SEMINARS & PRESENTATIONS IMAGO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

ARTISTIC DECISIONS ON CINEMATOGRAPHY – TO BE BURNT OR NOT TO BE BURNT?

LOCATION: Black Box

DATE: 30 June

METAMERISM & METAMERIC FAILURE

About David Stump

LOCATION: Workshops

SPEAKER: Dirk Meier Colorist, BVK, CSI

DATE: 1 July TIME: 17:15

MODERATORS: Aleksej Berkovic, cinematographer RGC, IMAGO TC co-chair • Dirk Meier, colorist BVK, CSI • Philippe Ros, Cinematographer AFC, IMAGO TC co-chair • David Stump, Cinematographer ASC, MITC, IMAGO TC co-chair

PANEL: Roberto Schaefer, ASC AIC + TBA

The Technical Committee of IMAGO created the Photon Path, a diagram showing the process of creating an image form the photon striking a scene to the pixel displayed on a screen or TV monitor. It harmonizes terms and processes between manufacturers and users. This diagram highlights all the creative processes at certain steps of the workflow.

Of course, framing, lighting and color grading are where the cinematographer expresses his or her creative intentions.

But we can see from this diagram that there are still decisions to be made to radically alter the image during shooting,

Glass filtering is still used, control of sharpness, texture can be controlled in-camera. Manufacturers offer to burn in camera some textures, noise or grain.

But many cinematographers and some platforms defer these decisions to post-production.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these methods? What does this mean for the audience and the kinetic perception of drama?

What semantic politics does this refer to, and what power do cinematographers have in these decisions, recommendations or guidelines?

This panel of renowned cinematographers, colorists and manufacturers will attempt to provide some answers on this subject.

TIME: 16:00

In a practical live demonstration thanks to the support of ARRI Academy we will illustrate the relation between the spectrum of a light source and the corresponding visual perception, its color. Metamerism describes the phenomenon when two different spectra create the same visual perception.

As a second step we will look into metameric failure when seemingly similar white light creates different color perception of certain objects. While this can be used to make vegetable appear riper, this can cause issues in cinematography using various, especially LED based light sources and in particular when LED walls in virtual productions are lighting objects and people.

ABOUT DICK MEIER:

Dirk Meier BVK CSI is a freelance colourist and postproduction consultant. For almost 20 years he has worked for German and international production and post-production companies and has been teaching about digital cinematography, workflows and color grading at multiple German and Scandinavian film schools. He was head of Up.Grade, the world’s first long-term educational programme for colour grading and is currently a full member of the IMAGO Technical Committee.

Virtual Production

LOCATION: Stellwerk 1 DATE: 30 June TIME: 15:00

SPEAKER: David Stump, ASC - MITC - ITC co-chair

Rendering Computer Generated Images in real-time has always been the holy grail for visual effects, and game engine technology is starting to make this dream a reality. New Extended Reality

(XR) Virtual Production workflows are allowing filmmakers to capture visual effects shots in-camera using real- time game engine technology and surrounding LED screens. Extended Reality is the biggest paradigm shift in VFX production since the “Digital Revolution”.

This disruptive change has evolved in reaction to the VFX industry pushing too far into Postproduction. Real Time XR is new trend that will move VFX compositing back into production and onto the set.

David Stump ASC has been working in motion pictures and television production as Director of Photography, as Visual Effects Director of Photography, as Visual Effects Supervisor, and as Stereographer, (including both live action work and 2D to 3D conversion work), earning an Emmy Award, an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement and an International Cinematographers Guild Award.

His credits include such high profile projects as American Gods, The Unwilling, Immortals, Quantum of Solace, The Resident, Flight Plan, Fantastic Four, X-Men 1 & 2, Into the Blue, Garfield, Batman Forever, Hollow Man, Men of Honor, Deep Blue Sea, Stuart Little, The Sphere, Contact, Batman & Robin, Mars Attacks, Executive Decision, Stargate, and Free Willy, among many others. He is currently chairman of the Camera Subcommittee of the ASC Technical Committee, and a member of the AMPAS Science & Technology Council, where he chairs the Next Generation Cinema Technology Work Group, and participates in the AMPAS ACES project.

Under his guidance, the combined efforts of the Producer’s Guild of America and the American Society of Cinematographers produced both the ASC / PGA Camera Assessment Series, and the ASC / PGA Image Control Assessment Series, side by side comparisons of virtually all of the high end digital cinema cameras against film. He has lectured and taught classes in Cinematography and Visual Effects at the American Film Institute, UCLA, Art Center College of Design, Woodbury University, Arizona State University, Global Cinematography Institute, IATSE Local 600, TV Globo Rio De Janeiro Brasil, and recently Savannah College of Art and Design.

He has spoken at many conferences and trade shows including the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the International Broadcast Convention (IBC), Cinegear Expo, DV Expo, the PGA Produced By Conference, the Hollywood Post Alliance Retreat, the Cinegrid Conference, the IMAGO Conference, the Lisbon Film Festival, the Todos En Alta Conference in Zaragoza Spain, and many others. David authored the book “Digital Cinematography – Fundamentals, Techniques and Workflows”, and was a contributing author to the “VES Handbook”.

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT... LEDS!

LOCATION: Stellwerk 1 DATE: 30 June TIME: 11:00

SPEAKER: Philippe Ros, AFC - ITC co-chair

In the digital age, the solid-state lighting (LEDs) has created new opportunities for filmmakers and cinematographers. But they also radically changed the responsibility of gaffers and their skills necessary for the complex use of this new lighting fixtures. Moreover, it is often difficult to know the power of LEDs and, above all, to know their advantages quickly. Simple methodologies, such as highlighting the SSI (Spectral Similarity Index) quality standard, are therefore offered here to help all participants.

Our world of cinematography has changed, and this conference proposes to understand how the new color spectrum of LEDs modifies our workflow and how they intervene in our subjectivity’’.

ABOUT PHILIPPE ROS

Philippe is a cinematographer, digital imaging supervisor and instructor. He is a member of the AFC (French Association of Cinematographers) and an honorary member of the CSC (Canadian Society of Cinematographers). As co-chair of the technical committee of IMAGO*, he has participated in numerous tests on these lighting fixtures and has given several conferences in Europe. He recently organized a seminar with AMPAS** on the SSI quality standard and how to judge LEDS.

* International Federation of Cinematographers’ Associations

** Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - Science and Technology Council (Oscars.org)