Issue: Show Daily - Apr 20, 2004

New technologies on display at Kodak booth

ROCHESTER, NY - Here at NAB show, Kodak (SU9028) (www.kodak.com/go/motion) is demonstrating the Kodak Look Manager System and Kodak Display Manager System, its advanced family of color negative films and post production tools designed to provide more creative freedom and control for visual storytelling.

According to Chris Wheeler, worldwide product manager of hybrid products for the Kodak Entertainment Imaging division, the Kodak Look Manager "allows cinematographers to create, previsualize, communicate and manage film looks from pre-production all the way through post production."

The software-based system enables cinematographers to determine the best method in creating desired looks for film-originated projects. The look designed for any scene can be locked into an exportable file, which can be shared with other system users around the world to produce the desired look in a collaborative environment while viewing consistent images that maintain the creative intent. Individual film frames can also be printed and used as a visual reference. Once a look is set, the system will deliver uniform results on many display devices, including computer monitors, standard and high definition video, and film and digital projectors.

"The system is currently being tested, and we plan to make it available to the marketplace this summer," says Wheeler.

Discreet is also demonstrating the Kodak Display Manager System with its Lustre V.2.0 system on both a monitor and a digital projector in its suite at NAB. The Kodak Display Manager System consists of a calibration tool and proprietary software that automatically adjusts images displayed on a computer monitor to simulate the film look. This can also be seen at the Kodak booth.

The Kodak exhibit also features a diverse range of scenes produced with the new Kodak Vision2 Color Negative Films, which are being displayed on high definition television monitors. The new generation of films leverages advances in emulsion technology to render finer grain images with a wider range of latitude for recording nuances in both shadows and highlights. They also feature enhanced color and contrast, as well as efficiencies for both optical and digital post production. The new palette includes color negative films optimized for exposure indexes of 100, 200 and 500 in tungsten light and a specialized 500-speed film designed to record a more subdued range of contrast and color saturation. The new films are available in all popular formats, including 35mm, Super 16, 16mm and Super 8.

The Kodak Telecine Calibration System (TCS) 1002-V is also on display. This system is designed to transfer highlights, shadows, contrast and color as the cinematographer intended during original photography when the negative is scanned and converted to digital files in the telecine. The Kodak technology employed by the TCS provides a repeatable way for cinematographers and colorists to communicate and ensures nuances recorded on the negative are retained during telecine transfer. New features such as exposure control, scene illuminant, fine color adjustment and remote user interface have been added to the system. The Kodak TCS System also incorporates Kodak´s proprietary color management software.