Warner Bros. is releasing its movies in 4K to give audiences the best viewing experience, says the head of the company s 4K digital facility

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1 4K ISSUE 5 SUMMER 2008 r e d e f i n i n g t h e d i g i t a l c i n e m a e x p e r i e n c e Fool s Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey inside Sony Pictures pioneers 4K Studio s Chris Cookson on the 4K future STORY ON P.04 Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. is to release its films in 4K. It is Warner Bros. policy everything will be released in 4K, says Spencer Stephens, vice president and general manager of Motion Picture Imaging at Warner Bros. The Warner Bros. 4K facility is already making life easier for film-makers as they move to the higher quality 4K d-cinema standard. 4K images contain four times the information of 2K. Feature films, says Stephens, are being distributed through the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) standard, which allows the picture to be played on both 4K and 2K projectors. A cinema can take the same version of a film, whether it has 4K or 2K projectors. Either way, research shows that audiences prefer watching a movie on a digital projector than a 35mm film projector, allowing a title to make more money when shown digitally. But, says Stephens, audiences would rather watch in 4K. People prefer to watch in 4K than 2K. Gold standard Warner Bros. is releasing its movies in 4K to give audiences the best viewing experience, says the head of the company s 4K digital facility It is Warner Bros. policy everything will be released in 4K. Spencer Stephens, Warner Bros. Stephens says the human eye can start seeing the pixels in a 2K picture when they are sitting at a distance from the screen that is less than three times the height of the screen. You can get a lot closer to a 4K picture without the picture being compromised, which makes the 4K experience more enjoyable. Over here (in the US), all new theatres have stadium seating, where the audience is closer to the screen and the screen is a lot bigger, Stephens explains. British-born Stephens heads up the Warner Bros. 4K production facility in Los Angeles, which has pioneered the 4K pipeline for CONTINUED ON P.02 Cinema chain to upgrade foyers Vue to install Ziris systems across chain STORY ON P.06 REGISTER NOW FOR MORE ON 4K CINEMA

2 CONTINUED FROM P.01 making movies. The facility is run as a commercial operation and attracts work from other top studios in Hollywood as well as Warner Bros. It also remasters classics for the Blu-ray market. For instance, it recently restored The Godfather Parts I, II and III for Paramount. It now looks absolutely phenomenal, says Stephens. 4K is the future, there are absolutely so many reasons for it. One of them is that there is not much difference between 2K and HD and most people who want to go to the cinema, want to have a better user experience than at home. The work we do is 4K end-to-end, he adds. Whether it starts out as film or a digital 4K camera, we scan at 4K and have a complete 4K digital pipeline. Some people have a pipeline where they scan at 2K, but if you up-res from 2K to 4K, 75 per cent of the pixels have been guessed at by the computer. At 4K, you can keep all the original resolution. The industry, he says, is starting to accept the logic of 4K. I think some film-makers are getting it. It depends to some extent what camera you shoot with, how it is set up and what the DoP thinks of it. It does not have to cost more to create a 4K movie, he says. It is a myth about the cost of 4K. We built a 4K pipeline three years ago from the ground up so, from our point of view, it is the same cost as 2K. The only thing is how long you have to stay on the scanner. It takes maybe three times longer to scan a film to 4K. But, so what? You can leave it running. Otherwise, there are no other cost differences. Above: The 11th Hour, starring Leonardo di Caprio Left: Spencer Stephens, Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Godfather films remastered Paramount releases classic films in 4K The Godfather trilogy is one of Hollywood s cinematic masterpieces. The films regularly top the polls when it comes to the all-time favourite films of both critics and film fans alike. Now, more than three decades after winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, director Francis Ford Coppola s classic films The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II will once again be enjoyed by audiences as they were originally meant to be seen, thanks to a meticulous 4K restoration by Paramount Home Entertainment, overseen by Coppola himself. Paramount released both films, along with a newly remastered The Godfather: Part III, in The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration, a 5-disc collection loaded with a host of all-new special features. The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II underwent extensive frameby-frame examination and restoration utilising state-of-the-art digital technology at the Warner Bros. 4K facility in Los Angeles. Che Guevara double bill in 4K Steven Soderbergh makes acclaimed movie with 4K camera Steven Soderbergh s acclaimed double bill about the life and times of revolutionary, Che Guevara, has been made entirely in 4K. The two movies, which were shown at this year s Cannes Film Festival, were shot with the RED 4K camera. They were given a digital screening at Cannes, showing off the quality of the 4K images. Soderbergh kept the 4K image throughout, maximising the quality of the final master as it is shown in cinemas. The RED camera is a high performance digital cine camera with the quality of 35mm film but recording 4K digital images. Shooting with RED is like hearing The Beatles for the first time, says Soderbergh. RED sees the way I see. Someday I hope to find out exactly how they made something so technologically advanced seem so organic, so beautifully attuned to that most natural of phenomena light. But for now I m just glad I ve got my hands on it because it actually made the films better. Shooting with RED is like hearing the Beatles for the first time. Steven Soderbergh 2

3 Maximum impact Israeli cinema chain, Globus Max, goes digital with 4K Leading Israeli cinema chain, Globus Max, has become the first operator in Israel to go digital, opting for the most advanced 4K technology. The chain s first Sony 4K SRX-R220 projector has recently been installed at its flagship cinema in Tel Aviv s Azrieli Centre. The move is described as a break-through for Israeli movie theatres, by Yoram Globus, chairman of Globus Max and former president of MGM/UA and the Cannon Group. The Globus Max chain operates 140 screens in Israel. It was the first Israeli cinema to install 3D Imax studios and is showing the way with digital in Israel. We are the leaders in cinema technology, first with Imax and now with the digital Sony projector, which will give people the chance to have better sound and reproduction, says Globus. According to Globus Max ceo Bennett Kaplan, The technology is just amazing. It enhances just about everything that you can put into it, even 2K looks better and brighter. The pixellation means that the quality of the image is just absolutely beautiful. The SRX-R220 is a high-end, 18,000 lumen projector and is capable of displaying 2K and 4K content on screens of up to 20 metres wide. The 4K resolution, with around 8.8 million pixels, enables it to deliver four times the resolution of today s high definition televisions for home cinema use. Globus Max is entirely confident that the Sony projection system is the best solution for their theatres. Before opting for the SRX-R220, key executives from Globus Max saw a demonstration of the system in Vienna. We chose Sony because we Paramount Pictures Iron Man thought that 4K made a significant difference, explains Kaplan, and because it is one, integrated package. It s a fabulous system. It s like leaving the car dealership with a new Porsche. The flagship Tel Aviv screen has already shown the new superhero action movie Iron Man as well as the latest Indiana Jones blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Globus Max plans to use the projector to show Hollywood movies, but also to download content off satellite to screen alternative content, such as sport and opera. The Globus Group owns a raft of interests in broadcast and cinema in Israel, including being exclusive representative of Warner Bros., Paramount, Dreamworks and Universal. Globus Max plans to have a further eight Sony 4K projectors in place this year across Israel, with 30 more in This is the future and cinema operators cannot afford to close their eyes to its significance, says Kaplan. We are the leaders in cinema technology, first with Imax and now with the digital Sony projector. Yoram Globus, Globus Max Sony Pictures Hancock Bulgaria embraces 4K Cinemax in Bulgaria chooses CineAlta 4K Cinemax will be the first cinema in Bulgaria to show a 4K movie, when later this month it screens the new Sony Pictures superhero feature, Hancock. The theatre has invested in Sony s SRX-R220 CineAlta 4K projection system. The major reason for choosing Sony Digital Cinema 4K CineAlta and projector is the higher resolution, says Cinemax marketing manager Raina Iossifova. It is also easy to operate and more user-friendly. The whole system is supplied by one provider, which makes it more convenient. So far, the system has been used for test screenings and has shown two new blockbusters, Ironman and the latest Indiana Jones movie. Cinemax has plans to show content in 3D as well as alternative content. We believe that digital is the way forward for cinema because it is the most advanced technological development for cinema in the world, says Iossifova. 3

4 Pioneering spirit As 4K takes off in Europe, Chris Dickinson talks to Chris Cookson, president of Sony Pictures Digital Technologies and 4K pioneer Chris Cookson is Mr 4K. In his previous position at Warner Bros. he set up a pioneering 4K production facility and helped establish the 4K standard through the DCI industry body. Now, as president of Sony Pictures Digital Technologies, he is continuing to help shape the future of digital cinema. His role puts him in a unique position, since Sony is systems supplier as well as Hollywood studio My job involves many things, he says. I m responsible for helping find new ways to apply technology across the studio. I help form a link between the electronics company and Sony Pictures. The 4K pipeline goes all the way from the camera through to post production, distribution and projection. Spreading the word about 4K involves two key messages, explains Cookson. There are two different aspects to 4K that are independent one from the other, though there is often confusion about how each needs to be considered. The first is, why do post production in 4K? The other is, why project in 4K? Post production is a question principally for film-makers. Projection affects both producers and cinema owners. 4K post production When it comes to post production, it is fundamentally about preserving quality, says Cookson. In post production, you should try to retain as much information as possible from the film. If you look at 35mm negative blown up at 4K, it is immediately obvious that there is much more information on the film than can be captured in 2K. If you do your post production in 2K, you are throwing away information. The limiting factor, he says, is the display, not the capture. If you look at film, for 100 years the images on the negative have always been better than our ability to display them. Think about the Technicolor films of the 1930s. The original negative still has more information than anybody knew how to put onto the screen before the year For film-makers, it is vital that they make and archive the best quality image today so that it will still look good tomorrow. The question is, do you want to take the chance and throw away information in the negative? If you work in 2K today, you are throwing away information just because you can t see it projected today in traditional theatres, but you can see it when it is projected in 4K. Movie producers want to realise the value of having produced a movie over many, many years, he adds. For a movie to have value in the longer term, it has to look as good as possible for as long as possible. If you spend $100m, $50m or even $10m on a movie, the extra $50-100,000 to do a 4K post is cheap insurance on that investment. 4K projection How we watch films, whether at home or in a cinema, has changed dramatically, he says. It is interesting because when TV came along and created a secondary market for film, it started out black and white and 4:3 like the movies. Motion pictures retaliated by going to more colour and more and more widescreen. The image used to be a small picture at the end of a large hall. Now it is an extraordinarily large picture with seats placed much closer to the screen. TV has always tried to recreate the theatre experience, he says. Now we have widescreen HD in the home with surround sound and its representation is essentially 2K, about the same as a projected motion picture release print. When we have 1080P and Blu-ray, there can be a better picture on the screen in a person s home than in a professional post facility of just five years ago. With the new OLED displays, you can imagine that ten years from now, the screen in your home could fill an entire wall, he says. Meanwhile, the theatre experience is changing too, with larger screens and larger fields of view. The result is that many cinema viewers are closer to the picture than ever before and that s why theatres need to offer 4K quality. The human eye with normal vision has a finite ability to see detail, explains Cookson. The amount of detail you can see in a picture depends on how close you are to the screen. If you take the resolving capability of the normal human eye and place it back from the screen, if the height of the screen is, say, 10ft high, at a viewing distance of just over 30ft, or three screen heights away, the viewing capabilities of the human eye pretty much exactly match HDTV or 2K. That is the experience offered by the old-style classic theatres. But, says Cookson, If you look at modern theatres with stadium seating, it changes. These modern theatres have elevated seats and the picture is much bigger. In these new theatres, three screen heights is now the very back wall. So the majority of the audience are effectively closer to a larger screen and the result is that they can see much more detail. In these theatres if the projector is in sharp focus, the majority of viewers can actually see that the 2K picture is made up of little squares. That s why the resolution you must be projecting at in these theatres is 4K, he says. What s more, he adds, these stadium theatres sell a lot more tickets than the old design. It s about taking the next step towards higher quality, he concludes. If you want to see a difference, you need to master and project in 4K. 4

5 Reach for the stars New movie, Reach For Me, has been shot, post produced and shown in 4K, delivering incredible results For a movie to have value in the longer term, it has to look as good as possible for as long as possible. Chris Cookson Pictures courtesy of Sony Pictures LeVar Burton, the actor and director who first made his name playing the young Kunta Kinte in the seminal 1977 TV series, Roots, has made his latest film entirely in 4K. Reach for Me was shot with a DALSA Origin 4K cinematography camera, post produced in 4K by Los Angeles facility, Post Logic, and, in May, premiered at Landmark Theatre s flagship theatre in LA on a Sony 4K digital cinema projection system. Directed by Burton and produced by AMediaVision Productions, Reach for Me is a heartwarming story about how love, compassion and humour can help two friends who are generations apart. This shows that 4K technology has become a practical reality, says Andrew Stucker, director of Sony Electronics' digital cinema systems group in the US. From end to end, movie-goers can immerse themselves in the incredible experience that 4K resolution can provide. The picture s producer, Mark Wolfe, says, having a complete end-to-end 4K workflow gave us all the creative and time advantages of digital movie-making while maintaining the beautifully rich look of traditional film production, without adding any additional cost to the production process. Sony s SRX-R220 digital cinema projection system, capable of outputting 18,000 lumens and eight million pixels of resolution, was used for the screening. According to Rob Hummel, president of DALSA Digital Cinema, the production of Reach for Me clearly demonstrates that 4K technology is the future of digital cinema. 4K projection empowers the digital cinema pipeline to display images equal to the most pristine film print. Whether the image is a 4K scanned 35mm film, or photographed with a DALSA camera, 4K projection ensures the audience sees an image without compromise. Every seat in the house gets a spectacular picture. Reach For Me 5

6 Vue shows the way with Ziris Vue Entertainment s UK and Irish cinemas are being upgraded with state-of-the-art signage systems from Sony Fast-growing cinema chain Vue, run by Vue Entertainment, is enhancing its 62 multiplexes across the UK and Ireland with a new Sony Ziris digital signage system. Vue, which formed in 2003, is focused on being the best in class exhibitor in the business. Aside from upgrading and increasing infrastructure, Vue has concentrated on building an entirely new culture within the industry. It endeavours to consistently provide the best possible cinema experience, delivered by friendly knowledgeable staff across its circuit and to be the first choice for cinema entertainment in the UK. A key part of its development, which will see more than ten new sites opened before 2010, is the integration of a state-of-the-art signage system. The programme will see 287 Bravia and Sony Professional 40-inch LCD screens located throughout its network linked by Ziris software and centrally managed from Vue s London headquarters. Historically, all of our sites have had menu boards that were used for both promotional and retail activity, explains Vue s IT manager and project coordinator Vinay Dave. The problem is that details were only changed periodically when we had price changes or to promote a new release. It s not good enough for a modern business that needs to be reactive to customer demand. We needed versatility to advertise what, when and where we wanted. Dave led the Vue team responsible for researching a digital signage solution. We needed a system that allowed us the maximum flexibility to exchange the different zones within each cinema site with each other, he says. So that instead of designated areas for coke and popcorn concessions, ice cream or ticketing, any area could sell any product The only technology on the market that could do this for us was Ziris. Vinay Dave, Vue and simultaneously display film times. Of all the technology available on the market we chose Ziris. It did what it said on the tin namely it is a centrally driven content delivery system. The solution is run from three servers at head office that create, manage and transfer content that can include trailers, audio, text, animations and graphics, to network players. Ziris software allows a focal point for retail and marketing departments to automatically monitor the entire digital signage network or pinpoint exactly what is being transmitted at any multiplex in order to tailor specific messaging. The beauty of Ziris is that we can chop and change and do what we like whenever we want, says Dave. We can close box office zones during quiet periods and operate all ticketing and retail from a single point or we can deliver increased promotional activity or schedule information to any screen in peak periods. The brilliant thing is that it s easy to use and operate on a daily basis. It has a very clear, useful interface which is used both by marketing and IT. The solution is scaleable to accommodate Vue s continual expansion. Parma cinema installs integrated monitors and lighting in foyer Warner Village in Italy selects Sony installation Warner Village has commissioned Sony to supply and integrate new LCD and plasma monitors in the foyer of the Warner Village complex in Parma, Italy. The installation, which includes monitors and lighting, will be used to show spots, trailers, promos and film scheduling in the lobby of the cinema. The system includes tailor-made software to show the film scheduling in the ticket office. The platform also includes a parabolic antenna to receive and display the Coming Soon channel, and an NSP Videoserver to show multimedia content. This installation provides a total solution for the Warner Village cinema in Parma, creating a new environment application and directly helping Warner employees to manage the cinema foyer. The project was a real team effort, with Sony working effectively with several partners, as well as Warner, to provide the best solution. 6

7 Production line A new facility for CineAlta 4K system assembly has opened in Wales, UK Sony has recently completed a new European facility for assembling and testing the CineAlta 4K projection systems, based at the Sony Technology Centre in Pencoed, South Wales. The new 4K facility was opened in March by Sony s executive vice president, business to business, Dr Ahn. The projectors and media blocks are manufactured in Japan and they come to Pencoed for full system assembly and test. The facility was constructed over the first two months of this year and is ramping up capacity to supply all of the European market. As well as an assembly team, led by a team of engineers, the operation includes new 4K mini-cinemas for testing the units as they complete assembly. General manager of the camera division at the Sony Technology Centre is Rob Wilson, who is overseeing the 4K projection assembly facility. Pencoed already manufactures many of Sony s HD cameras for broadcast TV, delivering a quality equivalent to 2K. The CineAlta 4K assembly at Pencoed forms part of a network of facilities that includes one in San Jose, US, supplying the North American market, and another in Kosai, Japan, supplying the Asia Pacific region. Wilson and his 4K team are working closely on the new technology with Sony in Japan. The CineAlta projection system s components are sourced worldwide and Japanese engineers provide training and support in the UK as the technology is developed. The CineAlta 4K facility is sited within the camera division at the Sony Technology Centre. FTT leading Europe into 4K Düsseldorf dealer installs CineAlta 4K systems in cinemas As German exhibitors and investors grapple with finding the right business model with which to rollout digital cinema across the country, market leading dealers and installation specialists FTT continues to drive innovation forward. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Film-Ton-Technik Hannsdieter Rüttgers GmbH (FTT) has nearly half a century of experience in cinema exhibition technology. Since pioneering the SRX-R100 Series Sony CineAlta 4K projector at Münster s Cineplex and (m)athäser in Munich, FTT has also installed a number of the new flagship SRX-R210/220 systems across Europe, including installations in Vienna, Austria, Palace Cinemas in Hungary and, most recently, the very first 4K in the Netherlands. All the installations went without hitch and we are now in a test period with the exhibitors for them to gauge audience reactions, says Egon Gräfen, managing director, FTT. These trials are important since they represent a first footprint for 4K in a number of countries. The SRX-R210 and R220 are extremely high quality projectors with a truly stunning image. Customers who have experienced 4K are really impressed. Aside from the supply of high quality products FTT s expertise includes project planning by an in-house technical drafting department as well as professional installation, after sales maintenance and emergency services. During fifty years as a company FTT has always been at the forefront of new and the highest quality technology and I think I can say proudly that we are one of the most, if not the most, experienced company in digital cinema in Europe, Gräfen continues. It s important to offer customer s a bouquet of choice. They may opt to outfit all screens in 4K or to offer 2K digital cinema with some in 3D and premium screens in 4K in the same multiplex. He concludes: We are very impressed with the quality of the technology and are pleased to have helped successfully implemented the first 4K system in Germany. Cineplex Münster The SRX-R210 and R220 are extremely high quality projectors. Egon Gräfen, FTT Pencoed facility 7

8 4K Editor Chris Dickinson Sub Editor Rachel Miller Contributors Pippa Considine Adrian Pennington Art Editor Karen Painter Executive Editor Mark Clowes Publishing Manager Anne Churchill Published by Small World Publishing Limited for Sony United Kingdom Limited. Contents copyright 2008 Sony Corporation. Reproduction in whole or part is strictly prohibited. Permission may be granted by application to Sony United Kingdom Limited, Broadcast Division. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the authors or publishers. Whilst information given is true at the time of printing, small production changes in the course of our company s policy of improvement through research and design might not be indicated in any specifications. Please check with Sony to ensure that current specification and features match your requirements. Dual 4K projectors give 3D screening Sony s 4K digital cinema projectors have been used to present the first-ever live 3D HD presentation of an NBA regular season basketball game in a commercial movie theatre. The game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers was transmitted live via satellite from the American Airlines Center to Landmark Entertainment Groups Magnolia Theater, where more than 300 fans and invited guests viewed the event wearing special 3D glasses. FSN Southwest used the PACE/Cameron Fusion Sports System to capture the action on the court, using modified Sony HD cameras to deliver a unique depth-of-field perspective to the audience. Each of the four 3D systems used were designed with two cameras that capture the left eye and right eye imagery separately, and create one threedimension effect. In the theatre, two Sony SRX-R110 4K projectors in a double-stacked configuration projected the 3D content onto an 18 x 42-foot screen at four times the resolution of full high definition. We re very pleased at the outcome in ultra high definition, and using Sony s 4K 3D system for projection, says FSN Southwest senior vice NBAE/Getty Images Dallas Mavericks Two linked Sony CineAlta 4K projectors provide true 3D at amazing quality president and general manager, Jon Heidtke. This type of event is truly a glimpse into what the future holds for sports television. Sony s 4K digital projectors and 3Denabled CineAlta 4K digital projection technology are now deployed across the United States, at commercial theatre chains such as Landmark Entertainment, AMC Theaters and Muvico Theaters. The 4K digital systems are the only projectors available on the marketplace capable of displaying more than 8.8 million pixels of resolution. The reaction from the crowd at this event was nothing short of phenomenal, says Andrew Stucker, director of Sony Electronics' digital cinema systems group in the US. 4K projection technology proved once again that it is the perfect complement for alternate content, taking the movie-theatre experience to a new level and transforming an audience from viewers into participants. Even courtside seats couldn t deliver this type of action and excitement. REGISTER NOW FOR MORE ON 4K CINEMA This type of event is truly a glimpse into what the future holds. Jon Heidke, FSN