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MillimeterHD Focus
Dec 28, 2004 12:51 PM
Commercial HD
By Michael Goldman
High-definition acquisition’s infiltration into the world of commercial production has been notoriously uneven, based almost totally on budget considerations. On the high end of the spectrum, for national and major regional spots, clients, ad agencies, and production companies are slowly growing more comfortable with HD as an alternative to Betacam SP or digital Betacam and 16mm film, and occasionally, even for 35mm film.
In the middle-budget area, HD is making significant strides. Director/DP Leo Ticheli, of Leo Ticheli Productions, Birmingham, Ala., for instance, shoots almost exclusively HD for regional commercial work throughout the South these days. Of course, as he freely admits, Ticheli now produces mainly what he calls “medium-range budget commercials, in the $20,000 per project and up range.” In that world, in Ticheli’s opinion, there is rarely a good reason, financial or otherwise, not to shoot HD for commercials, even though most of those commercials continue to be broadcast via a standard def signal.
“Why acquire on 35mm film if you broadcast in standard def?” Ticheli asks. “For the same reason we did that for so many years is the reason to now shoot HD,” he says. Ticheli works primarily with Panasonic’s AJ-HDC27 VariCam and won’t submit a job bid that does not include an HD quote. “You get a better quality image overall than when you use standard-def cameras, no matter how it will be broadcast. You get increased dynamic range, increased resolution, better color reproduction, 24 frames per second, more of a filmic look generally. No matter how you view it, the image will always look better if it was acquired in a higher-level format.
"Remember, for advertising, viewers evaluate the product by the quality of the commercial. The higher the perceived quality or entertainment value or eye-candy value of the spot, the more enhanced the product is to the viewer. That’s why agencies I work with have been eager to embrace HD recently.”
And financially, at this mid-range budget level, Ticheli argues, HD has now arrived as a reasonable choice. “A medium budget might be 20 grand, but we’ve often done them for less than that, and also a lot more than that,” he explains. “The only real difference in overhead cost is the actual cost of the camera and playback deck. Everything else—crew, personnel, wardrobe, props, locations, lighting package—is pretty much identical. Now, suppose your options are MiniDV or HD. These days, the net difference in a camera rental between those two is probably $1,000 a day. That’s generally not significant, in my opinion, at this level. It’s barely more than what we used to pay for Betacam SP or digital Betacam cameras, and it’s going down.
"So for a barely significant increase in price, my clients can get a 24p, filmic, HD acquisition look that previously they could have only gotten shooting film, which is usually far out of their budget.”
Of course, as Ticheli notes, this formula does not yet work at the so-called low end of the spectrum, for the thousands of commercials produced each day around the country for far less than $20,000, and often for less than $10,000. Producers for those ultra low-budget local cable spots for your local steak house, pizza parlor, or car dealership are hardly flocking to HD at this point. Nor should they, according to people who make such commercials for a living.
“HD just wouldn’t pay for $1,000 or $5,000 projects locally,” says Chip Payne, a producer/director/DP for AutoFocus Productions in Palm Springs, Calif. “At this level, we just can’t justify the cost of an HD camera right now. However, what we can do is use technology that permits us to work at 24 frames per minute, mimic HD and film to a high degree, and overall, give such commercials a higher-end look than we could in the past.”
Second-Annual Master Colorist Awards Competition Sponsored by Da Vinci
Da Vinci Systems announced
that it is now accepting entries for the second-annual Master Colorist
Awards competition. The contest will judge work in four distinct
categories: TV and long-form, theatrical release, commercials, and music
videos. All entries must be received by Feb. 28, 2005. The 2005 Master Colorist
Award winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 19, at 5 p.m. at Da
Vinci's booth, C6207, at NAB2005 in Las Vegas.
"The Master Colorist Awards are designed to showcase the artistry and expertise of the creative talent in the industry today," said Da Vinci Systems VP of Marketing and Product Management Bill Robertson. "The top facilities in the world are using Da Vinci tools on some of the most high-profile and cutting-edge projects today, and we are very proud of that. The Master Colorist Awards is a forum intended to recognize the creativity that is happening behind the scenes and bring it to the forefront at NAB2005."
To be eligible for the competition, each submission must demonstrate work that utilized a Da Vinci Systems product. Each entry should be no longer than two minutes and must consist of work performed on a single spot, episode, film, or music video completed within the past year. Colorists are permitted to submit one entry in each of the four categories or up to three entries in the same category in NTSC or PAL Digital BetaCam or DVD format.
To review the complete rules and eligibility requirements, obtain a copy of the official entry form, or participate in the competition or judging panel, interested parties should visit the Da Vinci Web site at www.davsys.com/mca.htm.
Entries will be judged by an international panel of industry experts, including leading colorists, directors of photography, journalists, and professionals from today's front-running advertising and creative agencies. Winners from last year's competition are also invited to take part in the judging.
"The Master Colorist Awards were well received in the industry last year," added Robertson. "We're looking forward to making the program an even greater success in 2005."
HPA Technology Retreat January 25-28, 2005
If you have already registered for the 2005 event, we look forward to seeing you in January. If not, please consider what you will be missing if you aren't in Palm Springs in January.
Here is a link to registration:
www.hpaonline.com/custom/forms/form.cfm?id=92. Complete information on the Technology Retreat can be found at www.hpaonline.com. An excerpt from Mark Schubin's most recent Monday Memo is below.
A summary of the sessions excerpted from Mark Schubin's Monday Memo 12/20/04: - Wednesday morning covers the latest issues associated with compression (bit-rate reduction), with top talent from Del Rey, Dolby, the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Southern California (USC), Harmonic, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), NBC Universal, Panasonic Labs, Sharp Labs, Tandberg Television, the University of Arizona, Via Licensing, and Warner Bros. covering everything you need to know (and THEN some) about the technology, market, and licensing of AVC (H.264, MPEG-4 Part 10), JPEG2000, and VC-1.
- Wednesday afternoon covers consumer video media, with the annual technology-year in review, top talent from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS, Sinclair, and the WB on the networks/broadcasters panel, an update on the marketplace from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), an update on content protection from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA), and top talent from CEA, CEDIA, DirecTV, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Microsoft, and NBC Universal on the video marketplace panel.
- Thursday morning will cover digital acquisition: tapeless camcorders, uncompressed HD recording, "control dailies," film transfer for digital intermediates, lenses, and the latest digital cinematography product, Panavision's Genesis.
- Thursday afternoon will cover digital cinema in America, Europe, and Japan and from such details as optimizing dailies, X'Y'Z' color space, and MXF packaging to a broad studio perspective. And, with the recently announced 102in. plasma panel, the session will close with a consumer-display update so participants can get an idea of how close the home experience is getting to the theatrical.
- Friday morning delves into the nitty-gritty of postproduction, beginning with a Washington update and an explanation of extended content-control information. Then learn about the sound-editing workflow on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, how to do digital-intermediate work on a laptop, and much more.
- Friday afternoon will cover standards (SMPTE, MOS, GFX), signal processing, and file access--both within a facility and globally. It will also feature another jaw-dropping presentation on what you didn't know about wire and cable (the 2004 presentation on why neatly spaced cable ties might be the worst possible thing you could do for high data-rate signals is STILL boggling minds).
Snell & Wilcox: AAV Converts New Zealand
AAV New Zealand, a digital media
service provider, has chosen the Snell & Wilcox Alchemist Platinum Ph.C
standards converter to offer the world's best quality standards conversion
to postproduction companies, television studios, and film commissions in
New Zealand. AAV is the first and the only company in New Zealand to provide
Alchemist Platinum Ph.C conversion.
Mr. Simon Spencer-Dunn, general manager of sales for AAV New Zealand, said, "While we have always provided extremely high-quality standards conversion, we have now decided to reinvest in the technology to make sure we're giving our clients the best available in the world. Alchemist Platinum Ph.C is the benchmark for standards conversion worldwide. It's simply what you're expected to use. We have already begun conversions, and our clients are very pleased with the outcome."
Digital Pictures Sydney, another subsidiary of AAV Ltd, also offers Alchemist Platinum Ph.C standards conversion in Sydney.
Mr. Mark Parlett, managing director for Snell & Wilcox Asia Pacific Limited, said, "Standards conversion has always been one of the most difficult challenges in delivering content for broadcast, and is now more so than ever, with the advent of so many new standards including high definition. When converting from one video format to another, and especially to HD, it is extremely difficult to produce a seamless result, and yet the quality expectations of today's audiences are getting higher. The Alchemist Platinum Ph.C delivers precision standards conversion and upconversion performance among all of these different combinations, producing no noticeable artifacts that a normal viewer would see on the television screen. Snell & Wilcox is committed to providing the best possible conversion on the market, from the highest-end standards converter, the Alchemist Platinum Ph.C, to our cost-effective CVR range."
About AAV
AAV was established in 1974 as Australia's first electronic media services
provider. Over the past 30 years, and through a program of strategic growth,
AAV has evolved into the most sophisticated digital media, media,
manufacturing and event production and staging services group in the
southern hemisphere. For further information, visit www.aav.com.au.
About Snell & Wilcox
Snell & Wilcox, the leader in its field, delivers technologies and products
that give television and satellite broadcasters, postproduction facilities,
filmmakers, and communications professionals the freedom to move content
seamlessly between analog, digital, high definition, and file-based systems
and to bridge the world's multiplicity of line/field and color standards
without sacrificing picture quality. The company provides switchers and
keyers, standards conversion systems, networked infrastructure components,
and products for noise reduction, image enhancement, and restoration. In
business since 1973, Snell & Wilcox maintains its U.S. headquarters in Santa
Clara, Calif. and European headquarters in Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Additional offices are located in New York, China, France, Germany, Hong
Kong, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Russia. Visit www.snellwilcox.com
for more information.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
