A Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel… RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel… - or - How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie? FACT # 1 DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PROCESSES FOR FILM POST PRODUCTIOIN ARE CHANGING THE WAY FILMS ARE MADE. RICK HARDING Sony Electronics, Inc.

Film is Better, Right! Well, ya, but…….. Acquisition Choices: 35mm – 4:3 aspect ratio – 4096 x 3080 – 4K resolution RGB HD – 16:9 aspect ratio – 1920 x 1080 - 2K resolution Film is Better, Right! Well, ya, but…….. FACT # 1 DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PROCESSES FOR FILM POST PRODUCTIOIN ARE CHANGING THE WAY FILMS ARE MADE.

Enter the Digital Intermediate “The Great Equalizer” So What Does That Have To Do With Anything? FACT # 1 DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PROCESSES FOR FILM POST PRODUCTIOIN ARE CHANGING THE WAY FILMS ARE MADE.

The D.I. - A Few Facts Fact 1: The processes that lead to industry wide acceptance of the Digital Intermediate, commonly employed 1828 horizontal samples when recording to Academy Aperture 35mm. Fact 2: The industry has universally declared that printing negatives created from 2K files at these resolutions are superior to printing negatives created through conventional optical reduction methods. Fact 3: Displayed vertical pixel resolutions from spherical 35mm film elements in both 1.85 and 2.40 film exhibition will typically requires less than 1080 vertical lines when recording 1828 horizontal pixels.

24% of file data will likely only be used for archive A Look at the Numbers (4K 2K reduction for post) 12% wasted data 24% of file data will likely only be used for archive 12% wasted data When shooting full aperture spherical 35mm – Full vertical sample will never be displayed in any distribution product.

The Numbers Applied to Scanning +

The Numbers Applied to Scanning +

+ The Numbers Applied to Recording 1.33 Aperture 1.37 Aperture Physical area reduction in Academy Aperture: 11.4% Horizontal - 14.2% vertical

+ The Numbers Applied to Recording Commonly Recorded at 1806 x 1307 to 2048 x 1493 Common File Size 2048 x 1556 +

Typically 1828 x 988 to 2048 x 1107 Displayed Pixels The Numbers Applied to 1.85 Exhibition Academy Aperture 1.85 Projector Matte + Typically 1828 x 988 to 2048 x 1107 Displayed Pixels

Anamorphic Academy Aperture The Numbers Applied to 2.40 Exhibition Full Aperture OCN Anamorphic Academy Aperture + Derived from 2048 x 853 original samples 1828 x 1556 to 2048 x 1556 interpolated Pixels

Designed To Accommodate All Distribution Aspect Ratios 1.78 – No Arbitrary Aspect Ratio Designed To Accommodate All Distribution Aspect Ratios 2.40 = 1920 x 800 1.85 = 1920 x 1037 1.33 = 1436 X 1080

Important Questions: Given applied pixel count to the final film products that established the D.I. process, could 10 bit 1920 x 1080 RGB HD be considered a viable acquisition alternative to film for feature quality end results? Given applied pixel count to the final film products that established the D.I. process, could 10 bit 1920 x 1080 RGB HD be considered a viable alternative to 2K data workflows for 35mm film post? If working in 10 bit RGB HD acquisition and post, do I need to work uncompressed?

An Enabling Technology Full Band 4:4:4 1920 x 1080 Recorder – No pre filtering or sub sampling 10 bit Linear or Log RGB, or 10 bit linear, or 10 bit color gamut R’G’B’ - NOT bound to 709 color space MPEG 4 SP compression scheme DPCM and DCT parallel processes Intra-Frame and Intra-Field compression 440 Mbps and 880 Mbps recording Virtually Loss-less Compression

Positioning of MPEG4 SP Increasing Resolution MPEG4SP MPEG4 BT601 MPEG4SP Increasing Resolution MPEG4 Low bit rate 64k 2M 30M 300M 440M 880M 2G Increasing Bit rates

vs. Uncompressed Data Testing procedure: 2048 x 1080 DPX file provided by DCI 1920 x 1080 extraction converted to RGB HD and recorded to HDCAM SR HDCAM SR recording played back to server and converted to TIFF file Sample extraction taken from both the original DPX file and the new TIFF file created from recorded playback server from HDCAM SR. Sample extraction from both files blown up 500x in Adobe Photoshop 6.0. Test duplicated for the ASC Technical Committees on the DCI/ASC Mini-Movie, displaying uncompressed data files in real-time via 2K digital projection.

Original 2K DPX file courtesy of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) THE WHITE BOX INDICATES THE AREA OF EXTRACTION Approximate area of sample extractions Original 2K DPX file courtesy of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI)

Image “A” STARTING WITH AT 2K FILE, A 1920X1080 EXTRACTION WAS TAKEN IN SERVER, CONVERTED TO VIDEO AND RECORDED TO HDCAM SR. THE HDCAM SR RECORDING WAS THEN PLAYED BACK TO SERVER CONVERTED TO A NEW TIFF FILE, AND RECORDED TO CDROM. THESE IMAGES HAVE BEEN BLOWN UP 500% TO SIMULATE A BIG SCREEN VIEWING COMPARISON Image “B”

Original 2K DPX Extraction Image “A” Original 2K DPX Extraction IMAGE “A” WAS CREATED FROM THAT NEW TIFF FILE. IMAGE “B” WAS CREATED FROM THE ORIGINAL 2K FILE. BY NO MEANS A METHOD FOR CRITICAL EVALUATION, IT DOES HELP TO ILLUSTRATE THAT FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, THE HDCAM SR CODEC IS TRANSPARENT. MEANING THAT THESE IMAGES ARE COMPETITIVE WITH 2K UNCOMPRESSED DATA I INVITE YOU TO TRY IT YOURSELF. YOUR PROOF WILL BE IN YOUR OWN PICTURES. RGB HD Extraction Image “B”

Applying HDCAM SR Technology

Adaptable to 4:2:2 HD Facilities Linear HD Workflow Using HDCAM SR 4:4:4 HD Telecine Transfer SD conversion from HD Master 1 Adaptable to 4:2:2 HD Facilities Ingest 2 Edit 3 Dirt and Scratch removal from film based images 4:4:4 Restoration 4 Grade Familiar workflow Tape centric exchange of media/metadata Does not occupy finite server space Applicable to existing 4:2:2 HD infrastructures 5 Record

RGB Post Flow in Conventional Infrastructure Telecine Dailies in 4:4:4 HD w/ locked production audio DVD screeners 4:2:2 4:4:4 Dailies Screening 4:2:2 HD/SD Off-Line Edit Temp EFX Titling 4:4:4 EDL 4:4:4 EFX/Title Conform in Server or 444 switchers now available. 4:4:4 Video Conform 4:4:4 Color Correction Audio Mix & Layback RGB Film Recording Edited 4:4:4: Master Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4:4:4 Archival Master Preview Screening

RGB Non-Linear Systems AS PREVIOUSLY STATED, DELIVERABLES PROBABLY WON’T UTILIZE VERTICAL SAMPLES THAT EXTENDS BEYOND 178 ASPECT RATIO. EXTRA CTING 178 ASPECT RATIO FROM THE 2K FILE WILL SHIRINK FILE SIZE AND EFFECTIVELY EXPAND SERVER CAPACITY BY 25%. SCALING THE EXTRACTION TO 1920X1080 WILL EXPAND IT FURTHER TO 30% AND ALLOW REAL TIME DATA DUMP TO HDCAM SR. WITH REAL TIME DATA DUMP, THERE ARE NO MORE BOTTLE NECKS WHEN BACKING UP DATA, AND SECONDARY RAID PROVISION NEED ONLY BE A FRACTION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED WHEN WORKING IN 2K DATA. ONCE THE PROJECT IS COMPLETE, THE SCALED 1920X1080 CAN BE RESCALED TO 2048X1152 FOR FILM RECORD, OR THE 1920 FILES CAN BE TAKEN TO FILM WITH COMPARABLE RESULT. EITHER WAY, FILM RECORD TIME IS REDUCED OVER FULL APERTURE RECORDING, PROVIDING FURTHER THROUGHPUT ADVANTAGES AND SAVINGS.

Now RGB Desk Top solutions Final Cut Pro and Adobe also offer RGB Post Solutions

4K Digital Intermediate RGB Working Intermediate Note: Assumes full aperture composite effects work in super 2K. - Server based RGB video conversion for preview screenings Telecine Dailies in 4:4:4 HD w/ locked production audio CDL processes not yet standardized 4K Digital Intermediate 4:2:2 4:4:4 4:2:2 HD/SD Off-Line Edit 4K Scan of OCN Select Shots Dailies Screening Temp EFX Titling 4:4:4 Full Aperture Composite EFX EDL 4:4:4 EFX/Title 4:4:4 Video Conform 4K Archival Data Master FINAL EDL In Server 4K Conform FINALAUDIO DCDM 4:4:4 Color Correction Audio Mix & Layback FINAL CDL Optional SRW Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4K Archival File Film Recording (Printing Neg) Edited 4:4:4: Master Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4:4:4 Archival Master Release Printing Preview Screening

Thinking Differently About Archive & Deliverables Archival Elements: Original Camera Negative (OCN) or Digital recording - cut or selects takes Interpositive (IP) from cut OCN or Conformed Data Files (2K/4K) Conformed 1.78 RGB Working Intermediate (WI) Deliverables from the “Working Intermediate”: Printing Negative (1.78 matted or anamorphic) Full Frame 16x9 HD 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio) Letterbox 16x9 HD 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio) 525/625 4x3 Full Frame Master (derived from SR format conversion) 525/625 4x3 Letterbox Master (derived from SR format conversion) 525/625 16x9 Anamorphic Master (derived from SR format conversion)

Conclusions Post: Considering the transparency of the HDCAM SR codec, it is now practical to consider real-time RGB 10 bit Log or linear recording as an efficient means of data management in both linear and non-linear operations for Digital Intermediate post. Production: Given applied pixel counts in the processes of the 2K Digital Intermediate, shooting in 4:4:4 RGB HD WILL produce comparable end product results to 35mm film production while offering significant savings in stock, lab, scanning, and dailies expense.

You Can Now! How About Over Cranking and Under Yeah, But….. How About Over Cranking and Under – You Can’t Do That in Digital You Can Now!

A Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel… RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel… How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie? FACT # 1 DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE PROCESSES FOR FILM POST PRODUCTIOIN ARE CHANGING THE WAY FILMS ARE MADE. RICK HARDING Sony Electronics, Inc.