FUJIFILM TO RECEIVE SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING AWARD
FROM THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Award Given For Development Of World's First Film Stock
Specifically Designed To Produce High Picture Quality
From Digital Image Data
FUJIFILM Corporation has announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected FUJIFILM Corporation to receive an Academy Award® on February 20, 2010, in the Scientific and Engineering category.
The award is being given in recognition of the significant picture quality and workflow improvements made possible in the moviemaking process through the development of Fujicolor ETERNA-RDI, the first motion picture film in the world designed specifically for use in converting digital image data to negative film. The award is given in the name of FUJIFILM Corporation as well as in the names of Ryoji Nishimura, Masaaki Miki and Youichi Hosoya, the three Fujifilm engineers who designed and developed the product.
“Everyone at Fujifilm is proud of this achievement and proud to be recognized by the most prestigious institution in the motion picture industry. Best of all, we are gratified that our work has helped to answer an unmet industry need with a solution that will contribute to the enjoyment of motion pictures and to visual technology and cinema culture,” said Graeme Parcher, group vice president, FUJIFILM North American Motion Picture Division. “Most importantly, our sincere congratulations go to Ryoji, Masaaki, Youichi and the entire R&D and engineering team for their hard work and dedication in making this industry recognition possible and for receiving this high honor from the Academy.”
Today the use of digital technology in the making of motion pictures, especially in the editing and visual effects process, is widespread; yet the majority of movie theaters still present on silver halide film. To bridge this digital/analog gap the moviemaker must convert the digital master to intermediate film. However, since no intermediate film had been specially designed for this application there had been a large disparity in image quality between the digital master and the film reproduction, resulting in a strong industry demand for something better. In 2007, Fujifilm answered that demand, introducing ETERNA-RDI -- the first specialized film for digital recorder output that dramatically improved the image quality of film recording.
ETERNA-RDI offers a significant improvement over intermediate films not specifically designed for digital reproduction, producing fine detail and accurate color from digital image data. In order to achieve high picture image quality Mssrs. Nishimura, Miki and Hosoya developed two proprietary technologies, Super Nano Cubic Grain Technology and Super Efficient Light Control Technology, and worked to ensure that the technologies would complement and enhance each other. As a result ETERNA-RDI can faithfully reproduce even the most challenging high contrast images. This contributes to the printing of sharp, crisp images and makes it possible to achieve rich images that convey a strong sense of depth and dimension.
ETERNA-RDI Features
Great Image Blur Reduction: Laser-created high-detail digital images that could not be reproduced on intermediate film can be reproduced on ETERNA-RDI. Ordinarily, when the intensities of lines and text contrast strongly with those of their surroundings, thin lines become thinner and disappear, and fat lines are blurred. This makes the reproduction of details difficult. With ETERNA-RDI, even the highlighted areas of high-contrast images can be reproduced with very high similarity to the original image.
Faithful Tone and Color Reproduction: ETERNA-RDI widens the range of expressible densities. ETERNA-RDI reduces image irregularities even in highlighted areas, makes the expression of darker shadowed areas richer, and increases resolution. The combination of these factors leads to tone reproduction that conveys an intense sense of depth. Furthermore, while the reproduction of original colors at the edges of the color range was difficult in the past, ETERNA-RDI is capable of reproducing these colors faithfully.
Improved Lab Handling: In the post-production phase accurate reproduction in the film development process is the goal. It takes a few seconds to record a single frame; this means that for a single 2000-ft roll the time between when the film is exposed and when it is developed is 15 hours or more. When using conventional intermediate film, this long duration causes color discrepancies between the top frame and the last frame in long reels of film and requires additional lab hours to correct the discrepancies. The superior photographic stability of ETERNA-RDI maintains true color reproduction from the top to the last frame, thereby reducing lab workload.
