LOS ANGELES—Nov 7, 2005
FotoKem, Doremi and Christie Reach Digital Cinema Milestone; Doremi Labs, Christie and FotoKem Collaborate on First Feature Film Mastered in Compliance with Digital Cinema Initiatives Specifications
FotoKem, Doremi Labs and Christie
Digital Systems, USA, Inc. have produced the first Digital Cinema Distribution
Master (DCDM) of a major motion picture that conforms to the specifications of
the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI). The DCDM was then used to generate a
Digital Cinema Package (DCP), ready for distribution.
"Serenity" was used by Universal Pictures to test the workflow required to
create a DCP. FotoKem created the DCDM directly from 2K digital intermediate
files, while Doremi Labs assembled the files along with the audio into a digital
cinema distribution package. Christie provided the DLP Cinema(R) projector for
the tests.
The DCI specifications are the result of collaboration between seven major
studios - Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. - to
develop uniform guidelines for the digital projection of motion pictures. Three
years in development, the final DCI standards were published in July of this
year.
The successful completion of the DCDM and the DCP on "Serenity" in compliance
with the DCI standards marks a major milestone in the move toward all-digital
projection for motion pictures.
"We are honored that FotoKem was chosen by Universal to play a historic role in
the advance toward digital projection in theaters," said Paul Chapman, Senior
Vice President of Technology at FotoKem. "Our collaboration with Doremi Labs and
Christie has demonstrated the viability of the process to create in digital
space an exacting replica of the filmmaker's original intent in terms of color
and clarity."
"Serenity," currently in theaters in traditional film prints, was utilized for
testing by Universal because a digital intermediate had been created at FotoKem
and the original 2K scans were readily available for conversion to a DCDM.
Chapman, along with Bill Schultz, Senior Vice President and General Manager,
Digital Film Services at FotoKem, designed a hardware/software pipeline for
making the conversion into XYZ color space as it has been defined for digital
projectors. "The challenge was converting to the digital cinema color space
directly," said Schultz. "We developed a very fast method of transferring the
color intent of the movie into the XYZ color space while maintaining the full
bit depth and the full spatial resolution of the movie."
FotoKem then delivered approximately 132,000 16-bit tiff files, each
representing one frame of the film, to Doremi Labs where they were converted to
JPEG2000 files and wrapped with the audio into a Media eXchange Format (MXF)
file on the Doremi Mastering Station. This final encrypted file represents the
Digital Cinema Package ready for distribution to theaters equipped with Christie
Digital projectors. "Our mastering station ensures the accuracy and integrity of
the final product while providing the highest level of security for the studio's
assets," said Camille Rizko, President of Doremi Labs.
While films have been digitally displayed in the past, "Serenity" is the first
to be projected in the JPEG2000 format said Brian Claypool, Senior Project
Manager, Digital Cinema, Christie. "The Christie CP2000 Digital Cinema Projector
can reproduce up to 35 trillion colors which make the images you see on the
screen simply stunning. We're projecting a JPEG2000 master in a 12-bit 4:4:4 DCI
XYZ color space, using a dual link HD-SDI interface from the server to the
projector. 'Serenity' is the first movie to be projected in such a manner."
