The Future Of Cinema Debated At SMPTE/USC SeminarBy Gary Reber

The future of the cinema was debated during a seminar co-hosted by the Hollywood Section of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinema-Television on Saturday, May 22 at the Norris Cinema Theatre on the USC campus.The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers task group was formed to examine areas of needed standardization, as electronic cinema becomes a reality. Recent demonstrations have shown how rapid has been the improvement in technical quality from electronic projectors. This has opened the gateway into the probability n the near future of complete electronic cinema system. However, in addition to projection issues such a complete system contains a large number of transmission and storage elements that require industry wide discussion.Thought leaders from the creative, technology and business sectors of the entertainment industry participated in panel discussions and demonstrations designed to bring the future of the cinema into sharp focus. The common thread running through the fabric of the seminar is the relative roles of film and digital imaging technologies in the production, post-production, distribution and exhibition sectors of the industry.""We will attempt to separate fiction from fact and hyperbole from truth by bringing main players from the creative and technology sectors of the industry together for an in-depth dialogue,"" said SMPTE Hollywood Section Chair John Brooks in his opening remarks. ""The goal is to find common ground between the needs of the creative community and the realities of the business of filmmaking, distribution and exhibition.""Keynote AddressesThe day began with dual keynote addresses by cinematographer John Bailey, ASC, and Phil Barlow, Walt Disney Studios. Bailey focused on how the convergence of film and digital technologies affects the art of visual story telling. ""Weíre all drowning in movie crap!"" pronounced Bailey. ""The Internet rules. Movies rule."" Bailey made it clear that he was not interested in technology for technologyís sake. ""Movies are using only its technology not its artistry. Weíre becoming intoxicated with the digital tools and new technology. The muffled disappointment with such movies as ëStar Wars: Episode I ñ The Phantom Menaceí is a result of this intoxication.""Phil Barlow has the responsibility at Disney to oversee the companyís examination of whether digital distribution of movies via satellite can one-day replace film and traditional projectors. He was formerly President of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Barlow discussed the issue from the perspective of Disney Studios, a major content producer and distributor, paying particular attention to the future of exhibition. Barlow said, ""If digital does not offer an improved experience for the public, then it doesnít matter."" But clearly, Barlowís belief is that ""film may have gone as far as it can."" Said Barlow, ""Digital offers a better experience ñ a perfect picture every time."" Asked who is going to pay for new projectors and theatre installations, Barlow suggested that those should pay according to benefit received.Panel On Production Five panels with an eclectic mix of filmmakers, industry executives and hardware manufacturers discussed the relative roles of film, digital and hybrid imaging technologies. The first panel focused on production. Ed DiGiulio, founder of Cinema Products, was the moderator. Panelists included Allen Daviau, American Society of Cinematographers (ASC); Arthur Cosgrove, Eastman Kodak; and John Galt, Panavision. The panelists agreed that new digital cameras, both currently available and in development, are fully capable of high-resolution photography comparable to 35mm film taking. The new cameras and lenses will be unique designs specifically intended for use by cinematographers.Panel On PostProduction: The Role Of The Lab In The Digital AgeThe second panel focused on the role of the lab in the digital age. The moderator was Jerry Pierce, Universal Studios. Panelists included Dean Cundey, ASC; Glenn Kennel, Eastman Kodak; Rob Hummel, DreamWorks SKG; Garrett Smith, Paramount Pictures; and Dash Morrison, Deluxe Laboratories. The panel discussed the various processes and tools used in film and digital postproduction to produce the desired look of the movie. Dean Cundey (OscarÆ nominee for ""Who Framed Roger Rabbit,"" and ""Hook,"" ""Apollo 13,"" ""Jurassic Park,"" the ""Back To The Future"" trilogy, ""Death Becomes Her,"" ""The Flintstones,"" ""Casper,"" and ""Honey, I Shrunk The Kids"") presented a recently produced, directed and shot short demonstration film designed to explore the creative possibilities of digital intermediate technology. Cundey exposed a wide range of color negative films in a variety of exterior situations including vistas. The conversion and initial color timing of the negatives were supervised by him at Cinesite using a Philips Spirit DataCine transfer device. Cundey also supervised the manipulation of images in conjunction with a digital artist at Cinesite. One of the things he did was convert a drab, gray skyline into a glorious sunset that totally altered the setting and the mood. The digital picture files were recorded onto Eastman color intermediate film 5244 with a Kodak Lightning laser film recorder. Technicolor Labs used the intermediate to produce prints on Kodak Vision color print film. Cundey demonstrated with various image manipulations that digital intermediate technology can be a powerful creative tool for cinematographers, with significant potential for trimming costs and expanding storylines to include settings and environments that arenít practical or possible to film in live action. Cundey concluded by saying that with digital intermediate technology there can be a universal master, which accurately reflects the intentions of the filmmaker, for all releases in all film and video formats.Rob Hummel, who oversees DreamWorks International PostProduction Film Archiving, Video Mastering, Theatre Operations, and Special Projects and is head of technology for the studio, said that film was a mature technology and a proven working system.Technicolorís New Dye Transfer ProcessRonald Jarvis, President of Technicolor Worldwide Film Group made a presentation and demonstrated Technicolorís new Dye Transfer Process. The picture quality of exemplary using a clip from ""The Thin Red Line."" Javis said: ""It has been a long tradition at Technicolor to be conscious of both the good qualities and shortcomings of motion picture film. The contrast and latitude with more detailed imagery, high density blacks with improved image delineation made us think of the days we had our own dye transfer process and its great flexibility in dealing with these characteristics. A few years ago we took notice of the great advances that had been made and were being made in photoscience, engineering, and electronics. We believed we could upgrade our original Dye Transfer Process principles to produce precise improvements in motion picture quality, and with greater accuracy and repeatability. Thus, we are able to view on the screen greater image latitude, higher image contrast where needed, higher maximum density yet with greatly improved shadow delineation, superior color rendition with few interimage effects, while at the same time improving our image sharpness and reducing our image grain.""With the help of Eastman Kodak on raw photographic film materials we undertook this program to build a dye transfer machine using the very latest advances in engineering and electronics. With tooling accuracy to 0.000050 inch integrated into our advances we have obtained our desired goals of quality with completely satisfactory registration at speeds starting at 800 feet per minute and still going higher, while maintaining this accuracy with repeatability. The new Technicolor Dye Transfer Process combines photochemical and photomechanical processes to the highest degree of perfection obtainable today. We therefore, have the best of both worlds using these principles, and that is why we have been able to achieve such accuracy in pinpointing certain picture characteristics. Even picture image stability is high because every frame is step registered and printed at high speed. Thus, the only place image instability can occur is in projection.""We believe that these results justify our expenditures and laborious planning and testing of the last few years. We believe the production of prints by our new Dye Transfer Process will support and strengthen the motion picture industry and contribute in some measure to its healthy future.""Panel On Alternatives For Distributing Electronic And Film Prints To ExhibitorsA third panel moderated by H. Loren Nielsen, Entertainment Technology Consultants, discussed alternatives for distributing electronic and film prints to exhibitors. Panelists included Robert Mayson, Eastman Kodak; Steve Morley, QUALCOMM/CineComm; Al Shapiro, New Line Cinema; Bill Mead, Sony Cinema Products and Craig Winter, AndAction.Bill Mead, Vice President, Product and Market Development, Sony Cinema Products Corp., said: ""Digital standards have to be balanced so the worldwide community can participate."" Graig Winter, who is CEO and President of AndAction Corporation, presented what he considered to be the critical issues regarding electronic cinema delivery. ""Due to recent advances in technology, digital delivery of feature films now has the potential to reduce costs, increase revenue and enhance the moviegoing experience,"" he said. ""However, several vital issues must be addressed before Electronic Cinema makes sound Show-Business sense."" Winter said ""merely transporting a digital file from one location to another does not constitute a viable delivery system."" He offered the following list of parameters that he believed must be satisfied and constantly tested in order for any Electronic Cinema system to be successful.1. Security ñ Is it safe?A truly secure system must incorporate far more than file encryption. It includes sophisticated key management, authentication, handoff procedures and most importantly 24x7 (24 hours, 7 days a week) human vigilance. No one should claim that any system is 100 percent impossible to crack. However, a system can be designed so that it would be so difficult, dangerous, time consuming and cost prohibitive to attempt to pirate content that it will never be worth the risk. A highly secure network also requires that tampering or security violations be detected and reacted to within minutes of their occurrence.2. Control ñ Whatís going on with my movie?A practical e-cinema system should allow authorized users to remotely control and monitor the status of their digital movies 24x7. Distributors and exhibitors must have tremendous flexibility in the replication and use of digital feature films. This includes delivery, scheduling, movie locking/unlocking, screen limits, run length and screening reports.3. Scalability ñ Can it work on thousands of screens?While there may be numerous approaches to Electronic Cinema that could work for several screens, few are capable of supporting thousands of screens. All the necessary hardware and software, including projectors must be capable of large-scale deployment and must be consistent in their performance. In addition, thousands of users must be able to manage the thousands of digital screens supported by an e-cinema network.4. User Friendly and Practical ñ Huh?!A bulletproof e-cinema delivery network is worthless if no one understands how to use it. The user interfaces at both the distribution and exhibition points of the system must be developed collaboratively with input from the people that will have to use it on a daily basis.5. Reliable and Maintainable ñ What happens when it breaks?Fault tolerance and redundancy must be integrated into the delivery network. Global maintenance and repair of all networking and display (projector) equipment must be built into the business model of any plan. To avoid dark screens every piece of equipment including the projector must be remotely monitored. This allows problems to be detected before they become unpleasant surprises.6. Standards Based ñ Is it a ""proprietary"" system?If the last 20 years of the technology revolution have shown us anything it is that the big winners employ open standards. The delivery network should be compatible with projectors, network equipment and storage devices from multiple sources. The power and growth of the Internet will drive the rapid progress of robust security schemes and internationally recognized compression formats.7. Centrally Monitored 24x7 ñ Whoís minding the store?Every piece of hardware in the system must be constantly monitored for functionality and security. This applies to every computer, router and projector anywhere in the network. There can be no ""dumb boxes"" between a digital movieís point of origin and its ultimate display.8. Cost Effective and Timely ñ Will you be crushed by overhead?For e-cinema to be feasible for the service provider, it must achieve critical mass within a relatively short period of time. Thousands of screens must be brought online within two years.9. Transition Plan ñ What about separation anxiety?While digital projectors are being rolled out to theatres, practical procedures and software will have to accommodate the co-existence of film and digital movies. Print control staff as well as bookers will have to be supported by a system that adeptly manages both digital and film screens.10. Future Proof ñ Will it be obsolete in six months?Hardware, particularly projectors, should be designed to allow for cost effective, modular upgrades. This is nothing new; it is merely a fact of life in a technology driven business.Winter concluded saying, ""Deploying a global Electronic Cinema system is clearly a complex challenge. However, much of the technology and expertise needed to satisfy the critical requirements for digital distribution, control, security and monitoring is well understood and readily available. Input from every discipline of the film industry will be necessary to implement a successful e-cinema infrastructure. The promise of a global e-cinema network that will increase boxoffice revenues, expand the mark, reduce costs, and enhance the moviegoing experience can be reached within five years, perhaps even three.""Robert Mayson of the Eastman Kodak Company said that ""Kodak is genuinely interested in understanding the issues related to Electronic Cinema and there are many issues!! It is clear that there are some technical issues to be addressed and overcome and the business issues and politics of control are capable of dividing opinions in any conversation on the subject.""Mayson said, ""Many believe that Electronic Cinema is inevitable and just around the corner. Many more believe itís further than we think. As yet we have only seen technology demonstrations of the projector and not the complete high-resolution system. Complex issues surrounding compression, encryption, and storage of the digital image remain. And it is a concern that different manufacturers will try to impose different standards.""In stating that ""Electronic Cinema is still way off,"" Mayson said, ""The fundamental issues of ëwho pays?í and ëhow much?í are yet to be addressed.""Concluding, Mayson said, ""I am very keen for people to understand that ëKodak is Picturesí and not just film. A natural reaction to everything that we might say as a company is ëKodak predictably defended film,í but that is not our intent. Film is a mature technology, but it is still a developing technology and is has a value proposition that is difficult to beat. However, as we have proved in most of our businesses, including Motion Picture, Kodak knows more about digitizing images than anyone. Our color and space management algorithms are unique. If anyone can make Electronic Cinema work it will be Kodak. We see lots of questions and very few answers, so the debate will continue for a while.""Steve Morley, who is Vice President, Technology at QUALCOMM Technology Application Division and Chief System Engineer for QUALCOMMís Digital Cinema system, gave a position statement representing QUALCOMMís viewpoint on Electronic Cinema entitled: Presenting The CineComm Digital Cinema Solution. ""Since the beginning of motion pictures, movies have been distributed on film. Film, while technologically the best medium for high fidelity image reproduction for the past 100 years, ahs inherent problems that become more acute as the film industry grows, becomes more complex and expensive. These problems include the shear bulk of the product, the expense of manufacturing and shipping the individual movies to theatres, the opportunity for pirating one of the thousands of release prints (now a $2 billion illicit business of its own), the environmental impact of the manufacturing and ultimate destruction of the medium itself, the cost of handling the film in theatres, and the inevitable wear caused by mechanical film transport systems and projectors that degrades the visual experience over time. The ultimate answer to all these problems would be the ability to deliver movies to me theatres without film. And now, with a unique marriage of leading edge digital technology, this can and will be done.""CineComm is the anchor to a long chain of technologies that are moving away from film toward pure electronic data. Almost every movie has at least some portion produced digitally and returned to film format just because that is the way movies are presently delivered. Good examples are ""Antz"" and ""A Bugís Life,"" both produced entirely by computer, last yearís releases of ""Godzilla,"" ""Armageddon"" and ""Deep Impact"" and now ""Star Wars: Episode I ñ The Phantom Menace,"" each featuring significant computer graphic special effects. Studios and companies like Kodak are expending a great amount of time, money, and energy researching the application of computer technology in digital imaging, post-production editing, and special effects. The time has now come to display these magnificent films in their original electronic form.""Until now there have been several factors that have hampered the acceptance of electronic cinema in the United States. First, the film entertainment sector of Hollywood has distrust bordering on contempt for industry outsiders, especially those who come form telecommunications or video backgrounds. Second, while the business leaders of the studios recognize the advantages and the need for electronic delivery, they will not consider the switch until they are shown a reliable system with quality at least as good as present day film and which includes well thought out anti-piracy controls. Third, exhibitors simply cannot afford the massive capital investment to transform their existing base of theatres to a new system, no matter how good or reliable the system might be, that will cost as much as three times the price of an equivalent film system.""CineComm is different. Its principals and officers are movie industry insiders with a wealth of experience in motion picture entertainment. The produce, Digital Cinema, has been demonstrated to be at least as good and most times better than the best available presentation of the finest made motion picture in the most perfect of auditoriums on opening night. The testament to CineCommís quality can be expressed no better than George Lucasí decision to release ""Phantom Menace"" in two cities featuring CineCommís technology. And, because the source is purely electronic, there will be no degradation over time as is inevitably the case with film. Using sophisticated, government approved encryption techniques, piracy is all but eliminated or priced out of existence. What is more, CineComm will finance the entire paradigm shift from the finished studio product to its projection on movie screens throughout the world.""Digital Cinema, as conceived by CineComm, joins the best of the best, starting with QUALCOMMís patented compression and decompression technology and ending with Hughes-JVC Technology Corpís exclusive and patented ILAÆ Digital Projector which will be manufactured to CineComm specifications. CineComm, truly independent from content providers and exhibitor organizations, will provide an open pipeline delivering secure programming to theatres through a turnkey and fully automated system. CineComm will offer lower cost to studios and exhibitors, improved accountability, absolute anti-piracy controls, unequaled and reliable quality, and a new flexibility that will achieve access to larger audiences, increased revenues, and accelerated cash flows.""CineComm will introduce the technology using an economic model similar to that used by Western Electric, which introduced the first sound systems when the industry shifted from silent films to ""talkies,"" and to that employed by the telephone companies whose success was predicated on installing instruments in every home and business in America. CineComm will charge an access fee and a minimal ""per screening"" fee for programming that is delivered through its equipment. The combined cash flows will more than support the large equipment expense and operational costs of the undertaking. Once installed, the pipeline can be filled with unlimited content, expanding the productivity of wired venues by opening these venues to new content providers such as educators and live event programming.CineComm Digital Cinema System""The ëSystemí is a turn-key delivery service comprised of a Central Processing/Transmission/Monitoring Hub Facility, Satellite Transponder, Receiving Station located at each theatre site, Theatre Management System, and Projector, which includes all of the management software required to operate the system within the requirements of the motion picture industry. The Hub receives the original source material from the content provider in a digital format or, optionally, on film to be telecined by the studio or CineComm. The Hub has the responsibility for encoding the digital source to a secure storage medium, scheduling all transmissions with potential receiving sites, transmitting the signal, and validating receipt of a complete, error free package. CineComm proposes to lease time on an existing, geo-synchronous satellite. Each theatre will have its own Receiving Station comprised of a dish antenna, typically one meter in diameter, and related hardware. Theatres will be scheduled to receive the appropriate information remotely by the Hub. The Theatre Management System will be responsible for interfacing with theatre management personnel, scheduling the actual viewings, and accounting and reporting for actual experience. The projector is the hardware device that converts the standard RGB signal into the projected image that appears on the theatre screen.Advantages Of Digital Cinema To The Film Industry""More than just presenting an image on the screen with adequate quality, an acceptable Digital Cinema system must meet the unique needs of all aspects of the filmmaking industry. Basing the CineComm system on reliable, ubiquitous, low-cost satellite methods results in a number of valuable benefits.""The CineComm system avoids the uncertain presentation quality associated with the inaccuracies of the film duplication process and degradation of film over time and use. The moviegoing audience will see the same quality image, and hear the same uncompromised audio quality, that is seen and heard in the studio screening rooms. However, the CineComm system requires no changes in the production or post-production processes of filmmaking. As the filmmaking processes independently evolves to include more digital techniques, the CineComm system will work seamlessly with the outputs of the digital post-production efforts.""Because the CineComm system is based on satellite technology, which is inherently a broadcast media, a high level of flexibility is possible in terms of rapidly increasing or decreasing the number of theatres authorized to show a particular program, as dictated by industry wishes.""The basic operating mode of the CineComm system is a ""store-and-forwardí approach. That is, a motion picture or other digitized program will be electronically delivered by satellite to the theatres just once, stored in random access disk storage at the theatre location, played back multiple times at the theatre from the local storage. However, the use of high-efficiency image compression developed by QUALCOMM combined with the real-time delivery capability of satellite transmission allows the CineComm system to deliver ëcinema-qualityí live event programming directly to theatres.""The CineComm system directly addresses the concern with security by implementing extremely strong government approved encryption technology. Understanding the high value of motion pictures compared to other broadcast programs, the CineComm system raises the electronic security of the programs to a very high level, far exceeding any other electronic media transmission system.Conclusion""In conclusion, three key elements are required to present an industry-acceptable approach to Digital Cinema.""An Electronic Projection system that brings cinema quality images to theatre-size screens with a reliable easy-to-operate fashion.""An electronic delivery and management system that takes advantage of the capabilities of electronic projection and satellite delivery to meet the specific needs of each aspect of the motion picture industry, and""A business plan that comes form the motion picture industry and balances the economic needs of each aspect of the industry.""The CineComm system, built on the technology provided by QUALCOMM Incorporated and Hughes-JVC Technology Corporation achieves all three of these requirements and provides the only end-to-end complete solution available to the industry.""Panel On The Future Of ExhibitionThe next panel, moderated by Clyde McKinney, Technical Editor, Film Journal International and Widescreen Review Cinema Technical Contributing Editor, discussed the future of exhibition. The panel included Larry Jacobson, LJ Productions and Michael Karagosian, Principal Partner, MKPE Consulting.Mary Oyler, representing AMC Theatres, who was unable to attend the seminar provided the following statement: ""Whether it is destined to share with mechanical projectors and 35mm film or replace them entirely, Digital Cinema is an inevitability for movie theatres. Start-up costs aside, the potential for savings in construction and operating cost is enormous. Savings realized in these areas, combined with the flexibility of the video format, will allow theatres to offer their patrons more amenities along with the choice of entertainment far beyond feature films.""Larry Jacobson, whose company is a full-service theatre design firm providing construction, equipment and service to the theatre industry, provided a thought stimulating slide show of various design options for digital projection-equipped theatres, both for stand-alone and theatres constructed within malls.Michael Karagosian, P.E., is a principal in MKPE Consulting, a leading engineering company in entertainment system design, and President of Cinema Group, Ltd., a licensor of technology to the cinema audio industry. Michael holds a patent in matrix decoder design, and was responsible for the design of the CinemAcoustics digital matrix decoder, and previously designed the CP200 Dolby Cinema Processor. Karagosianí presentation was on Electronic Cinema: The Need for Interoperability.""While much talk has been given to recent advances in video projector technology and the potential for server-based playback of media in cinemas, not much has been said concerning the nature of the products that will make up the systems in Electronic Cinema. The introduction of server-based technology to cinema systems implies networked distribution of media signals and control and monitoring communications. New technologies will be developed to meet the security and maintenance requirements of electronic cinema. It is important at this early stage to push for an inter-operable architecture that will encourage competition and not create monopolies around a particular product areas. Without competition, much of the potential for electronic cinema will be lost.Letís look at the system architecture itself to better understand where a closed architecture should be avoided. Many of the areas discussed are areas where SMPTE standards activity could benefit the industry.Server-Based SystemsIn the server-based system architecture, a central storage bank becomes the electronic repository for all media shown in the cinema. Both video and audio signals emanate from the server to me screen projectors and sound systems.Screen SystemFrom the audio perspective, the server concept replaces the need for the complicated cinema processor. A much simpler speaker processor will replace it, supplying gain control, active crossovers and equalization. The recent trend in cinemas to place amplifiers behind screens will lead to the placement of the speaker processor behind the screen as well. Out of physical necessity, film storage methods such as platters have been located near the projector. Sound equipment has also been located near the projector since the sound storage medium is usually the film itself. Obviously, in the Electronic Cinema, the need for physical proximity of source and projector or speaker processor will not longer be the case. Though early retrofit systems will likely have their components physically close, the model of choice should be server-based. The transmission of media data to the projector and speaker processor should use the same technologies both in the physically close model and in the server-based model.System RequirementsVideo compression needs special consideration for quality, acceptable storage requirements and security. Certainly, Electronic Cinema should be perceptibly different from consumer formats. Standards regarding aspect ratios might be considered.Multichannel audio is not new to the industry, as the film industry has a rich history of multichannel audio formats. Existing digital multichannel formats are limited in channel count by their storage mechanism, that being either data bits on film or on CD-ROM. A new storage method should support at least 12 channels of audio to being flexibility to future productions. Compression is expected but should be light to ensure quality.Special effects have been introduced on occasion to the viewing audience. New digital storage methods should provide space for control date that would trigger future special effects.Sophisticated automation and remote monitoring have not always been a consideration in he design of current products, available in the cinema world. With a networked, all electronic format, networked automation and monitoring will allow sophisticated remote on-screen consoles to be developed for entire complexes. The same technology can provide a means for remotely located maintenance personnel to monitor the health of the systems. The result should be the improved consistency in quality in the cinema.Security of the video signal is of prime importance to the system. The system itself has to e intrinsically secure without the need for any support from the theatre owner. For the video signal, that means an encoded signal t