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MillimeterThe Cinematographers' Test Compares Aesthetics Of 35 Film And HD 24P Production
Nov 15, 2001 12:00 PM
LOS ANGELES, November 14 -- The Cinematographers' Test will premiere here tonight at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The film compares identical scenes photographed in both 35 mm motion picture and high-definition 24 progressive digital video formats by three of the industry's top cinematographers — John Bailey, ASC, James Chressanthis and Aaron Schneider, ASC. Both the film and video images will be projected side by side in 35 mm print.
"There has been much speculation and mis-information about this topic, so we felt it was important to give cinematographers an opportunity to create their own test, where they could freely explore and compare the aesthetic possibilities of 35 mm film and digital HD media," says Brian Spruill, vice president and general manager, Hollywood region, of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging division. "The cinematographers who volunteered to participate were in full control of how they recorded the scenes they chose. They also supervised color timing of the film and HD masters. It was their test."
Bailey, Chressanthis and Schneider brought a diverse range of experience to the project, including credits on large and smaller budget cinema and television dramas, documentaries, commercials and music videos. Each of them also has experience with both film and video media. The three award-winning cinematographers also recorded voice-over narrations explaining why they chose specific scenes, how they shot them, what they were looking for, and analyzed the comparisons.
"The voice-over narrations are as important as the images because only the cinematographers know what they envisioned in their mind's eye," Spruill says. "In their narrations, they explain how differences in the way that film and 24p HD video rendered nuances in colors, contrast, texture, focus and other characteristics of the images affect the emotional content and flow of the scenes they orchestrated. This demonstration is not just for cinematographers. It is for everyone who works in or cares about this art form."
Many companies and individuals played roles in the project. Panavision provided the Panaflex film cameras and lenses chosen by the cinematographers and the Sony CineAlta 24p HD digital camera and lenses used by Bailey. Plus 8 Video provided the 24p Sony HDW-F900 HDCAM™ and Canon and Fujinon lenses chosen by Chressanthis and Schneider. Day and night, mixed lighting, interior and exterior scenes were produced on a stage and back lot at Paramount Studios, and at practical locations in and around Los Angeles. Negative and print film processing was done by CFI Labs. High-definition images were converted to film by Sony Imageworks. Film-to-tape and tape-to-tape transfers and HD postproduction were done by Laser Pacific Media. Opticals, including split-screen shots used for side-by-side comparisons of film and HD images, was done by Imagica USA.
The 22-minute program is available for screenings in both 35 mm print format and hi-definition D-5 video format. For more information, contact your local Kodak representative, or visit the website at www.kodak.com/go/motion.
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