24 tech executives and producers predict which tools could make next year your best yet.
by Steven Klapow, Beth Marchant, Rock Stamberg
We posed this rather broad question to executives at major equipment and software manufacturers, knowing that their unique perspectives would form a template of what 2004 will mean for you both inside the studio and out in the field. We also gathered input from producers, each a specialist in a particular type of media, by asking them to answer the same question from experience. We didn't want them to wade through the dim mists of the future in search of emerging technology that had no bearing on the work they do now, but rather to single out the tool or technique that has helped them turn a corner in terms of quality, productivity and even revenue. So what's next? We think the answers that follow will help you get a clear, practical picture of what tomorrow looks like for the working producer.
"With the introduction of the new 2K DLP projector, directors can finally realize the images he created in his mind, perfectly displayed to his audience every time. In the past 17 years of using high definition to create content, the weakest link has constantly been image display. The amount of picture information captured in the content-creation process has always been unrealized when the final images were shown. Those days are now over. Not only can we use the 2K projector for end-product display but it can also be used throughout the entire creative process. Dailies can be viewed perfectly and instantly. During digital color timing, the creative team can finalize the look in post and know it will look exactly the same in a theater, even after hundreds of showings. No fading of color, no scratches and no dirt. 2K DLP will be known for putting the final nail in the film canister."
Randall Paris Dark
President and Director
HD Vision Studios
excerpt from AV Video Multimedia Producer
Monday, December 1, 2003
Monday, September 1, 2003
Hollywood and HD
by Nick Dager
The Hollywood production community has always had a love/hate relationship with new technology. Anyone who doubts this should review the history of the transition from silent films to talkies or, more recently, the acceptance of nonlinear editing.
Now comes digital high definition video. Not too many years ago, there were some in Hollywood who hated to even hear the term HD. Times, however, are changing fueled by three distinct developments: a growing track record of successful HD productions, improvements in HD technology and the constant demand to keep production costs low.
"I don't think Hollywood hates HD," says Randall Dark, founder of HD Vision Studios in Hollywood and a pioneer of HD production. "I think Hollywood has yet to understand HD. I don't think there's hatred ... there's caution. You're introducing a new technology and it's going to take time for that technology to be adopted. Hollywood is wary of new technology because it changes the dynamics of how we do things."
Jon Reiner, marketing manager, movie and television production, of Sony Electronics, agrees. "If you define Hollywood as the seven major studios, and if the studios represent something larger than just the $ 100 million feature motion picture, then I don't think they hate high definition if you look at a couple of things," he says. "Most of them are significantly involved in television production as well as feature production, and most of them have already produced high definition programming that was on the air last year. And if they haven't, they're planning to do so this season."
Reiner says,"With regard to television, three years ago high definition for [the studios] was a news item, two years ago it was worthy of a meeting and a technical demonstration. A year ago it was worthy of them adopting high definition as part of their production chain, certainly for situation comedies."
He says this is true to a lesser extent for dramatic series as well and adds, "It has begun to raise the level of interest for feature production for the same studios." Having said that, Reiner still believes that film origination of features isn't going away. "Motion picture production for some number of years will accommodate both digital production and film-originated production as long as there remains a viable market for film prints to be distributed and shown theatrically"
Brian SpruilI, VP/GM of worldwide sales operations/marketing for Kodak Entertainment Imaging, understandably echoes the viewpoint that film, despite the headlines, is far from dead. And while he accepts the reality that digital technology is making strides, he believes that film origination will be a Hollywood staple for years to come.
"There really is very little [feature] production being done, at least from the studios' perspective, in high definition or Digi Beta," Spruill says, adding that "there's also a lot of 16mm being done in independent features." He also believes that, given a choice, most producers would choose to shoot film but says, "Cost reasons don't always allow them to do that. "This is especially true in TV production. "In TV, it's pretty straightforward because it's going to be video distribution, and whether it becomes high definition or not is anybody's guess."
Spruill concedes,"that for some things, digital production is the look that the creator wants to have. The issue is always what look does the creative team of the producer, director and cinematographer want to achieve.'
THE WORKFLOW
Whether they shoot film or digital, however, producers are increasingly opting for a digital intermediate. Spruill calls this "a great trend for post houses" and says, "Digital mastering and digital intermediates are becoming a very popular thing to do. To get [projects] on the big screen [producers still] have to come back to film, and they generally do a digital intermediate or a digital master that's at a very high resolution." Kodak feels so strongly about this that they have announced plans to acquire Hollywood post house and early HD pioneer Laser-Pacific.
In a recent press release, Kodak's worldwide entertainment imaging services group GM, Bertrand Decoux, said, "The motion picture industry is at a crossroads. The convergence of film, digital and hybrid imaging technologies are changing the way movies are produced and distributed. The acquisition of Laser-Pacific is a logical combination."
Charles Swartz, executive director/CEO of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California, home to the Digital Cinema Lab, also sees production workflow issues as critical to any discussion of liD in Hollywood.
"What has happened is, the digital cinema that we've done so far has all used a 24p post production workflow to prepare it for the digital projector," he says, adding that the material doesn't have to be acquired on 24p. "In fact, typically, it's not been shot on 24p. If you looked at every digital cinema [feature] release that's been done since Star Wars: Episode II, how many of them were shot on 24p? A bare handful if any. All of them went through a 35mm process where they basically used a 24p HD workflow."
And, Swartz says, there are some other mundane, but critical, issues that must be resolved. "Think of a show like Law & Order," he says. "Everything is on location. They may have one stage that they use for courtrooms and the police [headquarters] but for all the other stuff, they're on location. So how well does that work when you compare it to just being able to pull the Arriflex out of the case, slap on the magazine and the battery and go? That's a question to be considered."
from Post
The Hollywood production community has always had a love/hate relationship with new technology. Anyone who doubts this should review the history of the transition from silent films to talkies or, more recently, the acceptance of nonlinear editing.
Now comes digital high definition video. Not too many years ago, there were some in Hollywood who hated to even hear the term HD. Times, however, are changing fueled by three distinct developments: a growing track record of successful HD productions, improvements in HD technology and the constant demand to keep production costs low.
"I don't think Hollywood hates HD," says Randall Dark, founder of HD Vision Studios in Hollywood and a pioneer of HD production. "I think Hollywood has yet to understand HD. I don't think there's hatred ... there's caution. You're introducing a new technology and it's going to take time for that technology to be adopted. Hollywood is wary of new technology because it changes the dynamics of how we do things."
Jon Reiner, marketing manager, movie and television production, of Sony Electronics, agrees. "If you define Hollywood as the seven major studios, and if the studios represent something larger than just the $ 100 million feature motion picture, then I don't think they hate high definition if you look at a couple of things," he says. "Most of them are significantly involved in television production as well as feature production, and most of them have already produced high definition programming that was on the air last year. And if they haven't, they're planning to do so this season."
Reiner says,"With regard to television, three years ago high definition for [the studios] was a news item, two years ago it was worthy of a meeting and a technical demonstration. A year ago it was worthy of them adopting high definition as part of their production chain, certainly for situation comedies."
He says this is true to a lesser extent for dramatic series as well and adds, "It has begun to raise the level of interest for feature production for the same studios." Having said that, Reiner still believes that film origination of features isn't going away. "Motion picture production for some number of years will accommodate both digital production and film-originated production as long as there remains a viable market for film prints to be distributed and shown theatrically"
Brian SpruilI, VP/GM of worldwide sales operations/marketing for Kodak Entertainment Imaging, understandably echoes the viewpoint that film, despite the headlines, is far from dead. And while he accepts the reality that digital technology is making strides, he believes that film origination will be a Hollywood staple for years to come.
"There really is very little [feature] production being done, at least from the studios' perspective, in high definition or Digi Beta," Spruill says, adding that "there's also a lot of 16mm being done in independent features." He also believes that, given a choice, most producers would choose to shoot film but says, "Cost reasons don't always allow them to do that. "This is especially true in TV production. "In TV, it's pretty straightforward because it's going to be video distribution, and whether it becomes high definition or not is anybody's guess."
Spruill concedes,"that for some things, digital production is the look that the creator wants to have. The issue is always what look does the creative team of the producer, director and cinematographer want to achieve.'
THE WORKFLOW
Whether they shoot film or digital, however, producers are increasingly opting for a digital intermediate. Spruill calls this "a great trend for post houses" and says, "Digital mastering and digital intermediates are becoming a very popular thing to do. To get [projects] on the big screen [producers still] have to come back to film, and they generally do a digital intermediate or a digital master that's at a very high resolution." Kodak feels so strongly about this that they have announced plans to acquire Hollywood post house and early HD pioneer Laser-Pacific.
In a recent press release, Kodak's worldwide entertainment imaging services group GM, Bertrand Decoux, said, "The motion picture industry is at a crossroads. The convergence of film, digital and hybrid imaging technologies are changing the way movies are produced and distributed. The acquisition of Laser-Pacific is a logical combination."
Charles Swartz, executive director/CEO of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California, home to the Digital Cinema Lab, also sees production workflow issues as critical to any discussion of liD in Hollywood.
"What has happened is, the digital cinema that we've done so far has all used a 24p post production workflow to prepare it for the digital projector," he says, adding that the material doesn't have to be acquired on 24p. "In fact, typically, it's not been shot on 24p. If you looked at every digital cinema [feature] release that's been done since Star Wars: Episode II, how many of them were shot on 24p? A bare handful if any. All of them went through a 35mm process where they basically used a 24p HD workflow."
And, Swartz says, there are some other mundane, but critical, issues that must be resolved. "Think of a show like Law & Order," he says. "Everything is on location. They may have one stage that they use for courtrooms and the police [headquarters] but for all the other stuff, they're on location. So how well does that work when you compare it to just being able to pull the Arriflex out of the case, slap on the magazine and the battery and go? That's a question to be considered."
from Post
Thursday, June 5, 2003
iHollywood Forum's "The Digital Studio"
Randall Dark will be a featured speaker at "The Digital Studio," an executive summit and showcase that will focus on how digital technology is transforming Hollywood, film and television.
The two-day summit will take place on June 19-20, 2003, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Wyndham Belage Hotel in West Hollywood.
The two-day summit will take place on June 19-20, 2003, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Wyndham Belage Hotel in West Hollywood.
Thursday, May 1, 2003
High and wide
As the widescreen, high definition era evolves what happens to all the standard definition stock footage?
by Nick Dager
For more than 20, years the world of professional video production and post production has largely been defined by the 4:3 aspect ratio of traditional broadcast television.
Much of our recent history -- war political events, historical figures, etc. -- has been captured and archived for later use in feature films, television shows, documentaries, commercials or corporate presentations, And virtually all of it has been recorded in standard definition.
The question, then, is this: As the industry moves into the widescreen-era of high definition video, what's to become of that vast collection of SD images?
...
AN HD FOCUS
Venice, CA's FootageBank (www.footagebank.com) is a newish stock footage house serving the production business. Industry veteran Paula Lumbard, who opened her first stock footage company in 1985, founded it last May. She says she started FootageBank in part because of her desire to return to the "boutique" footage business. FootageBank is focusing almost exclusively on HD footage.
"I made the decision to go wholly HD a year ago.," says Lumbard. "Our collection is 90 percent HD." She describes the FootageBank niche as a contemporary collection with an emphasis on nature. "We're doing a lot of location shooting, cleared for the broadcast market, and I'm about to take on a science technology library." And, Lumbard points out, "I have 4:3 material to fill the gaps as we wait for this market to mature."
FootageBank clients can get either a 4:3 or a 16:9 master of the clips they select. Lumbard asks them, "Do you want us to create a 4:3 master or do you want to create that yourself? Most people create that themselves. They'll take the 16:9 footage and crop it to 4:3 when they're doing their final edit."
Lumbard says she started the company because of her observation that there was a shortage of HD stock footage available to producers. "We knew it was coming," she says." There was so little out there. Where can you find an HD shot of Sydney Australia or Hong Kong or Paris at night? I was hoping that the business need would hit a critical mass point that it could support a business."
Lumbard says that one of the appeals of launching her business now is the newness of it all. "It's new technology. It's all new footage. It's a whole new product that's coming into the market," she says.
Lumbard believes all that is needed to jumpstart the complete transition to 16:9 is a critical mass of HD cameras in the hands of the production community. She's also seen a new spirit of camraderie among people in the production community She says people are more willing to share information. In that regard, Lumbard has an arrangement with Randall Dark's HD Vision Studios (wvw.hdvstudios.tv) to host events to educate clients and potential clients about HD the technology the quality, the cost, etc.
LA-based Dark is also one of the HD shooters that supplies footage to FootageBank. "I handle more than 30 different HD producers," says Lumbard. Dark says he welcomed the arrangement because of Lumbard's strong track record in the stock footage business. Dark estimates that FootageBank represents about 20 percent of his existing library of HD footage; his own company handles the remaining 80 percent.
Dark, for his part, is among those who believe that SD footage will have limited value in the HD widescreen world of the near future."The world is going 16:9, and 4:3 upconversion does not intercut with HD or 16:9," he says. "The options are you blow the image up [zoom in] to fill the screen that crops the frame and softens the image or, my favorite, make everything fat and short by stretching the picture or side bar panels. All of the above completely takes the viewer out of the willing suspension of disbelief or breaks the visual flow of the story. I have done extensive tests, and it does not work We now have a television system that demands excellent visuals and heightens inferior images, It's called high definition for a reason. The creative community historically has strived for the best looking pictures during the image capture process. Why would they compromise their story telling?"
excerpt from Post
by Nick Dager
For more than 20, years the world of professional video production and post production has largely been defined by the 4:3 aspect ratio of traditional broadcast television.
Much of our recent history -- war political events, historical figures, etc. -- has been captured and archived for later use in feature films, television shows, documentaries, commercials or corporate presentations, And virtually all of it has been recorded in standard definition.
The question, then, is this: As the industry moves into the widescreen-era of high definition video, what's to become of that vast collection of SD images?
...
AN HD FOCUS
Venice, CA's FootageBank (www.footagebank.com) is a newish stock footage house serving the production business. Industry veteran Paula Lumbard, who opened her first stock footage company in 1985, founded it last May. She says she started FootageBank in part because of her desire to return to the "boutique" footage business. FootageBank is focusing almost exclusively on HD footage.
"I made the decision to go wholly HD a year ago.," says Lumbard. "Our collection is 90 percent HD." She describes the FootageBank niche as a contemporary collection with an emphasis on nature. "We're doing a lot of location shooting, cleared for the broadcast market, and I'm about to take on a science technology library." And, Lumbard points out, "I have 4:3 material to fill the gaps as we wait for this market to mature."
FootageBank clients can get either a 4:3 or a 16:9 master of the clips they select. Lumbard asks them, "Do you want us to create a 4:3 master or do you want to create that yourself? Most people create that themselves. They'll take the 16:9 footage and crop it to 4:3 when they're doing their final edit."
Lumbard says she started the company because of her observation that there was a shortage of HD stock footage available to producers. "We knew it was coming," she says." There was so little out there. Where can you find an HD shot of Sydney Australia or Hong Kong or Paris at night? I was hoping that the business need would hit a critical mass point that it could support a business."
Lumbard says that one of the appeals of launching her business now is the newness of it all. "It's new technology. It's all new footage. It's a whole new product that's coming into the market," she says.
Lumbard believes all that is needed to jumpstart the complete transition to 16:9 is a critical mass of HD cameras in the hands of the production community. She's also seen a new spirit of camraderie among people in the production community She says people are more willing to share information. In that regard, Lumbard has an arrangement with Randall Dark's HD Vision Studios (wvw.hdvstudios.tv) to host events to educate clients and potential clients about HD the technology the quality, the cost, etc.
LA-based Dark is also one of the HD shooters that supplies footage to FootageBank. "I handle more than 30 different HD producers," says Lumbard. Dark says he welcomed the arrangement because of Lumbard's strong track record in the stock footage business. Dark estimates that FootageBank represents about 20 percent of his existing library of HD footage; his own company handles the remaining 80 percent.
Dark, for his part, is among those who believe that SD footage will have limited value in the HD widescreen world of the near future."The world is going 16:9, and 4:3 upconversion does not intercut with HD or 16:9," he says. "The options are you blow the image up [zoom in] to fill the screen that crops the frame and softens the image or, my favorite, make everything fat and short by stretching the picture or side bar panels. All of the above completely takes the viewer out of the willing suspension of disbelief or breaks the visual flow of the story. I have done extensive tests, and it does not work We now have a television system that demands excellent visuals and heightens inferior images, It's called high definition for a reason. The creative community historically has strived for the best looking pictures during the image capture process. Why would they compromise their story telling?"
excerpt from Post
Friday, February 14, 2003
Happy Anniversary!
HD Vision Celebrates First LA AnniversaryHigh Definition Pioneer Randall Dark Expands His Operation in Hollywood
Randall Dark, who worked on some of the earliest movies shot in HD, completed his first year of operation in Los Angeles last month. “I’m new to Hollywood but I’ve got to tell you I love, love being in Los Angeles, being where the pulse is,” he says. “I think my timing is perfect.”
Dark was born and raised in Canada and got into production there. “I started in high definition up in Canada in 1986 working on Chasing Rainbows for the CBC. I was the high definition mobile operator,” he recalls. “And then I moved to New York City and I was doing high definition work out of the Ed Sullivan Theatre.”
In the early Nineties, following the first wave of excitement over HD, Dark made a decision. “I decided that high definition was going to fall away unless someone started doing multi-camera work,” he says. “That’s when I decided to open up in Dallas and get the HD Vision truck so that we had the ability to show sporting events and concerts.”
For the next decade he was one of a handful of people in the country who produced and directed high definition projects. He did a lot of work for corporate clients and supplied programming to various cable outlets. In January 2002 Dark moved his business to Los Angeles and changed the name to HD Vision Studios.
Dark says, “We wanted to create a broadcast center and who better to run it than Tom Martinez? One of the big futures of high definition is not just television it’s transporting high-resolution, digital widescreen images around the world. And Tom is one of the leading experts working in this field.” Martinez says that since Hollywood has such a strong film tradition many people in the industry have never seen HD before. He says they’re invariably impressed when they finally get a high definition demo.
“Whether it’s a 1080i image or a 24p image we blow them away on a 15x9-foot screen in 5.1 Surround Sound,” Martinez explains. “The first reaction that we always get is, ‘Oh, my God!’ Seeing is believing. We can talk about film forever and the different film techniques and different film lenses and the projectors but when you start projecting off a cinema grade DLP and then we let them know the costs, it sells itself. You don’t have to do a whole lot. We’re letting technology speak for itself.”Martinez continues, “It’s not only filmmakers, it’s broadcasters and people that are shooting in a 4x3 aspect. Those are the people who are also blown away by high definition. Whether it’s a film producer or a broadcaster from ABC or CBS that comes in here.”
Dark says many actors are wary of HD because they’ve heard horror stories about how unflattering the crisp image can be. “A lot of times it’s the first time they’ve seen themselves in high definition,” he says of the people who visit his studio.
He says the side-by-side comparison impresses them. “Part of Tom’s mandate and part of my mandate is we want to educate and compare apples to apples,” Dark says. “Everyone can say this and say that but seeing it is truly believing it. We want people to judge for themselves. There is a huge resistance but what we’re finding is there’s an incredible craving of knowledge. Sure we’re a high definition house but we also want to show what 35mm transferred to HD looks like and we also have examples of that, what 24p looks like and what 1080i looks like with the best toys available.”
“ We want people to make the decision,” he continues. “And, to be honest, if they come in and say, ‘Randall, we love the look of 35mm film transferred to HD,’ as a subjective art form it looks better than 24p or 1080i, we embrace that. Our job is not to change people’s minds. Our job really we feel is just to illustrate because it’s subjective. Film is an art form. I don’t want to replace film. As an artist I prefer using high definition because I can create a much better story with it as my tool and I have much greater control over my story.”His message to Hollywood executives is simple. “If you get an image and if the general population embraces it and it costs you less, well isn’t that a win-win scenario?” Dark asks.
Dark can envision a time when commercials, trailers, even features are instantly transmitted to theatres via fiber optics, satellite or the Internet. He cites Barbershop as an example of a surprise hit that could have done even better financially if it could have been shown in more theatres in the opening weeks of its first run.
“We can [distribute HD] overnight,” he says. “We have the fiber or satellite. What we try to do is service our client’s immediate needs whether it’s standard def or high def. We see this company as a gateway for the future so that when digital cinema happens and Boeing or whoever else gets involved there’s a company already out there that can deliver information to the locations they need.”
HD Vision Studios is also involved with original production and has just completed the first of a 13-part documentary series titled, Artist in the Round. The series focuses on accomplished artists and the major obstacles they’ve overcome to reach the levels of achievement they’ve attained in their careers.
The first documentary, Artist in the Round: Shayne Dark introduces viewers to the Canadian sculptor, who daily triumphs over dyslexia. Raised in a time where public schools didn’t even know the word dyslexic, Shayne was never diagnosed and therefore, was simply regarded as a slow learner. Consequently, as an adult, he reads and writes at a second grade level. The documentary explores Shayne’s battle to overcome this life long learning disability, becoming a contemporary artist with international recognition.
Artist in the Round was shot and posted in high definition by director, Dark, producer, Kristen Cox and editor Jayme Wing. The footage was captured using a Sony HDC-700A camcorder and posted at HD Vision Studios using a Snell & Wilcox switcher, Sony BVE-9100 editing system and a Graham Patten 8000 audio mixer.
That Shayne Dark is Randall Dark’s brother only made the project more special. “The new series is near and dear to my heart,” Dark says. “We need to create programs that are inspiring and uplifting.”
Productions and co-productions are a key part of the business mix. “We’re always looking for new projects, new partnerships,” says Dark. “We see the independent filmmaker as a very important client.” He believes his second year in Los Angeles will be even better than the first. “I’m neutral. I’m pro film. Film is fabulous. I’m not out to replace it. All I want to do is let you see the world where it is at a technological level so that you don’t feel threatened.”
“What I love about HD is that it helps level the playing field,” Dark says. “The cost of 35mm production has historically been very expensive. Movies, because of the way they are imaged and distributed can only be created with a substantial amount of money invested. This system is now going under constant review and changes. The independent producer can finance a production with less up front costs. HD offers previously impossible savings. Money that was initially earmarked for hard costs can now be allocated in front of the lens.”Dark understands that we are in the midst of a transition era and that many uncertainties lie ahead. He remains certain about one thing, however. Says Dark, “The future is digital high resolution widescreen, period.”
©2003 Digital Cinema Report, Inc.
Friday, January 24, 2003
Documentary completed
HD Vision Studios has completed the first of a 13-part documentary series titled, Artist in the Round. The series focuses on accomplished artists and the major obstacles they’ve overcome to reach the levels of achievement they’ve attained in their careers.
Artist in the Round is shot and posted in high-definition by director, Randall P. Dark, producer, Kristen Cox and editor Jayme Wing . The footage was captured using a Sony HDC-700A camcorder and posted at HD Vision Studios facility in Studio City, Calif., using a Snell & Wilcox Switcher, Sony BVE-9100 editing system and a Graham Patton 8000 Audio Mixer.
The first documentary, Artist in the Round: Shayne Dark introduces viewers to the Canadian sculptor, who daily triumphs over dyslexia. Raised in a time where public schools didn’t even know the word dyslexic, Shayne was never diagnosed and therefore, was simply regarded as a "slow learner." Consequently, as an adult, Shayne reads and writes at a 2nd grade level. The documentary explores Shayne’s battle to overcome this life long learning disability, becoming a contemporary artist with international recognition.
For more information visit www.hdvstudios.tv.
from Broadcast Engineering
Artist in the Round is shot and posted in high-definition by director, Randall P. Dark, producer, Kristen Cox and editor Jayme Wing . The footage was captured using a Sony HDC-700A camcorder and posted at HD Vision Studios facility in Studio City, Calif., using a Snell & Wilcox Switcher, Sony BVE-9100 editing system and a Graham Patton 8000 Audio Mixer.
The first documentary, Artist in the Round: Shayne Dark introduces viewers to the Canadian sculptor, who daily triumphs over dyslexia. Raised in a time where public schools didn’t even know the word dyslexic, Shayne was never diagnosed and therefore, was simply regarded as a "slow learner." Consequently, as an adult, Shayne reads and writes at a 2nd grade level. The documentary explores Shayne’s battle to overcome this life long learning disability, becoming a contemporary artist with international recognition.
For more information visit www.hdvstudios.tv.
from Broadcast Engineering
Friday, January 3, 2003
The HD Revolution
A significant revolution in cinema is now taking place. There is a new option on the filmmaker’s palate—high definition (HD). HD is as significant to storytellers today as the invention of oil-based paint was for painters. It doesn’t replace what has come before—rather, it presents exciting new opportunities. It not only presents filmmakers with new options for creating a quality product, but it has proven integral to the preservation and enhancement of the endangered, deteriorating records of our history.
George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II: The Phantom Menace marked the first release of a mega-budget feature shot on HD. It was a benchmark breakthrough that proved HD had arrived. However, it is with smaller productions, many of which are currently making the rounds on the festival circuit, that the real excitement lies. The cost effectiveness of HD breaks down the monetary barriers that used to keep young, unknown directors and producers from seeing their ideas and creations make it to the big screen. HD is going to open doors to creative talent whose experimentation is going to challenge all of us to become better at what we do.
HD is cost-effective and artistically viable. Because it is less cumbersome and expensive than film, experimenters are more likely to take the kind of risks that can push the possibilities of the medium. At the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, for instance, HD-originated movies won a greater number of awards than features shot on film.
The insurance factor of HD post-production has proved particularly interesting, even for film-originated projects. Television programs such as HBO’s The Sopranos and Band of Brothers have utilized HD, resulting in a master that presents a distinct advantage in archiving, with no sacrifice of quality. Because an HD recording is digital, it is capable of being transferred to any future medium.
HD’s success and growth can be attributed to improved and expanding product offerings. Companies such as Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi have extensive HD product lines. Such a variety of hardware will not only benefit filmmakers working on current projects, but will also help historians who use HD to restore and archive history. Companies such as Maxell are now producing high-quality HD media that achieve exceptional output levels and the low noise requirements of HD.
In the next year, the snowball effect will grow exponentially, and it’s exciting to think about what’s in store with the enhancement of a digital age that places new, innovative tools in the hands of individuals who are willing to push limits.
-- by Randall Paris Dark
for Digital Content Producer Magazine
George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II: The Phantom Menace marked the first release of a mega-budget feature shot on HD. It was a benchmark breakthrough that proved HD had arrived. However, it is with smaller productions, many of which are currently making the rounds on the festival circuit, that the real excitement lies. The cost effectiveness of HD breaks down the monetary barriers that used to keep young, unknown directors and producers from seeing their ideas and creations make it to the big screen. HD is going to open doors to creative talent whose experimentation is going to challenge all of us to become better at what we do.
HD is cost-effective and artistically viable. Because it is less cumbersome and expensive than film, experimenters are more likely to take the kind of risks that can push the possibilities of the medium. At the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, for instance, HD-originated movies won a greater number of awards than features shot on film.
The insurance factor of HD post-production has proved particularly interesting, even for film-originated projects. Television programs such as HBO’s The Sopranos and Band of Brothers have utilized HD, resulting in a master that presents a distinct advantage in archiving, with no sacrifice of quality. Because an HD recording is digital, it is capable of being transferred to any future medium.
HD’s success and growth can be attributed to improved and expanding product offerings. Companies such as Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi have extensive HD product lines. Such a variety of hardware will not only benefit filmmakers working on current projects, but will also help historians who use HD to restore and archive history. Companies such as Maxell are now producing high-quality HD media that achieve exceptional output levels and the low noise requirements of HD.
In the next year, the snowball effect will grow exponentially, and it’s exciting to think about what’s in store with the enhancement of a digital age that places new, innovative tools in the hands of individuals who are willing to push limits.
-- by Randall Paris Dark
for Digital Content Producer Magazine
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