American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 22

A cloud-based production and postproduction model, discussed in the Motion Imaging Workflow Committee section of the MITC report.

State of Technology
The annual ASC tech report offers keen insight.

T

he ASC's Motion Imaging Technology Council (MITC)
recently published their 2020 Progress Report in the
pages of the esteemed SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal.
The 19-page article in their September issue was the
14th such collaboration with the organization's publication. The 2020 effort - offering a professional overview
of current (and future) motion-imaging technology -
was overseen by MITC Chair Curtis Clark, ASC and the council's secretary and director of research, ASC associate David Reisner.
Clark noted in his introduction that cinematographers must have a
strong grounding in " the film-based photographic system to effectively
practice the art of cinematography, " as well as in the essentials of digital image capture and workflows. As the modern digital environment
has made things more complex, he adds, " the traditional value of the
cinematographer's creative contribution needs to be reinforced. This includes practical knowledge of, and experience with, the creative possibilities enabled by the new
digital imaging canvas ... "
Reisner said in his comments, " Without dismissing or
diminishing our photochemical history, current movie
techniques, technology, equipment, delivery, and display
all stand firmly in the digital realm. As such, and driven
by creative interests of filmmakers and manufacturers,
audiences' demand for HDR [high dynamic range], and
growing awareness of WCG [wide color gamut], the development of new techniques and products continues to
grow quickly. "

22 / JANUARY 2021

The following excerpts represent just a sampling of the issues addressed in the MITC report by its committees, subcommittees and working groups:

Camera Committee

Chair: David Stump, ASC; Vice-Chair: Bill Bennett, ASC; Vice-Chair: Richard
Edlund, ASC; Secretary: David Reisner
As the year progressed, almost all the cinema camera manufacturers
were embracing the concept of " full frame " sensor cameras, having a
sensor approximately the same size as a typical 35mm still-film camera:
24mm x 36mm. To handle the amount of data being generated by these
larger image sensors, manufacturers are implementing some form of
compression of the recorded image data, while several others also offer
either uncompressed or compressed raw data options as well.
Also among the items addressed by the committee
are advances in HDR, in particular the cameras' ability to
now accept and apply HDR look-up tables (LUTs), which
enable on-set HDR viewing using suitable HDR-capable
monitors.
Reported on as well is the increased prevalence of
cameras generating internally, and accepting from external sources such as lenses, extensive metadata that is
embedded with the image, and audio data in the master
recording. In cooperation with the MITC Metadata and
Lens Committees, the Camera Committee is requesting
that postproduction software designers retain that metadata throughout the processing chain; currently, many
American Cinematographer - January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2021
