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<\/a>\u201cChannel opportunity\u201d was the theme given to this year\u2019s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas. It was a not-so-subliminal message to shrug off complacency, and keep shifting with the new technological times. NAB\u2019s role as industry \u201cshape-shifter,\u201d is to provide the world\u2019s most comprehensive digital playground, bringing together nearly 100,000 end users with more than 2,000 vendors.<\/p>\nBut at the keynote address, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith was more interested in addressing the FCC and Congress, than touting new technologies. Smith advocated both the challenges and opportunities that moving to a new receiver standard would bring, ultimately allowing broadcasters more flexibility required to innovate and compete in a mobile world, and, hopefully, find new revenue streams.<\/p>\n
\u201cA national broadcasting plan would transmit one signal to many,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIf consumers want access to large, widespread events, broadcast can deliver it. Through the Communications Act, our government leaders give a high priority to those who cannot be heard. Ironically, these are the people that would be harmed the most by a disaster\u2026the FCC seems to be at odds with those the government values most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith also said, \u201cwe face a divided Congress, but the strength of your broadcast industry remains strong. It is an indispensible, irreplaceable industry\u2026it is the voice of our freedom and the voice of our democracy. That is something worth defending.\u201d<\/p>\n Ironically, defending a new technology<\/b> (artificial intelligence) is what threatens to bring the world to its knees <\/i>in Transcendence, <\/i>the directing debut of Oscar-winning DP Wally Pfister. At NAB\u2019s Creative Master Series Keynote Panel (10 days before the film\u2019s release), ICG Magazine brought Pfister, and his DP, Jess Hall, BSC together to talk about the project\u2019s unique challenges and perks, which included consulting with neuro scientists about a process \u2013 uploading human consciousness to computers \u00a0\u2013 that may only be three decades away.<\/p>\n Pfister, known for his fast crews and single (film) camera workflow, reminded everyone that his feelings about film versus digital are not mysterious, and that there was no question of shooting Transcendence<\/i> on 35 mm anamorphic film.<\/p>\n \u201cTo quote Mark Twain, \u2018Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.\u2019 I think that\u2019s the case with motion picture film,\u201d Pfister observed. \u201cEverybody says that no one\u2019s shooting it anymore, but then you have J.J. Abrams shooting Star Wars<\/i>, Steven Spielberg, Chris Nolan, even Paul Thomas Anderson is shooting 65mm, but you also have independent projects still shooting film.\u201d<\/p>\n Panel moderator and ICG Magazine Editor-in-Chief David Geffner noted that outside of CES, there doesn\u2019t seem to be anything besides NAB \u201cwhere technology as religion is more pronounced.\u201d And since Transcendence<\/i> is a cautionary tale of technology, Geffner wondered how the project altered the filmmakers\u2019 own mindsets.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s made me very inquisitive,\u201d described Hall, who admitted that he\u2019s rarely shot digitally in his career. \u201cWatching a younger generation and how they related to technology, you see how it\u2019s such a major force. It\u2019s made me investigate areas I wouldn\u2019t have otherwise \u2013 in terms of digital cameras and in relation to my life. I still see film as an artists\u2019 medium, though. You can have all the technology in the world, but you need to have the ideas to present it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear is of the driving force behind the technology,\u201d Pfister added. \u201cIs it a machine or is it a consciousness? Technology is affected by the user, us, and our demands on it. Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I\u2019m enslaved to my phone, laptop, and tablet. At the same time, I don\u2019t want to tell a social network where I went to high school. I\u2019m being asked personal questions by a machine. That is of concern to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Touring the NAB show floor, where a more <\/b>benign cluster of technology (but no less unstoppable) held court, we saw a handful of new 4K cameras on display. Blackmagic Design (http:\/\/www.blackmagicdesign.com\/products\/blackmagicursa<\/a>) unveiled its $6,000 URSA, a studio production camera that hopes to address workflow needs not found in the company\u2019s predecessors (Cinema, Pocket Cinema, Production 4K cameras). Built-in accessories include a 10-inch fold out monitor, XLR-in and SDI-out, Genlock, a Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor and internal dual RAW and Apple ProRes recorders.<\/p>\n AJA and Sony also premiered 4K sensors (AJA as a first-timer in camera manufacturing). AJA\u2019s CION (https:\/\/www.aja.com\/en\/products\/cion<\/a>) is priced at $9,000 and is able to record directly to an internal ProRes 4:4:4 up to 120fps. For $2,300 (rumored), Sony announced its first 4K-video-capable still camera, the Alpha 7S, (http:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/products\/sony\/slrs\/sony_a7s<\/a>), which is based on the same body as the A7 and A7R but has a lower-resolution 12-megapixel sensor. This may be a game-changer in the small format arena, but user beware: the A7S can\u2019t record 4K internally, as it requires an external hard drive via HDMI at 8-bit 4:2:2 capture.<\/p>\n To help sort through the techno-madness, ICG also led two floor tours on capture and workflow, guided by Andy Romanoff and Stephen Lighthill, ASC, respectively. The tours gave participating vendors exposure for their new products and an icebreaker for the often overwhelming potential client-vendor relationship beginnings.<\/p>\n \u201cDigital workflow is still in a transitional period,\u201d explained Codex\u2019s Sarah Priestnall, one of the stops on the workflow tour and yet another company that debuted a camera this year \u2013 the Codex Action CAM. (http:\/\/www.codexdigital.com\/products\/action-cam<\/a>).<\/p>\n Priestnall said her firm aims, \u201cto simplify wherever we can so that creative people can focus on using their preferred tools to make beautiful images, and producers can be certain that their assets will be protected both during production and into the future. This means working with camera manufacturers like ARRI, Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Vision Research and RED to manufacture recording and workflow solutions, providing much-needed consistency across all these camera platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n Marketing Vice President Franz Wieser of ARRI observed that \u201cthese tours remind everyone that we offer tools for storytellers at every budget level. From the ALEXA – now an industry workhorse in film and TV, to the new AMIRA \u2013 for documentaries, reality, sports and more, to our Pro Camera Accessories line that supports just about every camera available. Past hot topics at NAB have been all about resolution and a race to the most pixels. The approach we have is not about more pixels, but better pixels. We\u2019re seeing this reflected as creatives want dynamic range, efficient workflow and filmic images so they can concentrate on the artistry rather than technology.\u201d<\/p>\n ICG Magazine.com caught up with Romanoff and Lighthill after their tours to get more insight on NAB\u2019s role in the new technology tidal wave that has washed over (some would say drowned) the film and television industry.<\/p>\n ICG: What made you want to lead the tour again after doing so in previous years?<\/b><\/p>\n Andy Romanoff:<\/b> This is my third time and it just keeps getting richer for me. I’ve been attending NAB since Ampex and RCA were the biggest names on the floor, and I find it\u2019s both the technology of the moment and a moving history lesson.\u00a0I try to bring that sense of context to the burning issues of the moment.<\/p>\n Stephen Lighthill:<\/b> Last year was my first, and it\u2019s just as beneficial leading the tour as being a\u00a0member of the tour. NAB can be an intimidating place, but the vendors on the tour are at NAB because they want to communicate with working industry folks.<\/p>\n ICG: Was there a general theme you saw at this year’s NAB?<\/b><\/p>\n SL:<\/b> I see the manufacturers listening to the desire for more ergonomic approaches to camera design. My tour indicated that the vendors also really do want to make workflow intuitive. They understand the complaints about time taken for transcoding. Almost everywhere we turned we saw really positive solutions to make digital imaging move forward.<\/p>\n AR:<\/b> If there was an overarching trend this year I think it was about more and more of everything. There was a rich assortment of choice at every level from cameras to lenses and accessories to recording and post tools. We have never had so many ways to make and modify images.\u00a0I\u2019m sure there will be a shakeout down the road for some of these manufacturers. But for us, as consumers, the choices have never been greater.<\/p>\n SL:<\/b>\u00a0The vendors I visited, I saw practicality at play. There is software and hardware designed to solve specific problems in very elegant and thoughtful ways. For example, at the MTI booth has CORTEX CarryOn that you can fire up easily and download from camera cards in a very fast system on set.\u00a0The problems are pretty well defined now\u00a0and vendors are trying to solve them. It\u2019s heartening for me to see Sony putting ProRes and DNX into the F55. Many of us are working on lower-budget projects where these types of solutions are must-haves.<\/p>\n ICG: Any single technology that really stood out this year?<\/b><\/p>\n AR:<\/b> More of a welcome trend toward quality at a price. Better cameras, better lenses, better monitors, all for less money then we have ever seen before. Now I want to put that in context \u2013 better than what? If we look at the incredible richness of film images and the ease of working with mature technologies like film cameras and the best of lenses, all these new choices are still playing catch-up or saying \u2018Almost as good.\u2019\u00a0But if you are making images on a budget, there have never been so many ways to get there. There are also so many new ways to move the camera, light the scene and get the impossible angle that a current filmmaker at any level can do shots unimaginable for even the biggest budget filmmaker not long ago.<\/p>\n SL:<\/b> An interesting moment for me was just an idea, and not yet at product, displayed at Fraunhoffer. They had a new approach to 3D \u2013 a single taking lens supplemented by two side-by-side witness lenses alongside it. Combining those images together to make it 3D is a software-heavy idea, but it claims to be much more efficient than conversion from 2D It was fun to see an idea early in the development process. And if it comes to market, it\u2019ll make 3D reasonable for DPs and directors to work with.<\/p>\n ICG: It\u2019s interesting that you bring 3D up, since the floor was mostly boasting 4K and beyond. Isn\u2019t 3D old news at this point?<\/b><\/p>\n SL:<\/b> We need to be careful. We come to NAB and see things that can be used on the next big-budget network show or studio theatrical release, but in fact there is an enormous amount of work that cinematographers are doing on a whole range of productions including educational, industrial and documentary. Many technologies at NAB get used on things other than a mega budget like\u00a0Spider-Man<\/i>. That 3D idea could advance educational or instructional videos production values.\u00a0Certainly this year there was a lot of chatter about 4K. Sometimes we need to take a step back and realize that not every consumer is going to run out at Christmas to by a 4K [home display] to replace their HDTV. That\u2019s the wrong issue to be arguing about.<\/p>\n ICG: What\u2019s the right one?<\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>