Kodak Technology and Innovation at the 2010 Annual SMPTE Conference

Every year the Motion Picture Industry gathers together at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) annual conference to share the latest technical developments in the entertainment marketplace.  In keeping with Kodak’s long-standing commitment to innovation in the entertainment industry, we presented three papers this year. They reflect Kodak’s ongoing investment in both film and digital technologies – representing a number of new advances that are highly synergistic with rapidly evolving digital workflows. 

In “Enhanced Image Recording Capability: Novel Light Management Technologies Applied to Camera Origination Color Negative Film Design”, Merrick Distant, Drake Michno and Sharon Johnston describe the set of technologies that enabled the improvements in the Kodak VISION3 family of films.   By the use of advanced dye layering technology and optimized sub-micron emulsion technology, they were able to achieve significant improvements in both signal –to-noise ratio in low exposures while expanding dynamic range.  These improvements allow film-makers to operate effectively in low light levels and capture scene content from the brightest highlights to the deepest shadows.  This is particularly useful in combination with the powerful digital intermediate toolset.

Kodak’s Imagecare Program is a quality certification program for processing laboratories that began in 1996.  It originated in the Asia Pacific Region and has grown to over 50 labs in 31 countries today. Based on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) principles, the Program was initially launched to promote world class levels of quality in motion picture film processing, and this remains its guiding principle to this day.   

The increasing use of digital workflows to produce feature films has made possible ever more spectacular and seamless special effects.  The movie experience for audiences today is very different from that of just a few years ago.  From Harry Potter to Alice in Wonderland to Avatar, filmmakers have new creative freedoms that produce amazing results for today’s moviegoers.  The industry has also benefited from the many efficiency gains associated with digital post. 

Right now it’s still a hybrid world with filmed or digitally-originated images feeding into a digital intermediate process which is then recorded out to produce film prints or a file for digital cinema display.  Recording out to produce film prints usually  requires an intermediate film.  From the infancy of the digital intermediate process, Kodak Vision Color Intermediate Film has been the standard used to record out images from those digital files for film distribution and display.

In today’s world, workflow is all about choices.  Workflow is a set of processes, employing people, hardware, and software to help filmmakers bring their visions to life.  At the highest level, all motion picture workflows tend to follow the same basic path: the pre-production phase, the production phase, the post-production phase, the distribution and exhibition phase, and lastly the storage and archiving phase.  Every production, whether it is targeting television, commercials or feature films goes through these phases, albeit to a different degree. 

Historically, the typical workflow began in the planning stage with pen and paper.  Film was the standard interchange format for most workflows.  Features were shot on film.  Edited negative littered the cutting room floor.  Intermediates were made of the final production.  Multiple prints were generated for distribution and exhibition.  Finally the original negative became the archiving medium which enabled long term storage.  Film was the standard which carried across all the steps of the process.  Because of this workflow, decisions were far simpler.  Now, there are far more choices – from scene to screen to archive – and with that an increase in complexity.

At Cinesite, we’re committed to developing the next generation of visual effects talent.  As such, we just launched our new Inspire Programme, an annual internship for graduates. We devised the Inspire Programme in response to a lack of formalised visual effects internship programmes for students.

Inspire offers a six-week paid placement at the company’s Soho facility and the opportunity to gain invaluable experience working alongside some of the industry’s most experienced visual effects professionals on blockbuster films.