Kodak Unveils Next Generation Of Motion Picture Technology

At an invitation event on November 19 (which Widescreen Review covered), the Rochester, New York-based Eastman Kodak Company unveiled the first product in a next generation of color motion picture films for industry leaders gathered at the Directors Guild of America Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. The advanced technologies incorporated into the design of the new film were described as a quantum leap forward. Kodak cited a superior image structure that makes it possible for cinematographers to record more nuances in images. The tone scale is designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy, during both optical and digital postproduction.

“The evolution of film and hybrid motion imaging technologies are on a fast track,” said Eric Rodli, President of Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging division, “and the speed of innovation is accelerating. We are committed to investing in a future where the possibilities for further advances in motion imaging technology are practically unlimited.”

Kodak Vision2 500T 5218 color negative film has a recommended exposure index of 500 in 3200 degree tungsten light and 320 in daylight with a number 85 filter on the camera lens. Rodli said that the company plans to add a series of motion picture films with specialized imaging characteristics to the Kodak Vision2 family during the coming months and years.

“This first new emulsion raises the bar for high-speed films,” Rodli said. “Cinematographers around the world who have tested the Kodak Vision2 film are noticing that it sees deeper into the shadows with less apparent grain than other low-light sensitive emulsions, as well as captures more natural skin tones and colors. It records shades and details in shadow areas while retaining pure black tones. This gives cinematographers the choice to reveal subtle details in dark areas to accentuate moods and the storyline.”

Rodli added that the cinematographers who have tested the film also noticed improvements in the way images recorded on the new negative retain their structure during telecine and digital film scanning, and optical transfers at labs and other postproduction facilities.

“We believe the availability of a 500-speed film with less apparent grain will give them more flexibility in extreme lighting situations,” Rodli said. “We expect to see a lot of imaginative experimentation, resulting in compelling visual storytelling.”

Rodli noted that the breakthrough in technology could give a boost to documentary and other lower budget productions, where Super 16 mm film provides a flexible and affordable alternative to HD 24P and the various other digital video formats.

“We had an extremely enthusiastic response to the Vision2 Super 16mm film in our early customer assessments,” said Rodli. “The Vision2 negative represents a significant advancement and a new choice for productions in that format.”

Rodli also pointed out that the advances in film design complement progress made in the evolution of hybrid telecine and digital scanning and recording technologies.

“Kodak has pioneered the evolution of digital film scanning and recording, and digital intermediate technologies that are designed to give the creative community more flexibility,” said Rodli. “This new family of films parallels that progress.”

The Kodak Vision2 family of films is the result of a top-to-bottom redesign of film technology, incorporating several innovations from Kodak research labs. Advanced T-grain technology has been built into all three color records of the emulsion pack to improve light capture efficiency and to further reduce grain at all exposures. Two electron sensitizers have been used to increase the number of electrons each incident photon is able to generate. These sensitizers also contribute to the stability of the latent image. Advanced development accelerators built into the film improve the efficiency of the chemical reactions involved in the development process, and high activity couplers offer an increased dye yield that works in conjunction with fewer and smaller emulsion grains. Finally the red-sensitive layer has been subdivided into three layers in order to facilitate better grain and color control.

“We used the confluence of these technologies to optimize grain while concurrently reshaping the tone scale,” said Mike Ryan, Project Manager for the KODAK Vision2 500T film. “The mid-section of the tone scale has been made more linear, which not only improves the neutrality but also offers an optimum starting point for both traditional optical and newer, digital-based postproduction processes. Cleaner, more linear curve shapes make any telecine or digital scanning application more efficient. Changes were also made in the toe section of the tone scale in order to open shadow details while maintaining deep, rich blacks. All of these features are responses to suggestions made by cinematographers and other filmmakers.”

“We have made enormous advances in the efficiency of the silver halide crystal process in just the last few years, and there is no end in sight,” said Rodli. “Think of what that means for the future. You will be able to load tomorrow’s film technology into today’s cameras and be completely state-of-the-art. That’s the power of the medium.”

Kodak Vision2 500T film is available in all 16, 35 and 65mm formats.

As for timing of the introduction, the release of Kodak’s Vision2 line comes amid rapid encroachment of digital technology. Though Kodak’s traditional film business will remain its core, the company has made an aggressive push into the digital realm with plans to begin selling its digital-cinema projection system early next year for about a $100,000 per screen.

Still most cinematographers prefer to use film, and this new formulation addresses complaints that cinematographers had made in the last few years. Keeping influential cinematographers happy is crucial to Kodak’s future success.

Then too, it’s crucial that Kodak keep film performance ahead of digital capture with high-definition digital cameras, as increasingly producers of motion pictures and television programs will be tempted to switch to digital, if only for the reason of price. Typical 35mm film stock is expensive compared to inexpensive digital videotape. And developing and processing add even more costs. Thus, film eats up a big chunk of a movie’s budget.

Film still outperforms digital capture. The current high-definition cameras capture less detail than 35mm film cameras, and tend to deliver a harsher look than film, cinematographers say.

Kodak regularly polls artists in the cinematographer community on their technology needs and asks them to test new film stocks as they are being developed. Kodak has been quietly testing the new Vision2 film stock for the past nine months.

Kodak hopes that this latest innovation will protect its $1-billion entertainment business amid the rapid encroachment of digital technology.

Cinematographers Report On Kodak Vision2 Film Tests

Remi Adefarasin, BSC
(Oscar® nominated for Elizabeth, Emmy nominated for Band Of Brothers, credits include About A Boy, The House Of Mirth)

“I am preparing to shoot a film in California and it involves a lot of night shooting in an old mansion. Our tests served many functions. We needed to check on costume textiles, make-up intensities, hair colors, set colors and textures. Amongst all of these, I needed to evaluate how regular stocks and the new (Kodak) Vision2 5218 emulsion looked. During the very short period I had to test 5218, I decided to use a human face and a mid-tone background wall. There were differing lighting levels within the frame. We shot the same image on both Kodak Vision Expression 5284 stock and the new 5218 film. The two shots were shown on the same screen, switching between projectors. The 5284 is still a beautiful stock, but the 5218 wins hands down. The grain was noticeably finer and I had the impression that the emulsion was a hint sharper and cleaner. The beautiful tonality of 5284 was extended further. The 5218 has the capacity to need fewer footcandles yet render fine grain images that hold shadows and overexposed areas. Clearly, I can now light more bravely and roam into the shadows and the blinding highlights.”

Geoff Boyle
(almost exclusively shoots commercials, shot documentaries for television and 20/20)

“I shot a couple of rolls of the new stock towards the end of a commercial. When the director and I saw it on the Spirit (DataCine), we both said, ‘Why couldn’t we have shot the whole commercial on this?’ One of our colorists was equally enthusiastic. He said, ‘If they make this grain any finer, we’re going to have problems focusing the telecine.’

“In Super 35 format, the (Kodak Vision2) 5218 (film) is as clean as I want for 95 percent of my commercial work. I absolutely loved it. The highlight response was terrific and the flesh tones were gorgeous…so smooth and so clean. Now, I’ve gone up a level. It’s going to make it impossible to go back. What I found really interesting was the shape of the grain; it’s much smoother, much rounder and doesn’t clump. It looks incredibly even, which means you notice it less, which is great. I will now be happy to shoot commercials on a 500-speed stock.

“I also think a lot of TV series that shoot in Super 16 will be able to use this new 500-speed film without having to worry about grain. That has obvious implications for lighting budgets and schedules. Anything that saves time—cuts the cost of having a crew and cast waiting for you on location—has to be good news.

“Because it’s film (rather than digital), this new film also gives us the advantage of making more choices in post production. We found we could take it anywhere in telecine without it falling apart. It’s going to make a huge difference.”

Allen Daviau, ASC
(Five-time Academy Award® nominee for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Color Purple, Empire Of The Sun, Avalon, and Bugsy)

“I shot a test with Jenifer Wymore, my favorite redhead. I met her shooting a commercial a dozen years ago and have used her in tests ever since. She’s a beautiful lady, a true redhead on both her mother and father’s sides with the purest skin tones and no freckles. We shot on the Panavision stage with a black-and-white night sky backing using Lightning Strikes to create very contrasty backlight on her. Then we shot a very simple set up with my Kodak gray scale chart and a McBeth color scale. I shot parallel tests with (Kodak Vision) 5279 (film) and the new (Kodak Vision2) 5218 film. The first print of the new film made by Technicolor (labs) had a great gray scale. I liked the way everything popped in the density wedge. It didn’t overly crunch the blacks. It was a dead-on, okay exposure. Her skin tones were right on the money without a hint of pink. There was good shadow detail with strong blacks that didn’t feel crunched. The most impressive thing about the new film is the color space. The colors aren’t over-saturated or compressed, and it has a wonderfully rich tonal scale. I really like the way the colors and contrast interact. It has everything I liked about the previous (EASTMAN EXR 52) ‘98 film with much finer grain.”

Jeff Jur, ASC
(My Big Fat Greek Wedding, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Dirty Dancing)

“I shot a test on a set built in a warehouse. It was supposed to be a music video filmed in an artist’s loft that was around 100 feet long by about 80 feet wide. I had an ARRI 535 camera, sometimes on a Steadicam. There was a female singer (Mandy Moore) and a painter who was inspired by her. She is performing for the camera while he’s painting. We had a mix of tungsten light with real daylight coming through windows. We lit through the windows with HMIs color-corrected with 1/2 CTO and mixed it with warm tungsten lamps inside. I wanted to see what the film would do with ambient light bouncing around the set and very little fill. It’s a way I like to light day interiors. I try to use available ambient light adding no fill. I wanted to test the limits of the stock and see how it reads details deep in the shadows.

“I found that it has amazing resolution. That’s the best way I can describe it. You can see deeper into the darkest parts of the scene, including areas we didn’t light. In fact, there are some areas where we took light away to get it as dark as possible. I was under-exposing by four or five stops and you still see details. You’ve always been able to see into the shadows with Kodak film, but the details with this stock are pretty amazing.

“I love lighting naturally, so it looks like what you can see with your eye, and this film gets a lot closer to that ideal. You know certain areas are going to go dark but you don’t want it to go too dark, so you balance it with some fill. Now, I think you’ll need a lot less fill. If you’re doing a shot where a face is in the shadows for an effect or mood, you’re able to see the actors’ eyes and expressions without over lighting.

“The other amazing thing is the drop-off in grain. To my eye, it looks like about half of what you see with the original (Kodak) Vision stock. I often use the 200-speed Vision film for interiors and sometimes night exteriors, because I like a grainless look. Now, I’m likely to use the new 500-speed film in these situations.

“I only shot a 35mm test, but I think this will be an amazing stock for shooting in low light in 16mm (format), because of the reduction in grain. It should also be useful when you are shooting in Super 35 and need a 500-speed film. You’re enlarging a smaller part of the negative, so it will help to start with that much less gain.

“When you look at a side-by-side test, the biggest differences you see are the improvements in grain and resolution in the shadows. I think people will be amazed.”

Stephen Lighthill, ASC

(Oscar® nominated for Berkeley in the 60s documentary; television credits include Vietnam War Story, Earth 2, Nash Bridges)

“I tested the new (Kodak) Vision2 7218 emulsion on the set of my current show, She Spies, and put it through our normal telecine procedure. I compared it to the stock that I currently use on the show, (Kodak) Vision 7274 color negative. I was very impressed with the grain structure of the new stock and the contrast was nice. I consider the grain structure to be an amazing improvement over any stock I’ve seen. The 7218 seemed to be a slightly lower contrast stock compared to previous films, and generally a little less saturated in terms of color. While it’s not appropriate for She Spies, which demands a more glamorous look with saturated colors, I think the 5218 stock could work quite well in the 16 mm format due to its improved grain and lower contrast. It performed extremely well under exterior, full dynamic range conditions.”

Steven Poster, ASC

(Stuart Little 2, Someone To Watch Over Me, and telefilms Testament, Roswell, and Color Of Justice)
“I performed initial tests with the Vision2 5218 stock according to the guidelines in my chapter on testing in the American Cinematographer Manual. These tests are designed to measure speed and dynamic range. At first blush, I can see that this stock is accurately rated at 500 ASA, with even greater dynamic range than either of the previous 500-speed films. The colors are very true, the grain is greatly reduced, and I can see more into the shadows. My initial impression is that this is a major improvement over 5279. To have an emulsion like this will be a great help in situations where I need accurate flesh tone reproduction across a range of skin tones. If this new emulsion technology is an indicator of the improvements Kodak can deliver, the future of film looks very bright.”

The Story Behind The Design Of A New Generation Of Film

The design and development of the first product of the Kodak Vision2 family of motion picture films creates a new paradigm in motion imaging technology. This next generation of motion picture films is the result of a confluence of technological innovations designed to satisfy the rising expectations of filmmakers and to complement changes in marketplace technology—in essence, providing a new type of paint for their palettes and a better starting place for optical and digital post production. In a recent conversation, David Long, a product development engineer for the Kodak Entertainment Imaging Division, reveals the path the company’s scientists followed in developing this new family of films and the first member of the family, Kodak Vision2 500T color negative film.

WSR: What was your role in this project?

David Long, Kodak Entertainment Imaging Division: I am the systems engineer for the development program. I was responsible for designing the photographic features of the film. That includes its capacity to reproduce colors and tones, its overall speed and contrast, and all of the other attributes that determine its photographic performance. My job is to incorporate the impressions and comments of cinematographers whom we spoke with from around the world into technical specifications for the film. I’m essentially a translator between the art and the science of cinematography, and film building.

WSR: How do the Vision2 films differ from the original Vision family?

Long: With Vision2 film, we’ve made a commitment to optimizing camera negative films for both traditional optical and digital postproduction. We’ve also introduced state-of-the-art grain technologies to provide the cleanest images possible to our customers. Film sensitometry and color reproduction have been carefully engineered to open up the shadows while maintaining deep, rich blacks and rendering more natural colors and flesh tones. Additionally, the Vision2 tone scale has been designed for improved neutrality from deep blacks to extreme whites, facilitating improvements in neutral scale control and postproduction productivity. And all of this is made possible by new technology; silver halide technologies that significantly reduce grain and film-building technologies that shape a new standard of photographic performance. Within this design though, we’ve also integrated the very best features of the popular Vision family so that our customers can truly benefit from both the strengths of the classic films and the improvements of the next generation.

These changes incorporate some very powerful new technologies developed by our research scientists. The significant grain reduction we’ve been able to achieve can be seen across the full exposure range, so the advantages of the Vision2 negative should be clearly evident in almost every filming situation. Kodak scientists are always searching for ways to improve the flexibility of film as an image recording system. The Vision2 family of films is a completely new design, and there are more breakthroughs in technology on the horizon.

WSR: How do you know what filmmakers want?

Long: We have strong ongoing relationships with our customers who give us a lot of great feedback on a daily basis. Cinematographers and other filmmakers aren’t shy about sharing their opinions. We started on this project by assessing our existing portfolio of motion picture films and how well they satisfied our customers’ needs. We evaluated color reproduction, contrast, photographic speed, as well as telecine and optical printing performance. We also looked at a number of practical variables including how we rate the ideal exposure index of our films compared to how cinematographers actually expose them. This evaluation is what we call a systems characterization study. Once we were confident that we thoroughly understood the imaging characteristics of those films, we were in a much better position to decide what was needed to satisfy our customers’ needs in the Vision2 family. We took the best qualities of the original Vision system, and incorporated them into the design of the next generation of films. As an example, our customers asked us to open up shadow detail. The original Vision films were a leap forward in technology for speed without obtrusive grain, and also for the ability to record rich blacks, especially when combined with Vision intermediate and print film. Our customers told us that they wanted us to combine these characteristics with an enhanced capability for recording shadow details.

WSR: What other new features will cinematographers see?

Long: Looking to the future, we wanted to design a sensitometry and tone scale reproduction that was optimized for telecine and digital film scanning as well as one that was intended to fit systematically with the Vision intermediate and print films. A more technical way of saying that is we wanted a more linear curve set. Any telecine or digital scanner that is going to be interacting with a film is better able to deal with a linear tone scale response, and we designed the Vision2 family to incorporate this more predictable tone scale reproduction. We also carefully incorporated features of the Vision print film tone scale into the film in order to ensure the cleanest and most neutral results from shadows to highlights in optical printing.

Additionally, we evaluated color reproduction and Vision2 film offers a more natural rendering of colors and flesh tones. Through careful film building, we are able to incorporate this into the film along with all of the other improvements we’ve mentioned.

WSR: With all of the new technology concentrating on faster emulsions and more efficient light capture, what can you do to make an EI500 product better?

Long: Though Kodak has been making EI500 films for the motion picture community for some years now, we took advantage of a number of advancements from our research labs to really scrutinize how a high-speed film should perform. With the Vision2 family, we are taking advantage of advances in silver halide technologies to make speed ratings even more accurate. For example, the new films will feature greater light utilization efficiency. That means we’re better able to use the light that’s hitting the film plane, which results in lower grain evident in the exposed images. In the old days, you designed faster films by incorporating larger silver halide grains into the emulsion. That is no longer necessary. Today, we can make high-speed films without compromising other imaging characteristics. The breakthroughs in emulsion technology that make the Vision2 family possible will show up as smaller, tighter grain, and more accurate color reproduction in all layers.

WSR: Specifically, what are those breakthroughs in emulsion technology?

Long: We have introduced Advanced T-grain emulsion technology into all layers of the film. For example, in a tungsten-balanced film, the blue layer has to be the fastest. Classically, we have utilized conventional (3D) emulsions to get accurate speed, but this can lead to granularity penalties. By blending conventional emulsions with the newer T-grain emulsions in the fastest blue layer, we achieve the true speed needed for EI500, but with vastly improved granularity and less noise in the blue color record. In the red and green sensitive layers, we have used the enhanced efficiency of new T-grains to lower granularity. The ability of these new T-grains to capture and process photons more efficiently allows us to get more speed with reduced crystal sizes.

WSR: Are there other advances that increase the efficiency of the silver halide crystals?

Long: Yes, another technology that is employed is called “two electron sensitization.” This consists of a fragmentable electron donor compound that has been designed to work with the sensitizing dyes to deliver two electrons for every absorbed photon of light. The classic mechanism has always been one for one. In color photography, light is absorbed by a dye attached to the silver halide surface. The excited dye then transfers an electron to the silver halide, and that electron goes to create the latent image. You have to have a certain number of electron transfers for the latent image to survive on the crystal until it gets to the development process. By designing these new compounds to have an affinity for the silver halide surface and to work in concert with the oxidized form of the sensitizing dye, the potential for creating another electron is achieved. This increase in the generation of electrons can improve the speed performance of the film as well as stabilize the latent image. Many counterproductive electron loss mechanisms can occur between latent image formation and subsequent development. By interfering with the possible recombination of the electron and oxidized dye, the new material improves the latent image stability.

WSR: Are there new technologies increasing efficiency further down the imaging chain?

Long: Yes. We are also introducing a couple of materials that help the film in the processes that occur after the moment of capture. One of these is called an advanced development accelerator. It does exactly what it sounds like it should do. Once you have recorded a latent image, any material you can put into the film to improve the efficiency of the steps past that also helps. It is important to understand that when we talk about film speed, we are really discussing a progression of steps. We have already talked about the first two steps, photon capture and latent image formation, and the technologies which specifically enhance these steps in the chain, Advanced T-grains and two electron sensitization. A third step is the amplification of the latent image by the chemistry in the negative developer bath. The advanced development accelerator allows the latent image site on the exposed silver halide crystal to be more easily detected by the developer, thus improving the overall effectiveness of this step. By enhancing the developer’s ability to act on the latent image, we can achieve faster speeds with small grain size crystals.

The fourth and final step in the chain is dye formation. After the latent image site has been amplified, the oxidized by-product of the developer reacts with couplers in the film to produce the dye record of the image. We have made improvements in this step by using higher activity couplers in the film. These high activity couplers improve the yield of dye formation during processing. They produce more dye density per quantity of developed silver. That can translate into the design of faster or finer grain films. It also allows for optimization of the silver and coupler loads in a color record, so that optical scattering considerations can be taken into account, and consistent sharpness within the images can be maintained.

WSR: Are there any other changes to the design of the film?

Long: We have continued to subdivide individual color imaging records in the film structure. While Vision stocks were developed with the green sensitive record having three distinct dye forming layers, we have extended this concept to the red sensitive record in the Vision2 film. This coating methodology allows more degrees of freedom in designing linear tone scale and consistent color reproduction, while keeping grain to a minimum over a wider exposure range.

WSR: We’ve talked about a number specific technologies: Advanced T-grain emulsion technology, two electron sensitization, advanced development accelerators, higher activity couplers, and triple coating. Are they all aimed at improving the grain structure of the film?

Long: Yes, but there’s more to the story. Not only do they improve the grain structure of the film by helping with speed and efficiency and maintain enhanced sharpness by allowing careful control of silver and coupler levels, but we can also use them individually to shape the tone scale. The toe region, at the bottom of the tone scale, is where shadows are imaged. The shadows can be directly impacted by careful mixing of these technologies. So on top of these tangible chemistry and emulsion advancements, there is an additional intangible feature in Vision2 film. We would characterize this as careful film building, manipulating and putting the components together in just the right mix. Each of these improvements is incremental, but by putting them together in the right manner, we are able to make a quantum leap forward. We used these technologies to maintain the speed, open the shadows, and lower the grain, all while maintaining neutrality in the shadows—in short, giving our customers what they want.

WSR: What do cinematographers really mean when they say “detail in the shadows?”
Long: They judge speed in different ways, including, “How black are the blacks?” They want the ability to reproduce true black tones, because that provides a broader range of densities where they can reveal or conceal details that speak to the audience in a silent language. There is always a question of how far they want the audience to “see” into the blackest blacks. That is shadow detail. What we have done is provide a smoother transition from absolute black to the slightly lighter shadow tones. In terms of characteristic curves, a sharp toe is where you come in very hard and you tend to clip out shadow detail. A soft toe is where you pull detail further down into the shadows, further down into lower exposure or low light areas. We are basically softening the toe in response to our customers’ desires. We could use these advances in technology to increase speed, but instead, we’re using them to shape the toe of the curve, to create a film that sees further into the shadows, without sacrificing true, rich blacks.

WSR: Have you done anything to the tone-scale to improve postproduction?

Long: We have designed a more linear tone scale in the middle part of the film curve. This feature will be particularly useful when film is being scanned or telecined for manipulation in the digital realm. Think back to the early days, when George Eastman was running the company, and why he concentrated on developing negative as well as positive camera films. Negative films provide much more exposure latitude, which gives filmmakers an extraordinary creative range for creating looks and even more range for experimenting and taking chances in extreme lighting conditions. This is one of the many areas where film is far superior to either analog or digital video formats. That is why negative films will always persist—because they provide the ability to under- and over-expose the film to create looks, and they can capture images in extreme circumstances. You have that second opportunity to deal with the image in the printing stage or transfer, and turn it from a negative back into a positive. That’s a big benefit. In the telecine or digital scanning realms specifically, a linear curve shape offers a tremendous advantage to those who are trying to manipulate the signal. A linear curve shape is more predictable in the digital environment and a film with a well designed tone scale offers the perfect mix of smooth, clean response in the mid-tones and natural, opened transitions in the highlights and shadows.

WSR: Are there any advantages for other digital postproduction applications like special effects?
Long: Absolutely, the tremendous grain improvements in all three color records of the film means the VISION2 stock will be greatly advantaged for blue and green screen compositing work. Additionally, more natural color and tone reproduction translates to truer matte work and cleaner digital transfers. When combined with film’s extensive capture latitude, all special effects work with high-speed films should look better with this new technology.

A Glimpse Of The Future Of Film In A Hybrid World

With the introduction of the next generation of Kodak motion picture film technology, it seems an appropriate time to ask Richard C. Sehlin about the long-term future. Sehlin discussed the convergence of film and digital technologies and the role that he expects Kodak to play in the future of the motion imaging industry. Following are excerpts of that conversation:

WSR: What is your role at Kodak?

Richard Sehlin, Kodak Systems Development Division: I am Director of the Systems Development division, with responsibility for all digital and hybrid motion imaging research and development for the Entertainment Imaging division of Kodak. My original background was in film, but I have a broader responsibility today to integrate hybrid motion imaging technologies into our planning. We believe that the blending of film and digital technologies is a key to the future. By the way, this isn’t a new concept for us. During the early 1930s, RCA asked Kodak to develop technology for displaying high-quality film images on its new “radiovision” system. We have subsequently pioneered the development of convergence technologies that have allowed the industry to move freely between film and digital domains.

WSR: What were some of the other milestones?

Sehlin: We developed kinescope technology, which was used to record live television programs onto film; the flying spot scanner integrated into a new generation of telecines in the 1980s; the Cineon digital film scanners and recorders, which have become the de facto industry standard; and the digital sensor and imaging system integrated into the Thomson Spirit DataCine. Those are some examples.

WSR: That’s the past. How about the future?

Sehlin: We will bring an unparalleled depth of knowledge in color and motion imaging science to the future, which by definition is still undefined. I believe film will remain an extremely viable medium, and that some of the most interesting progress will be made in the convergence of hybrid technologies. I remember the early days of MTV, when most of the early clips were originated in videotape format. Back then, people like Daniel Pearl demonstrated how film put through a telecine provided more creative flexibility, and that resulted in the sale of more music. Almost the entire industry shifted to film. In fact, here is a trivia question for you: How many music videos nominated for MTV cinematography awards have been originated on tape? The answer is none. The entertainment industry is interesting because the creative people have shown time and again they will embrace the tools that work best for them. Their questions are what look can I get, and how creative can I be? I don’t see that changing.

WSR: How involved is Kodak in developing digital imaging technologies?

Sehlin: We have an amazing history of putting digital tools into the hands of filmmakers. One example is Cinesite, a pioneering visual effects company that is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Cinesite has built up a long list of digital firsts, which is about to get longer. Also, at the IBC convention this fall, Kodak showed a new high-speed scanner, along with Thomson. It’s a 2K/4K scanner that is about five times faster than the next fastest scanner, which also happens to use our technology: the Thomson Spirit DataCine, a tool that has revolutionized the use of digital imaging techniques. This new scanner captures uncompressed image data and does it at rates that were unheard of just a few years ago. We believe this will help drive the move toward digital intermediate technology. Digital intermediate was science fiction a few short years ago. Now filmmakers like Roger Deakins (ASC, BSC), and his frequent collaborators, (writer/producer/directors) Joel and Ethan Coen, routinely use it as a creative tool. This new scanner will make digital intermediate much more affordable, and put the power of digital manipulation into the hands of many more filmmakers. Until now, that has been a barrier.

Another barrier that is falling is film recording. We are still a film-centric business. For feature films, the images need to be recorded back out to film. Kodak pioneered film recording ten years ago. As we look to the future, we believe recorder technology will soon be available with film recording speeds at 10 to 20 times than what is available today. When it arrives, the economic equations that underlie our business will change.

WSR: Does Kodak perceive digital cinema as a threat?

Sehlin: Not at all. In fact, we demonstrated our own prototype digital projector at ShoWest 2002. The most popular digital projector out there—meaning it’s in about 100 theatres—uses a Texas Instruments chip, which delivers a resolution of 1280 by 1024 lines of pixels. The projector we demonstrated offers roughly twice the resolution (2048 by 1536 lines), and that’s just a starting point for us. We believe that if you are going to have an alternative to film projection, it has to be an improvement. Part of our role in the entertainment community is to raise the image quality bar higher.

WSR: One of the arguments made by vendors selling digital image “capture” tools is that they don’t have to match the resolution or dynamic range of film because you lose image quality in optical postproduction and also in display on television and cinema screens.

Sehlin: They are aiming at a moving target. We have scientists and engineers working on digital intermediate technologies that mesh with the strengths of film to dramatically improve quality. We’re working on computer processing techniques that will make 16 mm film look like 35 mm film, and 35 mm film look like 65 mm film. We can only imagine what large formats like IMAX will look like using these processes. The key to all this is that there are more details on the original film than we can see with today’s postproduction or display technologies. In the near future, digital systems will allow us to take advantage of the full measure of information in a frame of film.

WSR: Can you share some more details?

Sehlin: Film is still a physical medium, and it has artifacts, as does digital imaging. Another important aspect of our approach to improving the images of the future is what we call image management. One of the advantages of digital intermediate technology is that, in principle, images can be stored in a common file format. Once you’ve established that industry standard, you can have standard files that are going out to the Internet, on satellite to the home, on network cable, or out to film. Whatever the distribution method, you can manage the image in a way that’s going to give you the optimum, perfect image in any delivery system, exactly the way the filmmakers envisioned it. To me, that optimum look is the film look—that’s what people really want, and what the other formats strive to achieve.

Television screens are all different, so one of the real issues is calibration. If you can calibrate the systems and manage the images that go through them, you can achieve more consistency in the look. Kodak is well positioned to do that for the industry. In fact, we’ve always provided those types of control tools for projectionists and labs. As the systems become more numerous and complex with other technologies—digital scanners, recorders, digital inputs and outputs—we’re still in the best position to manage the system. We really know how to do this.

We’re also determined to protect the image from forces that would alter it or change it in any way down the road. Let’s say that in 50 years, someone is doing a restoration of O Brother, Where Art Thou? That person might look at the yellowed scenes and think that there’s been a terrible mistake, not realizing that Roger Deakins carefully created that look using digital techniques. One key to preventing that kind of error is what we call metadata technology. That is essentially a record of all the manipulations that have been performed on the image. A creative person whose heart and soul is in the project can feel pretty much assured that their intentions will be maintained forever.

WSR: What about the storage of digital data?

Sehlin: That’s the biggest roadblock. Film is the ultimate storage medium for moving images. Properly archived films will last for hundreds of years. Digital files are much more volatile. I believe that all of the major Hollywood studios are now making black-and-white protection master of their films for posterity, and I imagine they will ultimately decide to convert titles originated in digital format to film for archiving. One problem is, what do you do with the out-takes you might want in the future?

WSR: We haven’t spoken about digital image capture. Can you foresee a time when Kodak will abandon film in favor of digital image capture?

Sehlin: I’ve been in this business for about 25 years, and I can say that this is easily the most fascinating time I’ve seen. The next few years are going to be a lot of fun, watching how the creative community uses the new film, digital and hybrid tools. We make some of the best digital still cameras available today, so we have that as a frame of reference. There are still fundamental differences in the ways that film and digital images are recorded, perceived and stored, and I don’t see that changing. I believe that the first time video vendors predicted the end of film was around 1956 when a banner headline on the front page of Daily Variety said, “Film Is Dead!” after the introduction of the Ampex two-inch videotape system. I remember when videophiles made the same predictions in 1981, after the first analog HDTV system was introduced. Just look at the progress we have made during the subsequent two decades. I read and hear all of the digital hype continuing to predict the death of film, and I get a kick out of it because I know what the possibilities are for the future.