Cinematography Seminars Slated for 8th Annual Cine Gear Expo The seminars are designed to provide an open forum, where cinematographers can share their experiences and discuss their views of the future with their colleagues and collaborators from all sectors of the industry, according to Kees Van Oostrum, ASC, one of the founders of Cine Gear Expo. The first seminar is titled The American Society of Cinematographers at 85: Looking Forward to the Future. ASC President Richard Crudo and journalist Bob Fisher will moderate a two-part roundtable discussion with some of the industry's most talented cinematographers. This seminar will run from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday, June 11. Part one will focus on the role of cinematographers as authors of the images they create. Panelists will discuss the evolution of the art and craft of visual storytelling, and how an expanded palette of film, digital and hybrid tools could affect their role in the future. Participants include Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC, Laszlo Kovacs, ASC, Ellen Kuras, ASC, Stephen Lighthill, ASC, Daryn Okada, ASC, Bob Richardson, ASC, and David Armstrong, an early recipient of the ASC Heritage Award, which is presented annually to one or more promising student filmmakers. Part two of this seminar will explore how the press is covering cinematography. One topic is a recent feature article published by the Los Angeles Times that posed the following question to director/cinematographer Robert Rodriguez, "Does the digital camera pretty much do the cinematography for you?" Rodriguez later stated that his positive response published by the newspaper was taken out of context and misleading. "Our goal is a two-way exchange of information leading to more informed and intelligent reporting," Crudo says. "Some excellent journalists, including Robert Koehler (Variety), Peter Caranicas (Below the Line/ Videography) and Carolyn Giardina (Shoot), will be on hand to answer questions and share their insights. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Times, our hometown newspaper, has declined our invitation." The International Documentary Association is sponsoring a 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. seminar titled Are We Preserving Our Heritage for Posterity? Sony Pictures Vice President of Asset Management Grover Crisp will moderate this session. Crisp is one the founding directors of the board of the National Television and Video Preservation Foundation, which provides grants for the purpose of restoring and preserving documentaries and other independently-owned content as a legacy for future generations. Participants include documentary filmmakers Harrison Engle (The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt), Louis Schwartzberg (America's Heart and Soul) and Ferne Pearlstein (Imelda), along with Rick Utley, vice president of Preservation for PRO-TEK Media Preservation Services. Crisp will cap the discussion by advising the panelists and audience how to apply for grants to preserve and restore their films. Cine Gear Expo will follow the June 11 seminars with a 6 to 8 p.m. reception on the studio backlot, which will include tributes to the ASC on its 85th anniversary, and to George Spiro Dibie, ASC, who is retiring as National President of the International Cinematographers Guild. Dibie was at the ICG helm for 20 years. A series of seminars under the general heading Dream Tools for the Future are scheduled from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, June 12. Part one will focus on how the evolution of Super 16 film, camera and postproduction technologies have combined to provide an affordable alternative for producing compelling stories for the cinema and HD television screens. James Chressanthis, ASC (The Reagans), Billy Dickson, ASC (One Tree Hill), Michael Goi, ASC (Red River), Ellen Kuras, ASC (Rose and the Snake), John Inwood (Scrubs), and Pearlstein (Sumo East and West) will show clips and discuss the future of the Super 16 format as a palette for narrative and documentary filmmaking. Philip Vigeant, president of Pro8mm, will show the new 31/2-pound Super 16 camera made by Ikonoskop. Part two will probe how the evolution of digital intermediate technology is extending the role of cinematographers deep into the postproduction process, where they are timing films for continuity and fine tuning "looks." Participants include Deakins (The Village), Goldblatt (Angels in America), Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Peter Levy, ASC, ACS (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers), Daryn Okada, ASC (Paparazzi), Ueli Steiger, ASC (The Day After Tomorrow) and Van Oostrum (Gods and Generals). They will offer informed perspectives about creative and technical issues, including unresolved problems. Part three will focus on the Kodak Look Manager System, a software tool designed to enable cinematographers to control the integrity of "looks" they create from pre-visualization through production, postproduction and distribution. Panelists include Crudo, Goldblatt (Closer), and Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC (Because of Winn-Dixie), who tested prototypes of the system during recent projects. Part four is a conversation with David Stump, ASC, about his experiences with virtual cinematography during the production of Little Red Riding Hood. The International Cinematographers Guild will host a Point-of-View seminar moderated by Dibie from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Cinematographers Russ Alsobrook, ASC, Chuck Barbee, Levie Isaacks, ASC, Michael Negrin, ASC, and Victor Nelli, Jr. will discuss and answer questions about a single shot that each of them has selected from their respective bodies of work. A 3 to 4 p.m. seminar on Saturday will look Beyond HD and the Future of Digital Image Capture. Participants include Stump, who is chair of the ASC Camera Technology sub-committee, DALSA's John Coghill, visual effects supervisor Scott Billups, color scientist Charles Poynton and Technicolor's Josh Pines. The final panel on Saturday is from 4 to 5 p.m. and will focus on The Future of Digital Cinema: A Report on the American Society of Cinematographers / Digital Cinema Initiative Mini-Movie Project. ASC recently collaborated with the Digital Cinema Initiative, representing the seven major studios, on the production of a 12-minute "mini-movie" designed for use as standard evaluation material (StEM) for assessing the performance of prototype projectors compared to existing 35 mm film projectors. The film was produced in Super 35 and anamorphic formats along with some 65 mm footage. The film was edited into a 12-minute "mini-movie," which was scanned at 6K resolution. Some of the participants in this extraordinary co-venture will discuss their observations, including cinematographers Peter Anderson, ASC, Okada, and Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC, as well as Phil Feiner who is president of Pacific Title & Art Studio, which was responsible for scanning and recording the test footage. For more information about the conference visit www.cinegearexpo.com. |
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The ASC will be front and center with 30 cinematographers and other
filmmakers for a series of free seminars at the 8th Annual Cine Gear
Expo on the Universal Studios backlot from June 11-12, 2004.