Understanding Digital Cinema

Understanding Digital Cinema

by Charles S. Swartz
Released October 2004
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136036330

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Book description

UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL CINEMA: A PROFESSIONAL HANDBOOK is a comprehensive resource on all aspects of finishing, distributing and displaying film digitally. For technical professionals as well as non-technical decision-makers, the book is a detailed exploration of every component of the process, from mastering to theater management.


* An overview of digital cinema system requirements
* Post production work flow
* Color in digital cinema
* The digital cinema mastering process
* Fundamentals of compression
* Security
* Basics of audio
* Digital distribution
* Digital projection technology
* Theater systems
* The international perspective: Views from Europe, Asia and Latin America
* A realistic assessment of the future of digital cinema

With contributions by:

Richard Crudo, President, American Society of Cinematographers
Leon Silverman, Executive Vice President, Laser Pacific Media Corporation
Charles Poynton, Color Scientist
Chris Carey, Senior Vice President, Studio New Technology, The Walt Disney Studios
Bob Lambert, Corporate Senior Vice President New Technology & New Media,
The Walt Disney Company
Bill Kinder, Pixar Animation Studios
Glenn Kennel, DLP Cinema
Peter Symes, Manager, Advanced Technology, Thomson Broadcast & Media Solutions
Robert Schumann, President, Cinea, Inc., A Subsidiary of Dolby Labs
David Gray, Vice President, Production Services, Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Darcy Antonellis, Executive Vice President, Distribution and Technology Operations
Warner Bros. Technical Operations Inc. and Senior Vice President, Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Matt Cowan, Principal and Founder, Entertainment Technology Consultants
Loren Nielsen, Principal and Founder, Entertainment Technology Consultants
Michael Karagosian, Partner, Karagosian MacCalla Partners (KMP)
Peter Wilson, Vice President, Display Technologies, Snell and Wilcox Ltd.
Patrick Von Sychowski, Senior Analyst, Screen Digest
Wendy Aylsworth, Vice President of Technology, Warner Bros. Technical Operations Inc.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. 1 Introduction
    1. Advantages and Challenges of Digital Technology for Motion Pictures
    2. Who Is Working to Develop Specifications and Standards?
  7. 2 The New Post Production Workflow: Today and Tomorrow
    1. The Traditional Post Production Workflow
    2. The Modern Motion Picture—the New Digital Workflow
  8. 3 Color in Digital Cinema
    1. “Faithful” and “Pleasing” Reproduction
    2. Film
    3. Digital Cinema
    4. Issues in Color Image Data Representation
    5. Color Gamut
    6. Choice of a Color Coding System
    7. The Digital Intermediate
    8. The Challenge of Wide-Gamut Reproduction
    9. Acknowledgments
  9. 4 The Mastering Process
    1. The Process
    2. Capture: Content Ingest
    3. Creative Image Manipulation
    4. Audio Preparation: An Expanded Scope
    5. Related Data Creation
    6. The Future of Mastering
  10. 5 Compression for Digital Cinema
    1. What Is Compression?
    2. Why Is Compression Needed for Digital Cinema?
    3. Sampling of images
    4. Compression systems for motion pictures
    5. Fundamental concepts
    6. Transforms
    7. Temporal Compression
    8. Compression systems and standards
    9. Intellectual property and licensing
    10. Conclusions
  11. 6 Security and Packaging
    1. Security Primer
    2. The Value of Security in the Supply Chain
    3. Review of Early Fielded Systems
    4. The Next Generation
    5. Design Philosophy
  12. 7 Audio for Digital Cinema
    1. The Historical View and Opportunity
    2. The Current Status of Cinema Audio
    3. Potential New Features
    4. The Debate—How and Why
    5. The Standards
    6. Channel Maps and Labels: Legacy Channels
    7. Potentials
    8. The Reality
  13. 8 Digital Cinema Distribution
    1. Content Preparation
    2. Delivery
    3. Security
    4. Digital Asset Management
    5. Digital Archiving
    6. System Overview
    7. Case Study: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. : Proof-of-Concept
  14. 9 Projection
    1. Viewing Characteristics of the Theatre
    2. Projection System Performance Parameters and Measurement Methods
    3. Color
    4. Motion Management
    5. Aspect Ratios Sizing and Lensing
    6. Convergence and Registration
    7. Mechanical Issues
    8. Image Quality: The Reference Projector
    9. Projection System Data Interfaces
    10. Test Materials
    11. Candidate Projection Technologies
  15. 10 Theatre Systems
    1. System Interoperability
    2. User Requirements
    3. Media Block Architectures
    4. Operations and Maintenance
    5. Workflow
    6. Performance Controls
    7. Show Play Lists and Schedules
    8. Time Code
    9. Supervisory Controls and Monitoring
    10. Logging Show Operations
    11. Piracy Protection and Security
    12. Content Delivery
    13. Putting A Point To It
  16. 11 An International Perspective
    1. Europe
    2. Local Initiatives
    3. Europewide Sponsored Projects
    4. Asia
    5. Latin America
    6. Africa & Middle East
  17. Appendix The DC28 Standard
  18. Contributor Biographies
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Understanding Digital Cinema
  • Author(s): Charles S. Swartz
  • Release date: October 2004
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136036330