10 here.) Enjoy this look back at 2016.

Until we kick off our 2017 coverage next week, StudioDaily wishes you and yours a very happy new year!

ACES Blog Lead

#5: Seven Reasons Why ACES Color Science Is Changing the Grade. It's a real revolution in color science as the open-source Academy Color Encoding System gains traction in productions across the board. We broke down the advantages in a list of seven things readers need to know about ACES.

#4: First Look: Red Scarlet W Camera System. Red's camera offerings multiply so fast that it's hard for users not completely steeped in the ecosystem to keep up. We took the new Scarlet-W for an early test drive and reported back on its advantages and disadantages.

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#3: Lytro Cinema's Camera May Change the Way Movies Are Made. It's a cliché to call something a "game-changer," but occasionally the hype is warranted. And if Lytro Cinema can make its technology practical, it really could change everything in production. Lytro went relatively quiet again after its NAB debut, but it will be interesting to see if the company comes back in a big way in 2017.

#2: Review: Panasonic AG-DVX200. Our reviewer made a strong case for Panasonic's AG-DVX200 — not the sexiest 4K camera out there, but one that makes a really strong value proposition with its rugged build quality, low-cost media, and integrated 13x zoom lens that lends itself to the kind of productions that earn a living for a lot of working DPs. Judging from our traffic numbers, a lot of working DPs agree.

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#1: ILM VFX Supervisor Roger Guyett on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It's hard to compete with Star Wars, and our interview with Industrial Light + Magic VFX Supervisor Roger Guyett went under the hood to learn how some of the amazing imagery in Episode VII. Readers got a good idea of how CG imagery really interacted with practical effects work on the show, why digital shouldn't be a dirty word, and the "philosophical questions" that underly work on a contemporary VFX movie. It was by far the most-read story that we published in 2016.