American Cinematographer - December 2006 - 125

ASC Technology Committee
Update
by Douglas Bankston
The

four-year anniversary of the
ASC Technology Committee is a mere
month away, and though four years might
seem like a blip within the grand history
of motion pictures, the effect the commit¬
tee is having on the industry is seismic.
As productions shift to digital workflows,
the committee has formed initiatives with
such groups as the Art Directors Guild,
Producers Guild, American Cinema

Editors and the

Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences
which has formed
tee of its own,

a

based

-

each of

technology commit¬
on

the ASC's model.

The ASC's

goals are simply stated but
complex to achieve: how to best imple¬
ment digital technologies so that data
can be easily exchanged while maintain¬
ing image integrity throughout the workflow, thus presenting and preserving
artistic intent. Though a motion-picture
utopia might not result, at least a friendly
working environment will.
Members of the ASC Technology
Committee recently shared their observa¬
tions about the progress the committee
has made and what
Curtis

comes

Clark,

next.

ASC,

chair:

"We're

entering a new phase, one of
tighter integration between all the stages
of motion-picture production. The interac¬
tion between our various Technology
Committee subgroups that deal with key
constituents of the workflow is becoming
more

critical, and the Workflow Subcom¬

mittee [led

by Al Barton from Sony

success.

The workflow

ers

Guild members.

"We're looking at how to weave
emerging technologies together into
something that makes sense for working
out the best visual approach to story¬
telling for a given project. This includes
establishing and managing chosen looks
throughout the various stages of prepro¬
duction, production and post, from art
department previsualization through
live-action shooting through incorporat¬
ing references for the dailies scan

and/or telecine transfer,

lot of the interaction between the other

subgroups can help facilitate better inte¬
gration of their respective accomplish¬

We've

coming months.

dealing with different facets of one
and we are now
weaving those processes together.
"It's good that we didn't realize
how enormous this whole project would
tees

workflow process,

be when

we

started, because the group

nowhere

was

near as

advanced

as

it is

But the

Technology Committee
literally is growing with the workflow
process, and we've been influencing
important aspects of its development
now.

since the committee's launch almost

The committee has been
every stage of the Dl's
evolution, for example, influencing
important aspects of its hybrid film/digi¬
tal image management.
"The Dl Subcommittee is focus¬

solutions.

the steps

116 December 2006

as

the different subcommit¬

seen

ing

tion has

well

ate], This is what the committee's focus
will become in the

ments into the most effective workflow

Focusing on workflow integra¬
really become the key to

as

ongoing references used by visualeffects supervisors and digital artists in
CGI and colorists for digital mastering in
the final stages of Dl [digital intermedi¬

right there at

a

information

forms, and creating some de facto, open-

[ADG] and members of the
Producers Guild, with which our rela¬
tionship is growing. In fact, we're talking
about creating an event where the ASC
and the ADG put on demonstrations and
seminars to help better educate Produc¬

Fox and Howard Lukk from

created to be the "meet-me room" where

color-correction

tors Guild

four years ago.

was

critical

between different color-correction

Pictures, Gan/ Morse from 20th Century

Disney]

subgroup also

includes art directors from the Art Direc¬

consolidating the advances and
of the ASC CDL [Color Decision
List], an important means for sharing
on

architecture standard. There

seems

plat¬
to be

enough support at the moment to
suggest that this will become an industry
standard implemented by all the colorcorrector manufacturers. It's important
foundational technology where we can
implement the integrity of the look
throughout the imaging chain, through
editorial, through digital effects and the
visual-effects process - all the things
that are critical and increasingly preva¬
lent in the way films are being made.
"One of

our

newer

initiatives,

previsualization, is gaining momentum. It
grew out of our relationship with the
ADG Technology Committee, chaired by
Alex McDowell, and now includes Local
728. This coalition will find ways to refine
this process of defining user require¬
ments and look at where applications can

exchange data with certain file formats,
advance the concept of setting
or integrating not only look-management
features and color-management capabil¬
ity into these applications, but also
powerful new digital lighting software
tools. Frieder Hocheim, president of Kino
Flo, has been developing software
so we can

modules that simulate the effect of Kino
Flo

lighting units in digital previz-type
Ultimately, we will see
digital-lighting modules that will enable
cinematographers to see how the light¬
ing will impact the set design and set the
parameters for visual-effects facilities.
The visual-effects supervisor can main¬
tain the integrity of that look throughout
the CGI process, so the tail won't wag the
dog - the CGI won't come back to the
cinematographer with a note saying,
This is what you need to match.' It
should be the other way around. It's very
exciting to see this coming together,
because these convergences are happen¬
ing as a direct result of the ASC's initia¬
tive and the work the Technology
environments.
American Cinematographer - December 2006

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2006
