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Sony Press Release
Digital Motion Picture Production
Digital Motion Picture production has become an important marketplace reality. Whether it is used in high or low-budget moviemaking, television prime time production and documentaries, or television commercial production - the adoption of this new creative tool is rapidly advancing. And with that adoption there has been the attendant marshalling of a significant pool of creative talent in the form of cinematographers, directors and producers, and postproduction creative personnel. Even in these early days the enormity of the critical feedback to Sony by those who have used our CineAlta 24P digital motion picture system has triggered a variety of technical studies. Some of these, in turn, have stimulated engineering development projects intended to respond to the recommendations received and to incorporate as many associated enhancements as possible.
The ongoing dialog between these end-users and Sony have largely centered about the various dimensions of the 24P imagery. Issues of tonal reproduction, exposure latitude, and color reproduction have dominated discussions - but they also included topics of picture sharpness, exposure index, depth of field etc. Camera optics, camera ergonomics, and a host of postproduction issues are additional ongoing topics of discussion.
The Look of Video and the Look of Film
When Sony developed the pioneering CineAlta 24P system it was in response to many entities from within the motion picture film world. Placing digital HD production onto the same picture capture rate platform as that of the globally popular 24-frame film medium was seen as introducing an important new era of media creative collaboration. Producers, directors and cinematographers saw significant creative and business advantages in having both media available to support high-end program production - for moviemaking and television production.
The work to date on 24P has revealed that there is an unlimited range of aesthetic aspirations sought from the 24P digital motion picture system. Some specifically seek more than just the 24-frame picture capture rate equivalency with motion picture film. They also seek an equivalency - to the degree possible - in tonal and color reproduction and in sharpness, depth of field and, most of all, in exposure latitude. This constituency is desirous of creative capabilities in the 24P CineAlta system than can closely emulate the unique "look" of 24-frame of motion picture film.
There are many others, however, who feel that such emulation is of little interest. Instead, they prefer to explore entirely different imagery - capitalizing to the degree possible, on the inherent capabilities of the digital 24P medium to offer a range of "looks" that are distinctly different to that of motion picture film.
Sony recognizes the validity of both constituencies. Accordingly, the creation of digital tools to accommodate the creative aspirations of both entities has been the imperative as 24P is moved to the next phase of development.
Creative Control of Exposure Latitude and Tonal Reproduction
In early 2003 Sony introduced an updated version of the HDW-F900 CineAlta camcorder that offers a significant extension to the exposure latitude of the camera - a specific response to the urgings of film cinematographers. This request for an expanded dynamic range is notably in the region of over-exposed imagery. In parallel with that development Sony also deployed significant resources to creating a special tool requested by many cinematographers and directors - namely, the means to exercise creative control over the tonal reproduction and exposure latitude of the digital motion picture camera.
The term Gamma has meant many things to those who have separately worked with motion picture film production and those who have produced in video. Indeed, in the latter case, the CineAlta 24P camera - in its detent setting - has a transfer characteristic that conforms to a tightly specified Gamma curve in the ITU 709 digital high definition standard. On the other hand, much remained to be learned about Gamma in the context of emulating the imagery of motion picture film.
Cinematographers, however, early realized the potential power of the digital motion picture camera. Digital manipulation offered the possibility of customizing a camera to have a particular tonal reproduction and exposure latitude - tailored to aesthetic aspirations for a particular project or a particular scene. A great deal of work has been accomplished by many practitioners who have explored the possibilities with the first generation CineAlta cameras. As a consequence of this body of work, Sony has now developed the means to implement that creative control in a particularly user-friendly manner.
User Gamma Builder System
Sony's new User Gamma Builder - CvpFileEditor harnesses the power of a Windows PC application to the digital prowess latent within the RGB DSP processing circuits in the HDW-F900 camcorder to empower user creation of Gamma tables. These tables, in turn, manage the creation of a desired exposure latitude and tonal reproduction of the camera by facilitating a user-friendly means of adjusting them.
A GUI interface on the PC allows the Shape Transform function to be utilized in a simple graphical manner - facilitating custom alteration of the Red, Green, and Blue Gamma curves. Once set to a desired transfer characteristic, the digital settings can be saved into a Memory Stick that can subsequently be plugged into any HDW-F900. An entirely new empowerment - to realize a wide range of imagery - has now been made possible in 24P CineAlta digital motion picture production.
Sony expresses its gratitude to the many cinematographers in Europe, Japan, and the United States who offered considerable advise on the creation of this new tool.