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Re: Transformania 1 report (non-technical)

--- Forwarded mail from ranthony at duart.com

Rob,
     
I will attempt to give you my perspective, as a "film guy", on this 
past Saturday's shoot-out and you may post it if you feel it is of any 
benefit to the TIG.   
     
First of all, thanks to Dave Satin and all the crew at SMA for opening 
up and providing the rest of us this opportunity.  The afternoon 
started with the beer Dave had promised as well as the chips that 
Domenic provided.  After about an 90 minutes of sipping and dipping 
and munching on the pizza that SMA also provided, we were broken into 
2 groups.  Group 1 started in the Ursa suite and group 2 naturally 
began with the Spirit.  I was in group 2.  As we settled into the room 
our colorist, Billy {(Gabor?)-I'm sorry if that is wrong} introduced 
himself and the Spirit to the group.  Being a "film guy" I can't begin 
to report the technical aspects of the machine or of  the setup of the 
room.  I will leave that to those more inclined (unfortunately Chris 
Bacon was unable to attend).  I can tell you that in an effort to make 
the comparison valid, no noise reduction or secondary color correction 
was used on either machine.   Billy started the demonstration with a 
piece of film that included a variety of vivid colors as well as a 
variety of skin tones.  I was quite impressed with the resolution of 
the picture.  After showing us what he could do with the images on 
this piece film, he put up a couple of the rolls brought by the 
TIGers.  The first was some footage of a woman and child sitting on a 
pink wicker sofa.  Again the resolution was great and I was very 
surprised at the lack of Moir_ in the wicker.  After looking at and 
making 1 lite transfers of the submitted footage, we moved as a group 
to the Ursa Diamond suite.  Once again to make the playing field level 
the colorist moved with the group.  Billy put up the same footage and 
matched via split screen to some of the stills stored from the Spirit. 
Here, my impression was that it took a little more effort, on the 
Ursa, to get to the same correction.  The resolution was not quite as 
sharp as the Spirit, but this was ONLY noticeable (to my eyes) in the  
split screen.  The image was a very close match when some level of 
masking was applied in the Ursa.  At this point I had to leave, due to 
an attachment to parts of my  anatomy, which my wife would have cut off 
if I'd stayed any longer(it was Saturday night).
   
The bottom line in my "film guy" eyes is that both machines are 
capable of making very good pictures.  The Spirit may do a better job 
on certain types of footage than the Ursa.  I'm sure there are jobs 
for which the Ursa would be better suited.  One thing that I think a 
large number of people in this industry forget, when you look at the 
transfer in the telecine suite, that is probably the last time that 
footage will ever be seen on a 7-10,000 dollar monitor.  My feeling is 
that, were I paying for the transfer, the deciding factor would  
probably be the colorist.  This is not said to (further?) inflate the 
egos of a large portion of the TIG.   Just as I would give certain 
types of print jobs, within the lab, to specific timers, I think 
specific colorists would be better prepared to make the most of 
certain negatives.  
     
That is  my take on the shoot-out.  Again my thanks to all at SMA for 
this opportunity.
  
Please let it be known that all opinions are those of the writer, who 
is in NO way compensated by either Cintel or Philips.
   
   
     Rick Anthony
     Duart Film and Video


--- End of forwarded message from ranthony at duart.com