24P DIGITAL CINEMATOGRAPHY
At the last AGM, I promised from the platform, some future guidance to AMPS members about the Council's progress investigating this important topic. Here is an account of the latest developments.
The creation of 24P Digital Cinematography is aimed at replacing conventional film on feature movies. There is no doubt that the huge investments made in the research and development of 24P technology have been made with this factor very much in mind. However, as is often the case, the film industry's general attitude, having encountered much 'computer style wizardry' in the last few years, is a little cautious. This may not necessarily be a bad thing! After all, 35mm film has reigned for around a hundred years, still remains upon the throne and is unlikely to abdicate just yet!
Inevitably there are a few teething troubles with 24P. Questions are being raised about changes in floor procedure when using 24P on a feature shoot. Exaggerated sales claims aimed particularly at Producers, about potentially reduced crewing of feature productions shooting 24P, are being criticised. This line of sales patter from the manufacturers hasn't gone down well with technicians. In general both camera and sound crews will need to adjust to a new way of working with 24P on features.
Indications point to an increase in technical personnel on set. With the laboratories no longer involved day to day, important responsibilities for quality control will have to be taken by somebody....not only image control but keeping track of picture and sound tapes and masters, taking precautions against inconsistent image and sound quality and loss of synchronisation, checking and confirming frame speed and time code adjustments. Let's face it...there's not much point in shouting "That's a print!" At this stage there will be no prints' just a bunch of digits all jumbled up
on frail tapes and all very vulnerable to 'cock ups'….
Unfortunately, in 24P technology, sound in particular has suffered. Whilst the manufacturers concentrated carefully on getting the last pixel of definition on the image they failed to consult fully with Production Mixers. Presumably they misguidedly felt that on a so called 'cinema format', specifically designed for feature movies the sound department would be content to record sound on picture tape with all its inherent problems. For example... bringing back awkward cabling links between sound and camera....reduced flexibility of individual movement for both sound and

camera crews....sound monitoring problems. ..sound transfer difficulties leading to inconsistency in delivering to post production houses etc. Although sound on picture tape is OK for some TV programmes and most ENG and Documentary shoots, for many reasons sep-sound is still the only satisfactory method for recording on features.
Luckily, there is still time to address these issues and AMPS is now making big strides in this direction. A recent and most important development for us is the Council's proposal to stage a High Def seminar and this is currently being set up under AMPS guidance with the co-operation of other technical Associations and the 24P Manufacturers.
A further interesting development for us is the formation of a 24P E-mail group linked between AMPS, APPS and lBS enabling us to discuss the latest technical issues more widely around the industry. Information is now coming in via this E-group helping AMPS to communicate directly with a wide range of international experts from various equipment manufacturers closely involved with 24P cinematography.
However, we are keen to hear from you, the AMPS membership...either by letter or E-mail. Please give AMPS your views or experiences in connection with 24P. If you have already been involved on a 24P shoot then let us know how it went, any information regarding the new technology would be very welcome. In the forthcoming issues of the Newsletter we plan to raise this topic regularly and encourage a forum amongst Council and Members. Digital Cinema is an important development in movie making and AMPS will make every effort to help set the highest possible standards.
To be fair to the manufacturers…..with 24P Digital Cinema they have cleverly developed a completely new concept that does have a great potential for the future. There are many excellent technical advantages to the process and it is now relatively easy and cost effective to copy the images back onto film for standard cinema projection and subsequent archiving.
These are a few quotes from Directors...
George Lucas: "I think I can safely say I'll never shoot another film on film"
James Cameron: "I am not saving that digital is going to replace film. ..but the new storytelling possibilities cannot be ignored"
Mike Figgis: "It's beyond imagination what digital tools are about to do to film making"
Wim Wenders: "24P has really created a realm of it's own, with a look and aesthetic of it's own"
In conclusion, we now have several key manufacturers developing various versions of the 24P camera. In addition to the Sony CineAlta cameras, Panasonic have joined the competition, with an interesting alternative Digital HD Cinema Camera offering many new and enhanced features. Also the highly regarded film camera manufacturer Panavision has adapted the Sony Digital Cinema Camera with

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