The History ChannelÆ Broadcasts First HDTV Special ""Escape From A Living Hell""

For the first time, The History ChannelÆ aired an HDTV special ""Escape from a Living Hell"" on February 18, 2000. The 90-minute special was produced and directed by Arlington-based Henninger Productions producer Bill Howard and independent producer Paul Wimmer. Hosted by Roger Mudd, ""Escape from a Living Hell"" tells the amazing stories of an elite group of American fighting men. Captured during wartime and brutally treated by the enemy, these men made the ultimate show of resistance: they risked their lives to escape. In World War II, Korea and Vietnam, thousands of Americans were held, but few dared to risk it all and break out. Each escaper faced the tragic paradox of the prisoner of war, their duty as a soldier to escape and their responsibility for those left behind. ""Certain of The History Channel shows lend themselves to HDTV,"" said Charlie Maday, Executive Producer for The History Channel, ""and we are happy that Henninger Productions could bring Escape from a Living Hell to its full-blown, viewer-friendly technology potential."" In addition to Maday, Elyse Miranda is Supervising Producer for The History Channel. All of the show's interviews, dramatic reenactments and motion control were acquired on Henninger's Sony HDW-700 wide-screen high definition camcorder, also making ""Escape from a Living Hell"" one of the few full-length, high definition documentary films to be produced in the Washington, D.C. market. ""Originating this program in HDTV gives us a superior looking show for delivery to standard definition television sets, "" said Brian J. Kelly, Executive Producer at Henninger Productions. ""It also provides a 'future-proof' show that looks great now and, because it was originated in High Definition, it can also be broadcast at full resolution to HDTV sets in the future or presented in HDTV at compatible venues now."" To complete the program on time and within budget, careful production and post-production plans were developed to accommodate the new challenges of HDTV. For example, one of the major technical and directorial challenges confronted by Brad Hughes, Henninger's Chief Engineer, and his team of HDTV experts included the requirement that the NTSC master for The History Channel be delivered in a standard television 4:3 aspect ratio while the HD version had to have a 16:9 aspect ratio. Steven J. Schupak, Vice President and General Manager of Henninger Productions, commented, ""We wanted have the best of both worlds, the 16:9 ratio for the HD version and a 4:3 master for standard broadcast. Having both ratios allowed us to offer The History Channel the program on DVD in both the standard pan and scan and the increasingly popular anamorphic widescreen formats."" ""It takes a lot of attention to make sure that all the images we shoot work for both aspect ratios,"" said producer/director Howard. ""In most shooting situations, especially on-screen interviews, one would tend to frame a shot differently for widescreen than for 4:3. We came up with a unique way to approach that challenge."" Henninger's video technologists down-converted the program's HD sources in letterbox to BCSP for offline editing on an Avid Media Composer. Once the final cut was completed by Brian Moore and Howard, the EDL was given to Roy Weinstock for completion on the Quantel Editbox. ""We went back to the original HD masters and down-converted them in anamorphic format directly to the Editbox,"" Weinstock explained. ""Then we stretched the images horizontally and re-framed each shot one by one for the 4:3 aspect ratio. It was a fascinating technical and creative challenge. The images from HD look great, and bringing them in anamorphically gave us more image to play with, without sacrificing resolution."" Robert Fair of Bethesda, Maryland composed the score for ""Escape from a Living Hell,"" and the audio was designed and mixed by Richard Humphries of Henninger Digital Audio. The standard television version was completed and delivered to The History Channel in December 1999. The HDTV version was re-mastered in Henninger's High Definition Online Suite and delivered to The History Channel in February 2000. ""Escape from a Living Hell"" is the first future-proof show to be added to The History Channel's library.About Henninger Productions Henninger Productions and Henninger Development & Distribution together develop, produce, represent, and distribute awards winning, high quality original television programming. Established in 1994, the divisions license their programming both domestically and internationally for broadcast and home video. For further information, contact Stephen Schupak, General Manager, 703 243 3444, sschupak@henninger.com or visit www.henninger.com. About The History Channel Honored with the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for its ""Save Our History"" campaign and winner of two George Foster Peabody Awards, The History Channel reveals the power and passion of history as an inviting place where people experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. Now enjoyed in more than 62 million homes, The History Channel is the only place ""Where the Past Comes Alive."" It is located on the World Wide Web at HistoryChannel.com.About Henninger Media Services Founded in 1983, privately-held Henninger Media Services Inc. is one of the nation's ten largest-production companies with headquarters in Arlington and facilities in Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; New York, New York and Los Angeles, California. In addition to its editing, graphics and audio capabilities, Henninger Media Services includes a film lab, nationwide editing equipment rental service and a program marketing and funding division. Well known clients include Discovery Communications, PBS, National Geographic Television, The Martin Agency, Smithsonian Institution, Showtime Networks and Circuit City Stores.