Like any business, Kodak is always looking at ways to drive operational efficiencies while maintaining product quality.  And, as its traditional businesses evolve, Kodak will continue to adapt its manufacturing, distribution and support infrastructure in order to supply our customers with the products and services they have come to expect from the Kodak brand, the world’s leading producer of premier quality film for the industry. 

This entails anything from shifting component supply strategies to adjusting machine loads and staffing levels. 

Kodak's imaging scientists Cindy A. Fitzgerald and John C. Rutter recently presented this technical paper at the IS&T Conference (Society for Imaging Science and Technology) focusing on the importance of archiving your digital assets on film.

Whitepaper Abstract

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.

My research in preparation for the launch of KODAK Ektachrome 100D Color Reversal Film in the Super 8 mm format led to a trip down nostalgia lane. As you’ll recall, 100D Film is a daylight-balanced 100-speed film, incorporating bright saturated colors and fine grain with excellent sharpness. It features some of our latest technological advances, and all of our internal testing show that it is an ideal candidate for Super 8.

As I scanned through some old press releases, it became apparent that Kodak has consistently touted the fact that many of today's great cinematographers and directors began their careers at the counter of their local photo shop, buying a cartridge of Super 8 film. In its own way, my experiences with Super 8 helped lead me to this point. During my early teenage years, my best friend and I toyed with the idea of bringing our vision to the screen. We brainstormed a few ideas, sketched out a plan, grabbed a Super 8 camera and went out shooting. We tried our hand at a few short comedy routines along the lines of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. We even tried some simple animation. These poor attempts at comedy make me cringe as I think back on it. In our few public showings, we certainly generated some laughter, but I suspect that most of it was at our expense. Although we had a blast making the films, the results suggested that we were both better off pursuing other careers. As summer came to conclusion, we put away the camera and moved on to other activities.

The VISION 3 family continues to grow with the recent introduction of 5213, KODAK VISION3 200T Color Negative Film. The new film offers the performance enhancements that have come to be expected of a film in the VISION3 family.  That is, noticeably lower grain in low exposures or shadows and two stops of extended highlight latitude.

We told you when we first introduced the VISION3 500T film that the new technologies featured were modular and would allow for other new family additions with similar performance benefits.  We delivered on that promise, first with the VISION3 250D film and now with a VISION3 200T offering.