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Bringing
Out the Def
High Definition technology, seen by
many as key to the future of cinema, is currently being used
on several modestly budgeted Irish features. Vicki
Parks investigates. [Extract]
In the beginning there was light. Someone added a little cellulose
nitrate to a base tape, constructed a series of mirrors, ran
some light through the whole contraption and the moving image
was born. The idea got passed around and soon everyone, in
every country jumped on the bandwagon and 'films,' as they
were called, were a hit. Hundreds, then thousands and finally
millions of people poured into cinemas to watch those glorious
black and white images project at 24 frames per second with
2,048 X 1,536 lines of resolution without so much as an audible
squeak coming from an actor. Next came sound and finally somebody
thought, 'wouldn't it be great if instead of everybody looking
at these huge images in a cinema they could look at a smaller
one at home?' And so television was born. The U.S., Canada,
Japan and Central America decided they wanted their boxes
to be 720 lines wide by 486 lines tall. Because the power
supply for these countries was based off a 60 Hz system, they
decided their images would travel at the rate of 30 frames
per second and they called this system NTSC. The Europeans,
not to be outdone by their Western counterparts, decided they
wanted their own 'home cinemas' - only bigger. Australia and
China, (because size really does matter) went along with the
European PAL system creating an image that was 720 lines wide
by 576 lines tall. Because their electrical infrastructure
ran at 50 Hz, PAL images are broadcast at a rate of 25 frames
per second.
Although NTSC and PAL are constantly faced with sibling rivalry,
there is one family trait they share; unlike film, which is
displayed one solid frame at a time, TV images are interlaced.
The cathode ray living happily inside your living room 'tube'
runs horizontally, from side to side, displaying the odd numbered
lines on your TV screen before returning to the top and writing
out the even lines, creating an interlaced frame.
So TV and cinema are living in harmony for some years when
one day the masses realize, 'The world is in color! Why isn't
my TV?' The engineers get together and devise a strategy based
off the Red Green and Blue color values and ta-da! Our entertainment
mediums are now broadcast and projected in RGB, 4:4:4 color.
The numbers after RGB are values used to describe the color
quality and 4:4:4 (for our purposes) is the highest.
It wasn't long after the invention of TV and the follow-up
of color when the engineers outdid themselves again. In 1964
they devised a format that was at a higher resolution than
TV, but not quite as good as film. By this time, millions
of people owned TV sets. Changing the format once again involved
junking all the old home TV units, forcing the public to buy
new ones. On top of this, broadcast stations were going to
have to change their equipment and transmission structure.
So the new invention was shelved except for the occasional
video junkie who tweaked it a bit here and there and thought
it was a fun toy.
In the meantime the digital revolution arrived changing everything
about the images we see. Rather than an analog signal comprised
of infinite color values translated to tape, digital is a
translation of numbers. An image is captured and described
in numerical values to tape via a computer chip measuring
values of light. The binary code is stored on the tape until
it is translated by a digital device such as a deck, camera
or computer into the pixilated, interlaced images we are accustomed
to viewing. Cameras capture different ranges of color, but
your typical miniDV 3CCD camera is sampling color at a ratio
of 4:1:1.
And so the struggle between film and video began, with film
completely and totally in the lead in terms of resolution
and color space. Video allowed the low-budget film and TV
producer to create shows of content value, but not always
with the prettiest picture. Then one day a video junkie wandered
in with his/her souped-up High Definition digital video camera
complete with a set of prime lenses and the video producer
said, 'hey, watch ya got there?' And the video junkie replied,
'Oh, nothing much. Just this camera some guy gave me back
in Ô64. I've tweaked it a bit. Made some improvements.
It now has a resolution of 1920 X 1080 and samples color at
a ratio of 4:2:2.' So some people tweaked some more and soon
the camera could also shoot 24 frames per second, just like
film. Also, instead of creating interlaced frames by writing
odd and then even lines of resolution, this new camera could
write all the lines in one go, or progressively. And so High
Definition was born (well sort of.)
Wondering
what High Definition, or HD, looks like? Well, it's already
had its debut on television and the big screen, most notably
with the new Star Wars saga. Lucas has been an early
evangelist on the benefits of HD as well as a leader the development
of the technology. Some other users include Michael Mann with
his film Ali which featured a mixture of 35mm and HD.
Total converts are The Sopranos, Sex In The City
and ER. 'What has happened now is I don't think that
many people would really see it as a serious domestic format,'
says Tim Morris, of Drama and Programming at Windmill Lane.
'It has become a very useful professional format. And it's
been called the International Mastering Format, especially
in America because it's essentially six times more information
than the standard PAL television picture.'
HD has found its niche in the Irish market as well, with cameras
and equipment appearing on the sets of Ulysses, Headrush
and Dead Bodies. Although all three films are currently
in the process of production or post, the evidence is apparent
that the rush towards HD has begun. So if HD has been around
since the Ô60's, why all the excitement now?
'Towards the late '90s the technology and more specifically
Sony's HD Cam technology became much more A) cost effective
and B) user friendly,' says Morris.
Scott Billups, a D.o P. from the States who got his start
with Roger Corman, talks about the technical specs of HD in
his book Digital Moviemaking. Via an e-mail interview,
he recalled, 'The first HD camera I got to shoot was a BTS/Zenith
Saticon Tube HD camera that shot a 1280 X 720 P(progressive)
image and cost just under a million dollars. Very early 1990's.'
The cost has come down on HD equipment over the past ten years,
making it more accessible to filmmakers and closing the gap
between the digital video world and film. Cinematographer
Ciaran Tanham just wrapped on Ulysses, one of the first Irish
features to be shot on HD. He used a Cinealta HD camera that
shot 24 frames P. After working mainly with film, Tanham had
some first hand observations about the new technology. He
says, 'The camera is different than other digital cameras,
but similar to digibeta in that the size and weight come close
to that of the HD camera.' Tanham also mentioned the differences
in the viewfinder of the camera as well as the additional
cables that accompany digital film production.
The
full text of this article is printed in Film Ireland
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