posted 11-10-2003 04:09 PM                       

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Motion Picture Seminar

Chaired by Richard Carlson, Eastman Kodak Co.
Thursday November 13, 8:00am to 11:30am

This seminar explores the latest techniques for film-based motion picture production.

Reversal of Fortune - New Black and White Films and Processes
Black and White Reversal films have a long history in motion picture and have always provided a low cost entry into creating moving images. Recently, Eastman Kodak Company completely revised the film and process for this film family making changes that anticipate evolving environmental regulations to ensure the long term viability of the films and processes. This presentation will show the challenges of reformulating older film families and conclude with an exciting demonstration of the performance of the new films. Brian Johnston and Diane Kestner, EASTMAN Kodak Company

Tutorial: Basic Color Theory
The presentation on Basic Color Theory will link the perception of light energy as received by the eyes with the perception of color and brightness. Because of the fact that the eye and brain are better at measuring relative color instead of absolute color, a number of interesting visual effects will be demonstrated. How these visual effects define how motion images are presented in a theater will also be discussed. Tom Maier, EASTMAN Kodak Company

Air Security and Motion Picture Film Shipments
The last twenty years have brought a number of significant changes to aviation security. New explosive detection systems have significantly improved explosives and weapons screening but these instruments can damage radiation sensitive materials such as motion picture film. This seminar will describe the new explosive detection systems (EDS) used for explosives and weapons screening and provide recommendations for transporting and air shipping motion picture film and other x-ray sensitive materials. Paul Wood, EASTMAN Kodak Company

Capturing Images for Different Production Needs
Whether producing feature films, documentaries or TV dramas today's cinematographers and directors face choices in the way they capture images. These choices range from SDTV Cameras to 65mm film. However, image capture is complex and depending on the system pipeline and the venue, viewers are able both consciously and as part of the overall experience, to detect differences in the final image. This talk will discuss and give examples of digital artifacts and review measurements of artifacts as well as quality levels. Examples of scan different formats are included. Formats are ranked based on specific image measurements. Roger Morton, EASTMAN Kodak Company

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Copy Protection and Digital Rights Management

Chaired by Edward Hobson, National TeleConsultants
Thursday November 13, 2:30pm to 5:30pm

The increasing use of digital systems to acquire, post produce, distribute, and display content results in potential misappropriation and improper use of that content. Work is underway to safeguard content and to protect the creator, owner, and distributors from improper use.

This seminar's experts will explore the needs, techniques, and challenges faced by creators, owners, and distributors to protect one's assets.

Participants include attorney Robert Schwart of McDermott, Will & Emery; Brad Hunt of the Motion Picture Association; and Merill Weiss of Merill Weiss Group.

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Digital Cinema Update

Chaired by Tom Scott, EDNET
Friday November 14, 8:00am to 11:30am

How did we get here, and are we there yet?
Digital Cinema means different things to each of the many players in the field; engineers, cinematographers, directors, producers, distributors, service providers and manufacturers each have differing perspectives. This session will offer presentations on the status, the standards, the science and the art of ongoing work during this period of transition from Film to Digital Cinema. Tom Scott, EDnet

Digital Cinema Standards: DC-28 Progress Report
The Chair of the SMPTE Digital Cinema Technology Committee, DC 28, will recap the recent history and the current status of the parent committee as well as the three working groups and their ad-hoc committees. In addition, a report on the status of the Digital Cinema Providers Group (DCPG) will be offered. Curt Behlmer, Digital Cinema Venture

Assessing the Effects of Extended Dynamic Range and Resolution in Digital Cinema
This paper describes the application of basic luminance measurement devices in determining the dynamic range and resolution of a projection display, their effects on the visibility of various image impairments, and the relationship between resolution and dynamic range including trade-offs. A family of test patterns will be defined for which we can measure the luminance contrast and associate it with the visibility of image banding, despite the presence of screen non-uniformities. Finally, we find there is a tradeoff between resolution and dynamic range for a variety of imagery, suggesting that it is possible to exchange one for the other. Charles Fenimore, National Institute of Standards.

Getting The Most Out of Film-Out From the Viper
Digital Cinema allows for mathematical "darkroom processing" somewhat akin to current laboratory practice. In filmstream mode, the Viper camera produces a quasi- logarithmic RGB dual-link signal similar to a DPX or Cineon "printing-density" representation. Due to various losses of precision, which will be described, it is desirable to find a mechanism to allow the full 10-bit RGB logarithmic range of the Viper to translate onto film. This paper presents a case study of a transform from capture to film-out, as an example of the sort of processing that Digital Cinema optimization will allow, and will feature an illustrative visual demonstration. Gary Demos, Consultant to Thomson.

Standard Evaluation Material (StEM) for Digital Cinema
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) have taken the important step of producing standard evaluation test material (StEM) for evaluating the performance of digital projectors and other elements of digital cinema systems. Evaluations using the StEM will be conducted in the Digital Cinema Laboratory, a project of the Entertainment Technology Center at USC. Members of the ASC Technology Committee and DCI agreed on parameters for the test, including nuances in colors, contrast, textures and camera movement.
This three part offering includes presentations and demonstrations by ASC, DCI, and the Entertainment Technology Center of goals, production and post-production procedures, and testing methodologies.

Presenters:
Curtis Clark, ASC, Chair, ASC Technology Committee
Walt Ordway, CTO; Howard Lukk, Director of Engineering, DCI
Charles S. Swartz, Executive Director & CEO, Entertainment Technology Center at USC

Questions and Answers
As time allows, you'll have the opportunity to pose questions to our distinguished presenters. Tom Scott, EDnet

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Motion Pictures and the Digital Intermediate

Chaired by Robert Slutske, National Teleconsultants
Friday November 14, 2:30pm to 5:30pm

Directors of Photography, Visual Effects Supervisors, and System Developers share examples of recent use of Digital Intermediates (DI), which is the evolving process of manipulating digitized images from principal feature film footage to achieve unique creative objectives and deal with unforeseen opportunities or problems during shooting.

In addition, they will discuss the technical process that was needed to accomplish the outcome. What are the major systems being used? What are the major control variables that are needed and how do they help achieve creative objectives? For example, what effect does DI have on lighting during shooting with on-set monitoring? How does interfacing with the technical staff differ? How dose the use of these tools affect the over-all production budget? Is DI's terminology in various production communities being used with different meanings? Wat about the importance of DI production data collection and sharing during planning, initial shooting, and on to re-recorded, previews, final distribution and archive. We'll also explore digital intermediates workflow through four major format paths: Single link, Dual link, 2K - 2048X1556 RGB, and 4K - 4096X2048. We'll also discuss the relative tradeoffs, costs, quality, and how these processes impact production.

Presenters:

James Fancher
Technicolor Creative Services
George H. Joblove
Imageworks - Sony Pictures
Cheryl Murphy
Post Logic Studios
Steven Poster A.S.C.
Project: Stuart Little
William Feightner
EFILM Digital Laboratories
Matthew Straeb
da Vinci

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posted 11-12-2003 06:50 PM                       

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...are we there yet?
Digital Cinema means different things to each of the many players in the field; engineers, cinematographers, directors, producers, distributors, service providers and manufacturers each have differing perspectives.

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