American Cinematographer - September 1995 - 32

Digital Postproduction
During the postproduction phase of
Apollo 13, director Ron Howard wanted
to review the process at home in Con¬
necticut. However, the editing and other
postproduction chores were taking place
in Hollywood. A problem? Not with dis¬
tance networking. Pacific Bell set up
the fiber-optic connection between
Hollywood's Todd AO/Glenn Glenn and
Howard's East Coast home, hooking up
with Southern New England Telephone
via long-haul carrier AT&T.
Distance networking is per¬
haps the biggest buzz in the post¬
production industry. In its loosest defini¬
tion, it's the ability to send images and
audio down the street, across the coun¬
try, and around the world, connecting
people and companies. Satellite trans¬
mission has been

an

established

means

of distance networking, especially for
broadcast applications; new to the mix

phone companies offering fiber-optic
networks and interactive capabilities.
Some distance networking solutions are

post house," connecting artists and

nies) are involved in interactive television

technicians around the world and

trials.

dramatically expanding their ability

But other possibilities for using
fiber-optic networks to send imagery
over phone lines has not been lost on two
of the more farseeing and pioneering
phone companies. While we're all wait¬
ing on interactive TV (don't hold your
breath), why not practice sending imag¬
ery over phone lines for more specialized,
entertainment industry uses? In the pro¬
cess, these phone companies get a

to collaborate.

The current limitations of dis¬

networking make it most acces¬
sible for material acquired in video and

tance

destined for television. With video's lim¬

ited resolution and television's even
more limited resolution capacity, there's
less data to push down the restricted
bandwidth pipeline, and anything that's

chance to become
more familiar with
and to the enter¬
tainment industry

Hollywood Dials into
Distance Networking

and, they hope,
make

The
via

ability to transmit images and audio
phone lines could change the way

movies

are

made.

elite. An associa¬
tion with Holly¬

are

real-time, others

are not.

Some allow

by Debra Kaufman

wood's
means

a

lost in the process

glitter also
contact

degree of teleconferencing, so that farflung users can not only look at the same
images but confab about them.

isn't so noticeable.
Camp O.J., for example, is connected to
the rest of the U.S. by a complex but

prestige (and high profiles) for

The benefit of distance net¬

tried-and-true network of Pacific Bell and

working is that it allows people in geo¬
graphically distant locations to collabo¬
rate creatively. It's faster than FedEx and
less taxing than plane travel. It's conve¬
nient, it's flexible, it's digital. And, of
course, it's got limitations. Film (or video)
images boil down to a lot of digital data,

Vyvx broadcast-level fiber-optic delivery
systems. Through improved compression
schemes and other strategies, network
providers are now offering digital compo¬
nent-quality transmission. Image resolu¬
tion will only improve.
What are the forces driving
distance networking? In the macro-pic¬
ture, global thinking - be it trade rela¬
tions or the Internet
is the impetus
behind the desire for global artistic col¬
laboration. The concept of tele-commut¬
ing has been popularized; the possibility
of tele-creating opens up some amazing

Such a strategy paid big
dends when Steven Spielberg was

and it's difficult to transmit all the data

through a relatively narrow fiber-optic
pipeline. Images have to be com¬
pressed to be transmitted, which
results in images that are accept¬
able, for example, for an approval
process but not for digital master¬
ing. With current technological limi¬
tations, transmitting an uncompressed
signal would cost an arm and a leg.
And even the high-end compressed
solutions aren't cheap.
High-end post facilities often
invest in not

30

phone deliv¬
of images an
accepted practice
among the Holly¬
wood filmmaking
ery

one

but several solutions for

-

vistas for filmmakers.
In the micro-view, other, more

practical forces are driving the concept
reality of distance networking. First,
satellite time is rapidly becoming satu¬
rated, making it a limited commodity.

compa¬
nies not otherwise known for their sexy

products.

divi¬
able
to look at images of Jurassic Park dino¬
saurs being created by the San Rafael,
CA-based Industrial Light & Magic while
he was busy filming Schindler's List in
Krakow, Poland. The innovative

was

of

born.

But aside from a handful of
anecdotes involving high-profile (and

technophile) directors and big-budget
films, has distance networking made
much of an impact on the filmmaking
community? The short answer is, not yet.
The old saw that new technology is over¬

and

stated in the short-term and understated
in the long-term holds true here.

That fact has intersected with the recent

died down, the

interest among

But

telephone companies in
exploiting their fiber-optic networks to

on

maximum benefit. The main focus has
been interactive television, and several

tion

American

September 1995

RBOCs

(regional Bell operating

compa¬

by the time the buzz has
technology

may

be well

its way to offering real-time, collabo¬
rative delivery of the kind of high-resolu¬

hooking up with clients, production com¬
panies and other post houses across the
country. The eventual promise is that dis¬
tance networking will be so ubiquitous
and powerful as to create the "virtual

Cinematographer

use

phone lines and satellite time became a
concrete reality, in the form of a popular
director and two popular films. The buzz

imagery mandated by feature film
production. Improved compression algo¬
rithms (allowing more data to be pushed
American Cinematographer - September 1995

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