The EDCF Guide to Digital Cinema Production

188 Pages·2004·2.65 MB·English

by  Lars Svanberg

The EDCF Guide to Digital Cinema Production
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
The EDCF
Guide to Digital Cinema Production
Edited by
Lasse Svanberg
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Printed in the United States of America
Contents
ForewordbyÅse Kleveland,Chair EDCF xi
PrefacebyJohannes Lassila,Chair EDCF Content Module xiii
1
Why Digital?
IntroductionbyLasse Svanberg 1
The History 2
The Present 7
The Future 11
A Note About This Book 12
2
The Toolbox
2.1 HD Systems and Cameras byRoland Sterner 13
Systems 13
Recent Camera Models 20
Conclusion 24
2.2 HD Camera Testing byHans Hansson 25
Choice of Lenses 25
Adjusting Back-focus With a Siemens Star 25
Adjusting Back-focus With a Collimator 27
P+S Pro Digital Images Converter 27
Lens Sharpness Tests 28
Exposure 28
2.3 The 45 Most Frequent Questions and Statements on HD Production
byMichael Brennan 30
1 What is HD? 30
2 Do You Need Less Light When You Shoot HD? 30
3 Do You Need Less Crew with HD? 31
4 “HD Tapes Can be Damaged by X-rays or Metal Detectors” 31
5 “HD CCDs Are Damaged by Airline Travel” 31
6 How Good is the Audio Recording on an HD Camcorder? 31
v
vi Contents
7 Do I Use a Clapper with HD? 31
8 What is Negative Fill? 32
9 Is There a Difference in Lighting for HD Rather than Film or SD? 32
10 Do I Need a Big HD Monitor to Make Good HD Pictures? 32
11 Do HD Cameras have a Problem with Red? 33
12 Why Shoot HD if there is No HD Transmission? 33
13 Can HD Record in Slow Motion? 33
14 “Video Lenses are Inferior to Film Lenses” 33
15 “Panavision Lenses are Best” 34
16 Should I Record Sound on Camera? 34
17 What about the Adapters that Convert 35mm Lenses to HD? 34
18 Does HD Strobe more than Film? 34
19 “Film Guys can’t Handle HD!” 35
20 Can Video Guys Shoot HD? 35
21 Should I Shoot Straight and Achieve the Look I Want in Post? 35
22 Can HD Cameras Handle Extremes of Temperatures and Humidity? 36
23 “HD Post is Complicated and Time-consuming” 36
24 “Audiences Think that HD is Awful” 36
25 What is a Viper? 36
26 What is 4:4:4? 36
27 What is 720p? 37
28 “HD Is Lower Resolution than 2K” 37
29 Doesn’t 3:1:1 or 4:2:2 Sampling Throw Away Lots of Important
Colour Information? 37
30 Are HD Viewfinders Awful? 37
31 “HD Cameras Make a Lot of Noise” 38
32 “Digital Effects are Expensive” 38
33 “HD Cameras are Large and Heavy” 38
34 Is there an HD Minicam? 38
35 What is HDV? 38
36 What are Genesis,Dalsa,Kinetta and Arri D20 Cameras? 38
37 What is a Bayer Filter? 39
38 Should I go “Native”? 39
39 Can I Shoot in Cinemascope Aspect Ratio? 40
40 Should I use Film Curves and Cine Gamma Curves in the Camera if
I am Transferring to Film? 40
41 Does Apple’s Final Cut ProHD Edit DVCPROHD in “Native”Mode? 40
42 Is HD Equipment Reliable? 41
43 What are the Benefits of Shooting HD? 41
44 What are the Drawbacks of Shooting HD? 41
45 What is the Most Important Thing to Consider When
Shooting HD? 41
3
HD Film Production in Scandinavia – Case Studies
3.1 Ingmar Bergman Meets Hi-Tech byLasse Svanberg 43
Pre-production and Production 43
Post-production 51
Conclusion 52
Contents vii
3.2 The Swedish Digital Experience byLasse Svanberg 54
Pioneering work 55
The Third Wave 56
The Infrastructure 58
Conclusion 58
3.3 The Danish Digital Experience byJens Ulff-Møller 59
Technical Issues:HD Image vs.35mm 60
Recording Format 61
Danish Digital Movies 63
Conclusion 68
3.4 A Finnish HD Experience – Hymypoika (Young Gods)
byJarkko T.Laine 68
Pre-production 68
Production 69
Post-production 72
Release Printing 74
Conclusion 75
4
Audio Recording for HD by Simon Bishop
Unwanted On-set Noises 77
What to Record On and Where? 79
Post-production Workflows for Audio (and Pictures) 81
5
Introduction to the Digital Intermediate Process
by Steve Shaw
Digital Intermediate vs.Digital Film 87
Benefits of the DI Process 87
Operating Parameters of the DI Process 89
Bit Depth 90
Resolution 94
6
The Economics of Digital Cinema – The Benefits of Change
by Sean Foley
Economic Implications 99
D-Cinema – an Independent Filmmaker’s Medium 101
Digital Exhibition and Festivals 102
Case Study 104
viii Contents
7
Some Recent European Initiatives in Digital Film Production,
Distribution and Exhibition
7.1 European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) byJohn Graham 107
Aims 107
Structure 108
Establishing Period 109
Constitution and the Future 109
7.2 National Film Theatre Digital Test Bed bySarah Trigg and
Richard Boyd 109
Why a Digital Test Bed? 109
Equipment 113
7.3 European DocuZone (EDZ) byKees Ryninks and Bjorn Koll 115
Introduction 115
Working Together across Borders 117
Other Features 118
Acknowledgement 120
7.4 Folkets Hus Digital Houses Project byLasse Svanberg 120
Background 120
The Digital Houses 121
7.5 UK Film Council Digital Projects byPeter A.Packer 123
The UK Film Council 123
The Challenge of Digital Technology 124
New Cinema Fund 125
bfiscreenonline 127
UK Film Skills Strategy 127
Distribution and Exhibition Fund 128
Digital Screen Network 129
Conclusion 131
8
The Digital Future of Cinema – So Close,and Yet So Far Away
by Patrick von Sychowski
Technology 134
Standards 134
Business Models 135
Service Providers 135
Content 137
Conclusion 137
Contents ix
9
Standards by Peter Wilson
Why Do We Need Standards? 139
Standardization in Our Industry 139
Technical Levels of Service 142
10
Archiving Digital Media by Paul Read
What is an Archive? What is Digital Preservation? 143
Preservation vs.Access 145
What’s the Rush? 146
Why Digital? 147
Digital Cinema Images 148
Film Images 149
Compression 149
Migration 150
Access 151
What Should the Preservation Format Be? 151
Where Does All This Leave Us? 153
Conclusion 155
About the Authors 157
Further Reading 165
Index 169