ORLANDO, FLORIDA—Oct 22, 2004
Kodak Sets Sights On Enhanced Movie-Going Experience
astman Kodak Company reported here today
at the annual ShowEast conference that its long-term plan for significantly
enhancing the movie-going experience remains on course.
“We are committed to doing our part to help ensure that the digital projection
technology of the future matches or exceeds the best possible image quality that
exhibitors can present with 35 mm equipment,” says Kodak Entertainment Imaging
Division President Eric Rodli. “We believe that will ultimately require higher
resolution digital projectors with a capacity for faithfully reproducing the
full dynamic range of nuances in colors and contrast that today’s films are
capable of recording.”
The Kodak CineServer unveiled at the conference is designed to enable exhibitors
to decrypt, decompress and send content to up to 2K resolution projectors. Rodli
says that Kodak is committed to a 4K system and will provide leadership as
digital projection technology continues to evolve. He also stresses that film
quality sets a moving target.
“We have made a quantum leap forward in emulsion technology with the new
generation of KODAK VISION2 films,” Rodli says. “When you couple that ongoing
progress with gains being made in digital intermediate technology, the
possibilities for creating more nuanced and visually compelling motion pictures
are unlimited.”
Rodli lauds the pioneering work done by the American Society of Cinematographers
(ASC) in collaboration with Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), representing the
seven major studios. That collaborative effort resulted in the production of a
short film designed for use as standard evaluation material for prototype
digital projectors. Rodli notes that the original 35 mm negative was scanned at
6K resolution, and the ASC/DCI test material is available at both 2K and 4K
resolution.
“Audiences are visually literate and they respond to an enhanced movie-going
experiences,” Rodli says. “Resolution is just one piece of the puzzle. We also
have to give filmmakers the freedom to use all the colors of the rainbow, and
all shades of contrast between the purest black and white to tell their stories.
Kodak will continue to provide that in film, and also with digital solutions.