June 2002 Numerous ads have already been shot with CineAlta - including ones for McDonald's, Ford, Adidas, Budweiser and Apple – however its reputation in the advertising community is set to be boosted further by a novel project known as Dreams. A joint venture by Sony and New York advertising agency Young & Rubicam, Dreams brought together eight top name directors to shoot short films with the CineAlta kit. So far, there have been six screenings of the stories, notably in Los Angeles and New York. Dreams is also being shown at a special screening on 19 June at the advertising festival Cannes Lions 2002, the first time Dreams will be shown outside the US. The participating directors are Jordan Scott (RSA), Tony Kaye (Tony Kaye Films), Simon Blake (Chelsea Pictures), Bruce Dowad (Bruce Dowad Associates), Bob Giraldi (GSP), Chuck and Clay (Crossroads), Peggy Sirota (HSI) and Frank Todaro (Radical Media). The project has received praise from those taking part, as well as those who have viewed the finished stories. "We created the Dreams events to introduce CineAlta technology as another tool to be used by television commercial directors," explains Ken Yagoda, managing partner/ director of broadcast production for Young & Rubicam, New York. The directors were given an open brief under the title Dreams. The films had to be under four minutes, and they had to be delivered by January 2002. They worked for free, while rental houses and post facilities also provided equipment and services without charging to support the Dreams project. Some of the directors worked with big crews, while others chose smaller ones. "We simply gave them a single topic, Dreams, a timeline and the equipment," says Yagoda. "When the final works arrived, we were astounded by their vision and innovation. And we think our industry will be too." September 11 One of the directors, Bob Giraldi, says that 24P HD is easily on a par with film: "It's almost as though film married tape and they went off and had some children and now we're beginning to hang out with the children." His short film, Routine, is about a mother and daughter coping with the death of the family's father in the 11 September attacks. "To me, it did not matter what the medium was," says Giraldi, "the idea of the piece was what I was after." His shoot lasted for two days and nights, and Giraldi's director of photography was Allen Daviau, whose credits include ET, The Colour Purple and Bugsy. But was the experience of shooting with HD different on set? "Not really," he says. "I have shot HD ten times before. So I was somewhat used to it. It's not that different. We still have to choreograph, light, stage and direct and playback, and look and say 'I don't like that', or 'let's do this.'" He says there is one "technical advantage" to shooting with HD in comparison to film. "When I shot my scenes at night, I didn't have to light as much," he says. "It was one of the main benefits in this piece. And so far, the two most rewarding times I've used HD – for this piece and a Hallmark commercial I did – were night cases." Yagoda also maintains there are many benefits to working on 24P HD when it comes to post production. "There are so many pieces of business that are global and there are different standards that we have to work to," he says. "Just working in 24P makes it a lot easier in terms of multiple formats delivery." It is also ideal for any effects-based work. So is HD due to become more prevalent in commercials? "Yes, absolutely," says Giraldi, "without question. It will be because it's new and we're in a commercial business of people dying to be new, to be first with the new, show the new, try the new." But 24P HD is far from being a mere novelty. "It has a clarity, a presence that's beautiful," he adds. "What I like about it is that it's the language of the contemporary. It fits more into the contemporary idiom, the contemporary language of communication. Kids today have grown up with this technology, they're more used to it. They're not as taken with film as people of an older generation were. So, as things generally move along, this is one of the techniques that has moved along and will continue to move along. It's already begun to take over in episodic, sport and live programming." Minotaur Dreams Another director who took part in Dreams, Simon Blake, is also impressed with the equipment. "My initial reaction was, 'My God, this is an incredible looking image'," he says. "The clarity was pretty amazing. It was almost as though it shows too much, in a way. It was such high quality." He estimates that his company, Chelsea Pictures, invested anything between $15,000 to $25,000 in his film, Minotaur. It's a silent and surreal tale inspired by Greek mythology, which features a man following a ball of string. Minotaur was shot over three days and nights – with New York's Grand Central station being one of the main locations – and was edited in less than one week. During the shoot, he used the old filtering technique of rubbing Vaseline onto the lens to create a dream-like image. "A lot of people love that," he says, "because it gave it a very dream-like quality. It gave it a distorted, ethereal look. You just rub it on the lens. It's like putting stretched stockings over the lens to give it that soft look. I've done it a lot with animation." Blake appreciates the exposure he is getting from the Dreams project and the screenings have already made the industry sit up and take notice. "It's had some great feedback," he says, "it's also going onto a DVD. It's just a good project and there's a lot of interesting people involved in it – Tony Kaye was one, Bruce Dowad – a lot of high profile people. It was nice to be among those people." Never one to shy away from creating controversial images, Kaye's short featured him lying in bed, dressed as Osama Bin Laden. "I thought they (the other directors) would be trying quite hard, so my first thought was, I shouldn't try very hard," he says. "That would go against the grain a little bit." Kaye also believes that HD is going to become more prevalent within commercials, as well as films. He points out that Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones has been shot using the CineAlta 24P HD system. "I know that George Lucas has just shot Star Wars with it," he says, "and so I think that pretty much signals that film is probably not going to be around, unfortunately, for too much longer. "I've seen the Star Wars trailer at movie theatres and there's not that much difference. When you see that trailer, it's kind of interesting, because you see the Star Wars trailer in amongst the other trailers." He's not completely heartbroken, though, by the thought of film being usurped. "As long as images are well composed, well lit and well cut, and the sound goes in accordance with that, I think everything's going to be fine," he says. Exploring the Medium But Yagoda says that Dreams wasn't concerned with promoting HD as an alternative to film for all commercials. "It was just about creative exploration," he says, "and the use of tools that are available to you to make the best piece of communication. There are just some tools you want to de-mystify. "I think that in our industry, we felt that if it's not film, it's not good. But once you start concentrating on the content, things just flow. There are some wonderful stories, there are some wonderful images." On the subject of images, he says, "You know, if there's a beautiful shot in a movie, you don't say to yourself, 'I wonder if it's a Panavision lens or a Canon lens?' If you start worrying about that then you sort of miss the content." His comments reflect the views held by many directors, and Dreams has certainly helped to consolidate the growing stature of CineAlta 24P HD in the advertising industry. "It's highly stimulating to see these directors wholeheartedly embrace this new technology to create beautifully compelling works of art," says Yagoda. "As long as we're moving forward and looking at new technology and advancements in an open minded way, to see how they support our creativity, then it's a good thing." If you have any questions on how this information relates to your project, call us at (888) 247-3456