By Ken Garff, Director of Photography Sony 24P "Cine Alta" on a Discovery Networks spot I have always loved the graphic and artistic nature of photography. I grew up helping my parents develop and print black and white photos in our makeshift home darkroom. Until recently, I was certain that my love and understanding of the photochemical imaging process would be the base of my entire career. Then in 1998, a project I made for PBS was finished on the first 24p high definition post-production system. The image quality of the 35mm film mastered on 24p high definition was truly breathtaking. Over a few short years since then, HD technology has made leaps forward and rapidly gained momentum. Today the highend 24p digital cinema cameras can truly rival 35mm film imaging. Recent films like Attack of the Clones, and Spy Kids II witness that the era of digital cinema is now gaining momentum and there will be no going back because the technology is only getting better. In the new realm of electronic cinematography, the Sony HDW-F900 "Cine-Alta," has quickly become the industry standard. Panavision, George Lucas, and a full range of high-profile motion picture, commercial and television productions have embraced the Cine-Alta. I have prepared this overview in order to help clarify the advantages of shooting in 24p and provide information for those familiar with film production but moving toward digital as a possible alternative. In general, there are two main HD camera resolutions in pixels, Sony 1920 x 1080 and Panasonic 1280 x 720. "1080" represents HD systems with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. With the advent of 24 frame-per-second progressive scan, "1080" can now be either "1080-p" or "1080-i." The "P" in "24p" stands for progressively scanned frames much like those acquired using a film camera. The "i" in "1080-i" stands for interlace. Interlace formats create a "frame" in two parts, all the even video lines known as a field, and then all the odd lines interweaving them to make a single frame. NTSC is an interlace video systems. "1080-i" is sometimes referred to as "60-i" representing the 60 interlaced fields-per-second since two fields make a single frame, you can see that we arrive at video’s 30 fps. It is the 60 fields-per-second that is responsible for the video look as it is often associated with soap operas, sports programming and news. On the other hand, progressive scanning in combination with high-resolution CCD imagers, and a film-like 24 frame-per-second frame rate makes this new technology very appealing for producers and directors used to shooting on film. 1. The Sony HDW-F900 “Cine-Alta” HDCAM is multi-format and capable of the following frame-rates and image scanning formats. 1) 23.98 2) 24 3) 25 4) 29.97 5) 30 6) 50 7) 59.94 8) 60 Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive Progressive Interlace Interlace Interlace 23.98p is the actual speed for most film or 24p applications. This is due to sound sync and compatibility with our current television systems. 23.98p is 24P for all intensive purposes. Having various frame rates in the camera is a huge advantage. By using these frame rates it is possible to shoot high resolution slow motion in that will approach the look of 30, 50, or 60 fps in film by shooting at those speeds and playing back the tape at slower frame rate of 24 or 30 fps. (See the slow motion section below for more detailed information) If your final product will be on Standard Definition video, then editing of dissolves, CGI, slow-motion effects and titling can all be done as usual with a “down-converted” Standard Definition master. The transfers can be made to Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, DVCAM or any other tape format. If you are finishing in NTSC then these tapes become your edit masters. The original HD tape can then be archived, like a film negative would have been. Having the original on 24p HD can protect you investment and not limit the repurposing of your content. Possible future uses of the HD camera master include making a HD version of the project, 35mm film print or other uses like pulling production stills, reframing shots, etc. 2. If the final product is to be released in HD or on 35mm film, then the EDL from your cut can be used to online a final HD master. HD online is becoming more readily available with both tape-to-tape and nonlinear options expanding rapidly. Avid Technologies has introduced an uncompressed 24p HD nonlinear system and Final Cut Pro 3 supports 24p HD with the addition of a special card available from Aja or Pinnacle. Cinema Tools is a new $1000 software program by Apple that will facilitate cutting in 24 fps on simple Final Cut Pro DV systems. When it comes to actual media costs, 24p HD boasts an average savings of 98% over 35mm film. The average cost of one 50-minute HDCAM tape is $75. When recording 24P these tapes last longer than indicated on the box. A 40-minute Sony BCD-40HD cassette will last 50 min. These cassettes look very similar to Sony’s other professional 1/2' format cassettes like Digital Beta. Approximated material and processing costs for 50 min. of 35mm film: $8600 Approximated material and processing costs for 50 min. of 24P HDCAM: $205 3. Basically, the same number of crew in every department is necessary to achieve the level of quality you are familiar with. The camera department can do without a film loader and can possibly gain an HD engineer under some circumstances. The “Cine-Alta” camera shooting at 24P is basically tungsten balanced with a rating of 320 ASA. Lighting packages will be identical to a film project using 320 ASA film. If you choose to shoot 60i then the camera will be rated at about 500 ASA. Effects of improper exposure in HD are more pronounced in the highlights. The F-900 camera has about 7.5 stops of latitude while film has about 10. Unlike film it is better to under-expose HD rather than over-expose. 4. Rental rates for HD camera packages will generally be slightly higher than film packages. The savings are realized in other ways outlined below; 32" client HD plasma monitor masked for 4:3     - No film stock costs - No processing, prep or cleaning of film - No shipping hazards or special transportation costs - No waiting for dailies - No dirt on the image or hairs in the gate - No need for separate sound recording device - No financial pressure when camera rolls - Actors, directors more at ease - No costly telecine for dailies or video masters - No sound syncing in post - What you see is what we get - Instant playback in full resolution - Less time spent reloading cameras HDCAM is less expensive to shoot. Miramax has embraced 24p and claims a 20-30% reduction in production costs on films like Spy Kids II. Some expenses on the back-end must be planned for if a 35mm film print is to be made. A feature length film may cost $30-80K to output to 35mm film. This can still be less expensive than traditional film color timing, printing and negative cutting. It is also possible to shoot 2.35:1 wide screen and make the film prints in the anamorphic “scope” format. This digital-tofilm process also eliminates 2 generations of resolution loss because multiple masters can be output from the digital master so that printing can be done right from an original instead of an inter-negative. Another benefit of 24p is that the production audio is recorded in the camera. Production can record up to 4 channels of 48Khz digital audio at 20 bits. This fidelity surpasses most DAT recorders. Other recording devices can also be used, however, the main production sound should be recorded in camera. External devices should be running time-code at 29.97 NDF, or 23.98 NDF.