Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan Among Directors Endorsing The Launch Of The "Filmmaker Mode" TV Setting

August 28, 2019

Well-known filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins and Rian Johnson, have endorse a new inititive by the UHD Alliance — a coalition whose members include Hollywood studios and consumer electronics manufacturers — to introduce a new Ultra High Definition TV setting aimed at preserving the filmmakers' creative intent on consumer displays.

There has been a growing concern in the production community that with the many settings available on consumer TVs, the filmmaker’s creative decisions that are made during production and post-production are not always what is displayed. This new "Filmmaker Mode" for supported TV models is aimed at giving viewers a consistent, cinematic representation of images as the filmmakers intended, in terms of color, contrast, aspect ratio and frame rates.

As part of the specification development process, the UHD Alliance sought input from more than 400 filmmakers, including 140 directors and cinematographers. The Alliance also reached out to the Directors Guild of America, American Society of Cinematographers, American Cinema Editors and Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation.

It is definitely a confusing world for consumers seeking the best picture quality available, and without professional calibration, many TVs shipped have post-processing settings, such as motion smoothing, as a default.

At the press conference yesterday, the Filmmaker Mode was said to offer “a single button that lines up the settings so it works for the benefit of the movie and not against it.”

A video explaining and urging viewers to use Filmmaker Mode featured testimonials from Scorsese, Nolan, Coogler, Jenkins, Paul Thomas Anderson, James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Judd Apatow, Ang Lee, Reed Morano and the Duffer Brothers and Rian Johnson.

LG, Panasonic and Vizio announced a commitment to implement Filmmaker Mode in future TVs, though they didn't say when it would be available, though it is highly likely that some or perhaps all of their 2020 models will incorporate the feature.

On the origin of the initiative, UHD Alliance chairman Michael Zink, Vice President of Technology at Warner Bros., said, "Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Patty Jenkins, Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan reached out to the UHDA about extending the cinematic experience into the living room. We were eager and ideally situated to engage in the conversation."

A “Netflix Mode,” similarly developed to maintain creative intent on the streamer's series, was introduced in 2018 on select TV models, including several from Sony and Panasonic. Netflix, however, is not a member of the UHD Alliance.

As part of the announcement, numerous directors released statements. Among them, Scorsese said, “I started The Film Foundation in 1990 with the goal to preserve film and protect the filmmaker’s original vision so that the audience can experience these films as they were intended to be seen. Most people today are watching these classic films at home rather than in movie theaters, making Filmmaker Mode of particular importance when presenting these films which have specifications unique to being shot on film.”

Said Ryan Coogler, “I care deeply about how cinema is experienced at home because that's where it lives the longest. That's where cinema is watched and re-watched and experienced by families. By allowing the artists in the tent to help consult and give feedback to the electronics companies on Filmmaker Mode, we can collectively help make the consumer’s experience even more like it is in the cinema.”

Of course, the concept of Filmmaker Mode is not new. Joe Kane, out Technical Video Editor. has been writing about such a metadata feature in sets for a long time in Widescreen Review & Custome Home Theatre Design. We will have to see how well it is executed by the three brands, though Panasonic has not been a player in the United States for years.