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Digital intermediate (often abbreviated as DI) describes the process of digitizing a motion picture and manipulating color and other image characteristics to change the look, and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie before distribution in theaters. A film distributor is an independent company a Subsidiary company or occasionally an individual which acts as the final agent between a film production company Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue It is distinguished from the telecine process in which film is scanned and color is manipulated but only intended for video and television distribution. Telecine (ˈtɛləˌsɪni/ /ˌtɛləˈsɪni/ ˌtɛləˈsɪnə also /ˌtɛləˈsiːn/ — "tel-e-Sin-ee" "tel-e-Sin-a" as 'cine' is the same root as in 'cinema' Video is the technology of electronically capturing, Recording, processing storing transmitting and reconstructing a sequence of Still images A digital intermediate is also customarily done at higher resolution and with greater color fidelity than telecine transfers and utilizes only digital tools (no analog video devices). Image resolution describes the detail an Image holds The term applies equally to Digital images film images and other types of images A digital system uses discrete (discontinuous values usually but not always Symbolized Numerically (hence called "digital" to represent information for

Although originally used to describe a process that started with film scanning and ended with film recording, digital intermediate is also used to describe color grading and final mastering even when a digital camera is used as the image source and/or when the final movie is not output to film. A film scanner is a device made for Scanning Photographic film directly into a computer without the use of any intermediate printmaking A Film Recorder is a Graphical output device for transferring Digital images to Photographic film. Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture or television image either electronically photo-chemically or digitally This is due to recent advances in digital cinematography and digital projection technologies that strive to match or exceed the quality of film origination and film projection. Digital cinematography is the process of capturing Motion pictures as Digital images rather than on film. A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system This article is concerned with technical aspects of moving film projection

In traditional photochemical film finishing, an intermediate is produced by exposing film to the original camera negative. The intermediate is then used to mass-produce the films that get distributed to theaters. Color grading is done by varying the amount of red, green, and blue light used to expose it. Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture or television image either electronically photo-chemically or digitally One of the key technical achievements that make the DI possible is the look-up table (aka "LUT"), which visually predicts how the digital image will look once it's printed onto normal release print stock. In Computer science, a lookup table is a Data structure, usually an Array or Associative array, often used to replace a runtime computation with DI facilities generally allow comparing the digital image directly to a print on the same screen, ensuring precise calibration of the process.

The digital intermediate process uses digital tools to color grade, which allows for much finer control of individual colors and areas of the image, and allows for the adjustment of image structure (grain, sharpness, etc). The intermediate for film reproduction is then produced by means of a film recorder. A Film Recorder is a Graphical output device for transferring Digital images to Photographic film. The physical intermediate film that is a result of the recording process is sometimes also called a digital intermediate, and is usually done using internegative (IN) stock, which is inherently finer-grain than camera negative (OCN).

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History

Telecine tools to electronically capture film images are nearly as old as broadcast television, but the resulting images were widely considered unsuitable for exposing back onto film for theatrical distribution. Film scanners and recorders with quality sufficient to produce images that could be inter-cut with regular film began appearing in the 1970s, with significant improvements in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time digitally processing an entire feature-length film was impractical because the scanners and recorders were extremely slow and the image files were very large compared to computing power at the time. Instead, individual shots or short sequences were processed for special visual effects. Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a Live Chris Watts revolutionized the process on the 1998 feature film "Pleasantville", becoming the first visual effects supervisor to scan, process, and record the majority of a feature length, live-action Hollywood film digitally. Pleasantville is an Academy Award -nominated 1998 film written produced and directed by Gary Ross. The first Hollywood film to utilize a digital intermediate process from beginning to end was O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000 and in Europe it was Chicken Run released that same year. O Brother Where Art Thou? is a Comedy Film made by the Coen Brothers. Chicken Run is a 2000 Stop-motion animation British film made by the Aardman Animations studios (which produced the Oscar The process rapidly caught on and it is estimated that more than 90% of Hollywood films went through a digital intermediate in 2006. This is due not only to the extra creative options the process affords film makers but also the need for high-quality scanning and color adjustments to produce movies for digital cinema. Digital cinema refers to the use of Digital technology to distribute and project Motion pictures The final movie can be distributed via

Milestones

Software and hardware manufacturers

References

See also

External links

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