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Proposed Projects:
1. 2 K Digital Cinema Pipeline
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Digital motion picture
cameras - (acceptable level of quality)
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Post-production systems -
(completed its transition)
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Digital Intermediate
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Digital Cinema
Distribution Technology
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Digital Projection systems -
(to exceed the image quality of release prints)
2.
4 K Production Pipeline Analysis
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To
generate interest from Cinema students to join the USC-SMPTE
Chapter, 4 K Production and camera analysis will be employed.
One such 4K camera is from RED Digital. “The RED from the RED
Digitial Cinema Camera Company is still in prototype phase but
has already a price attached so a market product will follow
very soon. First of all it has a CMOS sensor with full 35mm size
- think of film depth of field. The sensor is apparently self
produced and has no other casing then this camera. Secondly the
sensor sports a resolution of 4520X2540. That’s OVER 4K
resolution more then traditional 35 mm chemical film can hold.
Thirdly it records in RAW format - yes not only is it
uncompressed but also sport a higher bit depth for that color
correction without limits. It can record up to 120fps in 2k with
specific storage option on 60 fps in 4k! On top the camera is
completely modular with individual parts to be upgraded
individually - like switching out the CMOS censor when a better
one comes available.” The basic idea of the 4 K Production
pipeline analysis is to allow Cinema students 4K production
experience and engineering students to understand and analyze
the production pipeline.
3. Collaborative Production
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Virtual sets and high bandwidth fiber connections allow
collaborative production where Cinema students at USC can share
virtual sets assets with remote production facilities in Los
Angeles and New York. Just as the networking in the music
industry allows remote collaboration in real-time, this function
can be implemented in the film industry. For example from a 1997
article, “The T-Rex of "Jurassic Park" traveled digitally all
the way from the special effects wizards at Industrial Light &
Magic in Marin County, Calif., to the "Schindler's List" set in
Poland, so director Steven Spielberg could review the movie
before it terrified audiences in local movie theaters. And the
aliens and otherworldly ghouls that agents Mulder and Scully
tackle each week on "The X-Files" often originate in Los Angeles
post-production studios far from the series' Vancouver, British
Columbia, location shoots.” Remote Collaborative Production will
become more common in the future. A Remote Collaborative
Production at USC will results in better understanding of the
underlying technology.
4. Cinema-Television Research Professor Streams Live Digital Animation
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A
continuation of the research noted below will also increase the
knowledge of cinema technology: “Research Associate Professor
Richard Weinberg's digital animation project was streamed live
from Tokyo, Japan, to the opening session of the iGrid 2005
conference at the University of California, San Diego. The
project, "24 Flowers per Second" was shot on an 8-megapixel
digital still camera (Canon EOS20D)streamed live from Japan, and
projected at the conference on Sony's new 4k digital cinema
projector. This was part of a demonstration of international
real-time streaming of 4K digital cinema. At four times the
resolution of today's HD, and a wider color space, the newly
proposed "4k" standard defines a digital projection system that
could eventually replace 35mm film projection for theatrical
distribution. Weinberg's project was also featured at the
dedication of the new Calit2 building at USCD at the end of
October, and is frequently screened at Keio University's Digital
Media Center. Richard also took part in an international
multi-party HD teleconferencing demonstration organized by the
Research Channel at the University of Washington as part of the
Super Computing 2005 conference in Seattle.”
5. Digital Cinema Survey
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Pre-production process
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Sensor technologies, dynamic
range and color gamut, signal to noise ratio in low light
light situations
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Image quality and production
flexibility
6. Image interchange framework
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4K mastering
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Digital data handling
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Data representation
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Encoding
7. Digital Motion Picture Archival
8. Future of Film Scanning
The sequence may go like this: Scanning the camera negative, 4K digital effects and edit, to produce the 4K digital intermediate, from which, essentially “loss-less” 4K digital prints could be distributed to the 4K Digital Cinemas, and, through the entire process, the resolution will remain the same, 4K. Uncompressed 4K versions could still be available at the scanner site and selection of “difficult uncompressed scenes” could still be called over fast networks. While we would not propose that compression be reused at every stage of effects or restoration processes, we do propose that this maybe a solution at either end. In other words from the scanner to master archive, and maybe from final master to D Cinema. Remember no one has ever seen 4K resolution from 35mm in the Cinema, because all the print processes conspire to limit the resolution to less than 2K. With digital projection we have the opportunity to present full 4K resolution from 35mm film, that would match 65mm projection and maybe even Imax. What’s more the studio will have what they have always wanted - a digital master that faithfully represents everything that was on the original film image, except of course the scratches and dust that are caused by physical film handling during the edit stage. Also scaling down for all other versions can be obtained from the film quality original without re-transfers. So, now consider whether shooting features on HD video at less than 2K, is really the way of the future! Our examples show that 2K from original camera negative it does not do it justice. Think of it, an entire film archive could be shown at almost Imax quality, and what of those shooting on Hdcam or similar, they will not even get close to offering such an experience!! All of this is food for thought. Cintel, having researched and proposed this scenario will be working with our customers to make 4K high-resolution data storage and economical “transmission” a reality.
We would suggest that the way forward is to shoot film, scan 4K, save the archive effectively withlossless
compression. All to ensure that you preserve a digital master that is future-proof.
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