Archive of the Digital Cinema Category

This is the 2009 Reel Impressions Cinematography showcase which premiered at the 2009 NAB Show in Las Vegas on a 24 ft. movie screen, projected in HD.

Reel Impressions is a joint partnership between the NAB Show and Reel-Exchange.com.

Watch the 2009 Reel Impressions Student showcase which premiered at the 2009 NAB Show in Las Vegas on a 24 ft. movie screen, projected in HD.

Reel Impressions is a partnership between the NAB Show and Reel-Exchange.com.

To hear the Podcast, push the play button or download here.

Few people have more NAB experience than Band Pro Film and Digital Chief Technology Officer Michael Bravin—he’s been attending NAB for over 30 years. During that time, Bravin has witnessed, and participated in, the rise of an entire new industry—the digital cinematography industry that Band Pro specializes in. As he did in 2008, Bravin sat down again this week with me at the Band Pro NAB booth to discuss the state of digital cinematography in 2009, and its role at NAB this year, particularly in light of the current economic downturn and reduced NAB attendance. Bravin has interesting thoughts about what new trends and opportunities will emerge from these conditions that industry-watchers should consider.

Arri marketing chief Franz Wieser was caught in my optimism detector this afternoon. Chatting a short time ago, Franz told me he was surprised by how solid traffic to the Arri booth has been since Monday, and that orders in certain categories were underway. Given the dire economic atmosphere, not everyone can say that. But Franz did say what many others have been telling me the last two days–namely, that fewer NAB attendees does not translate into less active NAB attendees. Important people with cash to spend wisely were at the Arri booth, and dozens of others, and they were talking serious business, and not merely kicking tires.

In particular, and this was another theme I heard from a few other manufacturers, Franz told me that attendance at the show, and business interest, out of Latin America has been extremely strong, and he points to that region as a rising giant in the media world, and eager to grow. more

Reel-Exchange Community Manager Craig Erpelding talked with Angela Wilson Gyetvan of 3ality Digital about the company’s offerings featured at NAB 2009.

MTI Film CEO Larry Chernoff is standing at the booth reminding Leon Silverman (now of Disney) that he’s been syncing dailies since he was 18 years old, and in fact he’s still syncing dailies. They’re both in a cheery mood.

MTI is here—and on the Panasonic booth—with the newly released Control Dailies DA (for Digital Acquisition) bringing dailies workflow to P2, Red, Viper, Genesis, and the Arri D-21, as well as DPX media. This faster-than-real-time module can stand alone or work within the Control Dailies system in combination with Control Color and Convey. The DA Head module does ingest and decoding, Control Color handles ASC CDL-compliant grading and/or LUT application. With the new Convey modules, while the system synchonizes audio and lays off up to three HD or SD output streams, it can simlultaneously output DNxHD and DPX (with metadata and MXF wrapper) for editorial and DVD or Blu-ray for dailies review. Modules for ProRes and QuickTime are on deck for later this year. more

An ebullient Dean Lyon, Marketing Director for da Vinci Systems, spent a part of the late afternoon Tuesday touring me through the company’s philosophy regarding how best to survive the current economic disorder. Judging from the spate of initiatives we discussed, that philosophy appears to be “full speed ahead.” Or, to be technically correct and in keeping with the official theme of the da Vinci booth, coined by Lyon, the approach could also be called “visualize the future.”

After making sure I enjoyed a quick visit in one corner of the booth to “The Museum of Every Panel da Vinci has ever built” (”A Japanese guy tried to buy one of the original panels yesterday,” Lyon chuckled), which included an ancient SGI O2 box that Lyon insists “two guys were spotted weeping over,” Dean got down to business. more

Pausing for a smoke as he lurches frenetically from one 3D panel or presentation (this one at the Content Theater) to another, 3ality Digital Systems CEO Steve Schklair was a particularly upbeat fellow today. Despite the economy’s general woes, after all, his chosen discipline—stereoscopic motion picture technologies—is booming and hot right now, and is, in fact, a major and important theme at NAB this year. Plus, interest in Schklair, his company, his projects, and his company’s new products is high right now.

In fact, after decades in the field, Schklair now finds himself in the position of being a technology manufacturer. It was necessary to start selling the company’s technology, Steve told me. more

Silicon Imaging continues to ride the wave of success its camera had as part of Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar-winning ride. The company, at NAB this year touting its integrated 3D cinema camera/visualization system, had the good timing last year to provide technology from its original, now two-year-old, SI-2K camera system to director Danny Boyle and his award-winning cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, for crucial chase sequences across the city of Mumbai, India, that were part of the movie’s critically acclaimed visual style.

I chatted this morning with company CEO Ari Presler, who freely admitted that, in a slow economy, being part of a major success has its advantages. Inquiries about SI’s digital camera systems, both 2D and 3D, have been brisk since Slumdog Millionaire rolled at the Oscars, and he’s very optimistic—which is nice to hear these days—about what is coming next. more

Flew up from LA seated between Jim Compton, CTO of the DVS Intelestream group, which includes Burbank post house CCI, and DP Brian J. Reynolds. Reynolds—late of The Closer, shot the first five years of NYPD Blue, the Emmy-nominated American Family, and is just finished with David Semel’s new pilot Limelight—a three-camera Genesis shoot that also gave Reynolds the chance to experiment with the Canon 5D DLSR.

Compton’s testing 2 perf (Kodak Primetime) for Jim Chressanthis on Ghost Whisperers; Reynolds is pretty dazzled by the 5D. The two men trade stories and opinions about life and images in post-35mm television. One talks about “grain,” the other “noise” but their observations overlap around questions of sensor size and resolution, budgets, and archiving. more