KODAK: The Storyboard

Vive la Cannes!

2012-05-14T14:54:00Z

The 65th Festival de Cannes is set to begin May16. This small, seaside town has hosted the worldwide premieres of many of the most-celebrated feature films in history, including this year’s Oscar®-winning Best Picture, The Artist .

Kodak is proud to have a long history and presence at the Cannes International Film Festival, which is evident once again when you look at the titles in this year’s main competition. Over half the movies selected for competition this year were shot on Kodak film.

Opening the festival is Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which was artfully captured on Super 16mm by his frequent collaborator Robert Yeoman, ASC. This film is an amusing tale of two young runaways in love that takes place at a scout camp in 1965. Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, and Edward Norton star alongside newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward.

“The Last of the Mohicans” with Dante Spinotti, AIC, ASC

2012-05-03T14:54:00Z

Dehanza Rogers

Impressions from a UCLA Student

Dehanza Rogers is a 2nd year, Dual Track student at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) in Los Angeles, California. A Dual Tracker is what the school affectionately calls a student who is enrolled as both a Production/Directing MFA and a Cinematography MFA student. Dehanza recently attended the special screening of The Last of the Mohicans: with a Oscar®-nominee Dante Spinotti, AIC, ASC as part of the 2012 Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence Program for the spring quarter at UCLA/TFT.

Dehanza Tweeted from the event and you can follow her recap of the Q&A session on Twitter at #KodakUCLA. Here she shares her expanded impressions from the event and the program:

Had you seen The Last of the Mohicans before?
I've watch The Last of the Mohicans many times over the years, of course on television. I've never seen it on the big screen, let alone a 35mm Anamorphic Answer Print!

What was your impression of the film?
Seeing the film on the big screen ramped the emotional content of the film. It’s not just a beautiful film. Of course it’s beautiful to look at but it’s also about the story, the acting, the directing, the costume design, the set dressing, etc. Dante spoke about being on a Jury for a film festival for Best Cinematography and commented that, “you cannot separate good cinematography from a good film. If a film touches your heart, everything seems to be outstanding." That’s at the core of filmmaking, right? It’s this massively collaborative process, with disparate elements, all serving the same story. In school we make these short films in the hopes of understanding how this process works, so we can eventually work at this scale in our respective fields. We actually broke down the last action sequence of “Mohicans” recently in class and it’s exceptional on so many levels. From the moment the British Office Maj. Duncan Heyward is killed, to the moment the last three characters are standing on the top of the mountain, is eight minutes. In that time only two words are uttered. Hawkeye screams his brother’s name as he is thrown off the cliff and Cora screams when she sees Alice jump to her death. In that time frame, Dante gives us so much visually, the story that is told in those moments are astounding. The lingering camera as Alice makes the decision to jump, to Magua’s moment of understanding, as he beckons her to him with the blood of Uncas on his hands. It’s a visual medium, right? Throughout these eight minutes there are landscape shots, with characters that look like ants in the vast expanse, reminding us of the main theme, “that the humans were so small” in the power of nature. This film isn’t just exceptional for the visuals, but for the totality of those moments.

What is your biggest take away or learning from the Q&A session with Dante?
As both a Directing and a Cinematography student, the thing that struck me the most in the Q&A with Dante, where those pearls of wisdom about the art. Dante reinforces the collaborative process. The Director and DP relationship is a unique one. Dante spoke on the importance of speaking up “as soon as possible” when having discussions with a Director or out scouting in order to keep pesky problems from becoming larger, even insurmountable problems, during production. The biggest take away is Dante’s belief in real prep time, not the preproduction time, but the actual time he sits with his Directors and watch films, look at paintings and photographs, talk about themes and figure out how the lighting and camera movement serves the story. He spoke on his interaction with Michael Mann and their “very long prep time,” but when it comes to being on set, they barely speak to each other. Michael is dealing with his actors and Dante is dealing with camera and lighting. They have such a short hand and understanding of the same story they’re telling that they’ve created a space for themselves to work.

What can you tell us about the Kodak Cinematographer in Residence program at UCLA?
I can’t begin to express how amazing it is to have a lifetime of knowledge available in the classroom. To say it’s a unique experience is an understatement. Dante brings real world experience and knowledge to a place where it’s safe to make mistakes, large and small. Having a professional walk us through his collaborative experiences with the likes of Michael Mann, Michael Apted and Curtis Hanson, to name a few, is mind boggling. Our next workshop is scheduled for the May 15. Dante expressed how excited he is to do a workshop on lighting the Close Up. In last week’s workshop he talked about lighting Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential and wanted to show us how he achieved the various looks for her character at the various moments of the film. Dante has been open to our questions and interests, which makes the experience even more fulfilling.

Over the years Kodak has sponsored such amazing talent to come to UCLA and share their knowledge and experiences with students. At the end of the previous quarter the Cinematography students were all wondering if the program would return. And then professor Bill McDonald mentioned in our first session of Intermediate Cinematography that it would, and then mentioned Dante, we were instantly excited. Even when the company is going through changes, it still sees the program as a priority, which has a profound impact on how we, as future filmmakers, see our collaboration with Kodak.

I'm Yours: A 2-Perf Love Story

2012-04-26T14:54:00Z

Scene from I'm Yours in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

The 35mm 2-perf format is gaining popularity with low budget features due to the inherent cost savings of using 50% less stock. The format gives you the many benefits of film and is a natural fit for widescreen projection.

I'm Yours is a romantic comedy about two lost souls on an illuminating road trip from Manhattan to the wilds of Northern Canada starring Rossif Sutherland and Karine Vanasse and was shot on Kodak VISION3 5212, 5217 and 5219 in 2-Perf. In their own words, Director Leonard Farlinger and Cinematopgraher Jonathon Cliff share why it was the right format for their story.

Director Leonard Farlinger

Rossif Sutherland and Karine Vanasse in a scene from I'm Yours

Director Leonard Farlinger:
The most important reason why we shot on 35mm Kodak was that we wanted to represent the North in all its wide screen beauty. 35mm 2-perf made this affordable. 35mm has always looked amazing and for a film that juxtaposes a love story with beautiful landscape, the range of colours and the resolution is surpassed by no other format. In a romance, 35mm is so much more flattering to the actors, who as a necessity of the narrative, have to appear attractive - not that Karine Vanasse and Rossif Sutherland need much help looking beautiful. For a lower budget film, 35mm gives huge production value and allows for faster lighting set-ups. It's still the best way to go.

Cinematographer Jonathon Cliff:
"From the very first discussions about format before pre-production on I'm Yours it was agreed that 2:40 would be the most appropriate way to capture the story. It is an intimate story of the connection between two people who fall in love in the context of a journey across Northern Ontario. Ostensibly because of its elongated rectalinear nature 2:40 is the aspect ratio of relationships. The relationship between individuals and the relationship of those individuals to their environment and surrounding landscapes is more easily emphasized by the compositional attributes of 2:40. I'm Yours was a very low budget production and as such, the almost 50% savings in film stock costs of the 2-perf format was a Godsend. The 35mm 2-perf format allows one to shoot on some of the best cameras ever designed at a fraction of the price of what it would cost to shoot on any comparable digital camera. It effectively tilts the often uninformed debate of the economics of film vs. digital in low budget filmmaking way towards the side of film - and since that is the case, it makes it a no brainer. And besides all that, if it was good enough for Sergio Leone (one of my favorite directors), it's good enough for me."

Learn more about the format:
Download the sell sheet to see the workflow comparisons and considerations 35mm 2-perf to decide if it's the right choice for your next production.

Watch the trailer and see the beauty of 35mm 2-perf for yourself.

Kodak and ARRI Committed to Film

2012-04-19T14:54:00Z

The benefits of film are well known, and with today's complex world of digital formats and fast-paced camera obsolescence, film remains a superior medium for capture, display and archiving. Just a few months ago, we introduced the newest member of our VISION3 family and this year we'll launch a new platform of preservation films. These are just a couple of the many examples of Kodak's innovation in advancing film technology. ARRI is also "actively developing new technology that will help get the best out of film and preserve as much of our cinematic history as possible."

In the current issue of ARRI News, ARRI reaffirms that the company is committed to supporting and advancing film-based systems "for the next ten years at the very least." And we are proud to stand with them.

ARRI explains, "We will continue to support and service the ARRI film cameras, ARRISCAN scanners and ARRILASER recorders of its customers. Not only that, but the company will seek new ways to improve film systems as technology emerges."

With the latest VISION3 technology locked and loaded in the can, every film camera - no matter how old or new - is backed by the power of a high-resolution medium. And that robust image information can be carried through the workflow to final delivery, whatever format that may be. Most importantly, it's a proven and reliable long-term image storage solution. We've said it before and we'll say it again - Kodak remains steadfast in our dedication to filmmakers and their creative choices, and we thank ARRI for making the same commitment.

The Digital Dilemma 2 – A Cultural Heritage at Risk

2012-04-19T14:54:00Z

Kimberly Snyder
President and General Manager
Entertainment and Commercial Films Group
Vice President of Eastman Kodak Company

It’s no secret that the entertainment industry is engaged in a technology transition that puts high stakes on the line when it comes to the preservation of motion picture assets. “The Digital Dilemma 2,” recently published by the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, takes a thorough and analytical look at the impact of the digital revolution on filmmakers’ assets, and in particular, the assets and processes of independent filmmakers.

The report follows 2007’s “The Digital Dilemma,” which focused on studio content, and like its predecessor, this second in-depth study covers critical topics for the overall industry in terms of securing entertainment assets for the long term.

The Digital Dilemma 2 is now available as a Free Download.

With independent (non-studio) films now accounting for over 75% of annual motion picture releases, the report poses crucial questions for indies: Who is responsible for protecting and preserving these films after they’ve been completed? How can filmmakers ensure that their productions are available and accessible for future generations to view? The pathway for the maintenance, preservation, and archiving of independent films – in an affordable and realistic manner – can certainly be a challenge, as the process to keep digital archives intact is in flux. Independent filmmakers and documentarians also face greater fiscal challenges in their efforts to maintain archives and assets. It’s a complex situation for all of us in the industry, and critical to resolve if we are to have access to a bounty of important creative work from both the distant past and long into the future.

An important element of that solution is film. According to “The Digital Dilemma 2” the proven value of film is considered a cornerstone of the archival pipeline, noting that no matter how a project originates or is distributed, film emerges as the most trusted, only-proven, long-lasting archival option for filmmakers today.

At Kodak, we continue to work closely with technologists and creatives in service of their needs and the needs of the industry, particularly in the restoration and preservation arena. And in light of “The Digital Dilemma 2” findings, our goal remains steadfast – to develop solutions that not only stand strongly within a traditional film workflow but also can be integrated into digital pathways. Even digitally-acquired projects can be archived when recorded out to film. In fact, Kodak will soon be introducing two new films for preservation that will offer options for any budget. Our ongoing R&D has led us to the development of an asset protection film platform that will again help define the image science necessary to move boldly and securely into the future. Each film is unique and offers customers a choice for content management.

Here’s a sneak peek at what’s to come:

A black-and-white digital recorder film on an Estar base, currently under development, will utilize patented VISION3 intermediate emulsion technology optimized for modern film recorders and offering hundreds of years of image stability when stored under proper conditions.
Another film that is currently under development is a color asset protection film that offers significantly advanced dye fade characteristics. It will enter the market at a low price point, making it an economical option for creating film elements from a digital workflow.
Then, there is our VISION3 Color Digital Intermediate film, introduced in 2010 and used around the world in DI suites, which utilizes patented emulsion technology optimized for modern film recorders.

As we have done for more than 120 years, we will continue to push film and digital technologies as far as possible—for the broader independent and documentary communities, as well as the studios and networks.

As Oscar®-winning director Martin Scorsese says, “Movies are the memories of our lifetime. We need to keep them alive.” Rest assured that Kodak will continue to help make sure your images remain alive, secure, and available for generations to come.

Surf's Up!

2012-04-12T14:54:00Z

Whether it’s the versatility or the look, film remains an expressive visual tool for extreme sports cinematographers. It’s certainly clear in the world of surfing. Some productions like Globe’s Year Zero are 100% celluloid; others like Quiksilver’s Moments have mixed film and video. Either way, it’s undeniable that film lends a unique look and feel, and the artists that create these inspiring films continue to turn heads.

With temperatures warming up in the northern hemisphere and swells building in the southern with the return of fall, it’s hard not to be inspired by the amazing footage. I’ve pulled together some clips from around the web to get the adrenalin flowing and to fill our heads with sun, sand, and surf.

Shot your own surf project? Leave a comment with a link. I’d love to see!

“Year Zero” on 16mm film

YEAR ZERO TRAILER from GLOBE on Vimeo.

“Sanded” on one 400 foot roll of film

“Moments” with a mix of video and 16mm film

“Bruce Movie” shot on 35mm, 16mm, and Super 8mm film

Bruce Movie from Koastal Media on Vimeo.

“The Present” was shot primarily on 16mm film

The Present | Extended Trailer from Mollusk Surf Shop on Vimeo.

Korean Classic Cinemas are Cultural Properties of Modern Times

2012-04-11T14:54:00Z

The Korean Film Archive

Written by Bong-Young Kim
Head of Film Conservation Center, Korean Film Archive
Translated with permission from the Korean Film Archive

Movies document the culture and awareness of contemporary times and such recognition, elevates the cultural value of movies.

Back in February, Turning Point of the Youngsters, by Jong-Hwa Ahn (1934) was registered as a cultural property in Korea. This is the eighth classical film registered as cultural property, all of which are securely kept in the Korean Film Archive.

Let’s take a look at how we started with movies as cultural properties, now that Turning Point of the Youngsters has been registered as one of the valued cultural properties.

Process of registering cine films as cultural properties

I received an email from the secretariat of International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) based in Brussels, Belgium at the end of 2001, asking me to endorse Metropolis, a German-made silent movie produced in 1927, as a World Heritage Property to the World Heritage Committee who was holding a conference in Cheongju, Korea.

Implications of turning cine films into cultural properties

During that time, the Korean government was likewise engaged in efforts to have Jikjisimgyeong, the second volume of "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' and Seungjeongwon Ilgi, the “Diaries of the Royal Secretariat”, registered as World Heritage Properties. All three cultural properties Metropoli, Jikjisimgyeong and Seungjeongwon Ilgi were successfully registered as official UNESCO Memory of the World Register, and made headlines in the film industry in Korea and abroad.

Similar to the UNESCO project, Korea has a ‘Cultural Properties Registration’ system, designed to protect and preserve cultural heritage of modern times.

I received another call from the Cultural Properties Administration in 2006, to discuss the registration of movable assets in modern times as cultural properties with Hong-Jun Yoo, Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea and Hyo-In Lee, former Director of the Korean Film Archive.

The fact that cine films are turning into world cultural properties carries huge symbolic meaning. It is encouraging to know that Korean classical cinemas are recognized for their artistic and social value and that the Korean Film Archive is upgraded to an institute similar to world cultural properties.

The Cultural Properties Administration believes that a successful registration process of classical domestic cinemas as world cultural properties would raise public awareness of the project.

Challenging but rewarding process of registering cine films as cultural properties

It was extremely challenging to implement the project. First, we had to come up with the standards against which the cine films were evaluated for, during registration. It was followed by a number of lengthy procedures and demanding requirements of relevant laws and regulations. This process allowed us to engage in serious debates regarding the evaluation criteria and registration procedures. Members of the Cultural Properties Committee and key figures in the film industry also met to assess the value of the cinemas selected as candidates. Finally, a public hearing was held in May 2007 on the registration of Korean classical movies as cultural properties of the National Palace Museum of Korea. The hearing was considered a major event and was extensively covered by media. A total of seven Korean classical movies, including Sweet Dream (1936) were registered as Modern Cultural Properties in June 2007. The Cultural Properties Administration secured a budget to protect registered cultural properties, which was an extra bonus of the worthwhile project.

For more information on Korean Film Archive visit http://www.koreafilm.or.kr/

The Translator’s Notes: Please refer to descriptions in the Official Site of Korea Tourism Org. Jikjisimgyeong, a Buddhist scripture, was printed with the world's first movable metal type http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/CU/CU_EN_8_5_8_1.jsp

Seungjeongwon ilgi or Diary of the Royal Secretariat is a daily record of Seungjeongwon, Royal Secretariat during the Joseon Dynasty of Korea (1392 - 1910) http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/CU/CU_EN_8_5_8_2.jsp

Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse) Wins Big in India

2012-03-26T14:54:00Z

Scene from Anhey Ghorey Da Daan

Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse) has sweeped the 59th National Film Awards in India this year winning Best Director Award, Best Cinematography Award and was also honored as the Best Punjabi Language Film. The awards were announced on March 7 and the presentation ceremony will be held on May 3, 2012.

An adaptation of Gurdial Singh's novel, Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms for a Blind Horse) is Director Gurvinder Singh's first feature film. It is also the first Punjabi language film to have travelled to so many international film festivals including Venice International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the 55th British Film Institute, London Film Festival and the Busan Film Festival.

Key Data:

Director: Gurvinder Singh
Produced by: National Film Development Corporation (NFDC)
Cinematography: Satya Rai Nagpaul
Editor: Ujjwal Chandra
Stocks: KODAK VISION2 50D Color Negative Film 5201, KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207 and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219
Negative processed at Kodak Cinelabs, Mumbai

Synopsis of the Movie:
On a foggy winter morning, a family in a village in Punjab wakes up to the news of the demolition of a house on the outskirts of their village. Father, a silent sympathiser, joins the community in demand for justice. The same day, his son Melu, a rickshaw puller in the city, is participating in a strike by his union. Injured and alienated, Melu spends the day quietly resting and hesitantly drinks with friends in the night as they debate the meaning of their existence.

Watch the Trailer:

Naz Films Inc. Launch

2012-03-14T14:54:00Z

We last talked in June before the wedding season really picked up in the northern hemisphere. What have you been up to?

It has been a period of change & renewal. For the last year and a bit I have been working towards branching out on my own. I initiated the long process of closing the old company so that I could chase my own dreams and visions. So far, this goes down (without trying to be dramatic) as one of the most pivotal moves of my career - and as I speak with you today, I definitely feel that I made the right decision.

Tell me a little bit about your new company Naz Films Inc.

I founded Naz Films as a natural extension of how I identify myself as an artist and filmmaker. I love to tell stories, always have. No matter what the medium of choice, it all serves my understanding of how I want to express a given subject. I hope everything I do is a reflection of how I see hope and beauty in the everyday. I make wedding films and lifestyle films... Honeymoon films, Birth films, Babies First Year films, Boudoir films, Engagement Films, Vacation+Cottage+BBQ Films. They are all stunning keepsakes -- little life histories of family and good moments that we all have experienced in our own lives!!!!

Here is a recent Wedding Film by Naz Films:

Here is a Honeymoon Film by Naz Films:

Here is a Birth Film by Naz Films:

Will you focus only on weddings, or are you looking at expanding?

I do believe Naz Film's expansion into other markets will unfold naturally. Recently I was contacted by a large commercial house, Industry Films, to discuss representation as a commercial film director. It would be a dream come true if my work leads me to a place where I get to create stories that connect to an even larger audience! Yeah, that’s pretty much my dream. However, I tend to be weighed down by a pragmatic point of view, which I blame on the fact that I am an immigrant and the son of a highly logical father who engineered bridges all his life. So, in the meantime my aspirations remain fierce and high -- and the proverbial dangling carrot from a stick motivates me to be honest with my work and truthful to the style I’ve developed and am known for, from weddings to lifestyle to the commercial market.

Here is a Fashion Film for designer Ines DiSantos by Naz Films:

Here is a darker Fashion Film that broadcast internationally on Fashion Television by Naz Films & Renatta:

You only shoot film, is that correct?

I do only shoot film, super 8mm and 16mm film stock for all of my wedding & lifestyle projects. That said, it’s a decision I make on a project-by- project basis. Medium choices must serve a style, story, subject and never the other way around. I also am starting to showcase and feature my travel and street photography - the majority is shot on 35mm & 120 film – as well as my instagrams, which you can see soon on my website blog.

With the latest trends, can you describe what motivates you to continue to shoot Super 16mm and Super 8mm film?

The choice for film has always been an obvious one for me…it’s an emotional, heartfelt medium that in the right hands can be a moving and an artistic interpretation of one’s hopes, passion for life and love! I do think my films are best suited for people who are madly in love! If I was to ask you to think back to a fond childhood memory or even of something most recent and sweet…the very way that memory flickers warmly back in your mind’s eye is as close to how super 8mm film allows me to tell your story! There is nothing quite like it.

How do Kodak motion picture films help you create your stories?

Aside from each rated stock's unique characteristics, Kodak's films today more than ever allow for control. That’s huge if you assume that every creative endeavor is precise craft – and you want less of a surprise, like say a Holga with all its lovely light leaks. For a good while now, Super 8mm is a specific tool and medium of choice for filmmakers and artists serving their clients’ needs!

If you could tell someone who has never tried shooting film before one thing, what would it be?

It will open your mind and introduce you to a NEW voice for expressing yourself! I am developing a workshop for this, so stay tuned; email me to pre-register for details.

Where should we expect to see you next? What projects are you working on?

Although my operations are based out of Toronto, I travel a lot for my clients! This year alone, I am shooting weddings in Italy, France, London, New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, British Columbia, and Los Angeles. Later in the year I will be directing a fashion short film project in Havana, Cuba. I am also excited to mention that I purchased a gorgeous live/work studio in Toronto's Leslieville area - closing the deal April 1st!

And finally, how can people contact you?

Nazar Melconian
Founder & Filmmaker
www.nazfilms.com
www.facebook.com/nazfilms
www.twitter.com/nazfilms

1.877.629.6840 usa/Canada
+1.416.319.7240 direct/worldwide
naz@nazfilms.com

The Artist Wins the Academy Award® Best Picture

2012-02-28T14:54:00Z

Oscar®-winning actor Jean Dujardin, winner for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in "The Artist," backstage during the 84th Annual Academy Awards Awards®, broadcast live on the ABC Television Network from the Hollywood and Highland Center, in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012. Photo: Richard Harbaugh

The Artist claimed the best picture award at this year's Academy Awards® and was shot on KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219. In addition to the best picture, The Artist also won Oscars® in other marquee categories – including best director, Michel Hazanavicius and best actor, Jean Dujardin.

In the 84-year history of Oscar, no Oscar®-winning best picture has ever been made without motion picture film, a tradition that continues with The Artist. From the looks of these photos, the filmmakers enjoyed themselves on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Oscar®-winning director Michel Hazanavicius, winner for Achievement in Directing for work done on "The Artist"; Bérénice Bejo, Oscar-nominee for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role at the Governors Ball after 84th Annual Academy Awards® from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, CA, Sunday, February 26, 2012. ©A.M.P.A.S.

Guillaume Schiffman, AFC said the most important contribution to the overall look and feel of The Artist was the decision to shoot film.

“I made some tests, and it was immediately obvious that we needed the texture of film stock,” he says. “I wanted soft whites and deep blacks, but not so much contrast that the image begins to look like HD. I experimented with some digitally shot images, and they were too sharp. I was fighting against the sharpness.”

In this InCamera Online article, Schiffman recounts how he recreated the silent era by creating black-and-white images on color film stock.

And the winner is . . .

2012-02-16T14:54:00Z

Kimberly Snyder
President and General Manager
Entertainment and Commercial Films Group
Vice President of Eastman Kodak Company

The motion picture industry’s awards season is in full swing. Many of the winners have already been named, with all roads leading to Oscar® night. I must admit, this is one of my favorite times of the year because it allows us to recognize the many talented filmmakers who have created extraordinary stories and images. In fact, for the 25th year, Kodak will be hosting its pre-Oscar dinner recognizing current and past Academy Award nominees and honorees for cinematography.

This year, films originated on Kodak earned 60 Oscar® nominations (view our Kodak Oscar® Gallery). Seven of the nine Best Picture nominees were shot on Kodak, and 23 of the 36 narrative, live-action feature nominees originated on film.

The results are also in for independent films originating on Kodak. The Independent Spirit Awards gave over 30 nominations to indies produced on Kodak film, including The Artist, The Descendents, Take Shelter, Footnote, Win Win, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Pariah, My Week with Marilyn, A Better Life and Midnight in Paris.

The Guilds and artists organizations have also made their selections for the best of 2011. The PGA (The Artist), SAG (The Help), DGA (The Artist) and ASC (The Tree of Life) all gave their top awards to films produced on Kodak stock, as did the Golden Globes (The Artists, The Descendents) and BAFTA (The Artist). There is no higher honor than to be recognized by one's peers. We are honored to support these filmmakers, and we congratulate them on their awards.

At Kodak, we feel the thousands of filmmakers who continue to choose film as a storytelling partner are winners too. We feel privileged to provide the creative and technical community with the tools to tell remarkable tales that entertain and inspire audiences worldwide.

We continue to supply filmmakers with the products and support they have come to depend upon from Kodak, and intend to emerge from our reorganization even stronger. We are still making billions of feet of film, and many of those reels will be used on films contending for the 2013 Academy Awards®.

Congratulations to all the nominees this awards season!

Recognizing Excellence

2012-02-16T14:54:00Z

The Academy recognizes excellence. So do we. Here's to this year's Oscar® nominees that brought their stories to life with the unmistakeable look of film. KODAK Film.

Jean Dujardin as George Valentin and Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller in Michel Hazanavicius's film "The Artist". Photo by:The Weinstein Company

The Artist

Producer: Thomas Langmann
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Cinematographer: Guillaume Schiffman, AFC

Palette

KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nominations: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Directing, Best Film Editing
Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay
ASC Award Nomination: Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
DGA Award Win: Outstanding Directorial Achievement
PGA Award Win: Theatrical Motion Picture
Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Feature, Best Male Lead, Best Screenplay
BAFTA Award Wins: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film, Best Leading Actor, Best Original Music, Best Original Screenplay

Palette:

KODAK VISION 3 250D Color Negative Film 5207, KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nominations: Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
PGA Award Nomination: Motion Picture Produce of the Year
Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture (Drama), Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay
BAFTA Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor

War Horse

Producers: Revel Guest, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Tracey Seaward, Adam Somner, Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cinematographer: Janusz Kaminski

Palette

KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219, KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nominations: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Picture
BAFTA Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Special Visual Effects
PGA Award Nomination: Motion Picture Producer of the Year
Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture (drama), Best Original Score

Read more about War Horse

The Descendants

Actor George Clooney as "Matt King" on the set of "The Descendants". Photo Credit: Merie Wallace.

Oscar® Nominations: Best Art Directing, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay
DGA Award Nomination: Outstanding Directorial Achievement
PGA Award Nomination: Motion Picture Producer of the Year
Independent Spirit Awards Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Male

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Harry, Ron and Hermione listen on as Snape is killed in the Boat House in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II". ©2010 Warner Bros. Ent, Harry Potter Publishing Rights J.K.R. Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk.

Producers: David Barron, David Heyman
Director: David Yates
Cinematographer: Eduardo Serra, ASC, AFC

Palette

KODAK VISION2 200T Color Negative Film 5217, KODAK VISION2 500T Color Negative Film 5218

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nominations: Art Direction, Makeup, Visual Effects
VES Award Nominations: Outstanding Visual Effects in Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character, Outstanding Created Environment, Outstanding Models
Art Directors Guild Award Win: Contribution to Cinematic Imagery
BAFTA Award Win: Best Special Visual Effects
National Board of Review Awards: Top Film, Special Achievement Award

Oscar® Nomination: Best Adapted Screenplay
PGA Award Nomination: Motion Picture Producer of the Year
BAFTA Award Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor
National Board of Review Award: Top Film

Palette

KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 (for some high-speed photography)

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film
Camerimage Golden Frog Award: Best Cinematography
Genie Award Nominations: Best Achievement in Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing, Best Screenplay-Adapted

The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and Jim Broadbent as Dennis Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's film "The Iron Lady". Courtesy of Pathe Productions Ltd/ The Weinstein Company ©2011 Photo credit: Alex Bailey.

Producers: Francois Ivernel, Damian Jones, Adam Kulick, Cameron McCracken, Anita Overland, Tessa Ross, Colleen Woodcock
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Cinematographer: Elliot Davis

Palette

KODAK VISION3 200T Color Negative Film 5213, KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219

Oscar® Nomination: Best Supporting Actor
SAG Award Nomination: Outstanding Supporting Male Actor

W.E.

Producers: Scott Franklin, Donna Gigliotti, Kris Thykier, Colin Vaines, Nigel Wooll, Sara Zambreno
Director: Madonna
Cinematographer: Hagen Bogdanski

Palette

KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219, KODAK VISION2 50D Color Negative Film 5201, KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nomination: Best Costume Design
CDG Award Nomination: Excellence in Costume Design
Golden Globe Nominations: Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Raju

Scene from "Raju".

Producer: Stefan Gieren
Director: Max Zähle
Cinematographer: Sin Huh

Palette

KODAK Super 16mm

2012 Awards Season Highlights

Oscar® Nomination: Best Short Film
Brussels International Independent Film Festival Win: Best Short Film

Our Priorities and Commitment Remain Clear

2012-02-01T14:54:00Z

Kimberly Snyder
President and General Manager
Entertainment and Commercial Films Group
Vice President of Eastman Kodak Company

For our loyal filmmaking community, I wanted to take a moment to address the latest news from Kodak.

Firstly, everyone at Kodak, and particularly those within our Entertainment Imaging team, greatly appreciates the support we have received from our partners in the industry since the announcement that Kodak filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

Our priority and commitment is clear – to emerge from our reorganization as a stronger and sustainable partner for all our stakeholders, including you, the entertainment industry. We intend to continue providing you with film and the support you have come to depend upon from Kodak, the world’s leading producer of premier quality motion imaging technology for the industry.

We also want to clarify to you that our decision to file a motion to reject our sponsorship agreement of the Kodak Theatre reflects our commitment to maximize value for our entertainment customers, creditors and other stakeholders. It is our job to ensure that we can be as effective as possible in emerging from our reorganization a better partner for you. We remain committed to this industry, and look forward to continued partnership with you.

Please know that our global sales force is available to answer any questions you may have or to help meet your production needs.

For additional information, please visit www.kodaktransforms.com

Thank you.

Projects on Kodak Film Win Awards

2012-01-30T14:54:00Z

On the Mississippi location for DreamWorks Pictures’ inspiring drama The Help, DP Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC and Director/screenwriter Tate Taylor discuss a scene with Academy Award® nominee Cicely Tyson (center) and Emma Stone (right). Photo credit: Dale Robinette ©DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Everywhere you looked this past weekend—from indies to Hollywood blockbusters—projects shot on Kodak film were winning awards! Seems like the discipline of shooting on film contributes to an actors performance.

The top awards at Sundance went to Beasts of the Southern Wild. Director Benh Zeitlin for winning the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) and Ben Richardson for winning best cinematography.
The Artist keeps gaining momentum as it heads for a date with Oscar®-- Michel Hazanavicius took home the top prize from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) this past weekend.
The Help took home three Screen Actor's Guild Awards (SAG), including Best Ensemble. Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC captured these amazing performances on Kodak VISION3 5213 and 5219.
The Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) handed out 13 statues last night and an overwhelming 10 went to artists whose projects were on Kodak film. (The Help, The Artist, 30 Rock, Boardwalk Empire, Too Big To Fail, Mildred Pierce, and American Horror Story).

Kodak Showcase at the Clermont-Ferrand Int'l Short Film Festival

2012-01-26T14:54:00Z

Here's a sneak peek of the award winning films to be screened in the Kodak Showcase on February 2 at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (4:00 - 6:00 pm at the Salle Georges COCHON Theatre). The Showcase features the winning student films from the Worldwide Kodak Film School Cinematography Competition and the winning film from the Golden Tadpole, Plus Camerimage, The International Festival of the Art of Cinematography. The Kodak Film School Cinematography Competition is open to students and recent graduates from around the world. The contest is designed to recognize the creativity and talent of student cinematographers in the collaborative process of visual storytelling. For the third consecutive year, the John Bailey, ASC (The Big Miracle, Ordinary People) judged the entries.

For more information on the Kodak Film School Cinematography Competition, visit www.kodak.com/go/filmschoolcompetition.

Bullet of Rage

Scene from Bullet of Rage

A father and a daughter lived a normal daily life. One day they were attacked by gangs. A few years later, the father became a street person and waited for one of the gangs to be released from prison for his moment of revenge.

DOP: Masanori Yokota
Visual Concept Planning Dept., Osaka University of Arts - Japan
KODAK VISION2 200T Color Negative Film 7217 and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219

The Whale

Scene from The Whale

A young boy lives in an ephemeral fantasy in his struggle to escape the cycle of paternal abuse.

DOP: Joshua Spires
University of North Texas - United States
KODAK VISION2 50D Color Negative Film 7201 and KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 7207

Submerged

Scene from Submerged

The film shows a clash of cultures unfolding in a family’s own four walls. It’s a tale of the values you’re prepared to defend, and of petty people driven to rage.

DOP: Johannes Praus
University of Film & Television "Konrad Wolf" Potsdam-Babelsberg - Germany
KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219

Those of the Water

Scene from Those of the Water

The film explores an ancient Xhosa belief of the Abantu Bomlambo (The People of the Water). ‘Those of the Water’ is the story of a young boy searching for a sense of belonging in a new world.

DOP: Brendan Barnes
South African School of Motion Picture Medium (AFDA) - South Africa
KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 and KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207

Finale

Scene from Finale

Two men in the night are waiting for their greatest hit.

2011 Plus Camerimage Laszlo Kovacs Student Award - Golden Tadpole Winner
DOP: Balázs Révész
University of Drama and Film Budapest - Hungary

Kodak Welcomes the Next Generation at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival

2012-01-26T14:54:00Z

The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France is one of the premier events for discovering emerging talent in the filmmaking community. Over 3,000 industry professionals will gather to experience the best in short form storytelling. And at the center of the festival, the Short Film Market operates as a hub of activity, where films can be viewed, companies can share news and technologies, and networking opportunities are abundant. It’s an electrifying experience to be part of such a popular festival, where attendance is robust and the passion for the art and craft of filmmaking fills the air.

Here, from January 27 – February 4, Kodak will be hosting several activities for student filmmakers, highlighted by the annual Kodak Showcase on Thursday, February 2, at the Salle Georges CONCHON from 4-6 p.m. (rue Léo Lagrange 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, located near the Kyriad Hotel).

Joining us this year as part of the Kodak Showcase are the student winners of the global Kodak Film School Cinematography Competition, and the winner of the Golden Tadpole from Plus Camerimage, The International Festival of the Art of Cinematography. They will have their winning films screened during the Showcase. They are:

Joshua Spires from the University of North Texas, United States, with his film The Whale.
Johannes Praus from the University of Film & Television "Konrad Wolf" Potsdam, Germany, for Submerged.
Masanori Yokota from Osaka University of Arts, Japan; screening Bullet of Rage.
Brendan Barnes from AFDA in South Africa, with his film Those of the Water.
Balazs Revesz from the Hungarian National Film School, Hungary, for his work on Finale.

It will be exciting see all these films shown on 35 mm prints, and for the young talent we are hosting to experience that screening with an audience of professionals.

The Showcase will be followed by drinks at the Kodak booth (on the ground floor). Please join us at 6 p.m. if you are attending the festival!

The student filmmakers will also participate in our welcome dinner and a tour of the festival. Our goal is to provide them opportunities to network and talk about their work and their films.

Furthermore, the Kodak booth in the Short Film Market will serve as our home base for the festival. The area provides a relaxing setting for meeting fellow attendees. Kodak reps will be on hand to answer questions, and provide information about the latest Kodak products and services, as well as listen to the needs of filmmakers. Information about the students and their films that comprise the Kodak Showcase will also be at the booth.

We hope to see you there!

2012 Sundance Premieres Shot on Kodak Film

2012-01-17T14:54:00Z

Each January, we look forward to seeing whose talent will be discovered, and what amazing stories will be unearthed at the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals. Here's a quick look at a few of the amazing stories captured on Kodak film.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Scene from Beasts of the Southern Wild

Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink, in “the Bathtub,” a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe; for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack—temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.

Sundance Premiere: Jan. 20 - 12:15 p.m. @ Eccles Theatre
Directed by: Benh Zeitlin
Cinematography by: Ben Richardson
Film Stock: KODAK VISION2 200T Color Negative Film 7217, KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219

For Ellen

Scene from For Ellen

After an overnight long-distance drive, Joby (Paul Dano) has a special meeting—with lawyers and his ex-wife. A struggling musician with the prerequisite tattoos, slimy hair, goatee, and his head firmly floating in the clouds, Joby hasn’t been around to be a dad. Now is his last chance to fight for shared custody of his daughter, Ellen.

Sundance Premiere: Jan. 21 - 5:00 p.m. @ Library Center Theatre
Directed-Written by: So Yong Kim
Cinematography by: Reed Morano
Film Stock: KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207

Nobody Walks

Scene from Nobody Walks

Martine, a 23-year-old artist from New York, arrives in Los Angeles to stay in the pool house of a family living in the hip and hilly community of Silver Lake. Peter, the father, has agreed to help Martine complete sound design on her art film as a favor to his wife. Martine innocently enters the seemingly idyllic life of this open-minded family with two kids and a relaxed Southern California vibe. Like a bolt of lightning, her arrival sparks a surge of energy that awakens suppressed impulses in everyone and forces them to confront their own fears and desires.

Sundance Premiere: Jan. 22 -12:15 p.m. @ Eccles Theatre
Directed by: Ry Russo-Young
Cinematography by: Chris Blauvelt
Film Stock: KODAK VISION2 200T Color Negative Film 7217, KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219

Keep the Lights On

Scene from Keep the Lights On

This film chronicles the emotionally and sexually charged journey through the love, addiction, and friendship of two men. Documentary filmmaker Erik and “closeted” lawyer Paul meet through a casual encounter, but they find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together, they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity and to be true to himself.

Sundance Premiere: Jan. 20 - 8:30 p.m. @ Library Center Theatre
Directed by: Ira Sachs
Cinematography by: Thimios Bakatakis
Film Stock: KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219

Sundowning

Scene from Sundowning

This film follows Shannon, a young woman who has lost her cognition and memory. She is content, but lacks any recollection of her past, her family, or her own identity. She lives in pacified near-isolation, sharing an apartment with Susan, her gentle yet mysterious caretaker. Unable to rely on her memory and subjectivity, Shannon grapples for insight into her condition and Susan’s role in her life.

Slamdance Premiere: Jan. 22 - 8:00 p.m. @ Main Screening Room
Directed by: Frank Rinaldi
Cinematography by: Kiran Chitanvis
Film Stock: KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 7219, KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 7207
Read more about Sundowing

Social Wrap Up

2011-12-23T14:54:00Z

We will be away from our desks next week, so we thought we'd leave you with some highlights to remember the year that was.

We launched two new camera negative film stocks, KODAK 500T Color Negative Film 5230/7230 and VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 5203/7203. We celebrated the winners of the 2011 KODAK Film School Cinematography Competition. We opened our KODAK Motion Picture Film YouTube channel to bring you film demonstrations, interviews and panel discussions, educational content, and featured customer work. We launched a host of new tools within the KODAK Cinema Tools mobile app, including a film can tape color guide and mobile-friendly versions of our popular Cinematographer's Field Guide and The Essential Reference Guide for Filmmakers. We launched our new US Online Education Store for students and educators allowing them to shop online for Kodak motion picture film with their education discount. Additionally, we added Kodak motion picture film to Kodak's US Consumer Online Store. We enjoyed many events; awards shows like the Academy Awards®, Primetime Emmy® Awards, as well as film festivals like the Cannes Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, and South By Southwest®. We brought you the online version of our INCAMERA Magazine, as well as monthly installments of the INCAMERA Web Exclusive. We've had a great year connecting with you all through @Kodak_ShootFilm on TWITTER and KodakMotionPictureFilm on FACEBOOK, as well as publishing our email newsletters. We also created a place for you to voice why Film Matters to you. The list goes on and on!

Thank you to all who have "liked", "followed", "subscribed", or visited us throughout this amazing year, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2012!

Plus Camerimage 2011: A Smashing Success

2011-12-20T14:54:00Z

Holger Schwaerzel, Kodak European Product Manager

The 19th annual edition of Plus Camerimage is behind us. The International Festival of the Art of Cinematography, as it is officially known, is a wonderful and warm gathering of filmmakers, supporters and aficionados of the art and craft of visual storytelling. This year’s confab was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland, the second year this charming city has hosted the event. Hundreds of screenings, seminars, press conferences and parties were on the agenda, but perhaps the most important aspect of the fest is the human interactions that happen naturally along the way. Kodak has been a proud sponsor of the festival since its inception.

The highlight of the week was Kodak Day, which featured our presentation in the main theater at the Opera Nova. We used this important platform to announce our new KODAK VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 5203. This new stock brings the latest breakthroughs in emulsion science – along with extended latitude – to a low speed, fine-grained and sharpest daylight stock. We are committed to providing filmmakers with the widest possible array of options. With approximately 75% of the movies in the main competition originated on film, it’s clear that filmmakers still demand the highest-resolution image capture medium as a creative tool. And film’s archival superiority means that their creations will live on.

Our presentation also included a screening of the films from Straight 8, a contest that invites anyone anywhere to make a short film on one cartridge of Kodak Super 8 film—without editing. The filmmakers see the outcome of their creative endeavor for the first time at a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. The results are humorous, touching and human films. Straight 8 helps fledgling filmmakers get their creativity seen in the wider filmmaking community.

The Kodak Day ended with the annual Cinematographers Dinner, held in a grand Philharmonic Hall. Later, the Kodak Student Party in the Avangarda Club was packed and rocking. All in all, it was a fun day with lots of good news for filmmakers.

At the awards ceremony, I had the honor of presenting the Golden Frog, the top prize at the fest, to Jolanta Dylewska. The jury praised her work on In Darkness. The Polish-German-Canadian coproduction retells the true story of petty thief who becomes a hero among the fugitives living in the sewers of wartime Lviv in order to hide from the Nazis. Dylewska is an instructor at the Polish National Film School in Lodz, and many of her former and current students were in the audience. The Silver Frog went to Mahmoud Kalari for his cinematography of Nader and Simin, A Separation, an Iranian film shot on 35 mm film and directed by Asghar Farhadi. The Bronze Frog went to British cinematographer Robbie Ryan for his 35 mm cinematography of Wuthering Heights, a re-imagining of the Emily Bronte classic with a Heathcliff of African descent.

Aside from the high-profile films, the student competition featured 25 films from 22 different film schools, making it a truly international competition. The Golden Tadpole went to a student from the Hungarian National Film School, Balazs Revesz, for his work on Finale. In addition to the festival’s recognition, Kodak will send Balazs to the 2012 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, where he will participate in several days of Kodak-sponsored activities and participate in a showcase, screening his film.

There were also competitions for documentaries, music videos, debuts and other categories, as well as numerous retrospectives and out-of-competition screenings.

The festival honored countless master cinematographers who have enriched our lives with their filmic creations, many of which were screened at various retrospectives. A few examples: Haskell Wexler, ASC, Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, Witold Sobocinski, PSC, Walter Lassally, BSC, Ed Lachman, ASC, Albert Maysles, Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC, and Camerimage Lifetime Achievement laureate John Seale, ASC, ACS, who graciously thanked Kodak in his warm acceptance speech.

Each year, Plus Camerimage brings together the international moviemaking community, and 2011 was another smashing success. We look forward to next year, and hope you’ll be able to join us!

KODAK Film School Cinematography Competition 2011 Winners

2011-12-15T14:54:00Z

We announced the regional and 35mm winners last month and wanted to showcase and congratulate all of the KODAK Film School Cinematography Competition country winners as well!

Comprised of student crews, films from more than 25 countries were selected to move on to the next round of judging by John Bailey, ASC (The Big Miracle, Ordinary People). Of those, three regional winners and one 35mm winner were selected.

Here's a quick recap of the winners:

Joshua Spires from the University of North Texas for the Americas region

Johannes Praus from the University of Film & Television "Konrad Wolf" Potsdam for the Europe-Africa-Middle East region

Masanori Yokota from Osaka University of Arts for the Asia-Pacific region.

Brendan Barnes from AFDA in South Africa for the worldwide 35mm competition.

Click here for more information on the KODAK Film School Cinematography Competition.

And now for the country selections! Enjoy, and keep an eye on these up and coming filmmakers!

Argentina

Pablo Paniagua

University: Universidad del Cine
Film Title: JUKU
Production Crew: Pablo Paniagua (DOP), Toto Ibanez (1st Assistant de Camera), miguel Hilari (gaffer), Mauricio Quiroga (director)

Australia

Goldie Soetianto

School/ University/ College: Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Film Title: The Fall of Erebus
Film stock: KODAK VISION3 200T 7213
Production Crew: Director/ Writer - Jeffery Andersen Jnr; Producer - Felicity-Rose Harris; Production Designer - Ethan Waghorn; Costume Director - Vanessa Rankin; Editor/ Visual Effects - Christopher Jowsey

Brazil

Bibiana Merlin Kasper

University: PUCRS - Curso Superior DeTechnologia Em Audiovisual
Film Title: Boia
Film Stock: 200T

Marcella Nunes

University: Universidade Estacus de sa
Film Title: Itapoanama

AMERICAS RUNNER UP

Bulgaria

Dimitar Skobelev

University: NATFA
Film Title: The Service
Film Stock: V3 7219, 500T
Production Crew: Boris Nikolov (director), Petar Marivou (editor), Mariela Malova (art director), Alexsander Kalanov (composer)

EAMER RUNNER UP.

Canada

Yann-Manuel Hernandez

University: University of Montreal
Film Title: From Which Dream Shall We Revive
Film Stock: Tri-X BW Reversal, Plus-X 7265
Production Crew: Charles-Andre Coderre (director, script), Mattie-Eve Crepeau (art Direction, editor), Guillaume Guerette (sound designer, editor),Ariel Desbiens, Ines Guennaoui (1st assistant camera)

Chile

Andres Gallegos

University: Universidad UNIACC
Film Title: Float
Film Stocks: 500 T 7219, 200T 7217
Production Crew: Shira Abraham (production), Martin Amezaga (direction), Andres Gallegos (DOP)

China

Qiao Zhang

Film School/ University/ College: Beijing Film Academy
Film Title: Undertow
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 500T 5219; KODAK VISION2 50D 5201
Production Crew: Director - Qi Tanyang; Recordist - He Bin

Costa Rica

Nicolas Wong

University: Universidad Veritas
Film Title: L'enfant Fatale
Film Stock: V3 500T

Finland

Hannu Koivuranta

University: Tampere University of Applied Sciences
Film Title: A Lesson
Film Stock: V3 250D
Production Crew: Hannu Koivuranta (Cinematographer), Outi Hartikaineg (director), Iiro Peltonen (editor), Mikko Koskinen (Sound Designer)

Germany

Johannes Praus

University: Konrad Wolf
Film Title: Submerged
Film Stock: V3 500T 7249
Production Crew: Johannes Leistner (director, Johannes Praus (DOP), Constance Nunke (production manager), Stefan Hoh (script consultant), Gernot Bayer (gaffer), Stefanie Kosik (editor), Kay Riedel (sound)
Synopsis: In their circles, people at dinner talk about Italian pepper mills and the dynamism of China. But the parents' high-earning idyll faces a serious challenge. Their daughter has a new boyfriend. He's from another world. And he's made himself threateningly comfortable in their home, between their bathroom and their fridge. "Got a Beer? How should they react - laissez-faire or zero tolerance? The film shows a clash o cultures unfolding in a family's own four walls. It's a tale of the values you're prepared to defend, and of petty people driven to rage.

EAMER REGIONAL WINNER

Lotta Kilian

University: Konrad Wolf
Film Title: We Die
Film Stock: 250D 5205, 5207, 500T 5218
Production Crew: Josephine Links - Director, Lotta Kilian - Cinematographer, Anne Junemann - Editing, Jana Irmert, Jan Pasemann - Sound editing, Leonard Petersen - Music, Verna Maul, Set Design, Verna Schilling - Producer

35mm RUNNER UP.

Hong Kong

Ka Shun Chan

School/ University/ College: The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Film Title: Drifting
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 250D 7207; KODAK VISION3 500T 7219
Production Crew: Producer - Tsz Tim Mok; Director - Sum Lam; Scriptwriter - Sum Lam & Bik Yu Mok; Editor - Pak Ming Cheung; Sound - Choi Hung Wat

India

Jigmet Wangchuk

School/ University/ College: FTII
Film Title: Self Woven
Film stock: KODAK VISION3 500T 5219
Production Crew: Director - Zatina Gamet; Editor - Maryann D'Souza; Art Director - S. Ramakrishnan

Japan

Masanori Yokota

School/ University/ College: Osaka University of Arts
Film Title: Bullet of Anger
Film stocks: KODAK VISION2 200T 7217; KODAK VISION3 500T 7219
Production Crew: Director - masaki Okada; Producer - Daiki Sasayama; Camera Assistant - Nobuo Ushimaki/ Takahiro Yamamoto/ Kazuaki Mantoku; Sound recording - Naoya Nishigaki

ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL WINNER

Malaysia

Muhamad Afiq Bin Muhamad Mohsin

School/ University/ College: ASWARA
Film Title: The Box
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 500T 7219; KODAK VISION3 250D 7207
Production Crew: Director/ Scriptwriter/ Producer - Muhammad Ariffin Zulkarnain; Production Designer - Nurul Maziahani Mazlan; Assistant Director - Audrie Yeo Sui Lan; 1st Assistant Cinematographer/ Focus Pullare - Izzat Emir Mainon

Mexico

Andres Gonzalez

University: Universidad Iberamericana
Film Title: Out of Earth
Film Stock: V3 250D 7207
Production Crew: Ilana Coleman (direction), Jeronimo Fernandez (productor), Noreli Montoya (DOP), Pablo Cauia (1st Assistant DOP)

New Zealand

Paul Jackson

School/ University/ College: New Zealand Film and Television School
Film Title: Devil's Door to Heaven
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 500T 7219
Production Crew: Director - Lilian Beets; Camera Operator - Josh O'brien; Focus Puller - Bonnie Lowe; Clapper - Paurel Kuatch; Video Assist - Ben White; Grip - Neil Hunter; Gaffer - Helmut Marko; Sound Rec - Dylan Jauslin; Boom - Sandy Davis

Philippines

Juan Martin R. Engracia

School/ University/ College: International Academy for Film and Television
Film Title: Black Balloon
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 250D 7207; KODAK VISION3 200T 7213
Production Crew: Director - John Imson; Assistant Director - Jhel Pedrina; Editor - Karl Poriu; Production Design - Ronald Parcon; Gaffer Yussuf Yunus

Portugal

Carlos Batista

University: Universidad LusoFona
Film Title: The Lieutenant
Film Stock: 16mm Kodak 100/200 iso
Production Crew: Executive Producer:Catarina Carrola, Production Director:Pedro Caetano, Producer:Sofia Salvado, Producer Assistant:Andre Germano, Producer Assistant:Marta Malva, Producer Assistant:Diana Lima, Producer Assistan:Sofia Leite, Still Photographer:Anabela Vieira, Screenwriting:Rafael A.Martins, Director:Rafael A.Martins, 1st Director Assistant: Elisabete Mendes, 2nd Director Assistant:JoaoTavares, 3rd Director Assistant:Francisco Durao, 1st Continuity Person:Susana Barroso, 2nd Continuity Person:Nilton Medeiros, 3rd ContinuityPerson:Henry Nesbitt

Romania

Susnea Simona

University: UNATC
Film Title: Smoking May Kill
Film Stock: Double X B&W 7222
Production Crew: Millo Simulov (director), Simona Susnea, Mihail Ursu (Cinematographer), Rusimova Emanueut (editing, sound editing and design)

Singapore

Marjorie Teo

School/ University/ College: Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Film Title: Summer & Its Rain
Film stock: 16mm

South Africa

Brendan Barnes

University: AFDA
Film Title: Those of the Water
Film Stock: V3 500T, V3 250D
Production Crew: (Zwelisizwe Ntuli - Writer & Director, Benita Khoosal - Producer, Brendan Barnes - Cinematographer, Mosibudi Peeha - Production Designer, Karien goosen - Editor, Grant Davies - Visual Effects
Snyopsis: The film explores an ancient Xhosa belief of the Abantu Bomlambo (The People of the Water). When a young boy called Siphelele is found washed up from the ocean, Nobuntu believes he is a gift from the ancestors. 'Those of the Water' is the story of this young boy searching for a sense of belonging in a new world.

35mm WINNER.

South Korea

Hachul Chung

School/ University/ College: Seoul Institute of the Arts
Film Title: Knock
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 500T 7219; KODAK VISION2 200T 7217
Production Crew: Director - Sung Chul Shin; Producer - Inae Lee

ASIA PACIFIC RUNNER UP

Spain

Rodrigo Pannacci

University: Septima Ars. Escuela de cine & TV
Film Title: In My Bubble
Film Stock: 200T, 50D
Production Crew: Juan Luis Banuelos (director), Andres de la torre (camera operator)

Taiwan

Chia-Tang Tsai

School/ University/ College: Shin Hsin University
Film Title: In Our Age
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 250D 7207; KODAK VISION3 500T 7219
Production Crew: Producer - Yi-Jyun Yang; Director - Fang-Tzu Kuo

Thailand

A-Sana Tanasoponpitak

School/ University/ College: Rangsit University
Film Title: Unlikeness
Film stocks: KODAK VISION3 500T 5219; KODAK VISION3 250D 5207; KODAK VISION2 50D 5201
Production Crew: Director - Pitchanat Suktom;
Producer - Amittada Searsebjarenu; Co-producer - Kanukpah Suriwong; Sound - Weottichal Rattanasiriponchai; Wardrobe - Kanyalak Keawpadap

Uruguay

Rafael Antonaccio

University: Universidad ORT/ORT 16
Film Title: Neon
Film Stock: 500 T V2
Production Crew: Santiago Olivera, Rafael Antonaccio, Johanna Silveira (directors), Fernanda Notte (production)

United States of America

Joshua Spires

University: University of North Texas
Film Title: The Whale
Film Stocks: V3 50D, 250D
Production Crew: Jaime Chapin (director), Lea Kocurek producer), Derek Kocich (AC/gaffer), Ian McKenyon (key grip), KoreyCaldwell (editor), Kyle Hughes (sound)
Synopsis: A young boy lives in an ephemeral fantasy in his struggle to escape the cycle of paternal abuse.

AMERICAS REGIONAL WINNER

Behind the Design of KODAK VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 5203/7203

2011-12-14T14:54:00Z

Merrick Distant, Kodak Product Systems Engineer

The latest member of the VISION3 Film family is KODAK VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 5203/7203. The VISION3 Film platform is the result of a confluence of technical innovations that gives filmmakers greater creative flexibility and a better starting place for postproduction. Here, Kodak’s Product Systems Engineer Merrick Distant answers questions about the science behind the new film:

What are the new features of the new KODAK VISION3 50D 5203 / 7203 film?
DISTANT: We incorporated many of the features that customers have come to like about our other VISION3 films into this new low speed, daylight balanced offering. The result is a film that renders images with similar color and contrast, providing more detail in the extreme bright areas and at the finest grain available. Improvement in the signal to noise (S/N) response over the entire exposure scale results in more usable detail at the extremes of exposure, a benefit in digital postproduction applications.

What is the emulsion science behind these improvements?
DISTANT: Similarly to the other VISION3 films, we integrated advanced dye layering technology into the green sensitive layer, and the deployment of highly efficient, sub-micron silver halide (AgX) crystals in the low sensitivity sub records of all three color records. The sub-micron silver halide crystals enable detailed, discriminating capture of high exposure information and has made it possible to effectively increase the overexposure latitude of the VISION3 films by two stops while simultaneously improving the S/N in the high exposure areas. This new film also features segregation of each color record into multiple zones of light sensitivity – three zones of sensitivity for the cyan and magenta layers, and two zones for the yellow layer. This allows for increased control over color and tone reproduction and facilitates the creation of a more linear sensitometric response as a function of exposure. This film also incorporates all the VISION3 technologies that enhance image acquisition during chromogenic development such as the high performance coupler technology and the new Advanced Development Accelerators.

What do these breakthroughs mean for the cinematographer?
DISTANT: These breakthrough technologies have increased the utility and flexibility of the VISION3 films as an imaging device by extending the S/N response over a broader exposure range - both in areas of low as well as high light intensity. This offers cinematographers more creative flexibility and increased efficiency in real world shooting situations as they can take a bolder approach to lighting and the film’s speed rating without the fear of compromising image quality. The additional highlight latitude in this new VISION3 50D will be very beneficial for cinematographers as they are routinely faced with bright exterior conditions and their ability to capture details in extreme highlights are greatly enhanced.

Are there other benefits that will help cinematographers on the set?
DISTANT: Compared to our previous 50D film, this new VISION3 film will match the other members of the VISION3 family of films in terms of color and contrast. That ‘intercuttability,’ if you will, helps cinematographers lend a consistent look to a movie in a wide variety of shooting situations and exposure conditions.

How will these new films work with the latest scanners, and other digital postproduction technology? DISTANT: By designing additional, information rich latitude into VISION3 films, the ability to enjoy predictable response as a function of exposure has greatly facilitated postproduction image manipulation in digital intermediate workflows and telecine applications. This enables digital dodging and burning in post to bring out highlight detail and the extraction of additional information from the shadows without the risk of introducing image artifacts.

How will this film perform as a digital recording element?
DISTANT: Traditionally, low speed, daylight balanced films have been the color negative film of choice for non-laser based digital film recorders. The new VISION3 50D with its linear sensitometric response and color consistency across a wider range of exposures not only makes it an excellent camera origination film but also an ideal color negative film for use in digital film recorders. In addition, the VISION3 50D also features extremely fine grain, high resolution, low level of unwarranted crosstalk between the color channels and excellent latent image keeping performance, all qualities that lend itself to the film to performing well in digital film recorders.

What’s your take on the future of film technology?
DISTANT: The ongoing innovation behind the VISION3 films proves that Kodak believes in the continued viability of silver halide imaging. These films continue to raise the bar as far as image capture and provide increased efficiencies to our customers. Investments in film technology are ongoing and our research scientists are continuing to innovate and provide features that will be beneficial to both filmmakers and postproduction professionals.

Be sure to visit www.kodak.com/go/50D to learn more about this stock.

John Seale, ACS, ASC Feted at 2011 Plus Camerimage

2011-11-21T14:54:00Z

John Seale, ASC, ACS. Photo by Douglas Kirkland

John Seale, ASC, ACS will receive the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Plus Camerimage Film Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The festival will show a special retrospective of his films representing some of his greatest professional achievements.

Seale photographed Peter Weir’s Witness, and earned his first Academy Award® for the film. He earned his second Oscar® nomination for Rain Man, which was also nominated for an ASC Outstanding Achievement Award in 1989. Seale won the Oscar and the ASC Award for The English Patient in 1997. He earned Academy Award and ASC nominations again in 2004 for Cold Mountain. Earlier this year, Seale received the ASC International Award for his incredible images.

Seale has earned more than 40 narrative credits as a cinematographer, including such memorable films as Children of a Lesser God, The Mosquito Coast, Gorillas in the Mist, Dead Poets Society, Lorenzo’s Oil, The Firm, The American President, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Perfect Storm, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Poseidon and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Tourist.

Below is a conversation with the celebrated cinematographer:

Where were you born? In Warwick, Queensland, way up north, on the east coast side near the Queensland/New South Wales border. It's a country town.

Were you interested in photography while you were growing up? No. I started to find it during my middle teens, when I was 15, 16 and 17. That’s when all young men go through the worries about what they will do with the rest of their lives, and school pressures are saying that they should be a plumber, or categorized into a certain job. Very luckily, I went further west into the Outback in Australia, and ended up in a place called Jackaroo, which is sort of like a cowboy town with sheep. We rode a lot and had 30,000 acres we had to run. It was early hours and hard work during the day. It was hard riding, and fixing things like fencing. I loved all that, but couldn't see myself living there for the rest of my life. I decided then that photography might be a career. The interest I had in it was purely superficial. I bought a little 8 mm camera and I started filming. It was mainly to show my parents and family and friends. Then, I suddenly thought it might be a great life to travel around the world filming things that other people might then enjoy, people who've got jobs in banks or something. This was well before television in Australia.

(Far right) John Seale, ASC, ACS on the set of "Poseidon." Photo by Claudette Barius SMPSP

So there was nobody who inspired you? Not really. One of my father’s friends, who was a photographer, talked to me at great lengths about it. We had a very philosophical discussion, saying that whatever you do, you should like, otherwise you won't do it well. That was good advice, because it sets you on track with attitudes and approaches. There were no film schools in Australia then. There were fledgling television stations getting going. There were about three commercial houses and people like Dean Semler (ASC, ACS) Russell Boyd and Peter Weir – all Australians – were working internationally, mostly out of the commercial houses. I went into the government-owned television station, ABC, and worked there for seven years. I literally learned what I think was a good grounding for cinematography. It was all 16 mm.

Was that documentary filmmaking? I covered everything, including news gathering for a weekly 60 Minutes-type of news show. I also worked on big-budget documentaries, and then I moved into being the photo support for little drama series. They bought 35 mm Mitchell cameras and we learned to use them on the job. At that time, I was one of the few cameramen in Australia who was actually was working with 35 mm film on dramatic stories. The commercial houses were shooting all the newsreels for Movietone and other companies on 35 mm film using Arriflex and other cameras. But we were the only ones that were shooting dramas on 35 mm film. There was an occasional feature film, which would come through from America or somewhere else. It wasn't long before Bruce Beresford, Peter Weir and a couple of other directors started to work their way through to the international scene. They were the people who shot Gallipoli, Breaker Morant and The Road Warrior films. Peter Weir was at Film Australia, which was a commonwealth government film unit that mainly did documentaries. Bruce Beresford was going to be a cameraman at one stage. That was very funny, he always says, ‘I could have been one of you blokes,’ but he said he was never good at it, so he decided on directing.

Did you start out shooting, or did you ever work on anybody's crew? I was an assistant for a while but I moved up into camera operating very quickly – I was the only person who knew how to spin the wheels. As they wanted to stay on schedule, the cameraman said I should do it. I reluctantly agreed to move up to operator for about 17 years.

Were you working with any particular cameraman?No. I moved around a lot. I worked with Russell Boyd on a number of Peter Weir films, including Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli. I also worked with Peter Jameson on two or three films, and was a camera operator for Don McAlpine on two or three features. I was also a camera operator for Peter James (ASC) and Russell Boyd. Then, one day I started lighting and shooting my own films.

What was your first picture?The first picture was a 16 mm blowup of a stunt action drama. It was such a shock I went back to operating and I actually ended up operating then for three or four pictures, one of them being Gallipoli.

What was your first feature as a cinematographer?The first picture I photographed was a funny little Australian low-budget film. It's about a comic strip character in Australia. It was a very nice story made into a feature film that was wonderful.

What was your first big film?The first picture I came to the States for was Witness. That was in 1984. It was the first film I photographed for Peter Weir, so it was an all around breakthrough.

John Seale, ACS, ASC. (C) Miramax Film 2003

That was also your first Oscar nomination. How did that affect your career?After Witness, I went back to Australia and shot a feature with Brian Brown. Then, I went back to the United States and shot a number of films, including The Mosquito Coast, Stakeout, and Rain Man.

You've had a pretty eclectic career. How do you approach these very different types of films?
I really don't want to be typecast if I can help it. My thoughts are different with every reading of every script. Every picture calls for its own style or look. I've often used different negatives while shooting a feature to give different scenes a different look or grain structure.

One common denominator in films that you have shot is the personal involvement between the audience and actors. Can you share some thoughts about that?
That's true. When I read the script for Gorillas in the Mist, I thought it was a good movie. It's about one person who dedicated herself to saving a species of animal. I thought that was a film worth making. We shot it in Africa with real gorillas, not fake ones. It was a very hard shoot with the volcanoes and all, but I enjoyed every minute, mainly because it was about saving something. I had done enough films about blowing people up and killing them.

What is it about some actors and actresses that make them come across on film?You can see it through the lens when you're operating. You can see an actor working very, very hard. William Hurt, for example, is a very disciplined actor, who is very controlled. He can give you such beautiful subtle differences between each take that you almost don't notice, but he's telling it in a totally different way. He is dedicated to acting and is very fierce about it. I have also been privileged to work with Harrison Ford and Dustin Hoffman. They are fantastic. Someone once asked me if actors have a good side of their faces. They do, but a lot of the dedicated actors whom I’ve met don't care and don't want to know. They can be photographed from the ground up their nostrils if it helps the picture.

Were there cinematographers whose work influenced you early in your career?I am a movie fan, and I really love watching all other cinematographers’ work. We're all different. That's what I think is magical about it. Everybody is different. Some people seem to have a style they like to hang on to and take from film to film. I don't agree with that. I think that every film should have a different style, but that is a challenge to you as an individual. If a director wants a different style for this film, then you work hard to get that style. Watching other people's films is incredible. A lot of cameramen were influenced by Jordan Cronenweth's (ASC) work on Blade Runner. I loved The Empire of the Sun. All of Allen Daviau's (ASC) work is gorgeous. I steal bits of it, but I certainly don't and wouldn't copy a whole film. But there are certain scenes in certain films that I admit were influenced by a scene in Blade Runner or something that Vittorio Storaro (ASC, AIC) shot with a single, very soft source of light. Other times, I might have borrowed ideas from old black-and-white films where the scene might have a lot more direct lighting rather than the modern soft light bouncing. I combine soft bounce with soft fill light a lot.

Camerimage 2011

2011-11-18T14:54:00Z

It is time for Plus Camerimage, The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, which takes place in Bydgoszcz, Poland, from November 26 through December 3!

Each year, cinematographers, directors, producers and students from around the world come to Camerimage to celebrate the compelling visual images being created by today’s filmmakers. With a full line up of competition screenings, retrospectives and individual honors, workshops, seminars and special events, much attention and discussion will be focused on the makers of the images this week.

The culmination of the festival is the presentation of the Golden, Silver and Bronze Frog awards for best cinematography for a movie. Golden, Silver and Bronze Tadpole awards will also be given for the best student works. The student winner of the Golden Tadpole will be hosted by Kodak at the 2012 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, where he or she will participate in several days of Kodak sponsored activities and participate in a screening of his or her winning film.

2011 Poster

Kodak Day

Kodak is proud to be a major sponsor of Plus Camerimage, which is dedicated to the art of cinematography and its creators, the cinematographers. The unconventional format of the festival – which awards films according to their visual, aesthetic and technical values – has turned out to be a refreshing alternative to traditional film festivals. Plus Camerimage proves to be a great forum not only for presentation but also for further development of international moviemaking. It also fosters young filmmakers and helps to integrate them with the esteemed filmmaking community that will be gathering.

Kodak Day takes place on December 1, and we will be hosting a presentation at the Opera Nova that will demonstrate the power and flexibility of film as a capture and archival medium. We’ll preview the next addition to our KODAK VISION3 family of films and present a platform of archival films also in development, giving filmmakers more options for telling stories, and content owners more ways to store and repurpose their assets for the future.

Straight 8

We’ll also host a premiere Straight 8 screening. Straight 8 invites anyone anywhere to make a short film on one cartridge of Kodak Super 8 film — without editing. The filmmakers see the outcome of their creative endeavor for the first time at the screening. The results are visuals that break boundaries and take creativity to a whole new level.

Holger Schwaerzel

Students

Kodak Day is capped by our student party at midnight. Invitations are required, so contact me at holger.schwaerzel@kodak.com or from the festival on my cell +49-170-4567-385 for details.

Plus Camerimage Awards

Furthermore, we want to send our deepest congratulations to John Seale, ASC, ACS, this year’s recipient of the Plus Camerimage Lifetime Achievement Award. John’s career highlights include an Oscar® for The English Patient, and additional nominations for Witness, Rain Man and Cold Mountain. Earlier this year, he received the ASC International Award, and was inducted into his native Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) Hall of Fame in 1997. His work has received accolades around the globe, and his images have told many great stories for the cinema. Learn more about John Seale's career in this exclusive interview with him.

We also want to applaud the ground-breaking documentarian Albert Maysles, who will be honored with the festival’s Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Award. Albert is an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker and cinematographer recognized as a pioneer of “Direct Cinema,” the distinctly American version of French "Cinema Verité." Along with his brother David, Albert was one of the very first to make documentary films where the drama of life unfolds as it is – without scripts, sets, interviews or narration. Some of the Maysles brothers' best-known movies are Salesman, Gimme Shelter (the dazzling portrait of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones), and Grey Gardens. We salute his prolific career.

Plus Camerimage

Plus Camerimage has announced the films for the 2011 competition. Films shot on Kodak include "The Hunter", "Le Havre", "Rose", "Shame" and "The Tree of Life". For more information and to see the full list of films in competition, visit http://www.pluscamerimage.pl/index.php. We hope to see you there!

AMIA - Image is Everything...Protect it.

2011-11-17T14:54:00Z

Day 2: Kodak's presence at AMIA

Kodak attendees at the Kodak Booth at the AMIA Vendor Cafe: Diane Carroll-Yacoby, Nicole Phillips, Rick Utley

We're continuing our Kodak presence at the Association of Moving Image Archivists conference this week in Austin, TX. Kodak has sponsored a booth in the popular Vendor Cafe at the Austin Hyatt Regency Downtown. We've had a lot of Kodak friends stop by to inquire about our presentation at The Reel Thing on Wednesday, where we discussed KODAK Asset Protection Films for the future. Additionally, many have inquired on our KODAK Media Asset Management Solutions Service, which we are currently beta testing. A panel discussion with the George Eastman House, describing the Case Study which was done for this offering, is scheduled for tomorrow Saturday, November 19.

Day 1: Opening Night Reception at AMIA

Diane Carroll-Yacoby from Kodak and Grover Crisp, Co-Organizer of "The Reel Thing" at the AMIA Opening Night Reception

Diane Carroll-Yacoby, reporting here from Austin, TX, where the 21st annual Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Conference was kicked off yesterday with an Opening Night Reception, hosted by Kodak.

Approximately 500 delegates are here - representing a cross section of Studios, Post Houses, Colleges, Libraries, Non-Profit Institutions, and Manufacturers. The preservation, restoration, and management of motion content is the common passion in this group and attendees are here to expand their learning, network with colleagues, and celebrate our heritage through moving images.

“The Reel Thing”, a non-profit group supported by the professional archival community, held a symposium on November 16 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Approximately 350 delegates attended the afternoon program, which included 9 presentations – all on restoration, preservation, and management of motion content.

Rick Utley, VP of Preservation at ProTek Vaults (a Kodak subsidiary) & I presented for KODAK - on Asset Protection Films for the future. The report was warmly received and we’ve already had some great individual discussions on the report afterwards. We’ll be here in the Vendor Café for the next two days – supporting this community of passionate preservationists.

The Descendents

2011-11-16T14:54:00Z

(l-r)Beau Bridges and George Clooney staring in The Descendents (Photo by Merie Wallace)

The director-DP duo that brought us Sideways - Alexander Payne and Phedon Papamichael, ASC – have reunited for The Descendents.

The film, starring George Clooney, takes you through the emotional journey as a Hawaiian land baron (Clooney) tries to re-connect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a boating accident.

Director Alexander Payne (Photo by Merie Wallace)

Phedon Papamichael shot on Kodak VISION3 Color Negative Film 5219 and 5213. “(The photography) is all about the performances and the intimacy of the characters,” says Papamichael.

The film opens in the US this week and that intimacy that is captured on screen is already gaining critical buzz.

Fright Looks Fabulous on Film

2011-10-31T14:54:00Z

The Walking Dead - Season 2, Episode 1 - Photo: Gene Page/AMC

Zombies, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves have never enjoyed such “spook”tacular popularity! At cinemas and on television, the supernatural and ghoulish are drawing big audiences. From True Blood to the Twilight franchise, film is the medium of choice for capturing all the frightening, bloodthirsty elements!

To get just the right new “American gothic” look for AMC’s horror series The Walking Dead, cinematographer David Boyd, ASC said they tested every conceivable format before production. “When the images came back, everyone realized that Super 16 was the format that made everything look right. With the smaller gauge and the grain, suddenly the images seemed to derive from the graphic novel itself. Every image is a step removed from reality and a step deeper into cinema.” Hear the rest of The Walking Dead team discussing the show’s creation.

FX is inviting viewers into producer/creator Ryan Murphy’s haunted house with its new hit series American Horror Story. Murphy reteamed with cinematographer Christopher Baffa, ASC (Glee, Nip/Tuck, Running with Scissors) and they are using film to help kick the creepy factor up a notch. The spine-chilling images have not gone unnoticed. Here's why critics are saying why it’s the best new show of the fall.

UPDATE 10/31/2011: American Horror Story picked up for another season!

A good scare can transcend generations (just like film!). Remember jumping out of your seat the first time you saw The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Night of the Living Dead, or Halloween?

The “trick” to the trade is to create your horror story on film, and audiences will be in for a real “treat!”

Addressing the Rumors

2011-10-28T14:54:00Z

Kim Snyder, President
Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division
Vice President of Eastman Kodak Company

When a New York newspaper reported that Mark Twain had been lost at sea, he is said to have replied, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

We know the feeling.

There has been much speculation about the fate of Kodak motion picture film over the last few weeks. We at Kodak refuse to let the volatility of the market or the rumors distract us from our mission – to provide the highest quality tools to tell your stories.

We are still making film – billions of feet of it! Sure, digital technology has impacted how filmmakers approach their work. But Kodak is a company with a long and brilliant presence, all built on ground-breaking science and technology. We are committed to continuing to do so, even in today’s landscape where film and digital coexist.

Something else that seems to get lost in the hype: We are more than a film company; we are the innovators who understand image making more than anyone else. We possess critical expertise from our past which we draw upon for our future. We have some of the brightest and most innovative researchers and scientists in the business working on our products – film and otherwise – to carry us into the future.

For example, our laser projection technology was recently licensed by IMAX (view the release). Laser projection technology offers a multitude of benefits to the viewing audiences, and features that help bring your vision to the big screen in better ways. IMAX and Kodak understand the need for this innovation. We are delighted to be working with them to assist with the implementation of the technology into the IMAX product family.

That’s not all. We are leveraging Kodak technology and intellectual property to bring an innovative digital asset management solution to market. It’s designed for content owners with assets of all formats created over the years.

And we will soon be introducing a new film! A new member of the VISION3 family of color negative films will be added to your film choices. With the latest film technology in the can, you can keep rolling in the most challenging production situations – on set or on location – and maintain a high resolution image through post and distribution.

Furthermore, with film still maintaining its archival leadership role in preserving the memorable images of the past centuries, we continue R&D towards expanding our archival film products to create a platform of choices for a variety of needs.

We’ll have more news on these new offerings soon, so stay tuned!

The bigger picture is: We have a great depth of experience and possibilities for turning 125-plus years of imaging technology and inventive product development into new solutions. Our KODAK DIGITAL ICE technology in scanners are being used to restore some of the most memorable images from cinema and television history; and our subsidiaries continue to make inroads on preservation and restoration (FPC/Pro-Tek) and visual and physical effects (Cinesite).

Our goal is to continue to show you that Kodak is the go-to resource for the best in image quality and workflow solutions that support your creative intentions – because we know you care.

We invite you to view a list of projects whose filmmakers are choosing Kodak film.

We know we can help you accomplish your filmmaking dreams, so contact us. Our worldwide team of Kodak representatives and experts are at your service.

Thank you.

16mm Film the Right Choice for A Wife Alone

2011-10-24T14:54:00Z

Scene from A Wife Alone

Before directing the noir thriller A Wife Alone, Justin Reichman had worked extensively as a script supervisor. That experience gave him insight into a wide variety of directing styles. When he was ready to direct his own feature film, he knew what he wanted. “I wanted to make my project personal,” he says. “It has a classic noir framework, with flashbacks and twists and turns. But I put my own spin on it, with some real comedy to balance the darker themes. It’s about newlyweds, and having just gotten married myself, I can understand the ethos.”

A Wife Alone is the story of a nervous, but ruthless and determined young woman whose female lover is a prostitute. The pair concocts a scheme to murder one of her clients, and rob his partners. The plot culminates in a dinner party where the weather is hot and the subtext is hotter.

Reichman and producer/editor Ben Chace raised money in part through Kickstarter, an online fundraising tool. Reichman had made several short films previously, and Chace co-directed Wah Do Dem, which won Best Dramatic Feature at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Scene from A Wife Alone

For A Wife Alone, they found terrific locations in Reichman’s hometown Rochester, New York. The very tight budget led some of his collaborators to advocate a digital format, but Reichman and Chace both insisted that the Super 16 mm format was right for the project.

Chace explains, “Justin and I are big cinema buffs. There’s a certain formalism in the way the script was crafted, and the way we wanted to shoot. It’s a gritty story. Something about film grain and the look of Super 16 – that patina or texture – makes the images more interesting to watch than totally crisp, totally clean digital. We felt that the look of film did something for the story.”

The filmmakers did a cost comparison that showed the differences to be minor. “People seem to think that film requires much more time and equipment in terms of lighting, but that wasn’t the case for us,” adds Chace.

Reichman recalls that a few preproduction tests shot on New York City streets at night revealed that Super 16 looked great in low light situations. “When we saw the test, we realized that we didn’t need a huge amount of light. The film held enough for us to use existing natural light in some situations – streetlights and light from storefronts and passing cars. That test looked great, and it really made us want to shoot Super 16, and to go with a look that used minimal lighting.

The team used an Aaton film camera rented from Abel Cine Tech, at a rate considerably cheaper than the RED package they had considered. The Aaton was often mounted on a doorway dolly used with tracks and a jib arm to facilitate smooth, classical movement. The film stock was KODAK 500T Color Negative Film 7230. The production sent the exposed film to Deluxe Labs in New York City.

"We’re now in the editing stage, and we can see that the film stock really does have wide latitude,” Reichman observes. “Some scenes look quite dark, but there’s always information there. We’re quite impressed. … I feel great about the decision we made. Shooting A Wife Alone on film was absolutely the right thing to do. I’m so glad we didn’t cop out.”

Reichman and Chace hope to have the film finished in time to submit to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Pearl Jam Twenty Blends New Interviews and Archival Footage for a Rock Retrospective

2011-10-21T14:54:00Z

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam Twenty, Cameron Crowe’s retrospective of the rock group’s first two decades, airs on PBS' American Masters series on October 21st.

The filmmaking team of cinematographer Nicola Marsh and editor Chris Perkel blended archival footage and new interviews to tell the story of the band’s genesis in the Seattle grunge scene, its rocket to stardom, and its subsequent search for wisdom and balance. A surprising amount of film existed, included Super 16 footage of the band’s second performance ever. Lead vocalist Eddie Vedder often carried a Super 8 camera on tour. And many outtakes from music video shoots over the years yielded important story beats. Read the full InCamera article

Enjoy the trailer containing 20 years of rare and unseen footage!

Pearl Jam Twenty from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.

Why We’re Wowed: Characteristics of Motion Picture Film and Motion Picture Film Projection

2011-10-14T14:54:00Z

There are countless characteristics within the formulation of film alone that produce unique qualities for filmmakers and moviegoers alike. Couple that with the way we perceive motion picture film projection, and the whole experience leaves you somewhere between science and magic.

From Kodak’s T-grain silver halide crystals, to the brain’s perception of image detail, Brian Guckian (Moving Image Archive News) uncovers “Seven Wonders of Motion Picture Film”, revealing some of the inherent characteristics that make the movie-going experience enjoyable, and perhaps just a bit magical.

Close up of T-grain silver halide crystals

Commercials on Film Win Awards

2011-10-11T14:54:00Z

Fabien Fournillon, Kodak Marketing Communications Manager, France

It was an amazing and inspiring week watching all the creative commercials at the Golden Drum. For me one thing is clear: commercials shot on film win awards. Here's a few of the award winning commercials that were shot on film. Please join me in congratulating these agencies and production companies that have their brand message stand out and get noticed on film! Hope you enjoy viewing them.

Father's Hands
Award Golden Drum in Food Category
Agency LOWE (Kiev) Ukrain
Brand Owner : Nestlé
Product : Nuts Trio

Art director: Vladimir Kuchmarenko, Stas Kachanovsky
Copywriter: Eugene Pakhmutov, Andrew Yarynich
Creative director: Olexiy Pasichnyk
Director of Photography: Fraser Taggart
Director: Charley Stadler
Production company: Radioactive Film

Colon 101
Award Golden Drum in Household Maintenance
Agency: Euro RSCG (Tel Aviv) Israel
Brand Owner: Reckitt Benckiser
Product : Laundry detergent

Art director: Ben Sever
Copywriter: Ilan Nachmias/Yiftach Chozev
Creative director: Ben Sever
Project manager: Dana Caro
Sound: Soundhouse
Director: Adam Sanderson
Production company: Shosi & Udi

Light
Award Golden Drum in Retail and Public Servicies Category
Agency: DEMNER, MERLICEK & BERGMAN WERBEGESELLSCHAFT MBH (Wien) Austria
Brand Name : Moemax Furniture Store
Product : Furniture Store

Art director: Rene Pichler (AD), Lukas Hueter, Benjamin Fillitz (Graphic)
Copywriter: Alistair Thompson
Creative director: Alistair Thompson, Rene Pichler
Director of Photography: Sebastian Pfaffenbichler
Soundstudio: Tic Music, Music: Kathriner Sound (Christian W. Mayr, Thomas Kathriner)
Director: Christopher Schier
Production company: Filmhaus Wien
Producers: Dr. Wolfgang Ramml, Christian Florin

New Europe, New Thinking

2011-10-10T14:54:00Z

Fabien Fournillon, Kodak Marketing Communications Manager, France

New Europe, New Thinking is the main theme of the 18th International Advertising Festival of New Europe Golden Drum. However, the theme extends beyond the festival. It's reflective of the new ways in which we support the advertising world and the new ways we are engaging with this creative industry.

What is New Europe?

New Europe consists of countries from Eastern and Central Europe but also extends its influence beyong this part of the continent as it includes Russia, Central Asia, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Nordics and the Baltics countries. With a regional market of more than 400 million customers, the New Europe advertising market has become one of the most dynamic in the world. It competes with the other dynamic markets of South America or Asia. Established in 2004, the Golden Drum Advertising Festival of New Europe has become one of advertising's largest and most important events; a juncture between creativity and different cultures. This market is well structured with a full network of the largest communication agencies and advertisers, as well as labs, post houses and key industry partners such as Kodak.

What is New Thinking?

Kodak is proud to serve this community by providing a full range of camera negative film stocks and superior customer support. Anywhere you shoot a commercial in this part of the world, the Kodak team accompanies the brand to ensure they get the optimum results that will connect their products and services with their audience like no other medium can. Film helps your brand stand out and get noticed amongst today's multitude of images and information.

Hear what our customers are saying at the Golden Drum:

Eda Kauba, Euro RSCG, Prague

Richard Striebitz, Wunderman Prague

View the Full Playlist:

Drum Roll . . . The Golden Drum In'tl Ad Fest Begins

2011-09-29T14:54:00Z

Madlen Nicolaus, Kodak Europe Social Media Manager, UK

Be sure to keep up with all of the activity from the Golden Drum:

This week marks the start of the 18th edition of the Golden Drum International Advertising Festival held October 5-8 in Portorož – Slovenia. Kodak will be there and will celebrate alongside of the most creative agencies, advertisers, media houses in Europe - the art of commercials. We will document the events and share them with you in real time via Twitter, Facebook, video interviews and posts to our 1000Words Blog. Here’s a preview of some of our activities:

Celebrating Commercials on Film
Kodak Entertainment Imaging maintains a strong presence in the commercial production market across all of Europe. 2011 marks a new step in this strategic position, with several prestigious spots being shot on Kodak film. Leading industry sectors such as luxury brands, the automobile sector, services like banks and insurance companies, the food sector and distribution networks choose Kodak film to connect themselves to their audience.

Meet the Kodak team at Golden Drum!
Meet the Kodak team at the Kodak Booth (12th floor) GH Bernardin. We will run demos and exhibit S8 cameras, S16mm cameras and 35mm cameras to show to the creative community the wide range of possibilities offered by film technology. We will offer the opportunity to shoot images on film and answer questions you may have on shooting film for your next commercial.

Kodak Presents straight 8

Friday, October 7 at 5:00pm
Emerald Hall - GH Bernardin

Ed Sayers and Will Cummock of straight 8 will present a mindblowing 60 minute selection of the straight 8 films. straight 8 invites anyone, anywhere to make a short film on one cartridge of Kodak Super 8 film, without any editing or post.

Every year over 100 filmmakers, from novices to professionals take part. The first time successful entrants see their film is at one of straight 8's worldwide premieres, like at Cannes Film festival and Cannes Lions Advertising Festival where they showcase the very best entries from each year.

straight 8 and Kodak plan to inspire the best of New Europe to take part in straight 8 2012. Here’s what straight 8 founder, Ed Sayers, has to say: “Kodak has been supporting straight 8 for ten years and they originally took straight 8 to the Cannes Film Festival. We’re really excited about now going together to the mighty Golden Drum and sprinkling some seeds of inspiration: laying down our challenge to make an amazing 3 minute short film with NO creative brief. Kodak continues to make Super 8 versions of their latest beautiful film stocks (respect!!) – all we need are people with great ideas to film on them and the balls to pull it off with no re-takes!”

Kodak Sponsorship
Kodak are sponsors of the Golden Drum through the Virtuosa Awards

Each jury shall nominate a maximum of three entries from those included on the shortlist to receive the following special Virtuoso Awards:

Best Illustration for author of best illustration
Best Photography for author of best photography
Best Cinematography for director of photography of the best film clip

The Creative Party

October 7 at 6:00pm
Aurora Terase and Topic Bar - GH Bernardin
Invitation is required, please contact: fabien.fournillon@kodak.com or daniel.vecera@kodak.com

So if you’d like to follow the Golden Drum activities online and watch the videos remember the hashtags #Kodak #GoldenDrum on Twitter and bookmark the following links:

Kodak Motion Picture Film Facebook page
The Storyboard and 1000words Blogs
KodakShootFilm YouTube Channel
@Kodak_ShootFilm on Twitter – hashtags #Kodak #GoldenDrum

Toronto International Film Festival Recap

2011-09-20T14:54:00Z

Johanna Gravelle

The Toronto International Film Festival has come and gone for 2011. As I reflect back on the festival, I thought I would share with you some of my TIFF experiences and some of the people I bumped into at the Kodak events.

The week started with the Canadian Film Centre BBQ, an annual events that draws over 2000 people! Kodak sponsors the Kodak Film Industry Pavilion and enjoys snapping photos of our guests during the celebration. While mingling around the Kodak tent, I bumped into Canadian cinematographer Michael Jari Davidson. He was at the BBQ to network with colleagues and to promote a S16mm horror that he is hoping to shoot in the near future. He feels that the esthetics of S16 work really well for a horror film (I couldn’t agree more) and he is determined to get his producer to agree.

Michael Jari Davidson

Then I bumped into cinematographer/producer Amy Belling. Amy is a previous winner of a Kodak student award and has done us proud in the last few years. She has been very active in working some pretty big festivals – Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand and now TIFF! In her spare time, she is shooting commercials in LA. Way to go Amy!!! Check out her link – www.amybelling.com.

Amy Belling

Speaking of Kodak award winners, I also met Ana Valine (pictured here with Arthur Cooper, CSC) who was just announced as the Kodak New Vision Mentorship winner through WIFT-T. As part of the award, Ana will attend the festival and network with key industry professionals. She will also mentor with Laurie May, Alliance Films and with renowned Canadian Director Deepa Mehta. The best part of the award (at least in my opinion!) is the $5000 of Kodak Motion Picture film that Ana can use on her next feature.

Ana Valine and Arthur Cooper, CSC

The BBQ was a day full of good food, amazing weather and great conversations with our wonderful customers and industry partners.

Next up – parties. As you probably know, TIFF is well known for its glitzy parties. There is no shortage of them; the trick, however, is to get an invite! I was lucky enough to be invited to the WIFT-T reception @ TIFF and it was impressive. Taking place at the Pinewood Toronto Studios, there was amble room to mingle which is a rarity at most TIFF parties. WIFT-T also joined forces with the Canadian Broadcasters Corporation (CBC) and many CBC personalities were in attendance. Here is the Kodak Gang that attended:

(l-r)Eva Courtemanche, Pat Tiberio, Michel Golitzinsky, Rhonda Lockwood and Johanna Gravelle (me)

Off to another party… Reel World Indie Lounge Reception. Tonya Lee Williams (aka Dr. Oliva Barber Winters from the Young and the Restless) is the founder of the Reel World Film Festival that runs every April and the Indie Lounge that take place during TIFF. This year’s party was definitely the place to be and we managed to squeeze our way through the crowd to get a photo with the most popular girl of the night – Tonya!

(l-r) Michel Golitzinsky, Tonya Lee Williams and Rhonda Lockwood

The next day was the Reel World Indie Lounge and it is always popular with young filmmakers. Kodak has sponsored this event for many years, as it gives us the opportunity to interact with emerging filmmakers. This year the team gave a presentation on the many different choices filmmakers have with film formats.

Reel World Indie Lounge

Check out what Tonya has to say about the Indie Lounge:

The last person that I bumped into was Justin Lovell from framediscreet.com who came to the Indie Lounge to check out the latest from Kodak. Justin is an avid Super 8 and S16mm shooter – have a look at what he is up to at www.framediscreet.com. Justin was good enough to say a few words about his relationship to Kodak. Thanks Justin!!

All in all TIFF did not disappointment and I am looking forward to doing it all again next year!

The Kodak Scholarship Program

2011-09-12T14:54:00Z

Johanna Gravelle

As the manager of the Kodak Scholarship Program, I was fortunate enough this year to be able to screen the films of the top student nominations to the 2011 program, and to listen in on the judging session as the judges passionately debated who should be amongst the final five. All judges – a faculty member, a Kodaker and a veteran industry professional - had their favourites and it was a tough decision to come up with the ultimate winners.

Renowned Cinematographer Robbie Greenberg ASC stated; “The quality of work being done by these students is outstanding. The seriousness and poignancy of the subject matter the students explored was also impressive.” I had to agree with Robbie as I found the stories to be deeply personal and emotionally complex.

“The Mill” tells the story of an elderly man forced to commit an unspeakable act to spare his sick wife from an existence of misery. As a result of his actions, he must remove himself from his community and his only link to the outside world is through the village priest. This priest has another agenda as he wants no secrets amongst his “sheep”.

“While I Breathe” tackles a horrific topic that is all too common. It tells an intimate story about human trafficking and how one chance meeting between two people changes their lives forever. Filmed on the streets of Vancouver, the audience is shown a glimpse of a brutal world that is a reality for many young girls.

“Cake” focuses on a disease that many families with aging parents are faced with. The film captures a day in the life of a daughter caring for her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. We witness the daughter’s delight as her mother, Violet, has a moment of clarity and connects with her daughter in a way that is all too infrequent.

Cake from Nina Eve on Vimeo.

I must admit that these were not the type of films that I expected from a student competition. The maturity of the content and the level of skill required to tell these stories was far beyond my expectations. I was also impressed by the quality of the craft of filmmaking; the cinematography, directing, and editing were all exceptional. These nominated students represent the best of the best that the world has to offer.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Kodak Scholarship Program, here is a quick recap from our Press Release:

The Kodak Scholarship Program is an annual, international competition designed to recognize superior filmmaking skills and creativity of the next generation. This year’s program was a truly international affair with the winners representing five different countries, Czech Republic, Canada, South Africa, USA and Mexico:

Gold Award: Robert Hlozanka, from the Tomas Bata University in Zlin in the Czech Republic for The Mill. The award includes a $5,000 Kodak motion picture film product grant and a $1,500 cash tuition award.
Silver Award: Laura Good from the University of British Columbia in Canada for While I Breathe. The award includes a Kodak motion picture film grant valued at $4,000 and a $1,000 cash tuition award.
Bronze Award: Nina Slabber from AFDA: The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance for Cake. The award comes with a grant of $3,000 in Kodak motion picture film and a $500 cash tuition award.
Honorable Mention: Yaasib Vasquez Colmenares from Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica in Mexico for Que Importa Corazon. This award includes a $2,000 grant for Kodak motion picture film.

So, as I write this blog and summarize my own experience with these films and these emerging filmmakers, I have to say that I am comforted. The future of our industry is in good hands as these up and coming filmmakers are positioned very well to succeed in the “dog eat dog world” of the movies.

Filmmakers Work Focuses on Rebuilding After 9/11

2011-09-09T14:54:00Z

September eleventh means something different to each and every one of us. There are as many perspectives on those events as there are people around the world who were affected by this tragedy. Many artists have spent the last ten years reflecting on and expressing those perspectives, as well as documenting events for future generations. Kodak would like to recognize all of the artists and filmmakers for their many important works dedicated to recording this piece of history. Here are just two examples of those 9/11 chronicles.

Project Rebirth – A Living History of the Human Spirit Coping with Disaster chronicles both the reconstruction of the World Trade Center and serves as the stories of many who were affected by the tragedy. Learn more by visiting projectrebirth.org/film/

The Great Spirit in the Sky, by Marcus Robinson, is a theatrical documentary that follows workers from different trades committed to rebuild the World Trade Center and celebrates the human spirit and love for life. Learn more by visiting www.thegreatspiritinthesky.com

Celebrating the Best in Television

2011-08-29T14:54:00Z

We would like to give a heartfelt congratulations to the Emmy®-nominated cinematographers whose outstanding imagery is captured on Kodak film, including Stuart Dryburgh, ASC (Boardwalk Empire); Jonathan Freeman, ASC (Boardwalk Empire); Ed Lachman, ASC (Mildred Pierce); Kramer Morgenthau, ASC (Boardwalk Empire, Too Big To Fail); and Steven V. Silver, ASC (Two and a Half Men). We are honored that these talented artists who strive for the best choose Kodak products and services.

Mad Men

The 2011 Primetime Emmy® Awards will be presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences® this September, and Kodak is thrilled to be part of many of this year’s nominated programs including the most-nominated drama (Mad Men), television movie (Too Big To Fail) and miniseries (Mildred Pierce).

Mildred Pierce

We also applaud the amazing casts and crews of the many other Emmy®-nominated shows that Kodak has been fortunate to collaborate on over the past year, including Glee, 30 Rock, The Killing, Cinema Verite, True Blood, The Walking Dead, House, Men of a Certain Age, Big Love, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Rubicon.

Boardwalk Empire

In addition to the nominated primetime series, five spots nominated for Outstanding Commercial were created on Kodak film. Kudos to the creatives behind Conan, Questions, Polar Bear, Baby, and Born of Fire.

It’s been an extraordinary year in television filled with such memorable moments as Don Draper’s sudden engagement to Megan, Rachel and Finn’s big kiss on the stage at Nationals, and discovering Bill’s entire relationship with Sookie was a sham! Congratulations to all the nominees. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

Available Light Comparison Tests Shed Light on Formats

2011-07-29T14:54:00Z

A responsible director takes the question of production format very seriously. That decision has a major impact on how audiences will react to the story and characters. Other factors include cost concerns, story considerations, shooting style, and the emotions that filmmakers are hoping to evoke in the audience. Wise directors and producers depend on cinematographers to help wade through the hype and marketing claims to determine which format is best for a given story.

Brawley-Dennis film tests

Recently, two Australian filmmakers wanted to see with their own eyes the differences between various formats, and to get a sense of how they performed under difficult conditions. They wanted to compare metrics like resolution and clarity, but more importantly, to see how the images differed in less empirical, more instinctive ways.

Director Kate Dennis and cinematographer John Brawley were working on the television series Offspring when they began discussing a feature film that Dennis was developing called Almost French, based on the novel by Sarah Turnbull.

“The script for Almost French involved a fair amount of night shooting in Paris, a city effectively lit by the mayor,” says Dennis. “Having worked in the camera department, I had always been a bit skeptical about digital formats. I’d seen a few tests online, but I had never seen film and DCP projection directly compared, using footage from a variety of digital and film cameras.”

Brawley says that the question came up during a shoot under similar conditions for Offspring.

Brawley-Dennis film tests

“We’d been doing some scenes in very low light, urban environments just using the available street lighting,” he says. “Kate and I wondered if you could shoot scenes for a feature film using only minimal available light.”

Dennis’s directing credits include television productions The Secret Life Of Us, Rescue Me, Rush, Twisted Tales, MDA and telefilm The Alice. She is currently in pre-production on the ABC period drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

Brawley is a graduate of the Australian Film, Television & Radio School whose credits include the features The Perfect Host and Lake Mungo, and the television production Lowdown. He is currently shooting the series Tangle.

In order to answer their questions definitively, Dennis and Brawley devised a simple test. They wrote and staged a dramatic sequence consisting of 28 shots, and shot those 28 shots six times, each time with a different camera, in urban locations, using only existing lighting. They chose to use real actors, Jane Harber and Mike McLeish.

“We wanted to have the storytelling requirements inform our choices about how to shoot on the day,” says Brawley. “It would have been meaningless to go out and shoot landscapes of the city at night, so we realized we had to have actors in it.”

Dennis hoped to learn more about how a given format provokes an emotional response – the filmmaker’s stock-in-trade. “For me, the test was beyond test charts, dynamic range and resolution comparisons,” she says. “It became about an emotional connection to the format. I think John and I were ultimately both more interested in de-intellectualizing the test process, and revealing which format each of us had an instinctive preference for.”

Brawley-Dennis film tests

There were two film cameras, one in 35 mm 1.85 format, and the other in Super 16. These were loaded with KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 (7219 in the case of the smaller gauge). They also shot the scenes with the Arri Alexa, RED MX, Canon EOS 1DMK4 and a prototype of the not-yet-released Sony PMW F3.

The duo insisted on seeing the image projected on cinema screens. Deluxe Labs in Melbourne agreed to handle postproduction and to create both the final DCP and a 35mm print. Colourist Stanley Lopuszanski from Deluxe spent hours trying to get the most out of each format. Brawley and Dennis wanted each format to have its own characteristics and play to its strengths.

A 35mm print was struck and six versions of the same short sequence of shots were screened, followed by some direct side-by-side shots from each camera. A 200% blow up was included to reveal how the resolution held up. There was also a graded and ungraded comparison so viewers could judge how much or little information there was in the originals. Extra information is important because it gives filmmakers more creative flexibility during postproduction.

Meanwhile, the word spread and interest in the experiment grew. Eventually more than 200 people turned up to watch the 35mm print and DCP in the highly regarded cinemas at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne.

At first, the audience was not told which images were from which camera. Only three of the 200 assembled were confident enough to say that they could identify all six cameras correctly.

“I was very surprised at how well film did in an available light situation, when compared with the digital options,” says Dennis. “I still prefer the colour and skin tones on film, and the stock saw into the blacks as well as the Red or Alexa.

“I still adore film – but you need to calculate your audience response,” she says. “The digital formats are so clean – the resolution so astounding – that the qualities film brings (that humanising softness and luminosity) can't help but accrue meaning. The choice to use film is becoming a very deliberate one. Whether, in the end, we associate it with nostalgia, or something more compelling like truth – only time will tell.”

Brawley has been invited to present the test for members of SMPTE (the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers) in Sydney later this year.

“This was an extremely brutal test in lots of ways,” he says. “As if we were shooting a dogme film, we were only allowing ourselves what already existed and tried to make the most of that. Film certainly held its own, and outdid my expectations. The audience by a small margin preferred the look of the 35mm over all the other formats.”

“I certainly think for many stories out there, it is still the best choice,” Dennis concludes. “I can't imagine Terence Malick shooting The Tree of Life on a digital medium.”

Here’s to those who know Gold Lions are born from Gold Cans

2011-06-14T14:54:00Z

Madlen Nicolaus, Kodak Europe Social Media Manager, London, United Kingdom

Be sure to read all of the A Thousand Word blog posts from Cannes Lions:

Kodak roars into Cannes at the Cannes Lions festival of creativity - June 23, 2011
Young Director Awards showcase the future of advertising - June 25, 2011
The great boat debate about the future of film - June 26, 2011
20 short films, one cartridge of Super 8, no editing – a REEL Challenge! - July 5, 2011

It is only one week until the great and the good of the global advertising industry meet in Cannes for the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity from June 19th – 25th. More than 8,000 people from all areas of communications and creative thinking, from around the world, will come together in Cannes to inspire, debate and enjoy themselves.

In honor of the amazing and inspiring commercials that were shot this year, Kodak will be hosting different events on board of the private yacht “Sunny Dream”.

As Cannes is one of the biggest festivals for inspiring creativity in the world, we will document all the events and share them with you in real-time. We will update you via Twitter, daily posts on our 1000words blog, and most importantly we’ll share exclusive “Kodak Cannes Lions 2011 Video Interviews”. We will talk with DOP’s, art directors, copywriters, producers and all kinds of creative minds from the world of communications who will be in Cannes. Cannes Lions is also the time of year, when Kodak honors emerging talent by being the main sponsor of the Young Director Awards. Kodak will not only attend the Award Ceremony in Cannes on Wednesday, June 22nd and share exclusive interviews with the winners, but will also invite them to a champagne toast on the Sunny Dream.

On Friday, Kodak will end the Cannes Lions week with a breakfast for the Straight 8 community just before the premiere of the very best 8 to 12 Straight 8 masterpieces from around the world. Each of them shot on a single roll of super 8mm with no editing. You can be sure that we will share many video impressions and sound bites from the young creative’s from our boat.

So if you would like to follow the Cannes Lions activities online and watch the video interviews, remember the hashtags #Kodak #CannesLions on Twitter and bookmark the following links:

Kodak Motion Picture Film Facebook page
The Storyboard and 1000words blogs
Kodak Shoot Film YouTube Channel
@KodakShootFilm on Twitter – hashtags #Kodak #CannesLions

If you are attending one of our events on the yacht Sunny Dream at Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, or if you are in the area, don’t forget to check in the “Kodak Boat Cannes Lions” Place on Foursquare to have a chance of winning a Kodak PlayTouch Pocket Video Cameras we will be giving away.

We hope you enjoy our live coverage and would love to hear your thoughts either on our blog, on YouTube or via Twitter.

Capturing the Triple Crown on Super 8

2011-06-13T14:54:00Z

Secretariat wins the 1973 Triple Crown - by Bob Gately

Bob Gately became a horse lover when he saw Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney in National Velvet when he was 10 years old. Little did he know that later in life, he would shoot some rare and valuable motion pictures of horses.

Gately started bringing his Cavalier Super 8 movie camera to the Belmont racetrack in 1971, when an unlikely rags-to-riches horse named Canonero II was generating tremendous hype as a Triple Crown candidate. Canonero II had surprised everyone by winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, and a victory at the Belmont Stakes would make the horse the first since Citation in 1948 to complete horseracing’s ultimate feat.

Canonero II failed, but two years later, Gately caught lightning in a bottle. Secretariat won the Belmont by 31 lengths and broke the record by two seconds. Gately was thrilled to have captured such a historic victory on film.

“The secret was gaining the right spot in the first tier grandstand,” Gately recalls. “I was able to stand in the aisle and work my way to the upper tier rail, where I could lean over and have an unobstructed view. There were unruly people all around me who in the excitement were pushing and shoving and yelling and pounding. I had to use my arm as a kind of Steadicam to try and hold the camera still and get a decent shot. As far as the images were concerned, that was easy. I used Kodak film and processing, and the results speak for themselves.”

Gately was hooked, and he proceeded to capture two more Triple Crown winners as they crossed the finish line – Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978, who fought off a thrilling challenge from Ayldar to win by a nose.

“Starting about 10 years later, I’ve always rooted against any Triple Crown contender going into the Belmont because I wanted my collection of three Triple Crown winners to remain unique,” he says. “I definitely feel a sense of pride.”

Race enthusiasts today say that the Triple Crown has become more unlikely because horses are now bred and trained to excel at specific distances.

Gately knows that his images will last because they are on film. He has had them transferred to digital for easy viewing, and he sent a copy of Steve Cauthen, the jockey who rode Affirmed to victory.

“I guess my favorite is Secretariat,” he says, “because I saw the feature film and learned about the dramatic backstory of the owner, who had financial difficulties before Secretariat’s great run. I’ll never forget panning back 31 lengths after Secretariat crossed the finished line before finding the second place horse.”

Today, Gately is an award-winning scriptwriter. Because he caught those treasured moments on film, his memories will literally never fade. He’s also hoping to hit the trifecta – those rare images might turn out to be valuable as well.

Meet Nazar Melconian, Wedding Cinematographer

2011-06-10T14:54:00Z

Nazar Melconian

Of Armenian heritage, born in Baghdad raised in the UK and Canada. Now making a living between Toronto, Canada and soon San Francisco, California. After university I spent a year working as a junior art director for a small agency producing billboard, magazine and corporate press campaigns in Sydney, Australia. Truthfully it was a means to afford travel and experience…shortly there-after I left for Asia and Europe travelling with backpack. Lover of life, people, music, staying fit with Muay Thai Kickboxing, making short films, eating Pho & Thai food!

I make retro-chic super 8mm fine art wedding+lifestyle films at the company I cofounded MIMMO & NAZ INC.

Where are you located?

Toronto is home, but i am beyond lucky to have my clients find me from all over the world!

How did you get your start filming weddings?

I never saw the wedding industry as the right fit for what I was doing creatively. I thought I would be in advertising or film-making. Prior to my pursuits in anything creative, I was law school bound as an English Literature major. After graduation I spent a couple of years traveling all over the world , extensively through Europe, Asia and settling in Sydney, Australia. While there, I worked for an advertising agency as a Junior Art Director and produced billboard ads, and magazine/print advertisements. It was when I came back to Toronto, Canada as best man for my best friend’s wedding where I met Mimmo, the “photography” part of MIMMO & NAZ. Part of my speech at my friend’s wedding was a film presentation that looked back at their life story both as individuals and as a couple. It was a huge success and a bit of an eye opener for me. Mimmo and I discussed photography, cinema and exchanged stories about our working lives. We both saw an opportunity, he was a photographer in the wedding industry and I was a filmmaker and someone who was about to shop his portfolio around. We launched MIMMO & NAZ, where coffee shops and couple’s homes were our offices the first year. But we believed in each other’s work and so did every one of our clients. It was difficult the first two years; we started from nothing, just an idea and a lot of determination. The industry has changed greatly since that time. Today everything from equipment accessibility, education, to social networks, to even general quality of creative is at a premium and competitive. Early on Super 8mm film was a hard sell to a marketplace that cringed at the very thought of wedding videos.

Did you have any formal training in filmmaking?

I went back to my alma mater and took film, animation, still photography, printing and cinema theory classes in their continuing education program. I learned the tools. I got to actually hold film, hand process the film, cut, splice both super 8mm and 16mm Kodak films. I shot on Bolexs, Nizzo’s and Arri…I got to sit-in on the Kodak cinematographer’s series where filmmakers, specifically DP’s from all over would come in monthly and do a full day presentation on their works. They would talk about their decisions on lenses, film stock, lighting, blocking working with directors.

The best education was, and still is, travel & lots and lots of movies. I have all of Criterion’s DVD collections and am specifically in love with Mexican, Spanish, and French (New Wave more so) cinema. My collection of DVD’s to be quite honest cost more than some people’s cars.

What’s your creative style or vision for wedding cinematography?

I have always been romantic yet incredibly pragmatic and simple in my approach and style. I love weddings. I really do have the best job in the world from the perspective that I am a part of two people’s most precious time together as they embark on their new life! I feel honored to be invited (and the way I shoot I feel like a guest and not some guy with a camera) at this moment in their entire family’s life. I have teared-up, smiled, laughed and shared so many moments over the years with my clients. It’s love and it’s the power of their love that I try to connect to on every job.

What role does film play in achieving that for you and what made you choose the super 8mm format?

Why I chose to work solely with super 8mm or 16mm film is because the film is organic, its intrinsic flaws are as much a part of its draw and value to me. It’s certainly a medium in my eyes that allows me to express and connect to the human heart. HD video is too sharp, too clean and too visceral. It almost instantly disconnects me from the emotion of what I am seeing or hearing. There is a psychology to film, to specifically super 8mm film, and it resonates with people’s memories and connection to family and their past. What’s interesting is that even with the younger group of couples getting married who have no history or knowledge of super 8, the aesthetic still makes this memory-sensory connection. It’s full of character, charm and just makes a lot of sense to both my clients and myself. It’s more a fine art piece that’s truthful, emotional and closest to how we remember experiencing a moment in our lives!

What do you think draws your clients?

I am very passionate about my work, about film and the notion of love and connection with every interaction I have with people getting married. Its connecting to your audience and letting story dictate medium of choice, lenses, film stocks, blocking of a shot everything must have a direct purpose in serving the story and in weddings more so the feeling I am attempting to elicit from my audience. I need to connect to my clients in the way I approach life (whether it be food, music, people, travel) to make what I do feel real, honest and playful! I pretty much fall in love with all of my brides and admire each of their husbands and all of their families that entrust me to document their day. Pure and simple, I feel blessed with what I do every day and that shows in how I shoot, approach their day and actually piece the film together. I do feel I bring a keen eye and sense of romance with none of the cheese or self-indulgences that one with a camera could bring...the music choices I make and how I edit my stories…they flicker in and out like one’s own sweet life memories.

How do they respond when they receive their final films?

Clients tend to call in the middle of the night crying (happy kind) or it was emailing me when I don’t answer the call letting me know that it’s the best decision! The last two years have been exceptional and moving because clients are going out of their way with “thank you” gifts and letters of love. Long lasting friendships have come about from a lot of these weddings. This Thursday I am invited for dinner with a couple who hired me to document their wedding last year in Genoa, Italy. I feel lucky. I have one Californian couple, both lawyers who met in LA courts, get married in Palm Springs. Her father was under the weather on the wedding night such that he was unable to have that father & daughter dance. I woke that morning and saw her teary by the foot of the stairs to the Colony Palms and I knew in my heart exactly what to do. I told her the next morning, before my flight back to Toronto, to have her dad and herself put on their wedding dress & tux and to meet us 6am on Santa Monica Pier where I wanted them to have THEIR moment father & daughter dance.I have this special footage as one of the vimeo samples in this article. She wrote me how she will never forget this gift.

Do you have a favorite stock to shoot with?

The major change has been the KODAK VISION3 film stocks. The 7213 specifically but also the 7219 provide a tight grain structure and latitude that I have so much to work with – especially shooting on the East Coast where the sunlight is far from everyday…nothing beats natural light. It’s exciting to not be getting noise on a stock that otherwise feels like something rated at less than 200 ASA!!! Blown away by the stock advancements, I pray Kodak keeps making Super 8mm. I love the grains and contrast in Tri-X which I especially took advantage of on my California road-trip vacation film which I scanned in HD which you can see here: http://vimeo.com/24322038

What postproduction path do you follow: What facility do you use for the transfer? Do you scan at HD or other resolution for the editing portion of your projects? On what system do you edit the films?

I use two labs for processing: Exclusive for the Reversal stock Tri-X 7266, the Ektachrome 7285 and Niagara Custom Film for all my Negative films: Vision 3 200T 7213, and Vision 3 500T 7219. Once the film reel is in hand I am now doing all of my own scans in-house! This is a major change that will afford my clients, and myself as the creative, better control on color, resolution and general quality. I am doing Frame by Frame scanning with HD capabilities! All my editing is done on Macs running Final Cut Pro.

How has your work evolved over your career? Have advancements in technology - for example, film stocks, lenses, camera mounts, etc. - changed the way you shoot a project?

Commercial and music video houses are now approaching me to direct productions originating entirely on super 8mm/16mm or specifically they want the emotional feel I can bring to story and subject...so I hope this part of my career takes off in the coming years. I am hopeful! My ultimate goal is to direct films/music videos/commercials. I have written two scripts and am going to produce the short form.

I recently was approached by Renata Kaveh a top 5 Canadian Female Fashion photographer to shoot, direct, music produce and edit a fashion film – my influences - Hitchcock, Guy Bourdin & David Lynch. Here is that fashion film: http://vimeo.com/15872327

Tina & Brandon - Never Too Late For A Dance With from MIMMO & NAZ on Vimeo.

See More

http://www.nazfilms.com
naz@nazfilms.com http://twitter.com/#!/nazfilms
Telephone: +1(416) 319-7240
Facebook: Nazar Melconian

More Super 8mm love!

Meet Lola Video, Wedding Cinematographers

2011-06-09T14:54:00Z

Gina & Josh of Lola Video (photo by Joel Serrato)

Lola Video is made up of Gina (that’s me) & Josh (that’s him). We are a husband & wife team. I am the primary shooter & creative editor. As an artist loving different forms of medium, Super 8 film was a natural progression. I absolutely love its nostalgic look & feel as well as everything about it, right down to the sound the “vintage cameras” make when shooting.

Josh, on the other hand, is a music freak. He is constantly searching for newer up-and-coming artists for use in our films. Since there is no sound in the world of Super 8mm, Josh’s background as a DJ/SoundRecorder has become invaluable. Sound recording and capturing the audio from your ceremony vows is something I leave up to him. Then later, in the final edit I “sync sound” bringing the film & sound to life in a finished product you’ll want to watch over and over. Josh also second shoots for me and talks with prospective clients to get everything worked out in securing our bookings.

Where are you located?

Ventura, California

How did you get your start filming weddings?

Having a husband that was already in the industry as a DJ, I had accompanied him for a few years and had grown fond of weddings. Seeing the need for great wedding films as most wedding videos were quite cheesy, I decided to give cinematography a try and started Lola Video in 2004.

Did you have any formal training in filmmaking?

Other than going to Art School , I have always been a self learner. I learned how to film & edit thru the internet with online tutorials. I also learned from other professionals that were kind enough to help. Along with lots of practice & experience I learned to perfect the medium I was using.

What’s your creative style or vision for wedding cinematography?

I want to create films that our couples will want to watch year after year. Something they can look back on and cherish, and hopefully share with their children & grandchildren in the future. So I like to keep our films simple & elegant, not using tons of effects or music that is very overused.

What role does film play in achieving that for you and what made you choose the super 8mm format?

When I first saw a Super 8 film, I was instantly hooked. I immediately fell in love with the vintage look that is natural to Super 8. The dust particles, grain & natural flicker of light became beautiful in my eyes as an art form. I knew I wanted to learn everything about it.

What do you think draws your clients?

I think most of our clients are drawn to our style of editing and especially the music we choose. We strive to find music that is fresh, new and that fits the personality of each couple. I also think they like the fact that we are not obtrusive on the day of the wedding, but try to blend in so that we capture the natural reaction of them & their guests socializing.

How do they respond when they receive their final films?

Our clients are thrilled when they receive their finished film. Below are a couple quick quotes from some of the thank you cards we’ve received:

“LOVE LOVE LOVE the video! LOVE LOVE LOVE the presentation...I opened the package and thought I’d sent myself a gift...you are my kindred creative spirit! I love how you took all the details to pull together the most BEAUTIFUL and SWEET and STUNNING treat!”

“ We are thanking our lucky stars for finding you. By far you were our greatest investment and the joy, beauty and grace with which you captured our wedding day will forever be captured in our hearts...if only I could carry your talent around in my pocket and be able to share in your ability to illuminate the beauty in the most memorable days of our lives.”

“We wanted to thank you for our beautiful wedding video. Aaron & I have had numerous “showings” at our house & love how all the little nuances were captured. One of our best decisions was using you, other than getting married.”

Do you have a favorite stock to shoot with?

I love Kodak’s VISION3 200T & 500T for color and Tri-X Reversal for B&W. The color is great for all the details & skin tones. The 200T has nice, rich, sharp color and the 500T is fast enough for lower lighting conditions such as in church settings or at sunset. Tri-X black & white is just timeless and I love the contrast. It is always a must-have in any of our films.

What postproduction path do you follow: What facility do you use for the transfer? Do you scan at HD or other resolution for the editing portion of your projects? On what system do you edit the films?

Spectra FIlm & Video is the lab we use and highly recommend. They do an awesome job in developing & transferring all the footage onto a hard drive. Once we receive it we then edit it on a MacPro with Final Cut Pro.

How has your work evolved over your career? Have advancements in technology - for example, film stocks, lenses, camera mounts, etc. - changed the way you shoot a project?

I used to use Nizo camera’s when I first got into Super 8mm filming, but now use Canon cameras. I love the 514 to use with Kodak’s Tri-X B&W film stock and the 1014 for anything in color, namely the Vision 3 200T & 500T film stocks. Also, I have learned how to record the audio for the ceremony & toasts in a much more mobile & professional way that I can use to incorporate into our wedding films.

Super 8mm wedding ~ Firestone Crossroads Estate ~ Los Olivos wedding ~ Aubrey + Nick from lolavideo.net on Vimeo.

See More

http://lolavideo.net/
http://www.facebook.com/lolavideo.net
https://twitter.com/#!/lolavideo

More Super 8mm love!

Meet Forever Films, Wedding Cinematographers

2011-06-08T14:54:00Z

Forever Films

Forever Films, is a boutique wedding cinematography company. We are a company of working directors, cinematographers, and editors living and working in Hollywood.

Forever Films was originally started by Logan Hefflefinger, a film editor in Los Angeles. A romantic and artist, as Logan and his then fiance were planning their wedding he decided he could not bear to have a camcorder following them around on their wedding day. He wanted to tell a story of the wedding day from the bride, groom and guests’ perspectives. He wanted it to be beautiful and nostalgic. And so Forever Films began.

Where are you located?

Santa Monica, CA

How did you get your start filming weddings?

The first wedding we filmed was our own in Savannah, GA. I hired my 2 director friends from LA to fly to Savannah to shoot it. We fell in love with the process and the product and just continued from there.

Did you have any formal training in filmmaking?

I was a graphic design and film major in college. I am also a professional film editor in Los Angeles. In college I fell in love with film when I took a class on Super 8. I made and edited my first film with Super 8. It is such a beautiful and sincere format.

What’s your creative style or vision for wedding cinematography?

We choose to shoot Super 8 and 16mm film to evoke emotion that immediately makes our films timeless. Our goal is to tell a story. A story about love and family from all different perspectives. This sometimes gets lost in the emotion and business of the day and it is very important for us to keep true to this. We take this emotion and tie it to a very real and beautiful shot selection. Our end product leaves you with a film that helps the bride and groom truly relive their wedding day in the purest form. And it is one of the only wedding videos that other people love watching as well. Not just the bride and groom.

What role does film play in achieving that for you and what made you choose the super 8mm format?

Film is the only format that can translate what is shot into an emotional piece and reach straight to the heart. It is not something that can really be explained to just anyone, unfortunately. It is so visual that people have to see it before they fully understand the integrity of film.

What do you think draws your clients?

Our end product is different than any other wedding film out there. It is a work of art based on something very personal. It is irreplaceable and priceless. From the shots, to the music and the final edit...it is done with integrity and a genuine desire for perfection. Our films are extremely unique and special, leaving the bride, groom, and anyone else that watches with the desire to watch them over and over again.

How do they respond when they receive their final films?

We have had a lot of reactions. Probably my favorite are the calls from the bride and groom right after they watch their wedding film. I usually coordinate with the groom and have him surprise his bride. They call me and are crying and so joyful. I remember that feeling. That first moment right after they see it for the first time is unlike any other. It's why I keep doing this. It's something you just can't put into words. I remember how my wife and I reacted the first time we watched ours. It is extremely rewarding being able to provide that same experience to someone else. I am a perfectionist and it is certainly time consuming and hard work. We typically only commit to five a year due to the fact that I am a true film editor and am quite busy. It is so important to me that I have the appropriate time to dedicate to each story in order to make it perfect.

Do you have a favorite stock to shoot with?

Well you can't beat KODACHROME. I miss that. I definitely love to shoot reversal whenever possible. Now, I'd say my favorite color stock is EKTACHROME and my favorite black and white is Plus-X. It's nice to shoot with stocks that I've shot with for 15 years.

What postproduction path do you follow: What facility do you use for the transfer? Do you scan at HD or other resolution for the editing portion of your projects? On what system do you edit the films?

I like to try and keep everything at one facility. I will use typically use Spectra Film & Video or Super 8 Sound. Ideally I would buy all my own Kodak stocks and transfer at Cinelicious, but my budgets just don't allow for this. I still transfer and cut in standard def. Keeping it old school. I cut on Avid as well.

How has your work evolved over your career? Have advancements in technology - for example, film stocks, lenses, camera mounts, etc. - changed the way you shoot a project?

Our films have gotten better over time. I've learned what shots to get and what shots really play well in the final wedding stories. I have also tried almost every film stock out there and have found my favorites for every situation. We also shoot multiple cameras to get different stock and coverage.

Advancements in technology have only hurt my process I'd say. It has made everything that I do even more rare. Using film is a growing rarity in itself these days. I use cameras as old as the 40's to the 70's. So camera parts, batteries, etc are just harder to find. Prices have gone up with this growing rarity of old cameras, film, and facilities that provide services.

Unfortunately because of this, we find that very few people choose to put wedding budget towards the film. They do not always see the importance of capturing these memories during the planning period. We have even had several people decide not to book due to budget constraints and call after the fact with complete regret. They wish they had just made the investment, because there is no way to really capture that day like we are able to do. Of course we hate hearing from people with regrets. We say invest in your memories over the napkins, programs & toss bouquet. There really are more valuable and important things that you just do not realize until after the fact.

Savannah wedding shot on Super 8 & 16mm film from Forever Films on Vimeo.

See More

www.foreverfilms.net
http://vimeo.com/foreverfilms
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forever-Films-Wedding-Cinematography/287083033128

More Super 8mm love!

Meet Megan Hill, Wedding Cinematographer

2011-06-07T14:54:00Z

Megan Hill (photo by Martin Usborne)

A self-proclaimed movie junkie, Megan learned all about makin' movies (back when there was still cutting and splicing) at Emerson College. After a number of years working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and then starting her own graphic design studio in New York, Megan's love of retro filmmaking took over.

In 2007, she dusted off her old super 8 camera and filmed her friend's wedding as a gift. According to Megan, capturing the most intimate moments of that big day was the best feeling. And once her friend received the film and sent her a tearful message of joy, Megan knew she was onto something. She was meant to spread this happiness to people who also appreciated the grainy, saturated, gorgeous quality of real FILM! And thus Hello Super 8 was born.

Where are you located?

My company is based in Brooklyn, NY but we have a team of cinematographers based in Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest. And we travel all over for events!

How did you get your start filming weddings?

I shot a good friend's wedding as a gift on an old super 8 camera I had tucked back in my closet. I absolutely loved being behind the scenes on such an intimate occasion and shooting on film was such a thrill. Getting my film back from the lab is always like Christmas morning!

Did you have any formal training in filmmaking?

Yes, I majored in film production at Emerson College in Boston and worked in the film industry in various capacities for a few years.

What’s your creative style or vision for wedding cinematography?

My creative style is all about capturing the fun and spirit of the day. I try to focus on the unique personalities of my clients and their communities that come together to celebrate with them. I specifically like to document the range of emotions and the small details that contribute to telling the story of their day in a short but sweet film.

What role does film play in achieving that for you and what made you choose the super 8mm format?

Super 8 is the perfect format for my vision because it makes me practice patience. Instead of just shooting off hours of digital video (and sifting through endless footage in the editing room), I have to watch intently and wait to get my perfect shot. I'm essentially editing the film in my head as I shoot so I have to be very careful and think ahead before I pull the trigger.

What do you think draws your clients?

First and foremost, our clients are drawn to us by our body of work. A lot of people don't even consider investing in a wedding video these days but after they see that wedding films can be done tastefully with a fun and artistic flare, their minds change. We hear that people love watching the wedding films of perfect strangers, so they can only imagine what it would be like to see their own story on film. And then there's the fact that we tend to have as much fun as the wedding guests and blend easily into every party (we're known to sip a glass of champagne and do the electric slide at the end of the night).

How do they respond when they receive their final films?

Our clients are thrilled with the results of their films. The couples that were on the fence about getting a wedding video often tell us that having a film of their day is the best decision they made in their planning process. They adore watching their film over and over, sharing it with their loved ones and having an archival piece of their family history that will be passed down for generations.

Do you have a favorite stock to shoot with?

My favorite stocks tend to be VISION3 200 & 500T. The negative stocks look particularly lovely for weddings and the latitude has been great for low light situations. I also have to give a shout out to EKTACHROME 100D... I just love that retro super saturated look!

What postproduction path do you follow: What facility do you use for the transfer? Do you scan at HD or other resolution for the editing portion of your projects? On what system do you edit the films?

My go-to lab is Spectra Film and Video in Burbank, CA. They take their time with their transfers and color corrections and deliver superior results. I have scanned at HD but typically stick with SD, as it's the native super 8 format. I edit all my work in Final Cut Pro.

How has your work evolved over your career? Have advancements in technology - for example, film stocks, lenses, camera mounts, etc. - changed the way you shoot a project?

My work has evolved on a trial and error basis, like most businesses. My first film was shot on a very plastic Minolta model. I got a decent picture but it was pretty fuzzy and the night time footage was just plain bad. Over the course of 4 years, I've tested various cameras, stocks, lights and labs and have finally found a winning combination to get beautiful images. The Vision 3 stocks have greatly improved the footage of low light conditions and investing in professional grade Canon & Nikon cameras have given me fantastic image quality (and very sore arms by the end of a shoot!). :)

Hello Super 8 Weddings from Hello Super 8 on Vimeo.

See More

http://hellosuper8.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/hellosuper8
http://www.facebook.com/HelloSuper8

More Super 8mm love!

Meet Joel Serrato, Wedding Cinematographer

2011-06-06T14:54:00Z

Joel Serrato (photo by Jose Villa)

I am a sucker for LOVE, I am in love with movement, moments, laughter, light and life!

I am so thankful that I found cinematography in the medium of super 8 film; it's something that I am extremely passionate about, and it’s my personal goal and inspiration to capture moments that will evoke the same feelings in someone else, as I feel when I am capturing them.

My films are not your typical two hour long wedding videos; I love to capture snippets of wedding celebrations in a fine art form using super 8 film. My technique creates an elegant, beautiful, nostalgic look that is truly one of a kind.

Where are you located?

I am located in Solvang CA, a little town modeled after Denmark where houses have wood shingle roofs and look like something out of a movie set ;) yes, my house also has wood shingles and I love it!

How did you get your start filming weddings?

I started filming weddings by total accident; I was practically thrown into the situation and from there on my passion developed for motion film. Suddenly, my passion for music and everything that has to do with editing now made total sense in my life, so I quit the corporate job and I decided to pursue filming weddings all on super 8 film only.

Did you have any formal training in filmmaking?

I am completely self taught, even the post editing portion on FCP, lots of trial and error before I finally made the connection with my approach to direction, filming, and editing my final films. I just focused on educating my clients on lighting and placing them in comfortable environments where they could be themselves, this I believe makes successful filmmaking always.

What’s your creative style or vision for wedding cinematography?

I truly believe that my "style" or "vision" really stems from simply shooting film. It’s as simple as that. I do not own a digital camera at all. Like every other filmmaker, my eye is unique. You can put 10 filmmakers in 1 room and if everyone films the same subject you will still have 10 very different results. I love light, so that is the first thing I search for always. And, I love simplistic backgrounds that make for timeless memories. Direction is definitely key in my approach to achieving great moments, simple subtle direction makes everyone loosen up and be themselves which is the best ever!

What role does film play in achieving that for you and what made you choose the super 8mm format?

I am extremely passionate about super 8 film, it's the reason I do what I do. I cannot see any other way, I feel like my clients really connect to it as well and from what they tell me it reminds them of their dreams and memories and that is exactly what I want to hear.

What do you think draws your clients?

Emotion definitely draws my clients to my film-work; I’ve been told that many times: "Joel's work with Super 8 film and vintage cameras produces a romantic and timeless quality that always gets our emotions flowing, but another thing he's amazing at is choosing the perfect music to narrate each couple's story."

How do they respond when they receive their final films?

My clients are the driving force to why I love filming weddings. They really appreciate what I do for them and how I capture and create memories for them for a lifetime. Making memories for my clients is my absolute goal with my approach to creating films in the first place. Without their emotions in my films I would have no business, at all.

Here is a recent comment that I have received:

“I don't know what to say - the film is the most important thing I own now along with our wedding pictures. The song is perfect - so perfect I literally don't know what to say - you must hear it all the time, but your work is incredible. Matt and I watched the short film multiple times last night and it made me really, really happy - the entire day came back to us and I’m extremely grateful you were there created these memories for us.”

Do you have a favorite stock to shoot with?

Favorite stock films: all negative, love the 200T VISION3 and 500T VISION3 and of course the Tri-X.

What postproduction path do you follow: What facility do you use for the transfer? Do you scan at HD or other resolution for the editing portion of your projects? On what system do you edit the films?

As far as development/editing goes I use Spectra Film and Video in Los Angeles, I wouldn't trust anyone else with such precious footage, they do an incredible job with all of my work! At the moment I prefer not to scan in HD, I feel this medium is unique and classic and I am just not ready to go that step with my work. Final Cut Pro is what I use to do my editing, the best program ever and so easy to use...

How has your work evolved over your career? Have advancements in technology - for example, film stocks, lenses, camera mounts, etc. - changed the way you shoot a project?

I shoot hand held always, I feel super 8 film gives such nostalgic freedom to where it doesn't have to be too perfect and I love my work that way. Super 8 film has helped me create a niche product in this digital world today and I am grateful for that, I’m an artist first and foremost and my clients choose my eye for that. Creating lifestyle films for my clients and capturing memories that will last a lifetime has created the most gratifying career for me.

tara & chris from joel serrato on Vimeo.

See More

http://joelserratofilms.com
http://joelserratoblog.com
http://twitter.com/#!/jsfilms

More Super 8mm love!

Lights. Camera. Cannes!

2011-05-06T14:54:00Z

Fabien Fournillon

As the Marketing Communications Manager for Entertainment Imaging based in France, I’m proud to have a front-row seat at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival recognizing the artistry and creative passions of the motion picture industry. I will be there with the Kodak team to support our customers and industry partners during the festival. You can meet up with us at the Kodak booth at the Short Film Corner (Cannes Film Market) from Wednesday, May 11, through Friday, May 20, from 9:00am to 6:30pm. I encourage you to visit the www.kodak.com/go/cannes website to find your local Kodak sales representative’s schedule, our schedule of events and all of the exciting news from the festival.

Through the years, Kodak’s involvement in the festival has put the spotlight on many directors who have shot their films on Kodak. This year is no different with the opening night film of Woody Allen's latest feature, Midnight in Paris, which was shot on 35 mm (KODAK VISION3 200T Color Negative Film 5213). Midnight in Paris a romantic comedy about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better and stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates.

Also, Terrence Malik’s The Tree of Life will make it’s much-anticipated worldwide premiere at Cannes and was also shot on Kodak film. The story centers around a family with three boys in the 1950s and stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. Terrence Malick and Emmanuel Lubezki used a mix of 35 mm film and regular 65 mm to create an impressionistic cinematic experience. In this InCamera interview, Academy Award® nominated Emmanuel Lubezki reveals his collaboration with Malick and how they achieved the look of the film. These films are testament to the fact that directors, producers and cinematographers continue to trust film origination for the highest quality and very best results.

I encourage you to join our Kodak Motion Picture Film Facebook group and follow @KodakShootFilm on Twitter to stay in touch and get the latest news during the Cannes Film Festival.

Fabien Fournillon
Marketing Communications Manager
Kodak EI Europe Africa and Middle East Region

Movie_Making,_Earth_Day_and_You

2011-04-14T14:54:00Z

Consistent with George Eastman’s legacy of social responsibility, Kodak people involved in product development have long considered the potential environmental impacts of our products. One of the methods employed is life-cycle assessment, which considers each phase of a product life cycle. Typically, these include raw material acquisition, manufacturing processes, product distribution, use, and end-of-life management. The primary purpose of life-cycle assessment is to identify product attributes that offer the greatest opportunity for improvement.

Recently, I had the opportunity to review a life-cycle assessment conducted for motion picture workflows. The study began with the manufacture of film and concluded with the movie theater experience and a consideration of archiving technologies. As you might expect, a variety of opportunities emerged across all phases. For example, the study validated our ongoing commitment to conserve resources during manufacturing (over the last 30 years, we have reduced the materials needed to sensitize film by one third and the energy and water required to manufacture film by one half). The study also highlighted the potential of our new laser projection technology to reduce energy consumption at theaters.

Still, we understand there is opportunity to improve. Others in the motion picture workflow can help, too. For example, studios can continue to find ways to reduce environmental impact during the movie shoot. A recent example is the movie “Inception.” Portable solar panels were used to run generators on the set. In addition, facilities like Kodak’s Cinesite can use small-scale models and visual effects to reduce the materials and energy that would otherwise be needed for a life-size scene.

But as I review this assessment report and think about Earth Day 2011, I’m reminded that doing the right thing for the environment is not just about a few people focusing on the big things. We can also have a positive impact on the environment by mobilizing many people focusing on even the small things. And it isn’t about one day.

The theme for Earth Day 2011 is A Billion Acts of Green.® This campaign emphasizes the powerful impact of individual actions. From planting trees to washing clothes in cold water, the commitment of people in large numbers to live sustainably can make a positive difference. So I hope you, too, will consider pledging an “act of green”.

Just a suggestion, but using public transportation or carpooling to the movie theater helps, too.

If you would like to learn more about our efforts at Kodak, please visit www.kodak.com/go/sustainability.

If you would like to learn more about Earth Day 2011, information is available at www.earthday.org.

Meet_Dick_Szembrot

2011-04-13T14:54:00Z

Dick Szembrot is Director of Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability for Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. During his 28-year career with Kodak, he has held numerous positions, most with an emphasis on environmental issues and technology. He holds a B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas and is registered as a Professional Engineer in New York State. Dick enjoys supporting the motion picture industry in his current role, and is proud to be part of Kodak’s effort to lessen environmental impact through product and technology innovation.

Format_Choices_Webinar_With_Roberto_Schaefer,_ASC

2011-03-24T14:54:00Z

Roberto Schaefer, ASC. Photo by Douglas Kirkland

I am very excited to kick off Kodak’s Choices Webinar on Wednesday, April 6. We are thrilled to share the news that cinematographer Roberto Schaefer, ASC will be join on our discussion. Schaefer recently shot the much-anticipated Machine Gun Preacher, due in theatres in September.

I also want to let you know that Matthew Libatique, ASC will unfortunately not be able to join us as planned due to an unforeseen conflict in scheduling.

During the webinar, we will cover Super 16mm, 2-perf and 3-perf formats. Roberto will share his extensive experience and observations on using a variety of formats. This will be a rare opportunity to learn how he approaches decisions about formats and post paths based on the artistic and financial parameters of the project. It also offers a unique opportunity for attendees to interact and ask questions.

Roberto Schaefer, ASC recently reteamed with director Marc Forster on the much-anticipated Machine Gun Preacher, releasing in September. Schaefer and Forster have previously collaborated on Quantum of Solace, The Kite Runner, Monster’s Ball, Stay, Finding Neverland, and Stranger Than Fiction, among others. Schaefer’s credits also include Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, For Your Consideration, and Leaves of Grass. Schaefer’s work on Finding Neverland earned him a 2005 BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography. In addition to feature films, Schaefer has shot numerous documentaries and hundreds of commercials and music videos around the world.

I hope that you will join us for an enlightening conversation about format choices available to today's filmmakers. This free, one-hour Webinar begins at 11 a.m. (PDT)/ 2 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, April 6, 2011.

To learn more about your Film Format Choices, visit www.kodak.com/go/choices

To download Film Format Choices webinar, visit www.kodak.com/go/webinars

George, Kodak, and Oscar®

2011-02-22T14:54:00Z

In this 1928 publicity photo, George Eastman, left, and Thomas Edison assume their positions in motion picture history — Eastman with his film and Edison with his camera.

Kodak and its founder, George Eastman, have had a long history with motion pictures as well as the Academy Awards®.

Eastman is known to the world as the father of popular photography, yet he is also the father of motion picture film. Eastman and his Kodak engineer's adapted the film from the 1888 Kodak camera for Thomas Edison’s movie machines, thus giving birth to the motion picture industry. Folklore has it, when Edison received the first film sample from Eastman, he shouted to his workers, “Gentlemen, now we have it. Work like hell!”

George Eastman

And Kodak film continued to be perfected. The original film was made on glass tables and had a maximum length of 200 feet. In 1902, Eastman’s engineers created a machine that made it possible to manufacture continuous lengths of film — and movies, in their current form, were born.

The late 1920s were important years for Kodak’s involvement in the entertainment industry. As Hollywood was adding sound to movies, Eastman was already demonstrating motion picture film in full color. And, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was being established, Kodak was establishing its own operations in Hollywood.

George Eastman received his first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1961. A second was unveiled in 2002 in front of Kodak Theatre.

Eastman was named an honorary member of the Academy in 1930 in recognition of his “fundamental contributions to the arts and sciences of the motion picture.” To this day, Eastman and Edison are the only two people ever named honorary members of the Academy.

Also in 1930, Eastman spoke before the Society of Motion Picture Engineers – the only recording in existence of Eastman’s voice. In that speech he said, “During the past 50 years I have witnessed with the greatest interest and satisfaction the growth of the motion picture industry. Of recent years that industry has demanded to an increasing extent the application of scientific and technical knowledge and it will be far more dependent upon the work of the engineers in the future as it has in the past.”

Through the years, working with the entertainment industry, Kodak innovations in sound, color, and quality have earned numerous Oscars®, and have made it possible to tell more creative and compelling stories in motion. And from the beginning, the vast majority of motion pictures presented with Oscars® have been made on Kodak film.

There are two stars honoring George Eastman on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The first was unveiled in 1961, bearing a symbol of a movie camera, located on Hollywood Boulevard near the intersection of Highland Avenue. A second was installed in 2002, facing the entrance to the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards where the best motion pictures are honored — and named for the company Eastman founded and the entertainment-imaging legacy he created.

Inside the Kodak Theatre you will find the George Eastman Green Room, in which hangs a large portrait of Eastman alongside Edison at the Kodacolor Party of 1928, on the Eastman estate in Rochester, N.Y. In the famous publicity pose, the two men assume their place in history: Eastman with his motion picture film and Edison with a motion picture camera. This was their last public appearance together, with Edison passing two years later and Eastman within four years.

At the Kodacolor party, Eastman introduced amateur color motion pictures to the world. He invited national press and Hollywood executives to his home for the product launch. After dinner, he showed his guests themselves in moving color, for the first time in their lives. Eastman had his guests filmed earlier in the day and rushed the processing, his announcement to be that much more dramatic. He made headlines around the world. A marketing genius and innovator till the end…

All of us at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film look forward to seeing all of the 2011 Oscar nominees recognized at the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27 at the Kodak Theatre. It will be a wonderful celebration of another fantastic year in filmmaking!

Meet Dresden Engle

2011-02-22T14:54:00Z

Dresden Engle is the Public Relations Manager at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography & Film in Rochester, New York. This is the world’s preeminent museum of photography and one of the oldest film archives in the United States. It is also the restored home of George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company.

Sundance Supports the Cinematic Arts

2011-01-21T14:54:00Z

Today, the Sundance Film Festival is a world-renowned gathering of filmmakers and film industry bigwigs, and the Sundance Institute is recognized as one of the premier organizations fostering independent filmmaking. The Festival and Institute share the goal of promoting independent voices in American and international filmmaking, but with slightly different methods driving each communal experience. The Festival provides a venue for films and the opportunity for filmmakers at the margins to connect with the people who can bring their creation to the mass market and boost their careers. The Institute focuses on helping filmmakers hone their creative and practical filmmaking skills.

The histories of the Festival and the Institute are forever intertwined, and crucial to the success of both was the involvement of Robert Redford. The Sundance Film Festival began in August 1978 as the Utah/U.S. Film Festival with the goal of attracting filmmakers to Utah. One of the co-founders was head of Redford’s company Wildwood. That first year, the Frank Capra Award was presented to Jimmy Stewart, and the jury included actress Katharine Ross, editor Verna Fields, director Mark Rydell, and visual effects pioneer Linwood Dunn, ASC.

In 1979, the first steps were taken toward what would become the Sundance Institute. Redford and a group of friends envisioned an environment that would foster discovery and nurture new voices in American film. In 1981, 10 emerging filmmakers who had demonstrated talent and potential were invited to the first Sundance Institute Filmmakers/Directors Lab, where they were mentored by leading writers and directors from Hollywood, and developed their original scripts and ideas into viable projects. The artists were encouraged to take creative risks and stay true to their own unique visions, while simultaneously facing the hard questions that must be answered in order to make such a project a cinematic reality. A similar program for playwrights soon followed.

Since then the Sundance Institute’s programs have expanded. The Feature Film Program has supported more than 300 feature films, including Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Howl, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know, and Walter Salles' Central Station, among others. Meanwhile the Documentary Film Program has assisted more than 500 fledgling nonfiction films.

Kodak’s support of the Institute includes a recently announced 50-percent discount to Sundance Institute Fellows on any Kodak camera negative or reversal stock. All Sundance Lab Screenwriting, Directing or Producing Fellow alumni who are beginning principal photography in 2011 on their Lab project are eligible.

One current example is Little Birds, a Sundance-supported film that will screen at this year’s festival. Directed by Elgin James and photographed in 35mm 2-perf format by cinematographer Reed Morano, the film follows two adolescent girls as they navigate the shifting sands between childhood and adulthood. James says that the support from Sundance not only helped him make his film, but helped him change his troubled life around.

Kay Panabaker (left) rides home in a scene from Little Birds. (Photo by Reed Morano, © Hunting Lane Films 2011)

In 1984, the Sundance Institute took over management of the U.S. Film Festival and in 1991 changed the name to the now-familiar Sundance Film Festival. A short list of the successful filmmakers who got their first big break at the Festival includes Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, Edward Burns and Jim Jarmusch. It’s no accident that this list also comprises some of the most original cinematic voices of our time. The Festival has also introduced audiences to an amazing roster of independent films including Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Splendor, An Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Cove, among many others.

Furthermore, the Institute is committed to supporting the artists who participate in its programs beyond the Lab and grant-making level. For instance, The Art House Project is a collaboration with art house cinema in cities around the country that brings Sundance-supported films and other special programs to local audiences, thus fostering cinema buffs in towns and cities across the country.

Recognizing the importance of our cultural history, and filmmaking’s crucial place in it, the organization funds and oversees the Sundance Institute Archives, which documents the organization’s history and preserves the creative processes of the artists in the programs. The Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA is dedicated to collecting and preserving independent cinema, which too often is poorly archived and subject to deterioration.

Kodak has a longstanding commitment to Sundance. In addition to the famous Kodak Filmmaker Party, this year’s edition of the festival will feature a Kodak-sponsored conversation with Oscar®-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC and a panel discussion titled “Shooting Low Budget Features on FILM!” Additionally, more than 20 feature projects photographed on Kodak film will screen in competition.
While indie filmmakers continue to find ways to express their art creatively while simultaneously balancing that with the business of filmmaking, Kodak products and services remain a constant. As past and present indie filmmakers have relied on film to capture their vision and bring it to audiences with the best quality visuals, so does the next generation. Kodak applauds the indie spirit, and looks forward to seeing and experiencing the amazing stories that the 2011 festival and Lab Fellows have to contribute to the cinematic arts!

David Heuring

2011-01-21T14:54:00Z

David Heuring studied English literature and international politics. In 1987, he moved to Hollywood, and after gaining some practical film production experience, and began writing for American Cinematographer magazine where he later served as editor for five years. Since 1995, Heuring has continued writing about cinematography, filmmaking and postproduction for such industry trade publications as American Cinematographer, International Cinematographer, Film & Video, Screen, Digital Cinematography and In Camera, among others.

Kodak Technology and Innovation at the 2010 Annual SMPTE Conference

2010-11-04T14:54:00Z

Kodak Technology and Innovation at the 2010 Annual SMPTE Conference

Every year the Motion Picture Industry gathers together at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) annual conference to share the latest technical developments in the entertainment marketplace. In keeping with Kodak’s long-standing commitment to innovation in the entertainment industry, we presented three papers this year. They reflect Kodak’s ongoing investment in both film and digital technologies – representing a number of new advances that are highly synergistic with rapidly evolving digital workflows.

In “Enhanced Image Recording Capability: Novel Light Management Technologies Applied to Camera Origination Color Negative Film Design”, Merrick Distant, Drake Michno and Sharon Johnston describe the set of technologies that enabled the improvements in the Kodak VISION3 family of films. By the use of advanced dye layering technology and optimized sub-micron emulsion technology, they were able to achieve significant improvements in both signal –to-noise ratio in low exposures while expanding dynamic range. These improvements allow film-makers to operate effectively in low light levels and capture scene content from the brightest highlights to the deepest shadows. This is particularly useful in combination with the powerful digital intermediate toolset.

In “Designing a Film for Multiple Recorder Capability”, Ana Castro and Jack Rutter describe the design of an intermediate film specifically created for digital film recorders. This was a particular challenge because of the wide array of recorder types and associated light sources. These films also demand very high resolution in order to preserve the resolution of the originally captured material. They found novel spectral sensitizations and emulsion technologies that led to a film with significantly improved speed, latitude and sharpness. It also is unique in its ability to work effectively with all of the digital film recorders in the market.

In “The Potential for a Revolutionary Change in Digital Cinema Projection Based on Laser Light Sources”, Barry Silverstein highlights underlying technologies for KODAK Laser Projection Technology. The use of lasers has enabled a fundamental re-think of how digital projectors are designed. The net result is a true breakthrough in the price-performance of digital projection. Higher dynamic range, expanded color gamut, and bright built-in 3D capability are all delivered in a design that promises reduced total cost of ownership for the cinema owner.

For over 100 years, Kodak has been serving the motion picture industry. These papers are an illustration of our ongoing search for technologies that improve the overall cost, quality and productivity of the motion picture process.

I would also like to recognize two of our Kodak colleagues who were honored with SMPTE Fellowship status this year: Nestor Rodriguez, of our Advanced Development and Systems Group and Michele Golitzinsky who serves our postproduction market in Canada. As SMPTE fellows, Michele and Nestor are recognized as distinguished professionals whose expertise in motion picture technology – film, digital and hybrid – represents an important element of Kodak’s success. Congratulations!

Meet Gary Einhaus

2010-11-04T14:54:00Z

Meet Gary Einhaus

Chief Technical Officer
General Manager, Digital Cinema
Director, New Business Development
Vice President, Entertainment Imaging,
Eastman Kodak Company

Gary Einhaus is currently Chief Technology Officer for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Business and Director of New Business Development. In these roles he is responsible for the product development organization, intellectual property licensing, and future business and technology strategies. He is also the General Manager of the Digital Cinema business within Entertainment Imaging.

Gary’s roles at Kodak have spanned Research, Innovation, Product Commercialization, Manufacturing and Business General Management. He has extensive experience in a broad range of both film and digital technologies. He was General Manager and Vice President of the Digital Systems Business in the Kodak Professional Business Unit. He also served as Chief Technical Officer in Kodak Professional. Gary was also the founder and Director of the System Concepts Center (SCC), a corporate breakthrough innovation center. Prior to joining Entertainment Imaging, he was worldwide Director of the Kodak Research Labs.

Following a year as an exchange student in Austria, Gary obtained Engineering degrees from Lehigh University (B.S.) and the University of Rochester (M.S.) He also attended executive education programs in Business Administration from IRI/Harvard College and Business General Management from Columbia University.

Kodak’s Imagecare Program: A Commitment to Film...

2010-10-20T14:54:00Z

Kodak’s Imagecare Program is a quality certification program for processing laboratories that began in 1996. It originated in the Asia Pacific Region and has grown to over 50 labs in 31 countries today. Based on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) principles, the Program was initially launched to promote world class levels of quality in motion picture film processing, and this remains its guiding principle to this day.

Motion picture film processing is complicated, and the stakes are high when handling such precious customer assets. With hundreds of thousands of dollars often spent on each day's shooting, the negative is an extremely valuable item, which must be protected at all times.

With today’s color negatives delivering ever finer grain structure, extended latitude, and true color reproduction, we want to ensure that the quality differential for film remains consistent throughout the imaging chain. And, a robust infrastructure of processing laboratories around the world maintains that differential, supporting the continued use of film, improving workflow efficiencies and – ultimately – protecting the creative integrity of content.

How does the Program work? First and foremost, a lab must meet stringent quality guidelines and standards to be accredited by the Program. Two levels of accreditation are currently offered: Camera Negative Processing (Phase I) and Release Printing Services (Phase II). All current member labs are Phase I certified and over a dozen are both Phase I & Phase II certified.

Then, the Program relies on staff involvement and self-assessment. Each lab is in the best position to constantly monitor its own standards and to find, and to quickly correct, any deviations from the norm. Annual external checks by Kodak technical personnel ensure that the highest standards are maintained.

Adhering to the Kodak requirements documented in the detailed Operations Manual is an opportunity for member labs to expand their own knowledge base and strengthen their value proposition to their customers.

These customers – the filmmakers – increasingly work worldwide, and they want to trust labs to deliver consistent standards of quality, wherever they have their film processed and printed, all across the globe. The Program’s global success has resulted in a high quality infrastructure for world- wide film processing. In this so-called digital age, there isn’t anything that exactly replicates the ‘film look’. When member labs deliver that in a way consistent with their customers’ vision that means business for them – and for us. Kodak’s ongoing support of the Imagecare Program is but one example of our commitment to film’s future

Meet Diane Carroll-Yacoby

2010-10-20T14:54:00Z

Diane Carroll-Yacoby has been a Kodak employee for 18 years, 16 of which have been spent in Entertainment Imaging’s Research & Development division. A trained chemist with 6 US patents, Diane has participated on and led research teams in new film product development. She has worked on many aspects of motion picture films from development of archival products to designing new tests that simulate the various ways in which customers use the products. She has a passion for the film industry and has had the opportunity to meet with many filmmakers and lab customers over the years. In 2009 she was given the opportunity to participate in Kodak’s Imagecare Program as the WW Marketing Manager. Diane lives with her husband of 16 years on a small farm just outside of Rochester.

Kodak Cinematography Workshop - Roma

2010-10-04T14:54:00Z

In July of this year, Kodak Italy held a three day cinematography workshop in Rome for industry professionals. As in-house cinematographer for Kodak, I was the instructor for the workshop. The immense pre-production for the event was handled by Giovanna Rimoldi and Riccardo Di Tizio from Kodak Italy. Invited to the workshop were cinematographers, directors, and producers currently working in Rome. Also, two film students joined the workshop to work as crew for the grip and lighting needs. The group was a comfortable size of nine participants which allowed them several opportunities to shoot and direct portions of a short story. Although many of the attendees were more familiar with video and digital formats than film, everyone has aspired to shoot on film. Generally speaking, participants have always appreciated the Kodak workshops because they offer a stress-free opportunity to experience shooting with 35mm film.

The workshop was held at the Casa Del Cinema situated in the idyllic Villa Borghese which is the largest public park in Rome. All of the shooting took place at the Casa del Cinema and a café situated within the building. Although the temperatures climbed to over 90 F every day, the enthusiasm of the group was not diminished. One goal of the workshop was to give the participants an opportunity to shoot 35mm film in a 2-perf format. Interestingly, the 2-perf Techniscope 2.40:1 format was introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1963 as a low cost alternative to the CinemaScope 4-perf system. Techniscope was popularized by the “Spaghetti Western” genre and, most notably, the Italian director, Sergio Leone, and his Clint Eastwood “Dollar” series of films. In a PowerPoint lecture on the first day of the workshop, the features of the 2-perf format were discussed. Some of the benefits mentioned were longer shooting times per magazine, reduced costs of the format, new finer grain V3 stocks which improve the look of the smaller format, and digital intermediate which has made 2-perf format more viable than the optical process of the past. As the group was soon to discover, 2-perf 35mm retains many of the inherent qualities of the larger 4-perf origination format.

The structure of the workshop allows each participant to function as a cinematographer or camera operator on several occasions. In this particular workshop, there were more directors than normal which was a bit like too many cooks in the kitchen. But it was a great chance for them to get behind the camera and appreciate the job of the cinematographer. Many of the scenes for the short story took place under a shaded table at an outdoor café. The main actor was sitting under a café umbrella away from the intense Italian sunlight. With some background areas being 5-6 stops over exposed and the actor wearing a black shirt, the setting was truly a lighting and exposure challenge. This adverse situation is a common problem especially for the participants who regularly shoot with video or digital cameras. Those formats would have been compromised by the extreme brightness range of these scenes. Typically, they would have had to increase light level of the foreground or change the shot somehow in order to capture the scene successfully. I made this point several times during the shooting. He mentioned that the bright highlights would be preserved with film and the detail brought out during the DI session later at Technicolor Rome.

In addition to the normal photography, the group experimented with a few unique camera “toys”. One device made by Arri called a Timing Shift Box created in-camera light streaking effects in the images. This effect is similar to what was created for the D-Day beach scenes in the film “Saving Private Ryan”. Effectively, the shutter is forced to run out of synch with the film pull down mechanism, so that the film is still moving in the camera gate during exposure. Another atypical in-camera tool, a Lensbaby 3G, was used to create a variable focus, blurry effect for a point-of-view scene in the short. This lens was originally designed for the still photography market, but it has been adapted with a PL mount for motion picture cameras. This tool has become popular in music videos and in feature films such as “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.

Each day, the film was processed at Technicolor Rome. There was not great amount of footage shot since the class used half as much film compared to shooting with a normal 4-perf camera. On the last evening of the workshop, Technicolor gave the group a tour of their state of the art facility plus a meet-and-greet with the Tech staff over food and drink. Earlier in the day, some select scenes from the workshop footage were scanned in order for the class to have a short DI session that night. For a few hours, the DI colorist eagerly demonstrated the creative potential of their digital suite. Among other things, the digital intermediate process helps to retain the qualities of film, allows for more creative color grading, and offers opportunities for grain management as desired. The DI process has genuinely opened the door to 2-perf as a viable alternative for filmmakers.

Most of the Kodak workshops held worldwide would not be possible without the generous support of industry partners. Camera and lighting equipment as well as other services were graciously donated by Arri Italia, Movie People – Milano, Technovision, Casa del Cinema, and Technicolor Rome.

Meet Chris Hart

2010-10-04T14:54:00Z

Like many cinematographers, creating photographic images has been a passion for Chris from a young age. With intentions of pursuing feature film work, he studied fine art photography and filmmaking at Rochester Institute of Technology. As often happens, his life and priorities changed dramatically when he married and started a family. Shortly after leaving college, Eastman Kodak offered him a position in the motion picture research division in 1981. That job eventually allowed him to pursue his passion for the filmmaking craft as a cinematographer within Entertainment Imaging. Since then, Chris has been involved with every new film program that Kodak has introduced beginning with the EXR family in the late 80’s. He has been responsible for creating demonstrations used in launching new film products as well as internal technical comparisons for Kodak’s systems development group. In addition to shooting, Chris has taught Kodak cinematography workshops for students all over the world. Though he admits to not be overly technical by nature, he gleaned a wealth of photographic knowledge by rubbing shoulders with the world’s finest photographic scientists and engineers. With a practical approach to solving photographic problems, Chris has helped many customers and workshop students in their understanding of the art and science of motion pictures.

And for the past thirty years, Chris has lived with his wife and four children under the 18% gray skies of Rochester, New York.

Students Aspire to Shoot Film

2010-09-14T14:54:00Z

While attending the 2010 UFVA (University Film and Video Association) Conference, I noticed that the love of film amongst the association members was more apparent than ever. Even the latest and greatest digital capture offerings cannot diminish the emotional connection that people have with film. In fact, I dare say, that many people are becoming fonder of the organic quality of film even as digital technologies continue to gain popular acceptance. Even in this 'digital age,' film remains the gold standard of the motion picture industry and no one argues this fact.

While shrinking budgets and the comparatively low cost of digital cameras have resulted in some schools shifting away from a film curriculum, many schools have found creative, affordable ways to ensure that their students continue to have a hands-on film experience. They know that learning on film teaches the discipline required to be a successful filmmaker. It provides the necessary building blocks of a filmmaking education that no other medium currently offers. Here are examples of how some professors continue to ensure that their students aspire to shoot film:

Super 8 in the classroom

Without question, this is the most affordable film option available. Low cost cameras and film stock make this a good fit in school programs that have small budgets. The unique film look that Super 8 delivers, makes it very popular with students. The ease of use allows students to experiment with film in a low risk situation.

Dr. Patti McCarthy from the University of the Pacific in Central California uses Super 8 to teach her students the basics of screenwriting, storyboarding, exposure and composition. She believes that it is important for her students to learn to tell stories on film and Super 8 is a good fit. Dr. McCarthy has a long history with this format as she worked with it while she was a student at USC. Looking through the lens of a Super 8 camera allows one to see the world in a different way, a way that she wants her students to experience.

The students start shooting in black and white, with no dialogue or synch sound. They have only one roll, approximately 2 1/2 minutes of film to work with. There is little room for mistakes when shooting in this style and this forces the students to approach the shoot in a very organized way. When asked why she teaches on Super 8 rather than another capture medium, she explains "I do it for three specific reasons. It's an affordable way to instill a sense of discipline in our students while they are honing their experience in the craft of filmmaking. Working on film also most closely approximates best industry practices. The third reason is that film offers more aesthetic options."

Dr. Jonathan Fung also uses Super 8 in his classroom in an otherwise all digital film program at Santa Clara University. He believes that shooting on film makes his students better filmmakers. The Super 8 projects that he assigns to his students are challenging and push the students to be creative. The students must be disciplined during their shoot to ensure that they capture the story that they want to tell - Super 8 rolls are 3 minutes in length therefore the students must be well prepared as they cannot just let the camera roll as they do with digital cameras. Because it was not an easy task to get the approval for a film course, Dr. Fung had to make some initial personal investments in the equipment before the school recognized the success of the course. The school has now purchased several cameras and have built up their Super 8 infrastructure. From the sounds of things, the Super 8 class is very popular.

35mm in the classroom

To many schools and students, 35mm seems like a format that is only used on high budget films in Hollywood. But that is not the case in several film schools around the world. Low cost options are available in this gold standard format. Terry Byrne, from The College of New Jersey has been teaching with 35mm cameras for years. He uses low cost Russian Kinor Cameras which give his students an opportunity to shoot in the same way that the pros do. During a very late, long and cold location shoot, one student asked Terry if this production was similar to how it was done in the "real world"? When Terry answered yes, she exclaimed "Good, I like it!"

Roy Cross, Associate Professor and head of Film Production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal, teaches on 16mm and 35mm. In the Summer 2010 edition of Concordia University Magazine he states, "We take the cell phones and the video cameras out of their hands and give them a Swiss-made, 16mm camera with a light meter and say 'OK, we're going to make movies. 'It's really the beginning of their foundation and they build up from there." The founder of the school, Mel Hoppenheim, fully supports this approach, as also stated in the Summer 2010 edition of Concordia University Magazine. "You have to start learning film the way filmmaking began. Using a video camera is much simpler and the results are quicker to see. When you get behind a film camera, you're not sure what you're going to get so you've got to be that much better." After getting comfortable with 16mm, the student then progress to 35mm. While some students might view film as an old style capture medium, once they experience it, they quickly fall in love and many are reluctant to go back to digital.

Student filmmakers invest a lot of time and money into their film education and they expect that they will be well prepared for the real world. They also realize that students who learn on film have the upper hand over those that don't. Kodak is committed to support and ensure that students continue to aspire to shoot film. Check out the many online tools that Kodak has to help make it easier - www.kodak.com/go/education

Inspiring the next generation

2010-08-30T14:54:00Z

With the growing demand for visual effects, one of the biggest challenges facing the visual effects industry is bringing in and training up future generations of talent. These days, visual effects aren't just the preserve of your typical action-packed effects-heavy films like Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia. They're also increasingly used for 'invisible' effects in all kinds of movies, like the work we did recreating Boston for the romantic comedy Leap Year. And the recent trend towards producing stereo 3D movies effectively doubles the amount of visual effects work needed on each stereo 3D project. These are just some of the factors driving demand for visual effects and this means there's also growing demand for talented new artists.

But attracting talented young people into the industry and training them up so that they have the skills and experience needed for the job isn't easy. It's very difficult for people who are new to the industry to get valuable on-the-job experience, making it hard for them to kick-start their careers. If the industry doesn't make a long-term commitment to addressing these issues now, companies like Cinesite will soon find themselves facing an enormous skills gap.

That's why we decided to launch the Inspire program last September. The aims of Inspire are twofold. The first is to support educational establishments offering courses in animation and effects. The second is to identify and encourage new talent through an annual, formalized visual effects internship program.

At Cinesite we work closely with colleges and universities that nurture the next generation of talent. We've established ties with institutions like the Imperial College of London to ensure their courses are relevant to the industry and challenge students in the right ways. Last September we ran a successful event for tutors of effects and animation courses from institutions all over the UK, and we're doing the same again this September.

Meanwhile, the internship program is intended to give untapped visual effects talent the opportunity to gain invaluable experience working on big-budget blockbuster movies alongside some of the industry's most respected and experienced visual effects professionals through a six-week paid placement.

We began our search for the right candidates for the 2010 placement last September, inviting applicants to send us a three-minute showreel of their best work. We were looking for graduates and undergraduates due to finish university this year in a relevant graduate course, and with an interest in any of the areas our artists specialize in: compositing, lighting, texturing, effects, modeling, animation and digital matte painting.

By the time the application phase ended in April 2010, we were overwhelmed by the number of applications we'd received - more than 250 - and we knew we had a tricky job on our hands to choose a winner. The standard of entries was so high that we couldn't decide on one, so we ended up selecting two applicants. It just goes to show how much raw, untapped talent is out there.

Alex Betancourt graduated from Bournemouth University this June with a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer visualization and animation. We chose him for the confident lighting and shader writing work he conveyed throughout his showreel. Chris Mulcaster graduated from Portsmouth University last year with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Animation. He's also completed a 12-week visual effects course at Escape Studios in London. We were impressed by the high quality skills he demonstrated as a general artist, as well as his exceptional talents in modeling and texturing.

Both Alex and Chris are currently spending their six-week placement working on the next installment in The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is due to be released in December, and Disney/Pixar's John Carter of Mars. Unfortunately they'll have to wait a while to see that one as it's not due to be released until June 2012. But by that time, I've no doubt that they'll each have established themselves as among the best of the new generation of visual effects talent. Something for which I'm sure their experience at Cinesite will stand them in good stead.

This year's Inspire program has been a tremendous success and we're proud to be leading the industry in finding, growing and nurturing new talent. We'll be launching next year's program in September 2010, so watch this space.

The Comeback Cam

2010-08-20T14:54:00Z

by Julia Askenase

Devotees and First-Time Filmmakers from Syracuse to Strasbourg Keep Super 8 Alive in the Digital Age

Under a bright afternoon sky in mid-March, Brendan Rose stood on the walkway of his sister’s Syracuse, N.Y. home fiddling with a borrowed Super 8 camera. His sister, Vanessa, eased herself onto the front stoop holding her infant daughter Akira in her lap, and then gazed back at her brother. “You kind of have to self-focus based on distance,” he explained, inching forward and back on the concrete until he reached his desired location.

Gripping the handle of the camera, the 34-year-old Syracuse University architecture graduate student peered through the viewfinder with his left eye and squinted with his right. He drew a toothy smile, creating laugh lines on his skin. When he pulled the trigger to advance film through the camera, it let out a gentle, shuttering, “click, click, click.” The clear skies above allowed him to capture quality footage on the light-sensitive reversal film he was using.

“That’s it!” Rose says, after five seconds elapsed.

And for the moment, that’s all he needed. Rose had just finished one out of a series of film portraits—tightly cropped five-second shots of family, friends, colleagues and other people he comes across in his daily routine. The movie he was making would become his first solo submission to Syracuse’s fourth annual One Take Super 8 film event. Rose developed the portrait concept when he noticed something unsettling about his still photography: his subjects were almost always buildings, not the people around him. “It would be nice for [this film] to be an archival record of something important to me,” he says.

Rose is among 19 individuals and groups from Central New York who entered this year’s event. Entrants received a single cartridge of film, three minutes and 20 seconds of creative freedom and a month’s time to shoot. Upon completion, they handed their films over to husband-and-wife event organizers Jason and Briana Kohlbrenner. Since all current Super 8 film stocks are silent, entrants had the option of turning in a CD or MP3 soundtrack. Participants could not cut, splice or even view their finished films before the screening, held April 10 at Funk ‘N Waffles café.

“You use what you have—not much is staged. Most people just go have fun,” Jason says, describing the typical One Take repertoire. “Most of it is just wacky randomness, but beautifully composed simplicity.”

Eastman Kodak introduced the Super 8 film format in 1965 as an easier, more affordable means of home-movie making. The film came in easy-to-load plastic cartridges that prevented accidental exposure, and most camera models were batter-powered. The format was so simple any amateur could pick up a camera and start shooting. Since the 1960s, however, came analog and later digital video cameras, which yielded faster, readily sharable results. It was enough to make Super 8 seem obsolete.

Through the late ‘80s and ‘90s, however, hobbyists continued to use the format and participated in grassroots festivals and events internationally. In the past ten years—the same decade that saw such digital proliferation in the form of MP3 players, pocket-sized HD camcorders and Internet-enabled cell phones—there’s been a curious regeneration of interest in analog Super 8. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the original One Take Super 8, which mushroomed from a single event in Regina, Saskatchewan to ten cities across North America. It’s part of a larger, international community of Super 8 festivals and contests—like the U.K.-based Straight 8, which annually premieres its best films at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Super 8 has made its way into commercials, music videos, wedding films and the work of prominent movie directors like Catherine Hardwicke and Gus Van Sant. And while some naysayers have been sounding the death knell of Super 8 for years, Kodak is still producing the film stocks—in fact, it just released a new Super 8 color stock this April, Ektachrome 100D. At the film portion of this year’s South by South West (SXSW) festival and conference series in Austin, Texas, a panel discussed “The Power of Super 8 Film.”

Adam Garner, one of the panelists, has a few theories about why Super 8 remains a compelling medium today. “When you look at Super 8 it’s like you imagine you were there,” he says. “It’s like watching a memory.” This results in part from the graininess of Super 8 film, which produces an effect of warmth and haziness. Super 8—that’s 8 millimeters wide—is considered a “small gauge” format in comparison to big brothers 16 and 35mm. When its tiny frames are blown up onto a projector screen, viewers can actually see the film’s crystals of silver halide as little dancing specks. That low-tech, rough-around-the-edges feel of Super 8—along with its origins in home movies—often makes it a mental cue for “history” or “family” when incorporated into modern filmmaking, Garner says.

Garner even started his own boutique production company, Trigger Films, in Austin where he uses Super 8 to capture what he calls “life moments,” like anniversaries and weddings. “If you were to shoot a wedding on VHS tape, it’s kind of disgusting,” he says. “The magnetism’s all fucked up. It’s disappointing.” So Garner eschews the sterility and cheesiness of the average wedding video for the timelessness he can create on Super 8. To his advantage, today’s Super 8 film stocks have vastly improved since the 1960s; Kodak is now up to Vision 3 technology, which offers wider exposure latitude with finer grains.

Garner’s process exemplifies the high-end side of modern Super 8 filmmaking. He shoots on vintage cameras in the $1000 range rather than bargain models from garage sales, and he pays to have his films scanned into HD files at places like Cinelicious or Pro8mm in Los Angeles. His wedding packages cost upwards of $4,000. Last year, he shot the nuptials of tennis superstar Andy Roddick whose wedding singer was Sir Elton John.

Beyond the niche commercial market of well-heeled weddings, however, Super 8 exists as a low-budget artistic format for amateurs and experienced filmmakers alike. When Alex Rogalski founded One Take Super 8 in Saskatchewan, Canada in 2000, he’d grown tired of watching his film friends from university become frustrated by the competitive professional festival circuit. So he created his own forum.

“[One Take] was an idea I had to get filmmakers and non-filmmakers both to make something that was guaranteed an audience,” he says. He designed the event without a jury or prizes, and chose Super 8 because of its many draws . It’s portable and affordable—a roll of film costs around $15—and also has some key limitations. Super 8 lacks the instant gratification and post-production editing capabilities of digital, forcing filmmakers to plan carefully their single take. And because entrants turn their films in blind, the typical screening ends up with a grab bag of quality. “When you do see a film that’s in focus and properly lit and tells a story, it’s like a miracle. Because clearly, a lot could go wrong,” Rogalski says. “I think we want to pull back the curtain a bit on the filmmaking process. You get to see that not everything hits the mark.”

One Take spread organically, as filmmakers from the original event moved to new cities and started local incarnations. But since the late ’90s, the Internet had already been connecting Super 8 enthusiasts all over the map. Super 8 tip sites cropped up, while major websites like Craigslist and eBay facilitated the sales of Super 8 cameras, which are no longer in production. “There’s no doubt that it’s a little ironic that new technology has made Super 8 more relevant,” he says.

At the Syracuse branch, started by Rogalski’s colleague Brett Kashmere, many participants find liberation in the event’s constraints. “They might come in with this enormous script and are like, ‘Oh, we’re going to do this whole thing!’ But once they screw up, they realize they can’t rewind and shoot again,” says Jason Kohlbrenner. “I think this weight gets lifted off their shoulders.”

A week and a half after Brendan Rose finished his film portraits, his friend Mark Povinelli was hobbling around his home with a cane, preparing to film. He’d thrown out his back lifting firewood the weekend before, so Kohlbrenner granted him an extension to make his two films. On this Saturday morning, light was pouring in through the tall windows of Povinelli’s living room, along which he’d lined up a series of Ball Mason canning jars filled to the brim with junk, knick-knacks, keepsakes, memories.

“I don’t really have a plan,” he admits, hunched over and surveying the room in pale blue jeans and a faded black T-shirt. Povinelli, 49, is an electrical engineer who spends most of his free time on his artwork. Before injuring himself, he opened an art show at Craft Chemistry, the Syracuse craft store/gallery/studio owned by Briana Kohlbrenner. For roughly an hour, he dumped out the contents of the different pickling jars onto a coffee table, filmed them closely, moved on to another household object, then back to the jars. He poured out childhood toys, red clay dirt from where he grew up in Louisiana, and an assortment of sand dollars, guitar picks, fossils and other objects. He kept shooting until he ran out of film.

It became clear that Povinelli is a collector of sorts. “I was throwing out a lot of stuff, but there was some I wanted to keep,” he says, explaining his jars. “We all have this urge to hang on to the past, but that’s not always a good thing. The past can be a tricky thing, I think.”

He named his film “That Which Remains.”

After participants turned in their films, preparation for the event was far from over. Kolbrenner still had to send the films out to Pac Lab Inc. in New York City, one of a limited number of Super 8 processors in the country. When he got the processed films back, he had to splice them together and place them onto reels to project at the screening. For the first time, Rogalski wasn’t coming down to Syracuse for post-production, so Kohlbrenner had to learn it all as he went along.

On the Wednesday night before the screening, Kohlbrenner was sitting at his kitchen table wielding a small metal poker. He had metal film reels, a few adhesives and an empty tortilla bag filled with film leader spread out in from of him. His wife Briana, who had finished designing the show’s flyers and program, chimed in periodically from the next room to answer questions. Jason was threading individual films through a film viewer and taping them together on a Quik Splice, a small metal plate with raised points that latch onto sprocket holes. He was using Scotch tape instead of cement or Quik Splice tape to give the films a solid bond, but also one he could take apart easily after the screening when he’d digitize the films. The only catch about the Scotch tape: no sprocket holes. So he kept sitting there, poking the film perforations by hand. “I just need to reassure myself that, yes, I am doing this the right way,” he says.

Kohlbrenner manages the edit suites at SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications where he guides students in digital editing programs like Final Cut Pro. Super 8 helps him get back to the roots of film, he says. “It just has this process to it,” he says. “Your piece becomes a part of you.”

Although Super 8 has been enjoying a small renaissance in recent years, there’s always the fear that Kodak could one day discontinue the format altogether. “We don’t know how much longer they’ll be producing it because it’s a limited market,” says Rogalski. Faced with the consumer shift from film-based still photography to digital, Kodak has had to shut down plants and labs internationally and lay off thousands of employees in the past decade. Super 8 enthusiasts like Rogalski worry these economic trials might affect Kodak’s motion film sector as well, where Super 8 is low in the pecking order.

Sales of Super 8 film have declined since its home-movie heyday, and the format composes a much smaller volume in Kodak’s motion film catalog than 16 or 35mm. Still, Kodak has noticed stabilization in Super 8 sales in recent years, says Chris Johnson, product manager of Eastman Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. Kodak is trying to stay sensitive to both the market and small-gauge devotees. “We do want to support these users,” Johnson says. “As long as the market continues and it’s a viable business, we will continue to support Super 8.”

At 7:15 on the night of the screening, Kohlbrenner’s face was flushed as he weaved through the packed audience in Funk ‘n Waffles carrying a bundle of blue wires. The espresso machine screamed. Kohlbrenner disappeared behind the projector screen, then returned moments later to rummage through bags in the back of the room. At 7:30, he appeared at the microphone in front of the screen with a piece of scotch tape stuck to his shirt, announcing that the show would begin a little late.

When the lights finally dimmed, the movies flowed in quick rotation separated by brief, time-lapsed interludes of film credits arranged in magnetic letters on the Kohlbrenners’ refrigerator. Film subjects ranged from Godzilla-invades-Syracuse to misunderstood robot-human love, and laughter often filled the room. A few films showed up in almost complete darkness on screen, likely due to poor lighting during shooting. Povinelli’s first film, “That Which Remains,” appeared out of focus, but produced a sort of kaleidoscope effect during close-up shots of colorful objects.

Rose’s film, titled “Portr8,” played to a soundtrack of Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights,”—the synthetic drumbeat often synching up with the shift from portrait to portrait. The movie unraveled in intimate smiles and straight-on stares from the people Rose surrounds himself with, their images flickering grainy and warm on the screen. Rose’s architecture thesis focuses on community installations, and earlier that day, he’d referred to people around him as the “material” of his work and life. Several of his portrait subjects were seated in that very room. And with Super 8’s timeless look and rumored shelf life of some 100 years, it seemed Rose would get that lasting personal archive after all, one tiny frame at a time.

reprinted with permission from Jerk magazine (http://www.jerkmagazine.net/noise/the-comeback-cam.html)

Film School Professor Discusses the Value of a Film Education - A Conversation With Dr. Patti McCarthy

2010-08-16T14:54:00Z

Patti McCarthy, MFA, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Film Department at the College of the Pacific, University of the Pacific (UOP). In the following conversation she discusses why and how her students are honing their artistic instincts and craftsmanship by learning with Super 8 film:

Pacific Student Showcase & Awards 2010 (pictured from left: Emily Heller, Sawyer James, Andy Crete, Patti McCarthy, Melanie Hash, Caroline Taylor, Michael Mugar).

QUESTION: Will you tell us about the University of the Pacific?
McCARTHY: It's a private, liberal arts university in Stockton, which is in Central California. The school has a very low student-to-teacher ratio. The school was chartered in 1851. It's the oldest chartered university in California. Our students come from all over the world. We have excellent students who get a very strong liberal arts education.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about the film program?
McCARTHY: The film studies program has been very strong for about 20 years. Around the time I came onboard about five years ago, they decided to create a major combining film studies with film production. Students who are studying film theory and history can choose to emphasize in film production. That gives them a very strong foundation. It's still a relatively new and very exciting initiative that fulfills the greater mission and vision of UOP. We have very talented students who have produced amazing, award-winning documentaries and narrative films. Some of our students have moved on to the graduate film program at USC. I believe we are preparing them at Pacific for the future in a very competitive industry and field of artistic endeavors.

QUESTION: Will you tell us about your background?
McCARTHY: I attended the University of Southern California where I earned MFA and Ph.D. degrees in film production and film studies. I started working in the film industry at Ray Stark's company, Rastar Productions, while I was still a student. After time, I became the head of development for Rastar. When things started winding down, I joined the faculty at the University of California at Northridge. I was a senior director of Entertainment, Arts and Humanities. That's when I got to know Danielle Dibie. We organized a number of programs for students who were interested in editing and cinematography taught by working professionals in the industry. I met her husband George Spiro Dibie (ASC) and other fantastic cinematographers who made a deep impression on my thinking about filmmaking.

QUESTION: Looking back further into your past, were there mentors at USC who influenced and pointed you in the direction you took?
McCARTHY: Elliot Silverstein, who taught directing, was inspirational. Larry Auerbach, industry relations, was extremely influential and has remained a long-term mentor and friend. Paul Wolansky taught me the finer points of screenwriting and Michael Renov, Dana Polan and Marsha Kinder, in critical studies, influenced my theoretical work. But Woody Omens (ASC) is the person who inspired me to make filmmaking my life's work. Woody introduced a lot of us students to members of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). He organized afternoon workshops where we would get to talk with wonderful cinematographers who were legends to us. Conrad Hall (ASC) especially made an impact on me. That one-on-one type of personalized teaching inspired and sparked our creative imaginations.

QUESTION: Please share some insights about how you and the faculty approach making that kind of connection with film students at the College of the Pacific.
McCARTHY: We emphasize student-centered learning with a low student/teacher ratio that gives each student personalized attention. We encourage our students to learn the history and aesthetics of filmmaking, including the evolution of the art and craft of visual storytelling. We also stress the importance of conveying the emotional content of stories they are telling by drawing on their own visions as artists as well as the importance of research. If they are creating a documentary or narrative film about AIDS and HIV, they should talk with people who are experiencing the disease and get to know and understand them. I think both narrative films and documentaries can be a powerful medium for understanding people and cultures. Right now, some of our students are in Guatemala working on a film about child trafficking.

QUESTION: Are they doing research or filming behind the scenes?
McCARTHY: They are doing both. We try to put a camera in everybody's hands, so they learn how to use images to tell stories. The excitement of the creative process is infectious. When they shoot, students are also learning to depend upon each other and collaborate. After a while they become an extended family. They are like brothers and sisters. I believe our students are going to have life-long friendships, because they have shared very personal and intimate combined visions that they put on film while they were students.

QUESTION: When and why did your students begin using Super 8 film?
McCARTHY: They began using Super 8 to tell their stories from the time I arrived. I believe as future filmmakers it is important for them to learn to tell stories on film. I was taught to see the world in different ways through the lens of an 8 mm camera when I was a student at USC.

QUESTION: Why did you choose Super 8 film rather than another medium?
McCARTHY: I did it for three specific reasons. It's an affordable way to instill a sense of discipline in our students while they are honing their experience in the craft of filmmaking. Working on film also most closely approximates best industry practices. The third reason is that film offers more aesthetic options.

QUESTION: Where did the Super 8 camera equipment come from?
McCARTHY: I brought some cameras with me, and a few others came from Pro8MM, a full-service company in Burbank, which provides refurbished cameras and the best professional motion picture films in Super 8 format, along with postproduction services. The company is run by a husband and wife, Phil and Rhonda Vigeant.

QUESTION: Do they do all of the lab work for your students?
McCARTHY: We have also used Spectra, another Los Angeles lab run by Doug Thomas. We can send him film from Stockton on a Monday, and he turns it around for us by Friday. Students can then edit right away.

QUESTION: Are your students editing film or transferring it to digital format?
McCARTHY: They are doing both. In the beginning they are cutting actual film. I feel that giving them opportunities to shoot and edit film is an important experience. I think it helps inform the aesthetic. Later, we have the film transferred to digital format for editing to give them the experience of working in Final Cut or Avid. I think both experiences best approximate current industry practices.

QUESTION: Is it all color, or do they also shoot with black-and-white film?
McCARTHY: We give them opportunities to experience shooting in Super 8 with KODAK TRI-X Reversal Film 7266, which is a 200 speed, black-and-white filmstock. That experience helps them learn about painting with light, because they can see the grey scale and how that works in black and white. I think it clicks in their heads that you can't just shoot digital and fix everything to get the looks you want in post. It all begins with what you capture on film. I believe it also helps them understand and appreciate the value of collaboration and the need to plan a production from beginning to end. I want them to be strong all-around filmmakers … to make it in the industry they need to be good producers, directors and cinematographers and understand what it takes to make a film. You don't have a lot of latitude for waste of any kind when you have to tell a story visually with only 50 feet of film.

QUESTION: Are they shooting scripted films or documentary footage?
McCARTHY: The first films are shot in black and white and have no dialog or synch sound. Students write little scripts and create storyboards and shot lists that tell two to three minute stories visually. It's part of learning basic production principals. They also rehearse their actors, run the set, and learn how to communicate and collaborate. They become more confident about what they are doing, rather then running around and haphazardly grabbing shots. Later, when students add sound and dialogue, they continue to aesthetically frame each shoot and tell the story visually. They don't get lazy and just shoot talking heads.

QUESTION: Are they generally collaborating with other students or outsiders?
McCARTHY: They are generally collaborating with classmates. The actors usually come from the theater department. Not only do students need to collaborate, but also university departments. Classmates in the film department help crew up, but they can also recruit friends and relatives. Part of the experience is learning how to stay on schedule, communicating, and collaborating.

QUESTION: What happens to the films after they are completed?
McCARTHY: They are transferred to DVDs, and we are archiving the original Super 8 films. Film is a proven archival format - 20, 30, or 40 years from now, when some of our students are famous filmmakers, people will be able to see how they started.

QUESTION: What are some of the other lessons the students are learning?
McCARTHY: They are learning about the imaging characteristics of different types of film stocks, including exposure indexes. They are also learning about telecine transfer technology. We also have students visit sets where films and television series are being produced in Los Angeles, including seeing (cinematographer) Nelson Cragg shooting CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He was amazed by what they know about film stocks. It would be a disservice to not give them that foundation in filmmaking.

QUESTION: How many students do you have in a class?
McCARTHY: Typically, we have around 20 students per class.

QUESTION: Do your students start out knowing they want to be producers, writers, directors and cinematographers, or is that a process of discovery?
McCARTHY: We encourage all of our students to explore and experience all the different roles in the collaborative process, and also not to lock themselves into any particular genre of filmmaking. I think that's part of the beauty of film school. You can get experience in a variety of roles and work collaboratively with your classmates. We also encourage our students to learn about themselves by experimenting.

QUESTION: We presume that your students also shoot color film?
McCARTHY: You wouldn't give an artist one brush or one color of paint! Our students are shooting films with the latest KODAK VISION3 color negatives as well as black-and-white films. We encourage them to use the biggest possible palette, and to explore the possibilities of telling stories with black-and-white and color film.

QUESTION: What do students say when they share their dreams for the future?
McCARTHY: They have passions for different aspects of filmmaking. Some of them want to be cinematographers, and others want to be writers or directors. We have a student whose dream is to become a production designer and a few others want to produce films. But, they all share a love and passion of film and filmmaking. Some of our current students will move on to advanced film studies programs, and others want to find jobs in the industry and add their voices to those that are already out there now.

QUESTION: Do your students have role models whose names you hear?
McCARTHY: I hear a lot of names. I'm not sure that I can remember all of them off the top of my head. Our student directors want to be tomorrow's Martin Scorsese, Sam Raimi, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, George Lucas, Clint Eastwood and Michel Gondry. Our cinematography students have seen Nelson Cragg at work, and admire him. A flood of other names are coming to mind, (Alfred) Hitchcock and (John) Ford are among them. They all want to learn from the "masters" and be taken under the wings of talented mentors, but just as important, share on screen their own unique voices and styles.

QUESTION: What are you working on besides mentoring the next generation?
McCARTHY: I'm co-producing a documentary about Dave Brubeck, a true American master, with Bruce Ricker, who is directing the film. He's an award-winning filmmaker, who has produced documentaries about Johnny Mercer, Tony Bennett and Clint Eastwood. Mr. Eastwood is executive producer of the documentary. I'm privileged to be part of that team and to be able to help tell the story of not only one of the greatest musical artists of all time, but also a champion of freedom in all forms of expression, civil rights, social justice, creative imagination and inspiration. His music, especially jazz, has helped to change and transform the world. Wherever and whenever you experience freedom, you experience Mr. Brubeck's work.

QUESTION: How would you describe the content?
McCARTHY: It's a combination of new interviews and archival material.

QUESTION: Where are you finding archival film?
McCARTHY: Dave Brubeck was a student here. We have a tremendous amount of footage documenting his career in the University of the Pacific archives. The Brubeck archives are one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Mr. Brubeck believes that "music has the power to transform lives as well as to enlighten and entertain." His work and music begs us to see and experience things in ways we had never before considered. He has been an important catalyst for change in our time and is part of the American zeitgeist. Part of his legacy has been to open doors-not only the doors of opportunity, but those of the mind. Because of Dave Brubeck we see the world differently I hope my filmmakers can in some way, through their work in film, do the same thing.

Cannes Lions Wrap-Up

2010-07-15T14:54:00Z

A few weeks ago, the best creatives in the world descended upon Cannes, France to have their work showcased and - hopefully - recognized by their peers at the 57th Annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

In fact, there were over 24,000 submissions from 90 countries - the fourth-highest level of entries ever - competing for awards this year, which is an increase of 7% over last year. Cannes Lions is still the premier international festival that showcases the world's best advertising creative. This includes packaging, PR, promotions, PR outdoor ads, direct mail, print and, of course, film ads.

A new category was added this year-Film Craft. The Film Craft category was launched to recognize and reward the quality of craft as demonstrated in the filmmaking process. This might take into account, for example, the quality of the direction, copywriting or editing and the use of music or sound design.

This gives Kodak's core customers - production companies - an opportunity to shine and be recognized for their work! In its inaugural year the Film Craft Lions category received 1,110 entries. Jury President, Jon Kamen (Chairman and CEO of @radical.media) presided over a panel that presented RSA Films, London with the first ever Film Craft Grand Prix for their Philips Cinema TV entry 'The Gift.'

Kodak once again played a supporting role at the festival through its sponsorship of the Young Director Award, established 11 years ago by the Commercial Film Producers of Europe (CFP-E). Year after year, great talent is showcased, and many previous award-winners have gone on to successful directing careers. This year's YDA winner is Denmark's Adam Bonk. His winning spot is titled, 'Interruption,' which was shot on Kodak motion picture film, 500T 5219.

This year's Short List winners for Short Films Europe are director Igor Borghi, producer Joana Skiavini and DP Marco Bassano. Their piece is titled 'La Cucina Italiana.'

There were thousands of entrants this year in the Film Lions category. And - drumroll please - the Grand Prix winner for the Film Lions is the commercial that has made us laugh around the world…the Old Spice commercial 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' from Wieden + Kennedy, Portland USA. The production company MJZ shot on Kodak 5219.

So, it was great to see all of the talent showcased at Cannes Lions this year. And, great to see that Kodak played a role in many of the winning entrants this year. There were so many well-constructed, funny, touching and impactful spots in competition that chose film as their capture medium because brands, agencies and producers all understand that they're telling very short stories with images as well as with words. They know that producing their spots on film positions their brands in the best possible light.

Award-Winning Commercial Production on Film

2010-06-29T14:54:00Z

Simon Duggan, ACS, Darren Lew and Greig Fraser, ACS took top cinematography honors in the 19th annual Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show: The Art & Technique of the American Commercial. The television commercials they shot were chosen by their peers as the most-effective visual storytelling last year in a highly-competitive field.

The TV spots were featured at the premiere of the AICP Show on June 8 at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. They are compelling examples of how the art of telling stories with moving images can influence thoughts and feelings about products and services offered by advertisers. The stories and visual grammars were radically different:

Duggan shot a 30-second spot called "Lost Barrel" for Jameson Irish Whiskey. It opens with a barrel of whiskey rolling off the deck of an old-fashioned sailing ship during a stormy day at sea. A sailor jumps into the ocean in a seemingly impossible and dangerous attempt to save it. The message it sends is that the barrel of whiskey is so valuable that the sailor is willing to risk his life to retrieve it. There is a cut-away to the sailor being confronted by an octopus. Another cut-away takes the audience to a solemn funeral scene on a beach. There is a happy ending when the sailor comes striding out of the ocean with a triumphant smile on his face and the barrel on his shoulder.
Lew shot a 30-second commercial called "America" for Levi's. The spot features a fast-moving montage of images of girls, boys, men and women of various ages, ranging from a corporate executive to people treating themselves to a free ride on top of a train. The spot was filmed in a wide range of environments at various times of day. It concludes with a shot of a huge sign that says America. The visual message is that Levis is the leisure attire of choice for people in all sectors of life in America.
Fraser shot a 90-second spot called "The Life" for Xbox Halo 3's interactive computer game. The commercial escorts the audience on a journey to the 26th century where United Nations soldiers are engaged in a battle with alien beings. There are shots tracing the life of a human soldier from childhood through middle age. In a close-up he makes eye to eye contact with the audience. The spot plays like a science-fiction movie that invites the audience to participate by playing the game.

The first commercials produced during the dawn of the television industry in the late 1940s and early '50s were created by ad agency personnel. There was live-action content integrated into programs. For example, men dressed in firemen uniforms sang a song about Texaco during Milton Berle's live television show. Another example: An announcer named John Stevenson opened The Lucille Ball Show by asking the studio audience if they inhaled when they smoked. Then, he put a cigarette in his mouth, inhaled deeply, and told the audience that he preferred Philip Morris.

Kensinger Jones at the Leo Burnett agency is generally credited with pioneering the use of filmed commercials in 1958. One of his first successful spots was produced for Campbell's tomato juice. Jones used time lapse technology to depict the growth of a tomato. Later that year, he went to work for Campbell-Ewald where he produced a series of phenomenally successful commercials for Chevrolet in collaboration with a freelance cinematographer named Gary Snitzer.

Their first spot featured a young actor leaving his house on the way to pick up his date for the senior prom. His father, mother and sister waved goodbye as he strode from the house to the curb where a new Chevrolet convertible was parked. It was his surprise graduation present. There was a corsage on the front seat for his date.

The only audio was, "What a gal! What a night! What a car! The new Chevrolet!" followed by what became a familiar tune and lyric as background music for countless other commercials: "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet."

That commercial opened a new frontier in the art of visual storytelling.

The AICP was founded in 1972 as a forum where independent television commercial producers and directors could share ideas and advocate progress in advancing the art and craft. Some 80 to 85 percent of commercials that air on television in the United States are produced by its members, says AICP CEO/President Matt Miller.

Kodak sponsored the first dinner honoring the cinematographers whose commercials were chosen for the Show reel in 1998. It has become a tradition.

Duggan, Lew and Fraser brought diverse backgrounds to their projects. Duggan was born in Sydney, Australia, where he was a still photography hobbyist during his youth. He began his career in 1979 working his way up through the ranks of the film camera crew system with world class cinematographers, including Dean Semler, ASC, ACS, Peter James, ASC, CSC and John Seale, ASC, ACS. Duggan began shooting and directing commercials during the late 1980s. He has also earned feature film cinematography credits, including I, Robot and Live Free or Die Hard.

Darren Lew

Lew was born and raised in Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at NYU and took photographs for the student newspaper, because it gave him opportunities to meet interesting people. Lew began his career as a photojournalist for The Village Voice newspaper. He subsequently worked as an assistant to iconic still photographer Annie Leibovitz for a year and with fashion photographer Steven Meisel for a dozen years. Lew began shooting behind the scenes film with a Bolex camera during still photo shoots. That led to his first commercial project in 2003.

Greig Fraser

Fraser was born and raised in Mebourne, Australia. He majored in still photography at the Melbourne Institute of Technology. Fraser began his career at a local film production company, where he transitioned from still photography to cinematography. Fraser worked his way up through the camera crew system and segued into shooting music videos, which led to opportunities to shoot commercials and narrative films. He has earned some 20 short and long form narrative film credits since 2000. Fraser was on the Daily Variety "10 Cinematographers to Watch" list in 2009.

One obvious common denominator is that Duggan, Lew and Fraser began traveling on their career paths by exposing one film frame at a time with still cameras. Another common denominator is that was 35 mm motion picture film was the medium of choice for their award-winning commercials, because it gave them the creative freedom to shoot in challenging environments and record images that evoke emotional responses.

Simon Duggan

"Lost Barrel" was produced in Auckland, New Zeeland, in collaboration with director Noam Murro. They built a scale-sized stern of a ship on a hydraulic gimbal, which enabled them to rock the set like a boat on the ocean. A wind machine was used to create the illusion that waves were rocking the boat. There was a blue screen behind the boat. Shots of the ocean and sky were composited into the background during postproduction. The underwater shot was filmed in a swimming pool. The octopus was a believable CGI composited into the scene. The final shot was filmed on a beach.

"We were shooting with the 250-speed daylight film which recorded the nuances in colors and contrast that make the images look and feel natural," Duggan says.

America was Cary Fukunaga's first turn at the helm during the production of a commercial. The spot was filmed in four days at a variety of practical locations in and around New Orleans and San Francisco. "We couldn't have shot this commercial the way that we did if it wasn't on film," Lew emphasizes. "We were shooting in natural light in conditions including for a night scene on a lake. Flares and fireworks were our only source of light. There are scenes with deep backgrounds where we needed the latitude film offers. A lot of it was spontaneous with a handheld camera. I really drew on my photojournalism experience."

"The Life" was produced at practical locations near Budapest, Hungary. Fraser says that the locations were chosen following a long search for exterior environments which offered an out-of-this-world look. He and director Rupert Sanders have been frequent collaborators.

"Rupert is a collaborative and visually oriented director," Fraser says. "The environments we worked in ranged from exteriors with deep landscape backgrounds to a dark coal mine where we needed to record pure black and white tones. Film gave us the latitude we needed to capture the images we envisioned in every situation."

Why is this still an exciting time in the R+D area in Entertainment Imaging at Kodak?

2010-06-24T14:54:00Z

Because Kodak scientists and engineers are continuing to apply their knowledge of materials and image science to deliver innovative products with the highest image quality to assist filmmakers in delivering their creative visions.

New digital technologies or applications abound everywhere, but there remains a continuing need for the highest quality capture medium that can enable the very best of all imaging production paths available.

That’s why the Kodak team wasn’t satisfied to rest on the laurels of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar recognition of the VISION2 photographic emulsion technologies. Instead, they have continued to investigate opportunities for improving the film medium in all areas of the motion picture workflow resulting in the addition of two new films to the VISION3 family of motion picture products.

Launched earlier this month, the third edition to the VISION3 Color Negative portfolio, KODAK VISION3 200T 5213/7213, delivers the extended dynamic range and improved signal-to-noise characteristics that allow for greater creative flexibility.
From a digital intermediate perspective, the imaging characteristics of KODAK VISION3 Color Digital Intermediate Film 5254/2254 were designed for use with all contemporary recorders, such as laser, CRT and LED, to enhance the efficiency of DI postproduction while rendering sharper images with improved color purity.

Whether it is an origination film designed to capture original scene content in various lighting conditions with improved image quality and resolution or a post production film intended to replicate the filmmakers intentions while enabling increased efficiencies in post houses and laboratories, Kodak scientists understand that product performance is driven through improvements in the smallest components of the multilayer film pack.

Nanotechnology is actually all the rage in various scientific communities, but we have been working on this scale for years at Kodak to deliver improved silver halide image capture efficiency. Research into film technology started over 100 years old, but that doesn’t mean that state of the art advancements are not still out there waiting to be uncovered.

For example, in VISION3 200T, novel sensitization techniques featuring two independent layers of spectral sensitizing dyes on the silver halide crystals were employed to utilize more of the light that strikes the film plane in capture films. Sounds straightforward right? Actually, hundreds of molecular structures were designed, tested and analyzed to determine the impact on the imaging chain from photon capture through the final step of dye formation. The final dyes were selected for our Advanced Dye Layering technology to enable marked improvements in signal-to-noise, especially in low light situations.

For the digital intermediate film, Kodak scientists developed a new set of sensitizing dyes that mapped the peak sensitivity of the silver halide emulsions to more closely match the wavelengths generated by CRT, laser, and LED recorder light sources. Optimizing the spectral sensitivity of the film was a tremendous challenge undertaken by the development team that required numerous experimental campaigns to deliver features such as longer, linear sensitometric response and improved resolution. Feedback from post production facilities and laboratories indicate the team delivered the necessary features for a winning product.

I could continue to go on in more detail on the rest of the technology incorporated in the new films, but I encourage you to attend the regional presentations and technical conferences where more information will be shared. In those sessions, you’ll see that Kodak’s commitment to film innovation and the satisfaction of our film customers is unwavering. The addition of new products to the VISION3 motion picture film platform proves that we believe in the continued viability of silver halide. We are still investing in film technology, and there is more to come.

Meet Mike Ryan

2010-06-24T14:54:00Z

Mike Ryan is the Film Technology Director for Entertainment Imaging at Eastman Kodak, responsible for the strategic direction of research & development and commercialization projects supporting the color and black & white motion picture film portfolio. Since joining Kodak in 1986, Mike has been involved in research and development of silver halide technologies for consumer, professional, and motion imaging applications. Prior to his current assignment, Mike’s responsibilities included emulsion research and project management for the EXR, VISION, VISION2, and VISION3 family of color negative origination films. Mike has a BS Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Cinesite Gives Marmaduke Some Bite

2010-06-24T14:54:00Z

In early spring 2010, at the same time as completing work on Marmaduke, Cinesite was creating ancient Persian cities for Prince Of Persia and giant mythological Scorpioch creatures for Clash Of The Titans. That is one of the great things about the visual effects business, the diversity of what we do.

We worked on Marmaduke (Twentieth Century Fox) for almost a year, creating over 650 talking animal shots, which resulted in the creation of a mixture of ten live-action dogs and cats that have had CGI work seamlessly blended into their faces.

Originally based on a newspaper comic strip by Brad Anderson, the film follows the story of a suburban family who move into a new neighbourhood with their large, loveable Great Dane, Marmaduke (voiced by Owen Wilson), who has a tendency to wreak havoc in his own oblivious way.

This was the fourth talking animal film we had created, having proved ourselves to be the experts in this field with previous work on Animal Farm (1999), Underdog (2007) and Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008). Over the years, we've refined our techniques and with every new production our pipeline is adapted and becomes better. Our unique and proprietary system involves a complex hybrid combination of 2D and 3D techniques, and each breed of dog or cat brought its own unique challenges.

Entirely computer generated sections of the animals' faces were blended with the original photography, which was been re-projected over the 3D. Photographic references were supplied to us by the production, which were used to model the 3D heads. The digital heads incorporated the dogs' muscle structures, and a secondary muscle structure was created to mimic the muscles of the human face.

Every director and each film has its own set of artistic requirements, particularly regarding the look and style of the talking animals. In this instance, the client was looking for a "photo-realistic cartoon dog", a combination of the more cartoon-like style of films like Scooby-Doo and Garfield, and the "realism" of Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

The artists did a brilliant job, carefully studying Owen Wilson's mannerisms and reflecting them in Marmaduke's highly expressive face. Trying to capture a real sense of Owen Wilson in a 200lb Great Dane is no mean feat!

In many shots the artists further defined Marmaduke by adding in 3D eyes and whiskers. In all cases there is a seamless blend between shots which are entirely live action, those where the mouth areas alone are 3D, and those with almost entirely digital faces.

There is inevitably a challenge in instances where fully 3d elements are seen side by side with live action. Everyone knows that the animals' mouths must be digital because dogs can't talk! As a result of this, areas of the shot are under a high degree of scrutiny by the film's audience. I believe our work stands up to that scrutiny and I am very proud of what Cinesite's visual effects team has achieved on Marmaduke.

And the future? At the moment we're creating magical effects for the final Harry Potter installments, at the same time as completing contracts for Sony's Battle: Los Angeles, Disney/Pixar's Jon Carter Of Mars and Fox's The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. These films will all bring their individual challenges, but as a world-class visual effects company we will grow better and better with every one of them.

The Technology Behind VISION3 Color Digital Intermediate Film 2254 and 5254

2010-06-11T14:54:00Z

The increasing use of digital workflows to produce feature films has made possible ever more spectacular and seamless special effects. The movie experience for audiences today is very different from that of just a few years ago. From Harry Potter to Alice in Wonderland to Avatar, filmmakers have new creative freedoms that produce amazing results for today’s moviegoers. The industry has also benefited from the many efficiency gains associated with digital post.

Right now it’s still a hybrid world with filmed or digitally-originated images feeding into a digital intermediate process which is then recorded out to produce film prints or a file for digital cinema display. Recording out to produce film prints usually requires an intermediate film. From the infancy of the digital intermediate process, Kodak Vision Color Intermediate Film has been the standard used to record out images from those digital files for film distribution and display.

As DI use has grown, however, various types of film recorders have been introduced to the marketplace. These recorders, such as LASERs, CRTs and LEDs, employ different light sources which expose film to wavelengths of light quite different from the traditional white light-through-color-film-dyes that color intermediate film was originally designed for. In addition to the different wavelengths, these recorders also employ exposure times in nanosecond range (0.000000050 seconds) as opposed to the traditional exposure times in the hundredths of a second (0.04 seconds). So, minimizing high-intensity reciprocity failure becomes more critical than ever…in other words, having the film give us the same results regardless of the exposure conditions is very critical.

In talking with customers it became evident that it would be very helpful to our industry partners to have a color intermediate film product designed for/optimized for use with these recorders. And not just optimized for one type of light source, but one designed for ALL of the recorders. Based upon these discussions, we created a new intermediate film, specifically designed for use in the digital intermediate record-out process: VISION3 2254. Characteristics of this film product include:

More sensitivity (higher speed) to wavelengths of light used by modern film recorders
Improved image structure – achieved through reducing flair and improving sharpness
Less color ‘cross talk’ (i.e. reduction of density from unwanted exposure, for example the blue light exposing the green record. Reducing that unwanted density formation results in purer colors)
Improved short-term latent image keeping or minimized density variations after the film is exposed … meaning for a 2,000 ft reel of film, the first frame recorded out will look like the last frame.

While we were still in development phase, all these goals were discussed by the R&D team. These goals were very challenging, and we weren’t sure how we would be able to achieve them! But, we all accepted the challenge and dove into the project. We initially worked on the new emulsions, which incorporate new, patent-pending dye systems to make the film sensitive to wavelengths of light for all the various recorders.

In optimizing these emulsions, our scientists had to also co-optimize grain size and ‘finish’ (a complex process of adding the right amounts of various chemicals and heat to improve latent image keeping, raw-stock stability on aging, sharpness, granularity, exposure reciprocity, photographic speed and contrast). This required several rounds of statistically designed experiments with complex data analyses to arrive at the optimum formulation for the emulsions.

Once we had the emulsions, the challenge was to incorporate them into a film structure that minimized light scatter to provide improved sharpness. To achieve the reduced cross-talk, a narrow band of green light-absorbing, non-wandering, process removing dye was added between the magenta and cyan records.

We’re very pleased to say that the team achieved all of this while maintaining the superb cleanliness and high-speed printing robustness of the current 2242/5242 products. –
This month we officially introduced KODAK VISION3 Color Digital Intermediate Film 5254/2254 to the marketplace. It is designed for use with all contemporary film recorders. The imaging characteristics of this new intermediate film enhance the speed and efficiency of DI postproduction while rendering noticeably sharper images that more faithfully represent the intentions of filmmakers.

VISION3 Color Intermediate Film is packed full of new technology, all to provide the best possible products for our customers, who continue to push the boundaries of creative story-telling for motion picture audiences around the world.

Meet David Niklewicz

2010-06-11T14:54:00Z

World Wide Product Manager for Distribution Products
Eastman Kodak Compnay
Rochester NY.

Dave is EI’s Product Manager for Color Print and Color Intermediate Films. Dave brings a wealth of experience to this role… over 37 years at Kodak. Building upon his Chemical Engineering background, he also draws upon his assignments in R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Hollywood Region Technical Sales. Dave was the Technical Project leader for Vision and Vision Premier Color Print Films and the business leader for Vision Color Intermediate Film and the new Vision 3 Digital Color Intermediate Film.

VISION3 Technologies

2010-06-03T14:54:00Z

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.

So what exactly are these technologies that have made the VISION3 family of films possible?

To begin, the VISION3 films are an extension of their VISION2 predecessors in that they were designed to perform similarly under normal exposure conditions. They have incorporated all of the important technologies introduced in the VISION2 family that made them award-winning films. Technologies like: triple-coated red and green records; high-activity image couplers; 2-electron sensitization; and advanced developer accelerators continue to play an important role in the VISION3 film family. In some cases, the VISION3 films have been able to take advantage of evolutionary advances in these technologies to further increase the performance advantages they provide. New Advanced Development Accelerator technology is an example of this.

Advanced Developer Accelerator technology, originally introduced in the VISION2 film family, improves signal extraction by increasing the probability that a latent image site on an exposed silver halide emulsion grain will be developed. The practical result of this increased efficiency is an increase in the photographic speed of the emulsion and an improvement in signal preservation between exposure and processing. The increased speed allows us to use smaller emulsions in our most sensitive emulsion layers and smaller grain sizes directly translate into improved granularity. Recent advances in the field of Advanced Developer Accelerators have allowed the VISION3 films to expand the use of this technology to all three color records. This technology is featured in the most sensitive layers of the red, green, and blue records in all of the VISION3 films and contributes to the improved grain in lower exposures.

While evolutionary improvements in the technologies mentioned above are important parts of the new films, they are not the real powerhouse behind VISION3 performance. Rather, there are two new technologies in the VISION3 films that significantly increase their performance and utility. These new tools are Kodak’s proprietary Advanced Dye Layering technology and Sub-Micron Image Sensor technology.

Advanced Dye Layering is an emulsion technology that increases the efficiency of light absorption of the silver halide grains. In color negative films, dyes are used to absorb light from a specific spectral region (red, green, and blue) and transfer that image information to silver halide crystals. This technology, known as “spectral sensitization”, involves functionalizing the silver halide emulsions with a layer of spectral sensitizing dye that provides the desired spectral response. All silver halide emulsions in color negative films have been “sensitized” in this manner. Advanced dye layering technology goes even further by introducing a second, incredibly thin layer of dye on top of the primary dye. This secondary layer of dye is bound to the surface of the silver halide by electrostatic interactions. Light energy absorbed by the secondary layer of dye is eventually transmitted to the silver halide. The practical benefit of advanced Dye Layering technology is that now the silver halide crystals can capture and process more light than a conventionally sensitized emulsion. This increased efficiency allows us to use smaller emulsions to achieve the same photographic speed. In some cases, a 25-30% reduction is grain size has been possible. This leads to grain improvements across the exposure scale, but most dramatically in the low exposure region. Advanced Dye-Layering is used in the green and red records of the VISION3 films.

The extended highlight latitude is where our Sub-micron Image Sensor technology comes into play. Sub-Micron Image Sensors are very small, incredibly efficient silver halide crystals that are used in the least sensitive layers of all three color records in VISION3 films. These crystals have been specifically designed to provide efficient, detailed image capture under high exposure conditions. This technology has enabled us to increase the overexposure latitude of the VISION3 films by two stops. In other words, the VISION3 films are able to provide increased density for increased exposure 2 stops further into the highlights in all three color records. The practical benefit of this is the ability to shoot further into the highlights without a loss in detail (information and color). In addition, the excellent signal-to-noise characteristics of these sub-micron sensors means that, in a digital post-production workflow, these details can be extracted without introducing high levels of grain.

At Kodak we continue to “push the boundaries” of film by continuous work on novel emulsion technologies and film design. VISION3 is the latest manifestation of that commitment.

KODAK VISION3 200T Color Negative Film Product Information

Meet Sharon Johnston

2010-06-03T14:54:00Z

Sharon is a color negative film design engineer in the Entertainment Imaging Film Technology unit. She has worked most recently on the development and commercialization of the VISION3 family of Eastman Color Negative films.

She has 19 years experience with Kodak working on numerous aspects of color negative film technology, including emulsion design, new imaging component evaluation and integration, and color negative film design and commercialization for consumer imaging, professional imaging, and entertainment imaging businesses.

She holds a BS degree in chemistry from Dickinson College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Rochester Production AFTER Stays Local

2010-05-17T14:54:00Z

After being in Kodak’s motion picture business for 30 years, you might think that a person would tire of doing the same thing. But what I have learned in those 30 years is that every project that I get a chance to work on is new and exciting! In 2009 we took on a local film project: a feature film called “AFTER,” written by a local woman, Sabrina Gennarino, who also filmed her project here in Rochester.

Although Rochester is the home of Eastman Kodak and the George Eastman House – and can claim many of the world’s greatest imaging innovations – features production here is moderate. That’s why we were very excited to be able to support this production, not only with great product and technical advice, but also with postproduction services.

The film was shot on KODAK VISION2 500T Color Negative Film 5260, which offers benefits in both production and postproduction. They used a 2-perf camera for a 2:35 aspect ratio.

The advantage of shooting on 35mm film 2-perf is that you save 50% on film stock, and Sabrina definitely wanted this project on film is because she wanted to end up with a high quality film feature ‘look’ to tell her story. With help from Scott Stevens from Kodak’s New York City sales office, an account was set up for this local shoot.

All of the film was shot in 22 days, and the film was processed throughout the same time period. Kodak processed the film in Eastman Business Park at Building 326 -- home of the Customer Technical Support Group. The video dailies were transferred in Building 205 – our research facility. High Definition video dailies were transferred on our SPIRIT DATACINE to HD-D5 video. We used the daVinci color corrector to give ‘AFTER’ a “Best Light” look. The data was then handed back to the editor as a HD QuickTime DVCPRO-23.98 on multiple hard drives.

The editor for the project “AFTER” has received a picture “lock” from the producers and they are proceeding with getting a Digital Intermediate made for print release. The editor will supply an Edit Decision List to us here at Kodak, and we will scan the film to data at a high resolution (2048 x 773) with all of the tone scale and color record in the data, The DI Colorist can then create the look for Digital Intermediate.

The film will be scanned on the ARRI scanner using Kodak DIGITAL ICE (dirt removal software), and placed into a file structure that can be recorded back out to film at Postworks NYC.

Participating on this production has been a great opportunity for us at Kodak headquarters. We love to see our products in use, and it’s great to work side-by-side with our customers as they bring their creative visions to life. Be sure to look for “AFTER” on the film festival circuit soon!

Meet Kyle Alvut

2010-05-17T14:54:00Z

Kyle Alvut
Senior Colorist
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY

Kyle oversees operations in the Entertainment Imaging Film & Digital Systems Laboratory. He brings over 30 years of experience in traditional and digital color correction, video and digital post-production workflow, and digital intermediate applications.

In addition to guest lectures for the Digital Cinema program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Kyle also teaches an adjunct course in Digital Color Correction for both BS and BFA students in the School of Film and Animation.

Most recently, Kyle has provided lectures to students of the Selznick School at the George Eastman House in Television Production and Film to Digital Transfer Systems.

ShoWest and Our Future at the Movies

2010-05-11T14:54:00Z

ShoWest is billed as the largest motion picture convention and trade show in the world. It brings together theater owners – represented by NATO, the National Association of Theater Owners – and the major international film distributors – represented by the MPAA, the Motion Picture Association of America. Together they celebrate their past year’s achievements and talk about the big ideas for the future of the motion picture exhibition business.

There was plenty to celebrate at ShoWest 2010. The global box office set another all-time record in 2009, reaching almost $30 billion. North American box office increased for the fourth consecutive year, and was a full 10% higher than in 2008, finishing at a record $10.6 billion. 11% of the North American box office came from 3D showings.

What about the future of movies at the theater? In his remarks, MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman said “…I predict the best is yet to come for the box office.” He highlighted four key industry trends the MPAA is engaged with:

Globalization: The motion picture business is truly a global business. Global box office has soared, and international release strategies are just as important for major motion picture distributors as are their North American premieres.
Technology: Digital cinema has enabled 3D. People are eager to pay for the entertainment value 3D offers. It has increased admissions, even with ticket price premiums.
Content protection: Motion picture content is highly valuable intellectual property, and must be protected from the challenges of piracy in an increasingly digital age.
The ratings system: As content becomes more accessible, the MPAA ratings system has enduring value as a tool for parents.

People in Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging business pay close attention to what’s said as ShoWest, because it’s important to our future at the movies. In particular, globalization and technology have a direct impact on the business of motion picture film.

The most obvious impact on film is from technology. ShoWest has talked about digital cinema since the early 2000’s, and industry pundits quickly began wondering if “film is dead.” For most of the decade, while the number of digital screens grew, the worldwide color print film market grew too (due to many factors, including globalization). With 3D, the implementation of digital cinema has finally surged forward to the point where the print film market has been impacted. Of course, 3D will not power a digital cinema surge for long. Many exhibitors are willing to pay the full cost for their digital 3D screens – due to the box office opportunities they enable – but not every screen needs to be capable of 3D.

An equally important impact on film comes from globalization. The amplifying magnitude of the international market has many effects on the film business:

The use of international day-and-date releases continues to expand. This means film prints from the US cannot be recycled for use in international territories, which means a better audience experience (and more film prints overall).
International releases from the major studios are wider than they used to be, opening on more screens and in more countries.
This is not just a Hollywood story. There are more releases from other countries and those releases are wider too. Some of the widest, most Hollywood-like releases in key international territories are for local films, not major studio films.
Ten years ago, half of the worldwide color print film market was in North America. In 2009, more than two thirds of the market is international. North America isn’t even the biggest film region now; Europe is. The film market size in Latin America has doubled in those ten years. In Asia it has tripled.

Most importantly, record-setting box office provides the incentive both distributors and exhibitors need to keep investing in the future of the movie business. It means producing more movies people want to see (some of them in 3D), and distributing them widely. It means building new, better, more modern theaters. John Fithian – President and CEO of NATO – explained the exhibition commitment to movie industry success: “Movie theater owners have invested millions in new theaters with the latest technology…” He wasn’t just talking about digital cinema and 3D projection. He first listed investments like providing a better viewing experience through stadium seating, modern multiplexes with unprecedented convenience in selecting movies and show times, online and kiosk processes that make ticket buying easier, and the emergence of venues offering high-end experiences with new amenities. These are the kinds of investments being made not just in North America, but in theaters all around the world.

We can look at the past ten years and see how all of the above factors have grown between 1999 and 2009:

Global box office has increased 78%
Digital cinema has gone from 0 commercial screens in 1999 to more than 16,000 screens worldwide in 2009 (more than half of them 3D)
The worldwide exhibition market size – our measure of film plus digital cinema – has increased 71%
The worldwide color print film market – even with the growth of digital cinema – has increased 47%

In the next years, we know digital cinema will grow further. But the overall growth in global box office will continue to fuel the long-term growth of distribution and exhibition, and film will have a meaningful position in the future of the movies for many years to come.

8 Ventures of CJ

2010-04-21T14:54:00Z

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.

Fast forward a bit to my final year in college, where I was pursuing my engineering degree. One of the companies offering employment was Eastman Kodak Company. Although they didn’t know about my film making experience, they offered me the opportunity to joining their Image Science Training Program as a way to fast track engineers into Image Scientists. Working on imaging solutions over the years has taught me a tremendous amount about the science behind imaging. Many times over the years, I’ve thought about how naïve I was in those early attempts with Super 8.

As we were preparing for the launch of 100D, I remembered this history and wondered what became of those films. Naturally, as Product Manager, I am well versed in the benefits of film as an archival medium. So, I called my parents and asked them to look through their “archive” to see if they had my old movies. Sure enough, they found them in an old shoe box! I watched the movie on an old projector and am now sending them out to be digitized. After thirty-some years, the image quality is still remarkably good. I can clearly see some of the mistakes I made, but despite that, the images made me smile. Isn’t that what photography is about?

Do you remember your first footage shot with Super 8? If so, please share on Kodak Motion Picture Film's Facebook page a little bit about it and how this experience impacted you. Kodak is proud to continue to support this format. We are also grateful to the network of dedicated laboratories and camera houses which also support the format. To this day, it continues to be a Super way for students, hobbyists and professional filmmakers to experience the Magic of Film!

Award Winning VFX

2010-04-13T14:54:00Z

As managing director of Cinesite, Kodak's visual effects subsidiary, it's very gratifying for me when my team is recognised by the industry for their tremendous creativity, artistry and technical skills.

While we are known primarily for our feature film visual effects, Cinesite has had notable success for high-end television work, particularly over recent years.

Our work on Generation Kill for HBO was awarded an Emmy at the 61st Primetime Emmy® Awards, which were held in Los Angeles last September, in the category Outstanding Achievement In Special Visual Effects for A TV Special Or Miniseries. We were also nominated in the same category for another HBO production, Into The Storm.

This is our second Emmy award in the same category, having previously been awarded in 2005 for the highly-acclaimed HBO mini-series Rome. We have also achieved three nominations for other productions and been awarded a Royal Television Society award for Band of Brothers in 2001.

We created all of the visual effects for Generation Kill, which broadcast on HBO in Summer 2008, and on the FX channel in 2009. Channel 4 acquired the UK rights to the series and it was to aired on terrestrial television at the end of last year.

The seven episode series, based upon the successful book by Evan Wright, follows the First Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, at the spearhead of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The action covers a one month period up to and including the fall of Baghdad, with the story being told at ground level, from the gritty and shocking perspective of the Marine unit traveling in a small convoy of Humvees. Wright was embedded with the platoon throughout the initial assaults on Iraq.

The production went to great efforts to achieve realism in every respect, filming as much action in camera as possible and using authentic military vehicles and equipment wherever possible. Cinesite worked closely with production Military Adviser Eric Kocher to enhance shots where this was not possible and to recreate the epic scale of battle digitally, on a massive scale.

Our work included the creation of convoys of photorealistic CGI military vehicles, missiles, burning oil fires, CGI attack aircraft, the destruction of Iraqi cities as the Allies advance and realistically portraying the colossal resources of the American army. All of the visual effects are invisible, in no way detracting from the drama of the historic conflict being depicted.

Fourteen types of CGI vehicle were created in all, each requiring modelling using accurate imagery and technical data, then complex texturing and animation. Procedural systems were written to create automatic vibration and suspension for the vehicles to give a realistic impression of vehicle weight and movement when driving over hills or bumpy ground.

To add further realism, tyre tracks from vehicles traversing dusty and impressionable desert ground were added. Even the dust kicked up by the wheels of the numerous vehicles was recreated digitally.

Several key visual effects shots show the scale of US military resources. A sequence in the first episode shows the American base Camp Matilda. In one wide establishing shot, the environment is a 3D matte painting, CGI tents have been created and replicated into the distance, and CGI vehicles and soldiers have been added.

Another sequence, in episode two, shows the Allies advancing their Humvee towards Iraq in a massive convoy of vehicles. The Humvee travels across an overhead road bridge and we see the soldiers' view of a wide "superhighway", with a multitude of CGI Light Armoured Vehicles, tanks, Humvees and supply trucks. This sequence of four shots was immensely challenging: even the environment has been digitally created. The order of the vehicles in the convoy was created as authentically as possible, with careful consultation with Military Adviser Eric Kocher.

Generation Kill was shot on Kodak Super 16mm, directed by Susanna White (4 episodes) and Simon Cellen Jones (3 episodes) with cinematography by Ivan Strasburg.

EMMY NOMINEES:

For HBO: Adam McInnes - Visual Effects Supervisor, Antony Bluff - Visual Effects Producer

For Cinesite: Courtney Vanderslice-Law - Visual Effects Producer, Paul Edwards - Visual Effects Producer, Ken Dailey - Visual Effects Producer, Stephane Paris - CGI Supervisor, David Sewell - Lead Visual Effects Compositor, Stuart Partridge - Lead Visual Effects Compositor, Jean-Paul Rovela - Lead CGI Artist

At the end of last year, we completed all the visual effects on the remake of the cult classic series The Prisoner (AMC/ITV), which was broadcast in the US earlier this year and will be shown on ITV in the UK later this month.

View Cinesite's Showreel: http://www.cinesite.com/showreels/television

In the Hands of the Experts

2010-03-30T14:54:00Z

Every year about this time, spring is ushered in by a gathering of the broadcast industry in Los Vegas, Nevada, otherwise known as NAB. This annual conference of the National Association of Broadcasters showcases new technologies in support of all aspects of the broadcast industry. I’ve attended the conference many times in the past and it is quite an impressive showing of all kinds of high tech equipment, hardware, software and especially new digital cameras. What strikes me always about all this stuff – probably because I’m a Kodak guy – is that the vast majority is dedicated to a single cause…trying to replace motion picture film!

For as many years as I can recall, the floor of NAB is jam-packed with an incredibly diverse number of offerings from various manufactures of digital technologies like motion capture devices and digital image manipulation technologies – all developed specifically with the goal of emulating the look and efficiencies derived from the eloquent and mature medium of motion picture film.

As with many technical conferences where manufactures display their wares, a walk through the cavernous venues of the Los Vegas convention hall that houses NAB is like a trip into another dimension. The number of exhibits alone is quite overwhelming and one is seemingly larger than the next. As I pass by booth after booth of all types of imaging technology I can’t help but be amused by the fact that after 30 or more years and billions dollars of research and development, film still reigns as the gold standard of motion imaging. In spite of improvements, electronic digital imaging has yet to match all the wonderful qualities that film delivers. 70 video formats later, the ‘film look’ remains the benchmark that all digital technology is trying to replicate. But despite the best efforts of large and small manufactures of digital camera equipment, the look, feel and range of film, is still difficult to match in every way. Some come close, but none without compromise. Film is still the king of dynamic range. And, random film grains resolve more naturally to the way our eye perceives the world compared to the unnatural geometric pattern of a digital chip.

As the debate continues within the motion picture and broadcast industries as to which of the current variations of digital imaging tools comes closest to matching the look achieved with film, one thing remains certain and unchanged…film continues as the bench mark for imaging excellence. There is little doubt or argument that film is considered the gold standard for motion imaging. When manufactures of electronic capture technology design their systems, and measure the quality of their results, the standards they measure against – and attempt to emulate – are the standards set by the 100-year-old technology of film. At the same time, when the industry experts conduct tests of equipment to confirm the manufactures’ claims, the standard used for comparing digital is…film!

If there is any doubt about film’s lofty position as the gold standard for motion image technology, we need only refer to recent tests conducted by the imaging experts….Cinematographers.

When the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) designed tests for digital cameras systems, film was the benchmark technology used to compare all the rest. In 2009 both the ASC Camera Assessment Series and the BSC Film and Digital Image Evaluation were conducted independently but in cooperation with vendors and manufactures. The tests were extensive and involved as many as 18 different camera systems. In both versions of the tests, cinematographers from around the world were invited to participate in the design and execution of these side-by-side comparisons. As typical with ‘shoot-outs’ the cameras were rigged to capture the same scene content simultaneously. The scenes’ content was lit to accommodate a film exposure, and digital results were made to match film in post production. But the tests were far from the typical shoot out, because both organizations took the time to examine the intangible aspects of production, like; ease of use of equipment and costs of production and postproduction time. Both employed similar parameters for shooting and posting images, and in both the desired requirement was raw data derived directly from the camera chip (with some cameras this isn’t possible, most notably Red). The data was then ‘messaged’ into common file formats and sent through a Digital Intermediate process for multiple format conversion.

At the outset, early screenings were projected digitally from a lossless compressed JPEG 2000 file format converted to DCP (Digital Cinema Package). But long-term, both organizations plan to record files out to 35mm interneg to create 35mm prints. The ASC tested 35mm film only while the BSC tests included 16mm. Menu settings of the various digital camera systems were left in the hands of the manufacturers and suppliers to ensure completely unbiased testing. The results and detailed published accounts of both tests are well documented and available on line. And the BSC has also made available a Blu Ray DVD of their evaluation. The ASC plans to do the same in the not too distant future.

I was fortunate enough to attend the very first screening of the ASC / CAS in June of last year, hosted by the Producers Guild of America, the organization who commissioned the assessment. Once again I was struck with that same feeling of astonishment as when I cruise the halls of NAB. To say the evening was a revelation about the future of digital movie making would be a bit of a stretch. As expected, there was some confusion that evening over certain aspects of how the production cost data was derived, and challenges to the technical parameters of the test. There also were discussions about how to make the next test better the next time – and some agreed that the next text should probably not include film. Why? Because one of the undeniable facts almost all of the industry experts in attendance agreed on is that it isn’t fair to force digital to try and match film. Film remains the gold standard.

Congratulations

2010-03-19T14:54:00Z

The 2010 Academy Awards® ceremony took place last week in Kodak Theatre celebrating the greatest cinematic achievements of 2009. In addition to the gowns and the glamour, the Oscars® are the culmination of the industry’s awards season -- a time for us to really sit back and appreciate these incredible stories that have been brought to life by some of the world’s most talented and creative people. It’s an honor for Kodak to be a part of that creative process.

So, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on some of this year’s winners and to send out my personal congratulations for their outstanding accomplishments:

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC: Roger received a Best Cinematography Spirit Award this year for his work on A Serious Man. Roger is a tremendous artist and technician, who has won numerous awards and nominations for his work on such films as No Country for Old Men, The Shawshank Redemption, The Reader, and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou – among many, many others. He’s been a great Kodak customer over the years, and I congratulate him on this most recent recognition.

Caleb Daschanel, ASC was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Annual American Society of Cinematographer’s Awards. Caleb’s two daughters, Zooey and Emily presented their father with this honor, and it was in a very touching speech that they described their father’s passion and dedication to his art. His body of work includes such memorable films as The Black Stallion, Being There, The Right Stuff, The Natural and The Passion of the Christ. Like Roger, Caleb has won many prestigious awards over his career – and been nominated numerous times for Oscars®, BAFTAs and film festival awards around the world. Congratulations, Caleb, on this well-deserved recognition of your craft.
Christian Berger, AAC received the ASC Award for Best Cinematography in the Theatrical Release category. His film, The White Ribbon also won the Golden Palm at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for two Oscars this year – including one for Best Cinematography. Christian’s other film credits include Benny’s Video, The Piano Teacher and Caché. The White Ribbon was shot on Kodak color negative film, and used DI to transform the images to black-and-white in support of its period feel – as well as showing the creative flexibility of film in today’s sophisticated workflow. My thanks to Christian for his loyalty to Kodak and for his great work on this film!

At this year’s Oscars, The Hurt Locker took home six statuettes. This marks the first time in history that a 16mm production has won a Best Picture Oscar, which is a great testament to that format. Hurt Locker, which also received six British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, highlights the fact that independent features still have a very viable, affordable choice for image capture in 16mm color negative film – and what a difference that choice can make! Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow and her crew for their amazing achievements.

These are only a small number of the filmmakers that were honored over the last several weeks. On behalf of Kodak, I am very proud to pay tribute to all of the artistry and creative passions of the motion picture industry -- and the amazing compilation of work that through the years has kept us laughing, crying and cheering for the underdog. I congratulate all of this year’s winners and nominees for their extraordinary accomplishments.

Meet Kimberly Snyder

2010-03-19T14:54:00Z

President & General Manager, Entertainment Imaging, Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company

Kimberly Snyder is responsible for all aspects of Kodak’s business with the motion picture and television industry. This includes both the traditional film technologies used to capture and print moving images, as well as the evolving digital technologies that provide new imaging capabilities and the promise of a new cinematic experience. She previously was general manager of Image Capture Products within Entertainment Imaging.

Ms. Snyder joined Kodak in 1984 as a systems analyst, went on to hold positions of increasing responsibility within information systems, and subsequently moved into leadership positions in finance. In 1998, she moved into Entertainment Imaging, where she has held positions in finance, regional sales and general management.

Ms. Snyder graduated from California University of Pennsylvania with a BS in computer science, and she holds an MBA from the University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business.

Making Oscar®-Winning Imagery

2010-02-23T14:54:00Z

“There are moments of truth in filmmaking that are a fleeting and delicate thing, but it is the stuff that touches the soul.”
— Haskell Wexler, ASC

Barry Ackroyd, BSC (The Hurt Locker), Christian Berger, AAC (The White Ribbon), Bruno Delbonnel, AFC, ASC (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Mauro Fiore, ASC (Avatar) and Robert Richardson, ASC (Inglourious Basterds) are the 2010 Academy Award® nominees for cinematography. This year’s nomination is the sixth for Richardson, who earned Academy Awards for JFK and The Aviator. Delbonnel’s nod is his third, and Ackroyd, Berger and Fiore are celebrating their first nominations.

An Oscar® nomination is an extraordinary achievement. There are generally around 300 eligible films each year that were shot by some of the most talented cinematographers in the world. The nominees are chosen by their peers in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and their work sets the contemporary standard for artful storytelling with images.

In 1929, the first Oscar for cinematography was presented to Charles Rosher, ASC and Karl Struss, ASC, who collaborated on Sunrise. George Barnes, ASC, was nominated for The Devil Dancer, The Magic Flame and Sadie Thompson. Rosher, Struss and Barnes all captured images on black-and-white Kodak film.

From 1939 through 1966 there were separate categories for color and black-and-white movies. Nearly all of these cinematographers chose Kodak films for their palettes.

Kodak has enjoyed a special relationship with cinematographers dating back to the dawn of the industry. In 1887, George Eastman perfected technology for coating a light sensitive emulsion on a transparent celluloid base. Rolls of film were loaded into the first Kodak snapshot cameras in 1888.

Maybe it was destiny calling. That was the same year Thomas Edison was beginning to develop a projector that would enable consumers to watch short films. He assigned W.K.L. Dickson the tasks of designing and building a camera and projector, and producing the first short films. After Dickson saw a demonstration of the new Kodak still camera at a photography fan club meeting, he told Edison they were in business. Edison asked Kodak to provide the film in 35 mm in width with four perforations on each side.

Dickson began experimenting with filming short stories at the Black Maria studio that Edison opened in Orange, New Jersey, in 1893. He used a length of trolley track to “dolly” the camera closer to subjects for close-ups and further away for longer shots. That was beginning of the evolution of a visual grammar for telling stories with moving images.

There have been countless milestones along the way. Charles Lang, ASC earned an Oscar in 1934 for A Farewell to Arms, which featured the legendary actress Helen Hayes in a leading role. Lang wanted her beauty to “sparkle” on movie screens. He took the back off the camera and replaced it with an amber filter, which enabled him to pre-visualize what the images would look like when they were recorded on black-and-white film. Lang used a combination of backlight, hair light and soft light on her face. He also personally ground a glass filter, which was used along with “bits” of gauze on the camera lens to soften the look and make Hayes’ face sparkle on the screen.

The Technicolor format was first used in 1917. Two strips of Kodak black-and-white film were loaded in a camera. One strip was sensitized to red light and another strip to green light. After the negative was processed, dyes were used to add the colors.

Technicolor upgraded the system to three strips in 1932. Ray Rennahan, ASC and Ernest Haller, ASC won the first Oscar for a color film in 1940 for Gone With the Wind. Gregg Toland, ASC took top honors in the black-and-white cinematography competition for Wuthering Heights.

In 1950, Kodak provided cinematographers with an alternative to using the relatively cumbersome Technicolor cameras with the introduction of the first color negative film. That was around the time television was giving potential movie audiences the option of watching free entertainment at home.

Hollywood countered in 1952 with the first 3-D movie. Bwana Devil was a hit at the box-office. Approximately 40 movies were produced in 3-D format in the 1950s. House of Wax, a horror movie photographed by Bert Glennon, ASC and J. Peverell Marley, ASC attracted a lot of fans to cinemas in 1953. Burnett Guffey, ASC won the Oscar that year for his black-and-white cinematography for From Here to Eternity. Loyal Griggs, ASC claimed top honors in the color film category for Shane.

The studios began production of another 20 films in 3-D format but most of them were finished and released in traditional 2-D format after attendance waned. Oscar-winning cinematographers for color and black-and-white films during the 1950s included Robert Surtees, ASC for King Solomon’s Mines, The Bad and the Beautiful and Ben-Hur; Robert Krasker for The Third Man; William Mellor, ASC for A Place in the Sun and The Diary of Anne Frank; Alfred Gilks, ASC and John Alton, ASC for An American in Paris; Boris Kaufman, ASC for On The Waterfront; Milton Krasner, ASC for Three Coins in the Fountain; Winton Hoch, ASC and Archie Stout, ASC for The Quiet Man; James Wong Howe, ASC for The Rose Tattoo; Joseph Ruttenberg, ASC for Somebody Up There Likes Me; Lionel Lindon, ASC for Around the World in 80 Days; Jack Hildyard for The Bridge on the River Kwai; Sam Leavitt, ASC for The Defiant Ones; and Joseph Ruttenberg for Gigi. They are all classic movies that the cinematographers chose to shoot on Kodak film.

Hollywood’s brief flirtation with 3-D movies was followed by a hot romance with blockbuster films produced on 65 mm film and projected in 70 mm print format. More than 60 movies were produced in 65 mm format on Kodak film during the next decade, including some Oscar winners. Russell Metty, ASC won an Academy Award for Spartacus in 1961; Freddie Young, BSC won for Lawrence of Arabia in 1963 and for Ryan’s Daughter in 1970. Almost all of the other 65 mm films were favorites of fans and critics.

A new wave of talented cinematographers from nations around the world earned Oscars during the past half century. The short list includes Conrad Hall, ASC; Haskell Wexler, ASC; Sven Nykvist, ASC; Nestor Almendros, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC; Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC; Freddie Francis, BSC; Chris Menges, BSC; Philippe Rousselot, ASC, AFC; Janusz Kaminski; John Toll, ASC; John Seale, ASC, ACS; Russell Carpenter, ASC; Peter Pau, HKSC; Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS; Russell Boyd, ACS; Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS; Guillermo Navarro, ASC, AMC; and Robert Elswit, ASC.

Postscript: Leon Shamroy, ASC and Ruttenberg have earned the most Oscars for cinematography with four each. Shamroy is tied with Lang for the most nominations with an amazing 18 each.

Restoration_of_The_Godfather

2010-02-18T14:54:00Z

Defining Restoration

How many times have you purchased a new DVD that announced on its cover that it was a 'newly restored' version? What does 'newly restored' mean exactly? And, why is it better than the original DVD you purchased last year?

In today's electronic world, people sometimes use the term 'newly restored' in reference to a transfer from film to HD for DVD rendering. However, when transferring in this fashion - from an existing film element with specialized software - the 'repairs' only exist in the electronic record. This is really 'repurposing' vs. 'restoring.'

Technically, restoration means the restoring of the original camera negative (OCN) - or the closest generation film element that still exists - and preparing it for the next generation of consumer markets. (Film is truly the cornerstone preservation element that exists regardless of how the imagery was captured.)

The restoration process starts with an inspection of the OCN and doing an in-depth physical analysis in order to better understand its overall condition: e.g. How many negatives have been made over time to replace damaged areas of the original? How much fading has occurred to the color dyes? Has the total running time been altered?

In some cases, major feature titles have needed significant restoration work in order to repair years of damage and neglect.

The Godfather

Godfather I is at the top of Paramount's 'A' list of titles. It ranked number three on the Library of Congress' Top 100 Feature Titles. The film, released in 1972, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was nominated for eight Oscars® that year and won three - including Best Picture. The film's cinematographer Gordon Willis was known as the 'Prince of Darkness' for his creative light and dark shifts within a movie (e.g. the opening wedding scene where the bright highlights are all blown out, shifting to Vito Corleone's office where is very dark and intimate).

The Godfather negative was found to be in poor physical condition, as the original was recut in the 1980s so that it could be used to make a number of prints to satisfy various markets over the years. Subjected to such a physically punishing process, it is not surprising that the negative had severely degraded.

The restoration of The Godfather was supervised by Robert Harris, a well-known restorationist located in New York City. Bob asked Kodak's subsidiary PRO-TEK to do all of the film's element inspection. He also asked PRO-TEK to help Paramount identify the various duplicate (preservation) film elements listed in the studio's vaults. The restoration of this classic film would start with identification of the physical condition of the OCN and identification of areas within the OCN that would need replacement from other film elements such as the separation masters, intermediate positive and color reversal intermediate.

After PRO-TEK's work was finished, the OCN would be taken to Warner Bros. MPI Group for scanning on the Spirit II 4K scanner. Once scanned, the data would be manipulated and color timed to match an earlier dye transfer (IB) print made at Technicolor in 1972. Gordon Willis and Francis Ford Coppola were interviewed and were a part of the color timing decisions to insure that the original look was not compromised.

Matching to Preservation Film Elements

Once physical inspection is complete, some OCNs will be discovered to contain areas of concern where the negative is damaged beyond what can be repaired digitally. In those cases, the preservation elements are brought in and inspected to ensure they can render a quality replacement piece for the OCN.

In the case of The Godfather, the famous restaurant scene where Michael Corleone shoots the crooked police captain and the rival mafia don was the most problematic. When originally shot, it was under-exposed by two stops, and the lab was supposed to develop the negative 'up' in order to compensate. They remembered to do this one night, but forgot on the second night of shooting! We were able to find the original camera negative on these scenes and digitally correct the error, dropping the corrected scenes into data.

For other areas of concern, the team was able to reference YCM separation masters that had been made early on and were the same version as the OCN. However, the separations had been damaged years ago when they had been used to make replacement sections for the OCN. Some of these replacement scenes were unfortunately the ones needed to be remade for the digital restoration. An Intermediate Positive (IP) existed, but had been altered to make a TV version, and it could not render the scenes required. This made it necessary in some instances to go back to a Color Reversal Intermediate (CRI) that was made in the early 1980s.

Scanning - Manipulation - Record-out

Because of the poor physical condition of the negative, the decision was made to use a Spirit II 4K scanner. This scanner is edge-guided as opposed to a Northlight which is pin-registered and more critical to the condition of the negative.

Many hours were spent on work stations removing the damage, replacing scenes and color timing while the feature was in data form. The color timing was matched to the IB print, and according to both Gordon Willis and Francis Ford Coppola's instructions.

A 4K digital screening at Warner Bros. MPI theater with Bob Harris Coppola and the colorist Ian Yarborough for final sign-off took place before the new digitally restored negative was recorded out along with new separation masters and sub-masters for the new DVD release.

Godfather Restored

The restoration was a huge success, and the cinematography of Gordon Willis never looked better! His lighting may be controversial, but there is a reason he is considered the master of light and dark.

If you have a copy of The Godfather Blue Ray DVD, look at the end credits and you will see PRO-TEK, a Kodak Company, proudly presented with the names of all those PRO-TEK technicians involved in bringing you this beautifully 'newly restored' masterpiece.

What_Does_Winning_an _Oscar_Really_Mean_to_a_Filmmaker's_Career?

2010-02-05T14:54:00Z

Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC and Guillermo Navarro, ASC, AMC sat down to share memories about their respective Oscar-winning endeavors, which came nearly three decades apart, for International Cinematographer Guild magazine last year. Zsigmond took top honors for Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1978. Navarro won for El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) in 2007, just the second time in Academy history that a cinematographer won an Oscar for a foreign language film.

Both men followed career paths that could be plucked straight from a Hollywood script. Zsigmond was born and raised in Szeged, Hungary, during the Nazi occupation and subsequent imposition of a communist regime by Russia. He made a perilous journey across the Austrian border in the wake of an uprising that was brutally suppressed by the Soviet Army. With no knowledge of English and zero connections in the film industry, Zsigmond migrated to the United States in 1956 as a political refugee. He worked at odd jobs, and shot free films for students and industrial movies for $2.50 an hour until he launched his narrative film career in 1963 with an ultra-low budget film titled The Sadist. Navarro was born in Mexico City, where he started taking still pictures when he was 13 years old. His sister got him a job as a photographer on a film when he was 14. Navarro eventually purchased a 16 mm camera, and began shooting documentaries.

Bob Fisher, industry publicist, recorded the lively discussion between the two venerable cinematographers. Below are some excerpts from the conversation:

NAVARRO: When did Steven Spielberg first speak with you about Close Encounters?

ZSIGMOND: Steven had told me about his ideas for producing a film about UFOs visiting Earth several years before we started working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I was intrigued and tried to imagine what UFOs and aliens looked like. After he finished Jaws, we spoke again about the alien film, and shot tests in the desert to show the studio his vision. They gave him a green light, and we started shooting a couple of months later. The studio was very edgy about the budget, which got higher and higher while we were in production. There was constant pressure to cut costs. The studio was blaming me because I ordered lights and generators that weren’t budgeted, especially for the 30-minute scene at the end when the spaceship lands and the aliens come out.

NAVARRO: That is an incredible scene that no one who has seen the film will ever forget. I have always wondered how you did it.

ZSIGMOND: We looked all over the United States to find a big enough interior space to build the set. We finally found a hangar in Mobile, Alabama, and extended it another 600 feet with tenting. That was a good choice as we could shoot during both day and night, but it wasn’t easy. We always had to worry about storms since it was hurricane season. We worked under miserable conditions because there was no air conditioning and it was the middle of the summer. Sometimes it was 125 degrees inside the hangar!

NAVARRO: What were your lighting options at the time?
ZSIGMOND: I have always been conscious about keeping costs down, but I knew that last scene had to be a light show. There were only 10Ks and HMIs in those days. Steven kept telling the studio that they had to give me what I needed. Maybe they thought we could create that effect in postproduction, but that wasn’t possible if we wanted the right look when the spaceship lands and we meet the aliens. Towards the end of the picture, the studio wanted to replace me but Steven was loyal. Cinematographers whom they approached also wouldn’t take the job because it wasn’t the right thing to do. (Visual Effects Supervisor) Doug Trumbull was also on my side. Eventually, people at the studio started to blame Steven. They put him under a lot of pressure but he never compromised.

ZSIGMOND: Now let me ask you, how did you decide how to shoot Pan’s Labyrinth?

NAVARRO: Del Toro and I always pay a lot of attention to the prep. We both come from the same country and culture, and have grown together in how we express ourselves. … Pan’s Labyrinth takes place during the consolidation of fascism in Spain in the early 1940s. Scenes that take place in the military world have cool blue and green colors. The palette is warmer when the women of the house are present, and at the rebel’s camp. Also, some of the fantasy scenes are warmer with deep crimson and gold hues. The different colors in the two worlds become bridges to tell the story.

ZSIGMOND: Why did you choose to frame the images in 1.85:1 (aspect ratio), rather than with anamorphic lenses with all the backgrounds and action in so many scenes?

NAVARRO: We shot in that format, mainly with a single camera, because that format has a human scale; that’s how the human eye sees the world. Once we started shooting, the film took on a life of its own. I underexposed the film three and four stops while we were shooting day-for-night scenes in natural light. We timed the film in DI (digital intermediate), where we dealt with colors and made windows to control the sky – lighter or darker in different scenes.

ZSIGMOND: When I used a DI on The Black Dahlia, I shot the film in three-perf Super 35 format, and the producers agreed to a 4K scan. We did a test comparing film-outs made from 2K and 4 K scans. The 4K looked much better. I used the DI to make shadows a little blacker in some shots. I made light reflecting on a wall in a background of a dinner scene a little darker, and the candlelight a little less saturated. But I’ve always felt that for the most part if a scene needed another light, we took the time to do it right rather than trying to fix it in post.

NAVARRO: Do you think DI technology is changing the DP’s role?

ZSIGMOND: It can be part of our role as cinematographers, like deciding what are the right lenses or film stocks to use. But it’s certainly not a new idea. We have been using the same technology to time films for television and for DVDs. I remember screening The Deer Hunter at a festival in Denver and a young filmmaker asked me if I would shoot it differently today. My answer was: Why? Didn’t you like the movie?

NAVARRO [laughing]: Well, we used a DI on Pan’s Labyrinth, partially because we knew that we would be compositing digital characters into some scenes. But, I agree that it all starts with the images you get on the negative. Getting back to the Oscars: Were you as surprised as I was when your name was called?

ZSIGMOND: The film was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Steven. I was happy that I was nominated and completely unprepared when they called my name. I remember walking up the steps thinking that 80 million people were watching on television! I was panicking since I didn’t prepare a speech, and very nervous when I got on the stage. Then Goldie Hawn and Jon Voight hugged me, and all I could think to say was thank you to America for giving me a chance to live my dream. I also thanked my teachers in Hungary. I forgot to thank Steven, the producers or Doug Trumbull! That was terrible not thanking them and the actors, although it wasn’t intentional. When I got back to my seat, I realized my mistake. Did you have a similar reaction?

NAVARRO: I was surprised that I won an Oscar because it was a Spanish-language movie produced for less than a $20 million budget. I had won the Golden Frog Award at Camerimage in Poland, the New York Film Critics Award, and was also nominated for a British Academy Award. Emmanuel Lubezki (ASC) was also nominated for Children of Men. It was only the second time that two Mexicans were nominated for cinematography in the same year! (Lubezki and Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC were both nominated in 2006 for The New World and Brokeback Mountain, respectively.) We were seated sort of in the middle of the theater pretty far from the aisle. I remember Emmanuel turning to me and saying, ‘Take it easy. Don’t worry about it.’

When our category came up, they showed little clips of each of us (the nominees). Then, Gwyneth Paltrow opened the envelope and said my name. When I was on stage, she handed me the award, and congratulated me in perfect Spanish, which was completely unexpected. I felt like I was hallucinating. Fortunately, I had won the Independent Spirit Award for cinematography in a laid-back ceremony the day before. I just walked up to the Oscar podium and congratulated my fellow nominees straight from my heart, and said that it was recognition for a collective effort to support the vision of the genius of Guillermo del Toro. Of course, no one talks about what happens after you win the Oscar! Did winning for Close Encounters change your career?

ZSIGMOND: Well, I actually did not get another movie for quite a while after winning the Oscar. I think people assumed I would have a big head and be too expensive, because I had won an Oscar. Other cinematographers have told me the same thing happened to them after they won. But, it was a wonderful experience that I will always treasure and it eventually made other things possible. What happened for you after winning?

NAVARRO: I had already been hired to shoot Hellboy II before the Oscars, and I went to work prepping that film a few months after I won, and worked on the film for eight months. I also was a cinematography consultant for DreamWorks Animation on Madagascar II that year. I was offered a few movies later but they all fell apart because of the writer’s strike. One of the things that did happen is that I’ve been asked to teach master classes at film festivals and schools. That’s an experience I have tremendously enjoyed. I tell people in my seminars of what I went through coming from Mexico to Hollywood; it seemed like I was chasing an impossible dream. Winning an Oscar seemed completely out of the question – it was a miracle.

Meet_Bob_Fisher

2010-02-05T14:54:00Z

Bob Fisher
Industry Journalist

Bob Fisher is a native New Yorker, where he began his career at a now defunct newspaper. He migrated to Los Angeles for a six-month project writing about cinematography. The assignment was pure serendipity, and it became his life's work.
Fisher has since authored a few thousand-plus magazine articles about cinematographers and filmmakers talking about their art form during the past 40-plus years. He has also moderated many panel discussions at film festivals, conferences and Internet chats for both the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG). In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the ASC.

Workflow

2010-01-27T14:54:00Z

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.

Now the planning stage is called pre-production. Many key activities are defined in this stage, including: script development, casting, wardrobe and budgeting to name a few. Since filmmaking is a collaborative process, it is essential for everyone to share that vision from concept to through to completion. And, with the variety of capture and delivery formats available today, it is important to plan ahead and make informed choices that will lead to the best possible results. It can be a confusing endeavor because of the range of options available throughout the entire process. Decisions should be made with an eye towards delivering high quality images, maintaining the flexibility to insure the vision is attained and of course, the available budget.

The production phase is when the shooting begins. Every new project begins with the need to make decisions about the origination media and format. Film continues to offer a superior choice for many projects. The incredibly high resolution of film combined with its broad exposure latitude and low-cost archivability make it a high quality and versatile option. Film format options like Super 16 along with 3-perf and 2-perf 35 make it an affordable choice for almost any production.

The postproduction phase involves converting the raw material into a finished production. The process of using a Digital Intermediate (DI) workflow, where movies are color graded digitally instead of via traditional photochemical techniques, has become common, largely because of the greater artistic control it provides to filmmakers. It blends the strengths of digital imaging along with the strengths of film. DI traces it roots to the invention of the Rank-Cintel telecine during the late 1970s. Kodak upped the ante in 1991 with the introduction of the Cineon digital film system, including a film scanner, recorder, computer workstation, and image manipulation software.

With digital acquisition, the scanning step is not necessary. Footage can go directly into a digital intermediate pipeline, although with some digital capture systems, it may need to be processed into suitable formats before it can be worked with.

The distribution and exhibition phase is the process of getting the production to the target audience. The choices available in this phase continue to expand as technology advances. Deliverables include; theatre prints, digital cinema in both 2D and 3D, television, DVD, internet, and mobile applications. This list continues to grow almost every day and most productions utilize a range of distribution vehicles.

The last step of the workflow is the storage and archiving phase. Frankly, it is often not given enough consideration early in the process. Planning for the storage and archiving of your production should not wait until after the rest of the steps have been completed. As choices for exhibition continue to expand, having a reliable archive will allow the production to extract ongoing value.

Film is the most reliable to archive your precious intellectual property. Properly archived black-and-white separations will last hundreds of years, and color negative and intermediate stocks will last for a century. There are numerous examples of very old film footage which has been recovered, restored and redistributed with very simple techniques.

Today, there are countless new tools to help filmmakers unleash their creativity. The challenge faced by many film-makers is understanding which of the many choices are best for their productions. There are no simple answers. It is important to plan ahead (from production through to storage and archiving). This planning step will lead to informed choices and ultimately the best finished result. We believe that film-based workflows using the DI process continue to offer the best of both the digital and traditional worlds and are an excellent choice for most film-making endeavors.

Cinesite_Seeks_to_Develop_the_Next_Generation_of_Visual_Effects_Talent

2010-01-15T14:54:00Z

At Cinesite, we’re committed to developing the next generation of visual effects talent. As such, we just launched our new Inspire Programme, an annual internship for graduates. We devised the Inspire Programme in response to a lack of formalised visual effects internship programmes for students.

Inspire offers a six-week paid placement at the company’s Soho facility and the opportunity to gain invaluable experience working alongside some of the industry’s most experienced visual effects professionals on blockbuster films.

After running a successful event in September for tutors of effects courses all over the UK, and establishing ties with colleges and universities who nurture the next generation of visual effects professionals, we’re confident that this will be a popular and important programme.

We’re also working with Imperial College London on a number of interesting projects and hope to launch something in parallel with ‘Inspire’ in the coming months. It's of paramount importance that the UK has a good healthy pool of new talent to help fill the skills shortage in this growing sector of film making”

The Inspire Programme placement will run during the summer of 2010 and is open to graduates or undergraduates due to finish university before summer 2010. Cinesite will accept applications in the form of a three-minute showreel showcasing their best work, from people with interest in compositing, lighting, texturing, effects, modelling, animation and digital matte painting. The application process closes on 2 April 2010 and the winner will be announced on 10 May 2010.

Inspire is in addition to the successful internal training programme at Cinesite. On average six graduates a year end up working on productions internally, they make a valuable contribution to our growing business and complete their training at the same time as working as a facility runner.

Entrants must hold a relevant graduate qualification. For more information about Cinesite’s Inspire Programme, please visit http://www.cinesite.com/internships

On a personal note: I’m very proud to be leading the team here at Cinesite, and to be a part of the exciting world of postproduction. It’s great to work for a company that has worked on such major narrative pieces as The Golden Compass (the special effects for which were recognized with a BAFTA and an Oscar) as well as the Harry Potter franchise.

It’s exciting to work with such gifted and creative people, and I very much look forward to meeting the new generation of talent.

Cinesite are currently working on some exciting visual effects projects and are currently hiring Technical Directors, for more information please visit: http://www.cinesite.com/jobs

To have a look at some of Cinesite's most recent work, check out these movie trailers: Clash of The Titans (Warner Bros.) trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/clashofthetitans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Disney) trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/princeofpersiathesandsoftime

Meet_Antony_Hunt

2010-01-15T14:54:00Z

Antony Hunt
Managing Director
Executive Visual Effects Producer
Visual Effects Supervisor

Managing Director Antony Hunt, joined Cinesite (Europe) Ltd in early 2003 and has worked on numerous feature films including those with award winning visual effects; Gladiator (Oscar) and The Golden Compass (Oscar and BAFTA).

As a former Managing Director of MillFilm and Managing Director and co-owner of former Magic Camera Company, Antony brings with him a wealth of expertise in the management and strategy of all areas of Special Visual Effects.

Having worked on over 160 feature films in his 30 year career, he is also a respected member of the international effects community and has established relationships with all the many major film studios, Producers, Directors and Visual Effects Supervisors.

Antony began his career in 1978 at General Screen Enterprises, working as an Optical Assembler and Cameraman in both film and television. In 1982 he moved into Optical Film Effects, working mainly at Pinewood Studios on feature films.

In 1985 Antony worked at the Meddings Magic Camera Company (part of the Panavision Group) as a Senior Optical Cameraman and Supervisor, working on various projects including Batman and Lost In Space. Between 1988 and 1998, following a successful management buyout Antony became Managing Director and co-owner of the newly formed Magic Camera Company. Over the following ten years the company expanded to include extensive digital visual effects, motion control, model construction and photography.

In 1998 Antony became Managing Director VFX Producer/ Supervisor of Mill Film following the sale of Magic Camera Company to The Mill Facility. Antony ran the Shepperton Studios site and the Soho film facility and was also a member of the board of Directors.

Dynamic_Range

2009-12-18T14:54:00Z

Dynamic range refers to the ratio between the smallest and largest possible values of a quantity, such as light. The human visual system has a very high dynamic range. Although it takes time to adapt to different lighting conditions, we can see objects in a wide range of lighting situations, from very dim conditions up to bright sunlight.

In the realm of photography, "dynamic range" refers to the luminance range of a scene being photographed. With the advent of KODAK VISION3 Color Negative Films, our motion picture films can capture up to 13 stops of scene content. These advances have been enabled through the use of our Proprietary Advanced Dye Layering Technology which delivers reduced grain in shadows which in turn yields higher signal-to-noise ratios when scanning low-light scenes. Our Extended Highlight Latitude Technology delivers greater flexibility when lighting extreme situations, and enables up to two stops more image information to be extracted from scene highlights.

KODAK VISION3 Film provides cinematographers with the ability to capture up to 13 stops of dynamic range in their images

All of our KODAK VISION3 Films incorporate these advances. But, our VISION3 500 Speed Film takes versatility to the max. The high speed affords cinematographers a range of benefits. High speed products tend to see deeper into the shadows, they tend to enable smaller apertures for extended depth of fields and the faster speed allows for less lighting on set. These features combined with the extremely wide latitude provides for a very versatile capture medium. Errors in lighting can be accommodated due to the wide dynamic range capturing ability of the film stock. This results in savings in time and effort on set.

Through the use of digital dodging and burning the cinematographer can display all of the information captured on the VISION3 Films. These advanced digital tools are very powerful additions to the colorists’ toolkit, now made even more robust by the wider dynamic range of the KODAK VISION3 Color Negative Films. Colorists can interrogate the highlights and pull out incredible levels of details. This wider latitude further differentiates film capture from the limited dynamic range of digital capture – and enhances the creative process for our customers.

Example of digital dodging and burning with KODAK VISION3 Film, bringing out the highlight detail in the window portion of the right image

Based upon our customers' expectations for the very highest quality images -- and for flexibility and ease of use -- Kodak motion picture film continues to deliver the best images possible for a new generation.

Meet_CJ_Johnson

2009-12-17T14:54:00Z

CJ Johnson is the Product Manager for Kodak’s motion picture color negative film portfolio. In his role, CJ drives the commercialization of new color negative products and oversees the company’s portfolio of software products used in the motion picture postproduction industry. Prior to joining the Entertainment Imaging division, CJ worked in the electronic display and consumer color negative film business. He received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University and an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.

Making_Movies

2009-12-11T14:54:00Z

There are many formats available for making a movie, starting with whether it is on film or digital video. There are many different considerations when choosing a format, including image quality, cost, ease of use, workflow familiarity, aesthetics, archivability, and where you intend to share your story.

But this story is not about how people are making their movies. This is about how many people are making movies.

If you are reading this, you just might be a filmmaker, and if you are you probably know how difficult it is to get financing for a feature film. You feel the weak economy and the credit freeze. You are not alone. Recently published data from Screen Digest showed the number of features produced worldwide dropped 3% in 2008, the first production decrease since 2003. The situation is most acute in the US, where the number of movies produced dropped 21% in 2008, to the lowest total since 1993.

The decline is most likely temporary.

Internationally, features production leveled off in 2008, but on a plateau higher than any in the surrounding historic landscape:

These production levels are supported by international market fundamentals which have grown strongly over the past 5-10 years. Many of these are likely to grow further in the future:

The local production infrastructures have grown larger and more capable: more soundstages, more post-production options, and more talented people to use them. Many countries first built this infrastructure to attract runaway Hollywood productions, then turned it to the production of more and better local movies.
Global box office set a new record each of the last three years. Hollywood films are still very popular worldwide, but locally-produced films are enjoying an increasing share of the box office in many countries.
First run cinema screen growth continued, even in 2008, even in mature cinema markets like the US and Western Europe. Countries like China and India – cinema markets with huge potential – are modernizing their cinema infrastructure, replacing aging rural screens with state-of-the-art multi-plex theaters.
DVD sales now provide a substantial part of movie distributor revenues (roughly 40%). DVD player penetration is still growing significantly in most regions of the world.
Many governments recognize film production as both an economic engine and as a cultural heritage, and provide significant financial support. Some of this support helps finance production; some further develops the production, distribution, and exhibition infrastructure.
Digital cinema is providing new opportunities for independent distributors to get their films shown in theaters. For example, the UK Film Council has equipped 240 digital theaters dedicated to showing independent films.

International features production levels should stabilize or grow. In the US, however, the number of features produced has declined each of the last three years. Many of the US market fundamentals matured earlier than they did in the rest of the world, with the number of US-produced movies peaking in the late 1990’s:

US features production has continued to drop in 2009. The Hollywood studios have – in aggregate – trimmed their production slate modestly. Independent producers have been hardest hit, struggling to get financing. Their struggles will likely continue until the economy turns around.

And then? US movie production has always rebounded in the past. A few independent features will hit big at the box office, then people will want to make more. The number of productions dropped 25% in 1992 and 1993, but was followed by seven straight years where more movies were made than in any year prior to 1993.

More people than ever have stories to tell, and they have many ways to tell them. Pick the format that is best for your story, find your financing, and make your movie.

Meet_Dave_Middleton

2009-12-11T14:54:00Z

Dave Middleton has been with Kodak for 27 years, and has worked in engineering, quality, and film manufacturing. He has been a motion picture business analyst since 2000, with interests in feature film production, distribution, exhibition, digital cinema, and cinema advertising.

KODAK_AWARD_New_Directors_-_In_Conversation

2009-12-02T14:54:00Z

On September 9th, in a special presentation held in Sydney Australia, Kodak introduced and celebrated the 2009 KODAK AWARD New Director of the Year winners to more than 200 members of the entertainment industry in the Asia Pacific region. The KODAK AWARD New Director winner is Dael Oates from Prodigy Films Sydney and the KODAK AWARD New Director - Student or Current Graduate winner is David Rusanow from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne.

Dael Oates:

Dael Oates

There was quite a bit of discussion about which commercials Prodigy should submit to the Kodak AWARD New Director of the Year. Should we put this one in or that one? And, in the end, it really came down to which ones had a strong fundamental idea, rather than just being good-looking ads. But my favorite is the Sony Vaio job. It was really the most enjoyable because the agency just let me go. The whole thing was quite exciting, driving around Auckland, New Zealand, projecting images on buildings, getting pulled over by the police…

I like to make things off the cuff, guerilla style, I shot the Sony commercial digitally because we had to 'roll camera' on all kinds of stuff. I really wish I had shot it on film, but it was a budget thing. I come from a photographic background and so I always want to shoot film.

Coming from a film background, there is a discipline involved in shooting film - a sense of commitment -- that you don't have with digital. With digital, it's more shooting from the hip, you can shoot, shoot, shoot -- but then you have to add the discipline later. So, you push all the time and the money back into the post-process which is more expensive. And you still lose this commitment part of the process upfront

My refrigerator is always full of bits and pieces of film left over from jobs I've done, different film speeds and emulsions. I'm in the middle of a short film with my DP, Peter Eastgate, where we're exploring three different perspectives on one theme; it's more on the 'art side', less commercial. Winning this KODAK AWARD, that also includes a film prize, will be a great help to us finishing that.

I've been really lucky, my style is hitting some marks with creatives and now this award from Kodak helps. Directors are inherently insecure; there is a part of me that when I'm putting my work out there -- and even though there is a production company behind me -- if people don't like it, I'm the one who will take the hit so I feel vulnerable. To get an award like this is confirmation I'm doing something right; it's a little push along. It's just great confirmation for a director, I'm very grateful for the award, because I was just plugging away and suddenly this little bright light happens. So it's all good.

David Rusanow:

David Rusanow

My favorite work on the reel was the black and white condom ad because it was simple; the idea just came to me one day and it works really well as an ad. It was a one-day shoot; and I wish I had been able to spend a bit more time on the texture of it. Budgets got in the way when it came to spending time color timing it, but it's a very stylized piece. We shot it in color and then showed it in black and white.

There are so many factors in choosing between film and digital. It's money, it's logistics, it's your producer as well. In some cases I know, the director has said this is what I want to shoot on and his producer has gone out of his way to get that for him, to enable him to do that. If I had the money, I would probably shoot 80-percent of everything I shoot on film.

I had written something that wanted to be self contained -- a short movie -- and I knew the quality I wanted, the feel I wanted, and I knew that film could get me there. And also I was on a small set and I wanted to be able to control depth of field, I didn't want to see everything, so shooting on 16mm made a huge difference and it was really lovely. Film really helped me to tell that story.

The whole HD revolution is creating competition, it's upping the ante. To me, that's a great thing. Look at 2-perf film cameras, for example. Three or four years ago, you couldn't find one. Now they're available. You can shoot 2-perf, save some money, and still shoot film.

In the digital world, there are so many formats; it's hilarious when it comes to trying to find a way to play everything back. With film, you have two options - flat or scope. That's it. When you have it on film, it's easy. You look at it, figure out which format it is, and you project it. That's why, at the end of the line, no matter what I shoot on, I'd like to see it projected on film; I like to see all my stuff projected on 35mm.

I really like to be forced to tell a story in 30 seconds. When you make a TV commercial, you learn that you can say so much in just four shots in 30 seconds. It's great because the ability to do that really helps when you are making a short film or even a feature; you know how to tell a story simply and visually. One of the great things about the KODAK AWARD is that more people will see my work.

Meet_Johanna_Gravelle

2009-12-02T14:54:00Z

In 1990, Johanna joined Kodak Canada after graduating from Ryerson University's Bachelor of Applied Arts, Still Photography Arts. Starting as a Product Advisor in the Kodak Information Centre, Johanna transferred internally to Entertainment Imaging, where she held many different positions within technical, sales and marketing roles. These experiences positioned her well for an international assignment as Marketing Director of the Asia Pacific Region based in Melbourne, Australia. That role came to an end in the spring of 2010 and Johanna moved back to the Toronto office where she is now the Worldwide Image Capture Marketing Director, working closely with the Worldwide Marketing team based in Rochester.

Digital_ICE_Scratch_Correction_Using_Infrared-enabled_Scanners

2009-11-18T14:54:00Z

A huge number of movies and television shows are held in studio vaults and in television archives. With high-definition television and high-bandwidth connections to the home, there has never been more demand for bringing content out of storage and making it available to consumers. Old films have very high resolution and can be easily scanned and compressed for digital distribution. But before this can happen, minor imperfections such as scratches and dust need to be removed to meet rigorous image quality standards set by the studios and networks.

Film scanners equipped with infrared (IR) illumination and Kodak’s Digital ICE software can automatically detect and correct scratches and dust so they are invisible to even the most critical viewers. The Kodak Digital Ice software operates by analyzing the familiar red, green, and blue channels along with the extra IR channel to provide an accurate per-pixel defect matte. The defect matte is used to identify which pixels to adjust so that scratched pixels can be restored nearly to their original values.

The power of the Kodak Digital ICE algorithm is most easily demonstrated with some examples. Figure 1 shows a “before” and “after” pair of images. These samples, from color negative film, were intentionally scratched to simulate the effects of improperly handled color negative film rolls. The images below have had their color and contrast adjusted for display on computer screens; hence, defects appear lighter in the images. It can be seen in the “after” image on the right that the scratches are virtually gone and that all image details have been preserved.

Figure 1: A scan of a 5218 film frame showing (a) scan without using Digital ICE processing, and (b) scan with Digital ICE processing.

Figure 2 shows another “before” and “after” pair of images. Clearly, Digital ICE has corrected a significant amount of light loss caused by scratches and dust on the film. As before, these films were intentionally scratched and allowed to accumulate dirt and dust for testing purposes.

Figure 2: A scan of a film frame showing (a) scan without using Digital ICE processing, and (b) scan with Digital ICE processing.

Many of the real images encountered in the restoration of older films have less obvious defects. In fact, some images appear to have no defects at all when the movie is stopped. But when the movie or video is playing, the scratches and dust become more visible. Figure 3 shows an original frame of film on the left and the defect matte on the right revealing the dust and scratches detected by Digital ICE. Digital ICE automatically corrects these seemingly “invisible” defects, resulting in far superior image quality.

Figure 3: A scanned film frame showing (a) scan without using Digital ICE processing, and (b) the defects detected by Digital ICE processing.

Summary: Scratches and dust have never been easier and faster to find and fix when you scan your film with a scanner using Kodak’s Digital ICE software. The combination of infrared illumination and high-speed image processing offer a powerful tool for traditional “dustbusting” applications as well as for more intensive film restoration projects.

Meet_Gabriel_Fielding

2009-11-18T14:54:00Z

Dr. Gabriel Fielding is a Senior Technical Staff member of the Entertainment Imaging division of Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester NY. He writes algorithms for image sequence enhancement, high-speed image analysis, and computational stereo vision. He has written software for a wide range of Kodak products including scanners and digital cameras. He was actively involved with the Image Interchange Format Committee at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood, CA. Gabriel received his PhD from Drexel University in Philadelphia. His research interests include parallel and distributed algorithms for high-speed image processing, artificial intelligence, and consumer applications for stereo vision.

2009_YDA_Winner_Aleksander_Bach_Talks_Commercials

2009-11-12T14:54:00Z

Aleksander Bach

Aleksander Bach is an award-winning commercial director based in Cologne, Germany. The son of a photographer, Bach was born in Poland and moved to Germany with his parents as a boy. He studied audio/video engineering and piano at the Institute for Music and Media in Düsseldorf, and completed his education in the graduate program at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Bach has won two consecutive Young Director Awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, in 2008 and 2009, and a Gold Award at the 2009 New York Festival. The 2009 winner at Cannes was a black-and-white documentary-style spot for the Red Cross titled “Stars,” which was photographed by Peter Matjasko on 35 mm film. Bach’s resume also includes inventive music videos and a music documentary. Here, he opines about the state of international commercial filmmaking:

A lot is changing in European commercial production. That’s partly due to the worldwide economic crisis, but the underlying structure of how the business works is also completely changing. In the classic model, a director in the commercial industry is represented by a production company. Lately, I have clients and agencies contacting me directly. They call and ask whether I am interested in writing a story. If I say yes, they brief me about the commercial. The lines of communication are getting shorter, because it’s more efficient. That’s necessary since at the moment, budgets are shrinking. For me as a director, that’s great. I have the chance not only to direct my interpretation of a storyboard, but sometimes I’m also able to write the spots myself, either with the agency or directly with the client.

Stars for the International Red Cross

The problem with most projects is the script. Agencies and clients create the ideas without consulting the filmmakers, or they bring them in too late. If directors are involved much earlier in the process, there’s a good chance the films will be better. At the moment I have a project where a client contacted me directly and asked if I was interested. The commercial machine can be so big, and then we all have to feed the machine. Right now, people are looking for ways to speed communication.

My sense is that people want to have real stories again. There is so much advertising on television, and people are tired of that. There is more competition from the Internet. Agencies and clients are trying to understand how to make a positive contact with their customers. Everyone loves watching a good film, and a good commercial. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 30 or 60 seconds long. If it’s a good film, and a good idea, people will watch it and talk about it. Quality is what is needed.

Stars for the International Red Cross

The main challenges in choosing a project are finding the right scripts, and having the time to develop them. I am learning what makes a script good, and how to make a script better. I have to find out from the agency how much space I have. Do I have to shoot the script exactly how it is right now, or do they want my point of view? In choosing projects, I have to keep in mind that if I want to be successful in the future, I have to shoot good stuff. That is why, if it’s a great script, I will fight to shoot it. The second thing is to have good partner – a producer who understands my vision and my style of shooting.

If I am shooting something like the Red Cross “Stars” spot, which is a very visual commercial, I will always choose film. Analog images are still completely different to me. It’s another world. If you want to create something artful, with high quality, you can do it more quickly with film. You can make other formats look close to 35 mm film, but it’s still not the same. It’s not just a question of resolution. It’s just different.

Stars for the International Red Cross

My strongest partner is Peter Matjasko. He was director of photography on the Red Cross spot, the Orange spot, and the Mercedes Benz spec spot that you can see on my website (www.aleksanderbach.com). I continue to work with him because to this day I haven’t found a better director of photography. For me, a good cinematographer is not someone who is merely able to create a beautiful picture, but who also understands my vision and is able to translate it into the world of telling stories with pictures. This is the most important thing. It’s very important that I listen to Peter and what he is saying, as a person. I don’t believe that in filmmaking I know everything. I have to steer (direct) my team and make the decision at the end. The director of photography is the master of pictures. I explain my idea, and Peter might translate it in his way because of something he sees. He is a very strong storyteller and my right hand in telling the story. I am working with the actors, and he is working with the camera, and if it comes together, we can make the best product at the end of the day.

I really love commercial work because of the short way of working. In a very short time, you can get a very creative output. The Red Cross and Orange commercials were 90 seconds, which is quite long for commercials, but I feel that I would like to have more space for drama. So, in the long term, my goal is to create a feature film in the next years. Even though I love the short format, I also want to tell longer stories. I think that will be the next step for me. In features, sometimes you spend two or even three years on one project. I think I have to take the next step into longer, more narrative ways of storytelling.

Aleksander's spot "Stars" is featured in Kodak Motion Picture's Commercials eBrochure. Click here and navigate to the "Inspiration" tab to see it and other great commercials.

Why_is_Film_the_archival_media_of_choice?

2009-11-05T14:54:00Z

The Society of American Archivist defines Archival Media as ‘resistant to deterioration or loss of quality, allowing for a long life expectancy when kept in controlled conditions’.
If we try to apply this definition to the different types of storage media currently used in the motion picture workflow as it is structured today, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to find many media that fit this definition: other than film, that is.

Whether the production in question uses hard drives, CD’s , tapes or DVDs to store their content, there is always the very real probability that a hard drive will crash, that a tape will get scratched, that the format used will be obsolete and render the information unreadable in a few years (even if the information is still intact). What good does it do to have perfectly good information that you cannot access?

Film is a very mature technology compared to “digital.” We have had a long time to learn and apply those learnings along the way in order to make products that best meet our customers’ needs. Many years of research have gone into understanding and optimizing film formulations to ensure its archival properties. Motion picture film, if properly processed and kept under recommended conditions can last for several hundred years, no other currently used storage media comes anywhere close to that. In addition, the “filing” system is very simple and does not require much maintenance. Entire productions can be stored away for many years until someone decides it is time for a re-release or a special “coming out of the vault” edition.

One key feature of film has always been the long term stability and usefulness of the images. Three factors that make this possible are: 1) the stability of the image itself; 2) the stability of the base/support; and 3) the means to extract the image/information.

For well processed B&W films, the image is actually made up of metallic silver, which is VERY stable... providing Arrhenius predictions in terms of centuries. Color films use organic dyes for their images. Improvements in the dyes themselves and in the methods to incorporate these dyes into the films, have yielded large improvements in the stability of these images. Although not as stable as metallic silver, these new dyes can provide stability of many decades based on Arrhenius predictions.

The use of polyester for the film base provides a very stable material for the images. This has greatly extended the stability of films. Finally, since film images are optical (meaning what you see is what you get) it is VERY easy to see and extract the image... no complicated electronic format (that usually becomes obsolete) is needed.

For productions that originate digitally the amount of data that is generated is very large (much like me taking 15 still pictures of my daughter with my digital camera, whereas in the past I would probably have taken 2 with my film camera). The volume of data only helps compound the dilemma that follows once the production is finished and now content decisions have to be made as to what will be kept and what will not. If the ultimate intention truly is to preserve the content, then this content will likely be transferred back to film and be tucked away safely in a refrigerated vault until needed again. If the production was originated on film and the entire flow went through a traditional optical film process it is significantly easier to archive all the elements.

Furthermore, according to “The Digital Dilemma” report released back in 2007 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it costs almost 12 times more to store the digital master of a movie than it costs to keep a conventional film master. If, as mentioned before the production was originated digitally the cost of preservation becomes significantly higher especially when compared to the low cost of storing several reels of film and sound negatives from an all film production.

Not only is film the highest quality media, with the longest life expectancy and guaranteed access, in the long run, it is also the most inexpensive. So you tell me, why would you NOT choose film as your archival media?

Films_deserve_preservation_in_their_authentic_form

2009-10-27T14:54:00Z

Milt Shefter is president of Miljoy Ent. Inc., a company that offers media asset preservation and access strategies to those who own large libraries of moving image, recorded sound, and video content. Miljoy helps them to preserve and protect what they now have and develop strategies to deal with issues and problems that may arise in the future. On ‘Film. No Compromise’, the recent Kodak DVD, Shefter talks about preserving images for the future. Here, he expands on those comments.

When I started college, I had an aunt who asked: “What are you going to study?” I said, “Television”. And she said, “That’s wonderful! Television repairmen make so much money. I just had a tube changed last week.” And, then a few years later I got involved with media asset preservation, and my aunt asked: “What is that?” I said, “It’s preservation.” And she said, “Oh, that’s much better. Funeral directors make more money than television repairmen.” She never quite caught on.

But I have always been a movie fan, and the great director Sidney Pollock, who recently passed away, once said something I printed out and actually carry around with me. He said: “Films are part of our cultural history. They help us locate ourselves in time and give us a sense of the geography in our lives. We need them in order to point us accurately in the future. Like all accurate representations of who and what we were, they deserve preservation in their authentic form.” I just think that really sums up the whole purpose of preservation.

Film is a medium that captures nuances – which makes it a fragile medium; that’s why we have to handle it carefully, protect it, store it under the proper environmental conditions. But until someone can come up with a better system – one that has a guaranteed access and with a ‘life’ equal to, or better than, film and offers other advantages -- the analog film system is the best we have. Someday there may be a better system. It’s not here today and until it is, film, in my mind, will not be replaced.

People talk about costs, as in “film is so much more expensive…” because you obviously have to pay for every frame and you have to pay for processing, but the question is: What happens after that? What we’re making today has to be available for more than today or next week, or next year. It’s gotta be something that the future generations can have access to. If they can’t access the work, then all of the effort was wasted, regardless of what it cost. And with digital, ‘access’ is the missing ingredient because there’s no standardization in the field.

No one had ever analyzed the cost of storing a 4K digital master – all the material you would need to make up that master – compared to analog film. And so the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did that analysis because they felt it was necessary for the industry to understand exactly what they were getting into as they went into digital. They found it was twelve to sixteen times more expensive to store the information on digital media than it was to store it on film.

And that’s a conservative number. With film, it’s cheap to save everything, to put it in boxes in storage under environmental conditions. You can’t do that with digital.

We put that analysis in ‘The Digital Dilemma’, a publication that the Science and Technology Council of the Academy did as a result of as summit they had where they brought together all the archivists and chief technology officers of all the studios and other organizations, including the Library of Congress, UCLA, and so forth, to identify potential problems and solutions with the onslaught of digital. And every one of them said the same thing: “We don’t know how long we’ll be able to access the material, and we haven’t been able to get people to understand the problem.”

So the Academy, which is not an advocacy organization, hired consultants and sent them out to other industries that had similar problems over the years, to try to get some answers. And they found the others did have similar problems, but no answers, no solution. And, in my view, the only way we will get a solution is to do a complete ‘needs analysis’ of what is required to store and access digital information and present it to vendors as a business opportunity – not just for the motion picture industry, but also for science, government, other industries, and so forth. It’s a huge problem and a huge opportunity.

But meanwhile, I, for one, don’t want to be in a position of having to verbally describe – for future generations -- the ‘noir’ of Casablanca. Or the shear scope of The Sound of Music or Lawrence of Arabia. Those are magnificent images, captured by motion picture film. You can’t describe those verbally. We can’t afford to lose them. That’s why they’re being preserved on film. That’s why I’m a preservationist.

The_Effects_of_Digital_on_Motion_Picture_Library_Assets

2009-10-09T14:54:00Z

In 1986 Ted Turner turned the motion picture industry up side down by purchasing the icon studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer for $1.3 billion dollars. This studio in existence since the early 1920’s with titles in its film library like Gone With The Wind, Wizard of Oz, Dr. Zhivago, 2001 a Space Odyssey and many other classics was falling into the hands of what many said was a crazy man with far too much money. Ted didn’t want the studio lot, nor the film laboratory Metrocolor, all Ted wanted was the vast library that MGM had amassed over the previous 60+ years.

During the next few years Ted Turner proceeded to show the industry what could be done with their library and the literal gold mine that was before them in a fledgling consumer market. By 1990 with Ted’s cable network booming and home video sales growing the other studios were now starting to assess their own libraries in order to emulate what Turner Entertainment was accomplishing.

The studios were now starting to pour millions of dollars into these film libraries forming a boutique industry for the restoration and preservation of motion picture titles. Small film laboratories starting springing up, primarily in the Hollywood area, with expertise in the restoration of film. Studios were not only restoring the titles in their libraries, but new preservation strategies was put in place calling for proper storage standards to insure their investment in restoration of older titles and new production titles would be secure for long term keeping.

In 1991 the ANSI IT9.11 was introduced to the moving image film libraries and archives calling for lower temperatures and humidity. Paramount and Warner Bros. studios immediately built new state-of-the-art film preservation archives with storage temperatures and RH standards meeting the new ANSI criteria.
In that same year Kodak set their EI Business Planning unit into action looking at the state of film preservation through out North America doing a comprehensive report on the storage environments within the film libraries and archives. The results of that report came back with a statement that said much of what was being stored is in jeopardy and certainly there was opportunity for a new service business to be developed.

In 1992 the approval for building what would become the state-of-the-art motion picture film preservation facility PRO-TEK was given and in March of 1994 PRO-TEK opened its doors on the second floor of the Kodak Distribution building on the Kodak campus in Hollywood.

By the mid-1990’s studios were well on their way to restoring the films of years past and insuring there was a preservation strategy in place for new films being produced. These same libraries took on even more importance with the DVD boom soon to be encountered when revenues from library DVD sales at times eclipsing new production revenues.

As Y2K rolled in so did the unveiling of a new Kodak service call Digital Intermediate at its Los Angeles visual effects facility Cinesite. Little did we know that this new way of approaching post production would have a dramatic impact on the preservation standards and practices established during the previous 10 years.

Since this first digital intermediate on the production title “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” in 2000, over 90% of all feature production titles shot on film are scanned into data for daily viewing, editing and post production completion today. Feature deliverables range from a Digital Intermediate Original (DIO) to a Linear Tape Optical (LTO) tape. All consumer markets are satisfied coming from the digital source master stored on an LTO tape and down converted. Most TV shows today are captured digitally, posted digitally and finished on High Definition SR (HDSR) tape. Those still captured on film are posted in digital with a digital deliverable.

Why the impact on the preservation strategies established in the 1990’s? There are many issues to discuss such as resolution, file formats, media types etc. But, simply said, digital is not archival. As technology advances and Moore’s Law dictates a change in hardware, software and media every 18 months and with the studios receiving petabytes of information on both features and TV production on various media types and file formats, it’s an over whelming issue.

A perfect example of this is the LTO tape that features are delivered on. Currently we’re at LTO 4 with 5 coming up within a few months. LTO tapes are only compatible back two (2) generations. What does this mean to the studio, migrating tapes every 4-5 years.

The studio’s have protected themselves on the feature side by recording out the final cut with all color timing, effects and titles onto film. Not only recording out the DIO but also recording out B&W separation masters which will last for 100’s of years in preservation storage. These separation used in the future can be scanned back into data for later use when (not if!) the date file becomes obsolete.

But this leaves TV programming, independent features and many other types of programming that will be lost due to obsolescence or discretionary decision making by the content holder who does not or will not spend the money required for constant migration to the next contemporary format.

Two weeks ago I held a day long symposia on the subject of Digital Asset Management (DAM) inviting all of the major studios for a day long discussion on digital assets and how will they be preserved for long term keeping. It was a sobering day with all studios being represented to understand that much of what we had established to protect our moving image assets has been undone by a new technology where the answers for long term keeping remain elusive.

We are nine years into the DI era, feature titles shot as little as five years ago are being rescanned to meet today’s higher criteria for consumer markets. Thankfully for feature work we have film to go back to, but TV and other markets are not as fortunate. Some studios are looking at taking their HD masters and recording back to a DI for preservation, but this will be a discretionary decision process. Some programming will be lost.

There is much work ahead to get us back to the solid strategies of working with an archival media such as film, everyone has hope that there is an answer for digital preservation, but how soon is the question.

Peter_Boyce_talks_about_formats_for_feature_films

2009-09-29T14:54:00Z

As a follow-on to last week’s film formats for TV post, I would like to take a broader view of what people are shooting in the feature film arena these days:

Let’s start with 65mm color negative. The big, recent example of 65mm use is on The Dark Knight. It’s not an entirely 65mm production. The 65mm was cut into a number of 35mm shots, like the Bank Heist and the Batmobile chase scenes. 65mm was chosen to do this because it simplyis the best. In the opening sequences of The Dark Knight you can just see the quality that 65mm brings to the screen.

In fact, a digital intermediate wasn’t done on The Dark Knight because of the desire to retain all the film detail. Now, of course, all of the special effects had to be created in the digital space, but fundamentally they went through a traditional film finish on this movie.

There was a session at IMAX a little while ago at which key industry people spoke. One point which was made was that one of the things large format does is to keep the quality bar extremely high so that digital has to continue to improve.

But while 65mm is the gold standard, its use is more the exception than the rule. 35mm 4-perf is really still the standard by which everybody judges film’s quality and attributes. It’s still the predominant format for high end feature production, but 3-perf usage has grown significantly and there are plenty of 3-perf movements for cameras now available.

Actually, 3-perf has been around for ages. But today, the main catalyst for the increase in usage is the popularity of digital intermediate. Without a DI, getting from a 3-perf negative to a 4-perf print through a traditional film process is difficult.

Beyond that, Super 16 is also a well-established format. It still gives the look of film, but for a lower budget. And now the improvements in the film stocks – first with VISION2 and now with VISION3 technology – have made this format even more viable. Probably the best recent example of a Super 16 production is The Wrestler: Oscar-nominated, mainstream, very popular and successful.

Mostly, people choose Super 16 because of cost, but some shoot elements of movies on 16 for creative reasons. If, for example, the filmmaker wants more grain in particular scenes, shooting Super 16 is one way of achieving that.

And then the other format being used today is 2-perf 35mm. Again, that’s a cost decision, but it does let filmmakers maintain the cache of shooting on 35mm. They can use standard 35mm cameras and everything that goes with them (e.g. the lens selection). And the image size of the 2-perf can be over 60% larger than that of Super 16

Just like 3-perf, 2-perf is not really new either. Clint Eastwood’s early Spaghetti Westerns were shot on it – but it hasn’t been a practical decision until recently. Michael Goi, current president of the ASC, has just shot a movie on 2-perf. It’s called The Christmas Movie, and will be released this November.

And again, if someone is shooting 2-perf, they will have to do a scan-and-record. They can do a very simple DI: but they have to do one if they want to output to a 4-perf print. Today, probably 75%-80% of films go through the DI process anyway.

Finally – there’s Super 8. I would love to see a properly shot Super 8 VISION3 movie transferred on a Spirit (you can get a Super 8 gate for the Spirit), made into a DI and then output to a 35mm print. I’ll bet it wouldn’t look bad. And, you know, that would address one of the issues that gets raised by our customers every now and then: “Kodak makes films better and better with less and less grain, but sometimes we want grain, and you don’t give us many options to get it.” 2-perf 35mm does give some grain, and so does 16mm, but it’s not much more grain. Shooting on Super 8 would do that.

Peter_Boyce_talks_about_formats_for_television

2009-09-24T14:54:00Z

In recent months, there has been a perception that there has been a massive shift to digital, and that’s not true. In the US and Canada, between all the major networks (including HBO and the other channels) we have about 40 shows on film. 24 is still on film, and there was a thought that the original CSI: Las Vegas was going to go digital, but as they got going with the series, digital just didn’t work out for their needs. So CSI: Las Vegas is still shooting film.

At the moment, one hour dramas on US TV are still very much 3-perf 35mm. Castle; Grey’s Anatomy; Private Practice; Desperate Housewives; Brothers & Sisters; Lost; The Mentalist; Fringe; Mad Men; and Two and a Half Men are all returning shows shot on 3-perf 35mm. HBO is shooting loads of 35mm 3-perf at the moment. New series shot on the same format include: ; Hung; Boardwalk Empire; How to Make it in America; Wonderful Maladies; Treme; and others.

Super 16 usage has also grown. There are a bunch of shows like Heartland; Scrubs; Chuck; One Tree Hill; Lincoln Heights; Greek; Crash and others shooting S16. Two new ABC programs – Eastwick and Middle – also chose to use Super 16 their first season. It’s an option that people find delivers great value and quality – especially for this medium.

The one that surprises most people is America’s National Football League (NFL) and their continued use of Super 16. All NFL games are still captured on 16mm film. What everyone sees on game day and on sports newscasts is HD broadcast, but NFL Films also shoots and archives all the games in S16 for special features, tributes and highlight shows.

In Europe, TV programs that use film are primarily shot on Super 16 – and there is some European interest right now in moving up to 2-perf 35mm. At present, there are actually quite a few French TV shows shooting 2-perf.

We are also seeing TV shows around the world that use both film and digital for different creative purposes. Some of the CSI spin-off shows (not the original: that’s still on film) are shooting digital, but are also buying reasonable amounts of film because they’ve got second-unit cameras shooting film. The television series “Cold Case,” is using film to capture their flashbacks, and digital for the current day scenes.

So, we have a bunch of shows on film, but when it comes to digital, the pressures are all to do with cost. Nobody is saying, “We want to shoot digital because of quality.” It’s all because of cost. Digital is accepted as a medium that can work in certain circumstances. It has improved considerably, but it’s still not as good as film

Meet_Peter_Boyce

2009-09-24T14:54:00Z

Peter Boyce is currently General Manager of Kodak’s motion picture business in North and South America. He manages the business in the United States, Canada and all of Central and South America. He has been with the company for approximately 35 years, serving in a variety of sales, marketing and finance roles. Prior to his current assignment, Boyce was general manager of Kodak’s motion picture business in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Boyce is now located in Kodak’s Hollywood, California headquarters.

A_Film_Format_for_Every_Budget

2009-09-15T14:54:00Z

When the production challenge is ‘how to limit costs’, the answer can often be ‘shoot film’ – if the filmmaker is willing to look beyond the obvious. With film, not only does ‘one size not fit all’, it doesn’t need to because with film, there are plenty of formats to choose from.

We could talk about 65mm film as the ‘gold standard of quality’ (just ask Christopher Nolan whose cinematographer Wally Pfister ASC shot parts of ‘The Dark Knight’ and the upcoming ‘Inception’ on 65mm) – the use of Super 16 for TV origination in Europe and its growing use in the US -- or the unique look possible from Super 8 footage cut into a finished theatrical print. But for this discussion, let’s just look at 35mm film.

If only because 35mm is so well understood. Or is it?

Talk about 35mm film and most filmmakers assume you are talking about 4-perf – and for good reason; it’s the widely-accepted quality standard and still a viable and cost effective option for productions around the world. But with Kodak improvements in emulsion technology, the introduction of new cameras with 2-perf and 3-perf capability, and the increased use of digital intermediates (DI’s), there are more options than ever before. And when the challenge is cost, they’re more affordable.

Consider…for equal run-times, filmmakers shooting 3-perf 35 need 25-percent less stock than they need to shoot 4-perf, which means their film processing costs are also 25-percent less. And, for those shooting 2-perf, their costs for film stock and for processing are 50-percent less than shooting 4-perf. The telecine and finishing costs are the same for all 35m formats because those are based on run times and in this example, run times are equal.

Of course, 2-perf, 3-perf, and 4-perf are just different 35mm formats, so they are all exposed onto normal 35mm motion picture film stock. There are a number of cameras available with that capability, but the run time per magazine is different. 4-perf runs at 90 feet per minute; 3-perf at 67.5 feet per minute, and 2-perf at 45 feet per minute. So, a 400-foot magazine can run from about 4.4 minutes to 5.9 minutes to 8.8 minutes – depending on the format chosen.

And what about image quality? If you agree the bigger the image area the better the quality, consider:

for widescreen (2.40 aspect ratio) movie production, a 2-perf 35mm image is 3 times larger than Super 16mm; a 3-perf 35mm image is 1.3 times larger than a 2-perf image and 3.9 times larger than a Super 16 image.
for HDTV (1.78) origination, a 2-perf 35mm image is 1.6 times larger than a Super 16 image; a 3-perf 35mm image is 2.4 times larger than a 2-perf image; and a 3-perf image is 3.9 times larger than one shot on Super 16.

(Panavision / 2perf Explained – www.panvison.com)

And one more point of quality: a 2-perf image shot on the most recent film technology, KODAK VISION3 500T 5219, will show less grain than a 4-perf image captured on the KODAK VISION 500T 5279 stock just recently discontinued. That more than makes up for the magnification required in going from 4-perf to 2-perf for these two film systems and is a tribute to the continued advancements in film emulsion technology.

And further image structure improvements on 2-perf and 3-perf are possible with the use of improved motion-compensated adaptive sharpening and noise-reduction algorithms used in the digital intermediate process, so those smaller images can look great on television and cinema screens.

Plus, those formats bring with them all the advantages that come with shooting on 35mm film – its emotional power, range of stocks, full lens selection, archivability, universal acceptance, and unique film look.

We would be remiss if our discussion about formats didn’t mention 4perf traditional photo chemical finish, a post option that remains a cost effective high quality path for completing a film project. Photo chemical post production has limitations; for example you can’t selectively paint a blue shirt red or brown eyes green. However, despite the current emphasis on digital post production, traditional 35mm 4perf photo chemical finish is still a viable and cost effective way to produce a film.

For many35mm film remains the ideal capture medium today -- across a broad array of available formats -- from wide screen anamorphic projected in a movie theater to 16:9 HD displayed in your living room. And while 4-perf is still considered the ‘gold standard’ of 35mm, 3-perf and 2-perf offer affordable options while maintaining the cache, the flexibility and uniqueness of 35mm. Plus, there's always Super 16, which provides theatrical and high-definition images at a very attractive price.

The point is – it’s not only advantageous to shoot on film, it may be more affordable than some might think. For filmmakers unwilling to compromise with another medium, but willing to consider the multiple formats 35mm film offers, film offers lots of creative choices -- beyond the obvious.

Meet_Merrick_Distant

2009-09-15T14:54:00Z

Currently a Product Systems Engineer in the Entertainment Imaging Division with primary responsibilities for the systems integration and imaging science on new product development programs for origination films for the Motion Picture industry.

Multiple assignments within Kodak’s Motion Picture Division, spanning Coating Engineering, Formulation Engineer, and Systems Engineer of Motion Picture films.

More recent activities have included the design and formulation of the Vision film portfolio and the systems integration of the VISION2 and VISION3 film portfolios.

BS Degree in Chemical Engineering (Howard University, 1991)

Joined Eastman Kodak in 1991.

AICP_Student_Winners_-_Commercials

2009-09-09T14:54:00Z

Nat Livingston Johnson and Gregory Mitnick were this year's winners in the Student Commercial category at the 18th Annual 'Art & Technique of the American Commercial' Show held in June at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Kodak hosted Mitnick, Livingston Johnson, and other winners in a dinner, prior to the show's opening. Directing under the moniker 'Peking', they will graduate from New York University in September. Following is a conversation with them about their AICP-winning commercials 'Lost' and 'Champs', their current projects and their future.

Mitnick: Lost is a commercial for Apple iTunes. It documents a frustrating and universal experience: a cell phone has gone missing. The spot's humor hinges on the method by which we've learned to locate missing electronics: call it and it will beep. The look for the spot was inspired by the desolate, quiet beauty of the Catskill Mountains in the midst of winter where most of the action plays out in a single wide shot. There's irony in staging this amidst such a blank landscape.

Livingston Johnson: In the Slim Jim's spot Champs, a young man and woman are sitting idly on a couch when suddenly the man opens his mouth and unleashes a primal roar: a Slim Jim is flying through the air, and he intends to catch it. In one deft motion he snatches it in his teeth and returns to his position on the couch like a proud dog, all to the girl's amazement. We wanted Champs to look like a moving painting, so we positioned the actors on a 17th-century, European-style couch as if they were having their portraits taken. In contrast, the costumes are modern and informal, which speaks to the playfulness of the Slim Jim brand.

Mitnick: The AICP Show and the Kodak recognition afforded us a ton of industry exposure for our large and diverse body of work. Nat and I recently signed with Station Film for worldwide commercial representation. We are so excited to be working with Station's Stephen Orent and Michael Di Girolamo, alongside talent that includes fellow 2009 AICP honorees Harold Einstein and Emmanuel Lubezki (ASC). Hopefully we'll return to next year's AICP Show with something new.

Livingston Johnson: There is a definite sense of relief to be validated by the mainstream elite. My first thought was, 'OK, what I'm doing is relevant, and I can keep making things that I like and they will appeal to the masses.'

Mitnick: We are currently in heavy preproduction on a new short film entitled The Kook. It is a thriller in the style of Joel and Ethan Coen's Fargo. It centers around Fa, a gentle and unassuming woman who is a member of an eccentric religious sect in the Catskill Mountains. Fa's world is turned inside-out when she discovers that the leader of the sect is an impostor on the night before he plans to lead them all in a mass suicide. We're shooting The Kook on 35 mm KODAK (VISION3) 5219 film. It will be around 20 minutes in length. Nat and I are co-directing, and I am also the DP.

Livingston Johnson: We've also made a handful of music videos recently, something we've really enjoyed doing. Greg and I can really whip each other into frenzied states when we're throwing around ideas. Nothing feels better than the process of creating, although our one fatal flaw is that we often play basketball when we should be working.

The AICP Show is currently touring museums and cultural institutions around the country and abroad. The tour schedule, along with the entire Show archive, including the winning spots from Mitnick and Livingston-Johnson (Peking), are available for viewing at www.aicpshow.com.

Meet_Bob_Gibbons

2009-09-09T14:54:00Z

Bob Gibbons is director of marketing and communications for Kodak Digital Cinema. His talent seems to be to listen to what people say, to write it down, to rewrite it until he understands it, and then to share it with others. He has turned this ability – which he calls ‘portable ignorance’ -- into a 40-year career at Kodak.

Film_Preservation_-_An_Interview_with_Kodak_Fellowship_Winner_Bob_Dirig

2009-09-03T14:54:00Z

In 1999, Kodak, in cooperation with the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), established the Kodak Fellowship in Film Preservation — a unique program to help foster the education and training of the next generation of moving image archivists. The first recipient was Bob Dirig, now College Archivist for the renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Here he reflects on in his experiences in the program – and since.

When I got the fellowship, I had just enrolled in the UCLA Informational Studies program and knew I wanted to go into archiving, but I really didn’t know what direction I wanted to go. So, the Kodak program was great because it gave me six weeks of summer working experience where I saw how things really worked in the world of Hollywood.

On my first day, Rick Utley (vice-president of PRO-TEK) sat me down and we talked about film and how it’s not the studios’ ‘cultural heritage’ that is driving preservation, but really it’s ‘market dollars’ that are driving this. Studios can make money from these old materials. That helped me get my mind around why things were happening.

The archivist job at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena came up in 2005, and was an opportunity to manage an archive from the ground up.

We have a photographic collection which consists of slides, prints, negatives. We have film and videotape. We have audiotape and lots of paper, including brochures, programs, posters, catalogs, all kinds of printed materials.

One thing I learned quickly was the cost involved in preservation. One of the big challenges is knowing what needs to be done and not having the money to do it. We’ve got thousands of documents. It just wouldn’t be practical or useful to scan everything; we can’t save everything, we need to prioritize things.

More and more content is created digitally, so we want to start archiving it digitally and that’s a huge obstacle because there are no common processes, standards or procedures in place to do that. We want to make sure we can open files in a year, or five or ten years. And we want to make sure we store everything properly so if we have to migrate it to a different format, we can do that.

But technology is also creating a whole new set of opportunities. As we scan images, we can share them more, we can open up our collections more; we can do more outreach, put more moving images and photography on line, build our presence. Access will be a lot easier, including for people who may not be able to visit our center.

In smaller archives like this – and there are a lot of archives like this – an archivist is not just a person who preserves material, the archivist is also a manager and a collector and a processor and an educator and a fundraiser and an entrepreneur.

And I have to become a bit of a technologist, also. The archivists’ world and the information technologists’ world really haven’t been together; we speak different languages and have different ideas on preservation, but we need to start working together more closely because we both have a role in preserving digital images digitally and making them available digitally.

A job like mine is changing and broadening. I’m working with an intern this summer and I’m encouraging her to do internships at different types of places; I tell her it’s really important to keep an open mind, to get different perspectives. That was important for me. What’s great about the places you get to work in the Kodak program is that you see aspects of the industry that you might not see in a traditional internship, so you get an inside look on how things go.

For me, the Kodak Fellowship was part of the big scope of things and without that experience I wouldn’t be confident about tackling the things we need to tackle. It opened my eyes and I can always draw upon that experience.

Meet_Richard_Utley

2009-09-03T14:54:00Z

Vice President PRO-TEK Media Preservation Services

Richard (Rick) Utley is the divisional vice president of PRO-TEK Preservation Services for FPC, Inc., a Kodak company. He is Kodak’s primary liaison with studio asset protection managers and other moving image content owners in addition to supervising the PRO-TEK preservation vaults, inspection center and restoration management services. His relationship with cinematography includes almost 40 years of collaboration on the final print product.

Utley began his career in the motion picture industry in 1966 as an apprentice at Metrocolor Laboratories on the MGM Studio lot. He spent 24 years at Metrocolor and was superintendent of lab operations from 1983 to 1989. Utley was manager of lab operations for Technicolor, Inc., in Los Angeles from 1989 until he joined Kodak in May of 1993 to develop a new technology business of preservation vault services for FPC, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kodak. At PRO-TEK, he has been largely responsible for preserving the work of cinematographers through virtually all-major studio clients.

A member of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) since 1993 serving on their board of directors as Treasurer for six years. His desire to see students of media preservation have a better understanding of the industry led him to develop the Kodak Fellowship that includes a six week internship working within the industry utilizing both photochemical and digital tools. He initiated and grew the vendor exhibit at the annual conference where over 25 vendors of preservation and restoration products and services are displayed.

He is also an active member of the Association of Cinema Video Laboratories (ACVL) and SMPTE.

Background Information - Restoration
PRO-TEK has been involved in many theatrical restorations of notoriety; My Fair Lady with Robert Harris and James Katz, the initial inspection work on “God Father”, “Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines” 65mm original camera negative, “Vertigo”, “Rear Window”, “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Godfather I, II and III (digital) to name a few.

Close-Up_on_Super_8_Film

2009-08-25T14:54:00Z

In this so-called 'digital age', there is still something magical about the 8mm film format Kodak developed in 1932, as a solution for home movies.

It was called 'Standard 8mm' back then and was actually 16mm film with twice as many perforations (as regular 16mm) along each side. The film was loaded into a camera, exposed along half its width, flipped and exposed along the other half. In processing, the film was slit down the middle; the result was two lengths of 8mm film, each with a single row of perforations along one side - and four times as many frames as 16mm film.

In 1965, Kodak had a series of better ideas. Keep the 8mm film width, but make the perforations smaller. Make the image area larger. Package the film in a 50-foot cartridge that didn't require flipping or later slitting. And call the result 'Super 8'.

By the 1970's, Super 8 was enormously popular. A 50-foot cartridge had enough film for 3 minutes and 20 seconds of continuous shooting at 18 frames per second. For a while, a 200-foot cartridge was available and so was Super 8 film with a magnetic stripe for analog sound. Today, Super 8 is silent and available in black and white reversal stocks -- and in color reversal and color negative film.

Like all Kodak film, Super 8 starts out as a 'wide roll', 54-inches wide by 2000 feet long. That's made in Rochester. But then comes the 'finishing': the roll is slit into 16mm widths, perforated, split down the middle, cut into 50-foot lengths, and loaded into cartridges. The cartridges are labeled, inspected, sealed into foil pouches, and put into boxes. One wide roll produces almost 20,000 finished cartridges.

Originally that finishing took place in Rochester, then was moved Kodak's plant in Chalon France, then to Windsor Colorado. Now, as Kodak consolidates its film operations, Super 8 finishing is on its way back to Rochester, where the film is made.

"The company wouldn't have made the investment to relocate our Super 8 finishing operation back in Rochester," said Lincoln G. Miller, Kodak manager for motion picture finishing, "unless we thought this would be good business for the future."

And who uses Super 8? Students, of course. "The new operation in Rochester won't be up and running until late September, or early October," said Miller. "So we had to produce enough inventory before we shut down the equipment for the move because film schools start up in September."

But, beyond the work of students, Super 8 finds its way into productions of a more diverse group of filmmakers than you might imagine.

With Super 8 gates available for high end scanners and the availability of non-linear editing systems, filmmakers can shoot Super 8, but edit digitally. Although most of the film ends up on DVD, some filmmakers have opted to blow it up and cut it into 16mm and even 35mm film prints for the cinema screen.

Oliver Stone and his cinematographer Robert Richardson, ASC used it in parts of 'The Doors', 'Natural Born Killers', 'Nixon', and 'JFK', but it's also been cut into more than 30 other recent films from 'Armageddon' to 'Zoolander', from 'Pearl Harbor' to 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

It's used also for special looks and purposes on television programs, including 'Cold Case', 'Frasier', 'Sex and the City', and 'American Idol', and other series; National Geographic and other specials; and, on a regular basis, it's used on the History Channel, the Playboy Channel, and MTv.

And, it appears in a whole variety of commercials and music videos.

"Right now, John Mellencamp is doing a US tour and he's already gone through 17,000 feet of KODAK VISION3 Super 8 film, with more concert dates left to shoot" said Jonathan Barlow, worldwide product manager for Entertainment Imaging. "Super 8 is popular in the music market, probably because video producers like the 'handheld camera look', the 'home movie look' they get out of it."

After almost 45 years in the marketplace, "Super 8 sales are actually very steady," said Barlow. "I think it's being rediscovered in some places. The KODAK EKTACHROME film still leads the pack, but having KODAK VISION stocks available in Super 8 has really caught on with the professionals. It's given them a 500 speed product with little or no grain in an 8mm image. That's been unheard of before now."

But Barlow sees Super 8 playing another, more fundamental role in filmmakers' lives and careers. "If they learn on film, they can pretty much shoot on anything after that, but if they start out on film, they have a tendency to want to stay with film," he said. "I think all aspiring cinematographers want to shoot on film because of film's unique qualities -- and Super 8 gives them an inexpensive way to do that."

Meet_Michael_Smalter

2009-08-25T14:54:00Z

Michael is currently the Worldwide Manufacturing Quality Manager for Entertainment Imaging Films. He has been with Kodak since 1976. Prior to his current assignment Mike was the Quality Manager for Professional Films for 12 years, and a product engineer for X-Ray, and Aerial & Instrumentation film products. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Photographic Science and Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He joined the I3A ITIP (Integrity in Transportation of Imaging Products) team in early 2006, and became the testing sub-committee chairperson in late 2006.

Digital_Hype

2009-08-19T14:54:00Z

Hype or Reality? In advertising. ‘digital’ is a codeword often intended to mean ‘sharper, cleaner, faster, cheaper, better’. In some applications it may be, but not in the art and craft of movie making. As Kodak’s TV Segment and New Product Development manager, Bob Mastronardi deals with the hype and the reality of digital every day. Here is some of what he hears – and his reactions.

Hype: Digital capture is faster because it requires less lighting.

Reality: Even the best high-end digital cameras have less latitude and dynamic range than film delivers. Lighting for digital becomes more -- not less -- of a concern and often translates into more time and money spent on production.

Hype: Digital is faster because you can see the final results of the image on set.

Reality: Play back on set doesn't guarantee accuracy later because there are other variables involved. Color correction and image manipulation in post production are still required to create the final ‘look’, whether the origination medium is film or digital.

Hype: Digital is always cheaper.

Reality: Money saved on the purchase and developing of film stock -- and transferring images to tape or digital files – is often lost on longer production times and added post-production costs for digitally-originated movies.

Hype: High Definition is higher definition.

Reality: Film is capable of twice the resolution of HD, so compared to film, High Definition is really just ‘Half Definition’. And since the next phase of TV technology (‘Ultra Definition’) will double resolution from current HD standards, content shot in today's HD resolution will have the same future quality issues that standard definition (SD) video has today.

Hype: Digital looks as good as film

Reality: In addition to film’s tangible advantages -- dynamic range, latitude, highlight detail, and flesh tone reproduction – film has the intangible ‘film look’. Film is a randomly-sampled system that ‘sees’ similar to the way the human eyes see the world; digital creates images in a rigid pattern on a grid. After many years and multiple billions of dollars, digital still can't match all the qualities and benefits film delivers.

Hype: Digital lasts forever.

Reality: According to the Library of Congress, the best magnetic storage media can be depended on for perhaps a decade. Once a digital signal is gone, it’s gone forever. Since 1956, more than 80 electronic formats have come and gone, along with related equipment. No video format is forward or backward compatible - and even when the media survives, there is no guarantee the equipment will. With a fresh roll of film, a filmmaker today can load a 30 or 40 year old camera and record images that will last a lifetime: images that can forever be viewed with light and a lens.

Hype: In cinemas, movies projected digitally should be shot digitally.

Reality: Film has more than enough resolution for the highest resolution digital projection system. That's why the vast majority of movies, regardless of how they're projected, are shot on film.

Hype; Digital projection systems have replaced film systems in most theatres today.

Reality: Ten years after digital cinema systems were projected to be an overnight success, they've been installed on only about 12% of US cinema screens -- and about 8-percent of cinema screens worldwide. All the rest are showing film. Conversion is coming slowly because the film system is rugged, reliable, available, and well-understood.

Hype: Digital prints are sharper and cleaner than film prints.

Reality: In theatres where the exhibitor pays attention to the equipment, film prints can be every bit as sharp and clean as digital prints. Digital cinema systems provide benefits in terms of automation and efficiency, but cinemas that don't maintain their film equipment most likely won't maintain their digital equipment either.

Meet_Bob_Mastronardi

2009-08-17T14:54:00Z

After attending UCLA, Bob began his career in the motion picture industry at Du Art Film Labs in NYC and moved from there to a continuing career in Kodak’s motion picture products and services business, starting in the greater NYC/ NJ area. Through the years, he’s dealt with some of the world’s premier filmmakers, including Ethan and Joel Coen, Ted Hope, James Schamus, Christine Vachon, John Sayles, Spike Lee, Ken Burns, Fred Wiseman, and others. In the TV arena, he’s handled Kodak’s business with NFL Films, Dick Wolf’s ‘Law & Order’, HBO’s ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Sex & the City’, among other programs. In his current position as Worldwide Marketing and Strategic Planning Manager for Television Products and New Product Development, he led the launch team for the company’s newest product family, Kodak Vision3 color negative film.