Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
DCP Directory
MillimeterHD: Close to ‘Firmly Accepted’
Jan 24, 2006 5:41 PM, Michael Goldman
Thomas Fletcher, VP of marketing for rental/sales giant Fletcher Chicago, spent much of his time during the holidays compiling his third annual “High Definition: A Year in Review” report for 2005. The report lists major HD and HD-related developments in the broadcast, commercial, production, and feature film worlds. (For a look at his complete list, click here.)
The list, Fletcher says, will most likely be his last. Not because there isn’t enough interesting activity on the HD landscape, but because there is too much.
“The article has been successful for the last three years, but it took me well over 50 hours to put it together this year,” Fletcher says. “Three years ago, there were maybe 35 major HD developments worth talking about in the course of a year, and this year there was probably closer to 3,000. I had to wend my way through all that, and decide which ones to highlight. But the truth is, HD has made such strides that the fact that a major TV show or sporting event was captured or broadcast in HD is no longer major news. It was huge news two or three years ago, but no longer. In one item I included this year, (Fox Sports VP of field operations) Jerry Steinberg noted in a speech in October that what used to be a science project is now just TV. What’s most newsworthy is how common and accepted HD production has become in most areas.”
Fletcher recalls fondly those ancient days (three to four years ago) when HD production was always an adventure, since productions rarely had all the components they needed readily available to build seamless HD production and postproduction pipelines.
“I remember when Plus 8 Digital (Burbank) took on an HD show for Sidney Lumet called 100 Center Street in 2001, and they came to us for help because we had one of the only 24p cameras available in the country at the time,” Fletcher says. “They were able to shoot those episodes 24p film-style, and it wasn’t easy because there was no simple way to connect A to B in terms of the workflow. Now there are well-established workflows and available components for sports, TV shows, or feature films. It’s amazing what has changed in just a few years.”
Among those changes, Fletcher points out, is the availability of more and better camera systems on the acquisition side. He calls 2005 a very big year for larger, new imaging systems like Panavision’s Genesis and Arri’s D-20 camera. He also points to major improvements in field monitoring, with systems such as the eCinema DCM23 and the Cine-tal system exemplifying the kind of improvements in affordable components that have allowed HD production workflows to thrive in recent years.
“The only way we could demonstrate high-definition to advertising agencies or other clients a few years ago was to bring a $7,000, 34in. CRT monitor that weighed about 300lbs. to the location in a van,” he says. “Or we could have rented a $100,000 projector. Now I can take a broadcast-quality reference grade monitor under one arm, carry a small deck in the other arm, walk in, and show a highly reliable picture.”
Add the rapid rise of the HDCAM-SR format, affordable HD recorders and playback devices, and the wide range of lens options available for HD productions, among other developments, and Fletcher says HD acquisition will become as firmly accepted as color television in a couple more years. “It’s well understood at this point,” he says.
Fletcher believes that HD postproduction technology and techniques, combined with the rise of the digital intermediate process, may have an even greater long-term effect than the acceptance of HD acquisition. After all, Fletcher says, not only do those shooting HD benefit from HD post processing techniques. Those techniques have had the ironic benefit of also making life easier for those who continue to shoot film.
“The DI process in Hollywood is driving this. It’s being proven on big-dollar films that are finishing electronically at resolutions higher than HD,” Fletcher says. “But a benefit is that all of this is filtering into the indie world, the commercial world, the corporate world, and so on. 16mm is seeing a resurgence because post workflows are getting so much better. Also, a lot of our customers are choosing to use multiple mediums, and therefore, although [Fletcher Chicago] is a big proponent of electronic acquisition, we are also buying and selling and renting more film equipment than ever before, as a result of all this. These advancements in postproduction are a real interesting twist.”
Looking ahead to the near future, Fletcher sees 3D HD production as a looming major growth area for those involved in HD production, as filmmakers and studios begin to follow the lead of James Cameron and others.
“After all, you used to need a 700lb.-plus [camera system] to shoot 3D onto film, and now you can do it for 22lbs., thanks to what Vince Pace and other [manufacturers] have developed. If you look at some of the numbers for the 3D release of Chicken Little, as I point out in my article, you see there is a market there. It is now viable to produce live-action content for both 3D and 2D release simultaneously, thanks to some of these technologies and the advent of the digital intermediate to give you a universal master finished in 24p.”
Fletcher concedes that there are other areas where HD continues to advance more slowly. Areas such as wireless HD signal transmission, super slow-motion, and uncompressed recording direct to disc remain some of the categories that still have a long way to go, he says.
But, he adds, the increase in the overall volume of HD production, postproduction, and broadcast projects and initiatives will only continue at a rapid pace—so much so that it’s no longer possible for him, or anyone, to keep track of it all.
