DV Info Net - The impact of Digital Cinema Production & Technologies

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Mullen (Post 979735)

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But in this past year alone, we've seen a fast rise in the number of TV shows switching to digital origination, thanks to higher-end cameras like the F23, Genesis, and RED becoming available to larger numbers of people. "Smallville" and "Law and Order", for example, switched to the Genesis camera this season. The release of the Sony F35 will push this transition from film even faster for television work.

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But still, today, most studio movies are being shot on film and I suspect that trend will last longer than it will for television production, which is making the transition earlier (as you'd expect.)
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David,

I wonder if the lack of a SAG contract isn't accelerating television's transition to digital cameras. SAG and AFTRA split their TV jurisdiction so that shows shot on film are SAG, while those shot on video can be AFTRA.

AFTRA currently has a deal with the producers, while SAG still does not. AFTRA is also perceived as the weaker/more accomodating of the two unions. So producers would seem to be motivated to have their TV shows working under an AFTRA agreement.

But film is SAG's domain; so any move to AFTRA has to include a switch to video. Perhaps this is contributing to TV's eagerness to use digital? I do believe the switch is inevitable, but the reasons above may be acting as an accelerant.

If this is the case, then SAG should push to have 4:4:4 acquisition categorized as digital film and not video. Which makes sense, since in their context, video implies a lower quality image (often attributable to chroma subsampling, YUV color and interlaced recording).