Looking Back On 20 Years Of TV Production Technology

Television was invented by visionaries like David Sarnoff who believed it would become a theater in every home "with "benefits for children" and "cultural education."

Sarnoff also predicted that TV would bring art galleries into every household. He made those hopeful predictions in a guest editorial published by the New York Times on July 13, 1930.

How well have we realized the full potential of that dream? Better than some feared. Worse than others hoped. The important thing is the dream is still alive.

This issue of the Caucus Quarterly commemorates the 20th anniversary of another dream by the original members of this organization. The essays and other editorial content they have contributed do an excellent job of analyzing where progress has been made, where ground has been lost, and what still needs to be accomplished.

At this milestone, we can also measure remarkable progress that has been made in television technology during these past 20 years. In 1974, there was no MTV, no Discovery channel, no cable networks or satellite delivery systems, and video on demand wasn't even a concept.

There was much less opportunity for creative visual expression. The "fastest" color film in 1974 was rated for an exposure index of 100, and there was no such thing as "fast" PRIMO camera lenses. It required 150 to 200 footcandles of keylight for proper exposure of images on film. The light generated enough heat to require breaks for repairing melting makeup and to give the actors a breather.

In 1974, the lightweight Panaflex camera was about two years old, and it was still mainly used for feature film production. Garrett Brown took his idea of developing a device called the Steadicam to Ed Di Giulio at Cinema Products that year. It was the beginning of a new way of thinking about camera mobility. In 1974, there were no Rank-Cintel telecines in North America. Most prime time TV programs were produced, edited and distributed on film.

Today, only 20 years later, there are virtually no creative limitations imposed by technology. Contemporary film stocks can capture images in virtually any type of light. It isn't unusual for today's TV programs to be produced with as little 10 to 20 footcandles of keylight.

Emmy-winning cinematographer George Dibie, ASC, says: "Lighting comes from the script and the heart . . . You don't light for exposure. You light to tell a story."

In general, the cinematographer has emerged as a creative force who helps to deliver on the creative promise envisioned by the producer, writer and director. Richard Rawlings Jr. expressed it eloquently when he explained why he wanted to shoot a particular exterior scene at 10 a.m. : "If we start at 10 a.m., the sun will be there (pointing at the horizon). The scene will be backlit, and with little bounce cards the sun will find their faces. We won't have to worry about lights. With a Steadicam, we won't need a dolly or tracks. We can shoot it newsreel style. We can do the whole thing in a half hour, and it will look great. If we have to wait for 2 p.m. everything changes."

Today, virtually all TV film is transferred to video for postpro-duction. Digital effects are routinely composited into film images. Terms like digital backlot are becoming a part of the vocabulary of filmmaking. In a recent made-for-TV movie called The Fatherland, a computer artist literally changed the architecture of the background to make it look like a city that never existed in reality. That's just one of many examples I could cite.

Progress is ongoing. Last year, Kodak won an Emmy for development of Keykode numbers technology. I'm sure that Keykode numbers is an obscure term for most readers. I can assure you that it provides an essential link between film and computer technologies. Keykode numbers is a machine-readable optical bar code on the edge of the film. It enables the post-production community to quickly and accurately "conform" the original negative to the video editing. What that means in simple terms is that you can take maximum advantage of digital postproduction technology without compromising the image quality inherent to film.

That's important because a cut negative is needed to meet the image quality standards required for distribution of TV programming in many countries where PAL is the television standard. A cut negative stored in proper environmental conditions in a vault is also the surest way of protecting your assets captured on film for distribution to future high-definition TV markets.

There are some things that we can predict with a reasonable assurance of certainty. I'm confident that someday there will be wide-screen HDTV with large flat panel displays that hang on the wall like pictures. The television delivery system will almost certainly be based on digital technology. Video programming on demand is also likely to emerge, and it will put the consumer in the driver's seat. It is also probable that interactive TV will become a factor in television.

In 1927, a writer and social commentator named J.B. Priestley cautioned that "Solemn prophecy . . . is obviously a futile proceedings, except in so far as it makes our descendants laugh." I think that's good advice. However, I will make this one last prediction: Twenty years from now, when the Caucus is celebrating its 40th anniversary, your most valuable assets will be the great programs that you are producing on film today. I don't have to be a seer to make that prediction. The bottom line is that the future is ours to define. Together, we can make our best dreams come true.

We offer our congratulations to our friends and colleagues in The Caucus on reaching this significant milestone. Your commitment to creating high quality television programming is extremely important to the future of our industry and to our society.

(Editor's note: Frederick C. Franzwa, Regional Business General Manager & Vice President United States & Canada, Motion Picture and Television Imaging for Eastman Kodak Company.)