The Cinematographers' Test Compares Aesthetics Of 35 Film And HD 24P Production

LOS ANGELES, November 14 -- The Cinematographers' Test will premierehere tonight at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the Academy ofTelevision Arts and Sciences. The film compares identical scenesphotographed in both 35 mm motion picture and high-definition 24progressive digital video formats by three of the industry's topcinematographers — John Bailey, ASC, James Chressanthis and AaronSchneider, ASC. Both the film and video images will be projected sideby side in 35 mm print.

"There has been much speculation and mis-information about thistopic, so we felt it was important to give cinematographers anopportunity to create their own test, where they could freely exploreand compare the aesthetic possibilities of 35 mm film and digital HDmedia," says Brian Spruill, vice president and general manager,Hollywood region, of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging division. "Thecinematographers who volunteered to participate were in full control ofhow they recorded the scenes they chose. They also supervised colortiming of the film and HD masters. It was their test."

Bailey, Chressanthis and Schneider brought a diverse range ofexperience to the project, including credits on large and smallerbudget cinema and television dramas, documentaries, commercials andmusic videos. Each of them also has experience with both film and videomedia. The three award-winning cinematographers also recordedvoice-over narrations explaining why they chose specific scenes, howthey shot them, what they were looking for, and analyzed thecomparisons.

"The voice-over narrations are as important as the images becauseonly the cinematographers know what they envisioned in their mind'seye," Spruill says. "In their narrations, they explain how differencesin the way that film and 24p HD video rendered nuances in colors,contrast, texture, focus and other characteristics of the images affectthe emotional content and flow of the scenes they orchestrated. Thisdemonstration is not just for cinematographers. It is for everyone whoworks in or cares about this art form."

Many companies and individuals played roles in the project.Panavision provided the Panaflex film cameras and lenses chosen by thecinematographers and the Sony CineAlta 24p HD digital camera and lensesused by Bailey. Plus 8 Video provided the 24p Sony HDW-F900HDCAM™ and Canon and Fujinon lenses chosen by Chressanthis andSchneider. Day and night, mixed lighting, interior and exterior sceneswere produced on a stage and back lot at Paramount Studios, and atpractical locations in and around Los Angeles. Negative and print filmprocessing was done by CFI Labs. High-definition images were convertedto film by Sony Imageworks. Film-to-tape and tape-to-tape transfers andHD postproduction were done by Laser Pacific Media. Opticals, includingsplit-screen shots used for side-by-side comparisons of film and HDimages, was done by Imagica USA.

The 22-minute program is available for screenings in both 35 mmprint format and hi-definition D-5 video format. For more information,contact your local Kodak representative, or visit the website atwww.kodak.com/go/motion.