T436 - Fall 2007 - Week 14

Agenda

• Cut list / project status
• TV, Cinema & Digital Cinema. Impact of digital cinema, equipment and distribution.
  • You'll want to check out the wikipedia entry on digital cinema: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema
• Production meeting: reshoots/pickup shots this week
• Critical review at 8:30 am in lab this week

Announcements/Reality check

Be sure to review the lecture notes from last week on HD codecs. We didn't get a chance to really cover this in lecture.

This Wednesday. I've invited a few people such as Brent Molnar, Spencer Stryker, Steve Krahnke, and Ron Osgood to come in, watch your projects and give you some some feedback.

Everyone needs to be here and on time. You will also need to write down your comments (at least 3 favorable and 3 weaknesses) and email them to all of your classmates (including me) by the end of the week - Saturday at the latest. (BTW Bullet points for these are fine.) You will need these comments since as part of your Critical Production Review Essay you need to include the comments from at least 8 people.

Remember that you'll need to carry out the Critical Production Review Essay by Monday, December 10th. You can email an uncompressed Word Doc to me, or send me a PDF.

Outputting HD Master Programs. All editors (John, Nick, Matt, Joshua, Garrett, Jesse, Patrick) need to do two things: Output a Master Program in HD to the server or to tape BEFORE Wednesday. They also will need to use FCP's Media Manager to output the Final Edited Short (with changes) sometime next week.

Final Exam: The Registrar has scheduled our final exam to start at 12:30 PM, Friday December 14th.

Many releases are incomplete. I don't have addresses for releases in Soul Roulette & Final Transmission (Cory, Jackie, Aaron Henze, Tema) You can write them in.

Go through rest of cut sheet

Production of Intros, segues, and close for two versions of Small Screen Cinema will take place next Wednesday during our lab time in Studio 5. Our crew & talent lineup includes:

• Cory & Seth (Producer/writer of segues)
• Adam (Dir)
• Joshua (DP)
• Matt (audio)
• Jesse (Gaffer)
• Adrienne & John (talent)

Other jobs: Compiling Word doc of script (just audio) for closed captioning.

If you are needed next Wednesday to re-shoot, we can re-shuffle the crew list.

TV, Cinema & Digital Cinema. Impact of digital cinema, equipment and distribution

Be sure to read the wikipedia entry on digital cinema: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema

Advances and changes in technology are changing the way that films (both those shot on film or video) are being distributed.

While digital cinematography refers to production, digital cinema refers to the distribution of theatrical releases.

Feature film

The era of digital cinema began when George Lucas released The Phantom Menace digitally to select theatres on June 18, 1999. Digital cinema replaces traditional film distribution and projection with digital delivery and projection. While digital cinema uses high-definition technology, it’s not directly tied to ATSC’s DTV standards. The formats currently used in digital cinema provide even higher resolution than HDTV, including 2K (2048 x 1080) and 4K (4096 x 2160). Much of the equipment and interconnections used for HDTV production also work with digital cinema formats.

2K	2048 x 1080
4K	4096 x 2160
Digital cinema formats (pixel dimensions)

Using digital cameras to shoot a motion picture project is referred to as digital cinematography. While some filmmakers have resources to shoot with larger, ultra-high definition cameras such as Panavision’s Genesis, most are opting to shoot in HDTV, or with even smaller, standard-definition formats because of the mobility, ease of editing, and low cost. Digital cinematography provides filmmakers with a means to shoot, edit, and master a project in the digital realm. With digital cinema, they now have a direct path into theatrical distribution. While some film production companies view HDTV and digital cinema as a threat, many studios are major proponents who see it as a way to reduce the costly expense of duplication and distribution. A single 35mm film print can cost over $1,500 to produce. Other benefits include the fact that there is no loss of quality after multiple viewings and that more advertising can be run and edited more quickly and efficiently.

While the 1999 Phantom Menace screenings used media and projectors that were only capable of producing 1280 x 1080 sized images, current installations are using more advanced technology. The latest digital projectors are capable of displaying images with pixel dimensions of 4096 x 2160. Christie, a leading manufacturer of high-definition projectors for the digital cinema market has agreements to install 2,300 projection systems by November 2007.

DVD distribution

High-definition DVD manufacturers are currently engaged in a format war, with the major contenders being Blu-ray and HD DVD. Both formats have considerable industry backing. The formats are similar in that they use the familiar 120 mm diameter CD-sized discs, but use higher-frequency, 405 nm wavelength lasers capable of writing and reading the data more tightly together. Players of both formats are being made that are capable of reading existing analog DVDs.

Blu-ray

Single layer discs can hold about 25 GB and dual-layer discs can hold about 50 GB writing MPEG video at data rates up to 36 Mbps. While the Blu-ray lasers aren’t directly compatible with existing DVDs and CDs, an additional optical pickup device achieves playback.

HD DVD

The DVD Forum, an industry group whose purpose is to establish technical standards for DVD technology has sided with the HD DVD format. While HD DVD players write with the same 36 Mbps rate as the Blu-ray format, a single sided disc can only hold about 15 GB and a dual layer disc about 30 GB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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