Cinema Canada (Jun-Jul 1977)

TECH NEWS SMPTE MINr'-CONFERENCE The changes currently taking place in television program production methods, especially the increasing use of electronic cameras and videotape recorders in television news, are causing great concern in motion picture circles. Advocates of ENG (electronic newsgathering) are so convinced of the advantages and benefits that they are predicting ENG methods will be expanded into entertainment programming. This was the subject of a panel discussion at the SMPTE mini-conference, jointly sponsored by the Toronto, Rochester and Montreal sections at the Westbury Hotel in Toronto on Saturday, May 7. About 175 registered for this event, as well as a fairly extensive papers program on other subjects. Panel Discussion — The Film Challenge Members of the panel included Norman Campbell, well-known Canadian television producer-director; Bill Koch, Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, NY.; Ray Schneider, CBS Television Network, New York; Ed Messina, American Broadcasting Co., New York; Tom Glyn, Chetwynd Films, Toronto; Marcel Auclair, CBC Engineering Headquarters, Montreal; Steve Sulewki, CBC TV Film Service, Toronto; Finlay Quinn, Quinn Laboratories, Toronto; and Rodger Ross, TV Film Consultant, Cobourg, Ont. The moderator was Stanley F. Quinn, director of engineering operations and development, CBC, Montreal. To set the stage for the panel discussion, each member was invited to make a brief statement of his views on the subject. An animated dialogue developed among the panel members, in which the different views expressed in the opening statements were further developed, and in some cases, defended. This was followed by some questions from the floor, but there was not nearly enough time for everyone who wanted to speak his piece or question members of the panel. The moderator said, in introducing the session, that while the title on the published program was “The Film Challenge’, he hoped the discussions would not develop into a confrontation between film and television, but rather that an attempt would be made to show how each medium can contribute to television production. 60 / Cinema Canada It was generally agreed, from the outset, that both media have a place in television, and that film would continue to be used into the foreseeable future. But the trend is towards automated television station operations, in which videotape is more convenient and economical than film. Ray Schneider outlined the work being done at CBS in replacing film with electronic systems. This summer _ television cameras and videotape recorders will be installed in a Hollywood film studio to produce entertainment programs. This trend was questioned by Ed Messina who said that film accounts for the greater part of the programming on the ABC network. Norman Campbell said he has had a considerable amount of experience making programs with both film and videotape, and he mentioned that each has some good features, as well as some disadvantages. Figures given by Bill Koch showed that film is still being used very extensively in_ television, and he predicted that this will continue. Tom Glyn received sympathetic response from the audience when he questioned the economics of program production on videotape, claiming that television companies are not being realistic when they make comparisons with the costs of film production, because they are not including the heavy capital costs of the electronic equipment. Steve Sulewski said that film will continue to be used extensively in television programming, but there is a need for film people to become more aggressive and innovative in the face of electronic developments. Findlay Quinn pointed out that, in view of the very high costs of producing television programs, maximum use has to be made of the programs, and distribution is much easier when the programs are on film. Marcel Auclair commented that one of the disadvantages of film is the quite large shifts in color that are often encountered between commercials and programs, whereas with electronic cameras and videotape there is much better uniformity. Rodger Ross referred to a paper presented by Jack Sinclair of Motion Picture Video Corp., immediately prior to the panel discussion. He said what is being done there represents a big step forward, eliminating the division of responsibility be tween filmmakers and television technicians in the reproduction of programs on film. When film is being transferred to videotape in a motion picture laboratory, the automatic video signal level controls in telecine, normally used by television stations to save manpower, would almost certainly be deactivated, and every effort would be made to obtain the very best television pictures. Papers program Joint meetings between the Toronto and Rochester sections of SMPTE have been an annual event for at least 10 years. This year, the program chairman, Harold Eady, invited the Montreal section to participate, and quite a few members were on hand. A papers program took up the entire morning, starting at 8:45 a.m. with a computer-controlled multi-projector slide and sound presentation by Avcor AV Corp., Toronto, entitled “Life in America’. This enormous wide-screen show was repeated after lunch for those who were unable to be on hand in the morning. In a paper with the title “Film and Electronics’, Arnold Schieman of the National Film Board, Montreal, described the electronic facilities that the Board has acquired to make transfers from film to videotape, and videotape to film, featuring this operation with super-8 film. Gerald Graham gave a well-illustrated paper on the multi-media techniques used at the United Nations Habitat conference in Vancouver last summer. He also gave another paper on Film and Television in Three Dimensions’”’. Other papers were: “Testing AudioVisual Equipment Three Years Later”’ by Ralph Curtis, NFB, Montreal; “Broadcasting Satellite Experiments’’, Stanley Quinn, CBC, Montreal; ‘““MultiTrack Magnetic Avex System” by Manfed Klemme,’° Braun of Canada; “Kastman Ektachrome Video News Film, High Speed Type 7250 (tungsten)”’ by Colin Davis, Kodak Canada; “Dula-Language Photographic Sound Tracks”, by Ronald Uhlig, Eastman Kodak Co.; and ‘‘Motion Picture Video: A Video Laboratory” by Jack Sinclair of Motion Picture Video Corp. The papers session chairman was Creighton Douglas, Dept. of Supply and Services, Ottawa. Rodger J. Ross