Video Age International February-March 2016

14 March 2016 V I D E O A G E 4K Chal lenges Also from Hollywood, movie actor Lauren Spartano added: “I remember when HD TV came out and a little murmur ran through the hearts of actors everywhere. We thought youth would become more important than ever in front of the camera, and anyone past the age of 23 would never work again.  “Okay, that may be a bit of a dramatization, but you get the picture. And while we all ran out and bought a plethora of anti-aging face creams, we eventually settled into the fact that technology will never stop progressing and things would eventually work themselves out. And they did: Makeup manufacturers released HD lines to help us hide our pores, personal trainers pushed us to our physical limits, and acting coaches further emphasized the importance of being able to find your light.  “With the release of the 4K TV, the reaction from actors will be the same. We’ll freak out, and then flock to the gym for an extra workout, before spending a bit more time in the makeup chair. We’ll work harder to achieve perfection as technology takes us another step closer to the audience,” she said. From New York City, stage, film and TV actor Carmine Raspaolo commented: “I’ve never shot in 4K; the last film I did was on 35mm. However, I have been thinking about 4K for a while now and trying to gear up for when a part should come my way. “Before 4K, theywere able to hide imperfections with makeup, but that is no longer the case. I am definitely more conscious about how my face looks now than ever before. If there is a blemish or an imperfection, I try to have it taken care of by my dermatologist. 4K is a new ball game for everyone in this business including me, as an actor,” he said. Added Los Angeles-based film and TV actor Konstantin Lavysh: “First off, I am not a huge fan of digitizing everything to the crisp, every- pixel-visible standard when it comes to narrative storytelling. I am a fan of the ‘film’ look, and a bit of grain adds to the magic of what now is old- fashioned story-telling,” he said. “As for the challenging part with the transformation to a yet-higher resolution, it’s easier to see the difficulties it brings rather than the positive aspects. It’s definitely going to make it more difficult for the DP’s and gaffers, makeup departments and even set design. But for us, actors, it will mostly affect those who are working in younger age groups while being older. So casting will have to be adjusted, which is not necessarily bad for the product. It will be tougher for older actors and actresses in particular,” said Lavysh.  “On the positive side, micro reactions will be more visible, so it is actually a good thing for performance. More subtle, deeper reactions are often the juiciest parts of performances. Another aspect — and I am just being an optimist here — actors will look more like real people, less glamorous, maybe, but more interesting. It is human errors and defects that make dramatic nuance, so maybe the writing will be affected as well,” he said. For cinematographer and the founder of Digital Cinema Society James Mathers all the 4K shortcomings can be solved in post-production, calmly and away from the talent. In this case, above-the-line people have to work closer with those below the line to correct some of the problems that technology has both created and eliminated. To Mathers, 4K it is not all that different than 35-mm film, which scans as 6K. Through a spokesperson, Hollywood casting agent Mary Verniue said that “4K will not have any effects on casting.” Similarly, New York City’s casting director Donna DeSeta commented: “I can’t support the argument that casting will becomemore difficult because of new technology. It is a specious argument. As technology moves forward, we must move forward with it.” Mastering The 4K Lingo Before delving into the progress of 4K worldwideproductions,weshouldbefamiliar with the lingo that we’ll be encountering, for example: Full High Definition (Full HD video at 1920×1080 pixels) — Provides 1080 lines with progressive scanning (referred to as 1080p) and 16 × 9 aspect ratio. ITU-R Recommendation — Commonly known by the abbreviations Rec. 709 or BT.709 , it standardized the HD format with a 16:9 aspect ratio. 2K resolution — It is a generic term for display devices or content having horizontal resolution of about 2,000 pixels. The 2K resolution video standard is 2048×1080. Ultra-High Definition —UHD includes 4K, 8K etc. Also known as Ultra HD and Super Hi- Vision. 4K resolution — In the television industry, UHD-1 is thedominant standardanddescribes a video format with a minimum resolution of 3840 pixels × 2160 lines in a 16:9 aspect ratio (referred as 2160 p). In the film industry, the standard resolution is 4096 pixels × 2160 lines (aspect ratio 256:135) for 4K movie projection (also known as Native Resolution). High Dynamic Range (HDR) — It is a UHD-1 Phase 2 standard. TV sets only display a small fraction of what the average person can see. Unlike increased resolution, whichworks best on a very large screen, increasing the dynamic range provides tangible improvements to the viewing experience and it is applicable to any screen size. UHD-1 Phase 1 has little consumer benefit over HD, since the main 4K enhancement is a higher spatial resolution (i.e., the ability to discriminate between two adjacent high-contrast objects). UHD-1 Phase 2has additional enhancements: it expands the range of both contrast and color significantly and works at 100/120 frames per second (fps). Digital Cinema Package (DCP) — It is the digital equivalent of a 35mm film print. It is what distributors give to theaters so that they can screen theirmovies ondigital (alsoknown as “D-Cinema”) projectors. Typically uses JPEG 2000 image compression standard in a Material eXchange Format (MXF) wrapper. Projectors use DCI-P3 , which is a common color space for digital movie projection for the American film industry. Like a 35mmprint, a DCP is a worldwide standard. Material eXchange Format (MXF) — A “wrapper” format that differs from an “essence” format (such as JPEG, MP3). A wrapper is similar to a ZIP file that carries many essence type formats simultaneously in one package. Scaling video formats — A 1080p (Full HD) video source can be scaled up to 4K through doubling every pixel horizontally and vertically. Everypixel of the 1080pvideosource will be four pixels on the screen. Also, 720p (Continued from Cover) Donna DeSeta Casting’s Donna DeSeta Freelance makeup artist Gina Milano Cinematographer James Mathers (Continued on Page 16)