Two Atlanta production/ post houses are making sure that the digital broadcast revolution doesnt start without them. Crawford Communications and Threshold Productions/Peachtree Post are among the first southeastern media companies to dive into the deep end of the HDTV pool, even though most of their peers are content to just stick in a toe or two for the present.
To see HDTV is to understand what the excitement is about. The 16:9 ratio generates an image that is close to Academy Standard wide-screen; the colors are as rich as 35mm film, and the clarity of detail makes NTSC look like watching a TV splashed with mud.
Yet, HDTV is still considered a well get to it when we need to proposition in some quarters. Many ad agencies have yet to see any great need to produce HDTV spots.
Weve been calling Atlanta ad agencies and theyre very silent, says Jeff Blauvelt, president of Threshold Productions and editorial arm Peachtree Post. But where were getting indifference or complete lack of interest from ad agencies, were getting tremendous interest from programmers and filmmakers.
Chicken Or Egg?
What comes first, an audience panting for HDTV programming or the programming that will draw an audience? Both Crawford and Peachtree believe that programming created in high definition will create the audience, then everything else will followain time.
Its definitely going to be programming that moves it forward, offers Bob Judson, manager of business development at Crawford. It took 10 years for color television to gain 8% penetration. My guess is it will go quicker and take five years or so, but its not going to be tomorrow.
When Cox Broadcastings flagship television station WSB, the ABC affiliate in Atlanta, began broadcasting in HDTV in October 98 (only during evening hours in order to comply with the 96 FCC Telecommunications Act), the estimate is that metro Atlanta had three TV sets capable of receiving the signal. The reason is the buy-in for the public is steep. Hi-Fi Buys, a leading Atlanta audio-video retail chain, sells an entry level 40 Panasonic high-definition-capable projection TV for $3,000. Add another $4,000 for the tuner to decode HDTV signals. Retailers are telling customers that the price of the tuner boxes will steadily decrease over the next few years, but to expect the price of HD-capable sets to remain steady.
Even for the well-heeled home theater aficionado, there isnt all that much HDTV-originated format video to watch yet. Most stations across the country are broadcasting up-resed programming, which is NTSC video blown up by roughly a factor of six to HDTV format. Its better than standard NTSC, but not really hi-def in its true wide-screen pixilated glory.
According to Judson, the networks are moving to format prime time episodic programming in HDTV. Theyre starting to think about life for those programs in syndication after they finish their initial run now, he explains. In four or five years, after HDTV starts to catch on, shows shot in NTSC are just not going to look very good when theyre put up against a digitally originated show.
The transition to HDTV commercials will probably be slower because the majority of spots have a shorter shelf life than television shows. A few advertisers, notably Procter & Gamble, are experimenting with producing in hi-def, but for the most part advertising, which is usually quick to jump on new technology, will probably lag the programmers in transitioning to HDTV.
I dont think youll see a lot of advertising shot and mastered at hi-def res until the programs around the commercials are mostly hi-res, Judson predicts. Then it will happen because [advertisers] will want their commercials to look as good as the programs people are watching.
Real World
Most of the HDTV productions that have come through Crawford and Threshold/Peachtree to date have been corporate projects, government-sponsored films, and a smattering of sports, entertainment and feature work. Crawfords recent hi-def credits include The Southeastern Indians, a 15-minute program shot on 35mm film and transferred to HDTV for mastering, directed by Jim Couch and produced by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Crawford also just completed editing and finishing on Beyond the Horizon an 11-minute hi-def project for Hertz Corporation, Park Ridge, N.J., and produced by its own production company, 30fps.
Hertz did it in hi-def because they wanted to Afuture proof the production because they expect it to be shown well past when hi-def becomes standard, says Judson.
While not dominating the client list at present, ad agencies arent entirely ignoring high definition. Crawford senior effects editor Tom Fulks finished State Street Corporations SSgA TV, directed by Steve Colby of Means Street Productions, Atlanta, in conjunction with Circle Productions, Toronto, for agency Allen & Gerritsen of Waterton, Mass., last August. The spot was shot in 35mm and scanned into high resolution format for finishing in Inferno and then down resed to NTSC and PAL versions.
A 13-part series for National Geographic titled Treasure Seekers that will air on Geographics digital broadcast system around the world is the hot project under Crawfords roof at the moment.
Threshold/Peachtree is concentrating on putting the firms Sony HDW-700 HDCAM camcorder to work on the production side for a variety of corporate, broadcast and government clients. Thresholds credits include renting equipment to a documentary on the Georgia State Capitol shot for client Dystar Television that is on exhibit on a hi-def screen in a new visitor center across the street from the capitol. Other credits include equipment rental for a PrimeStar, Englewood, Colo., shoot featuring a NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Projects on the board for upcoming shoots include a series of Animal Planet specials for Discovery Channel, and an independent feature for Admit One Films, L.A.
Peachtree can down res digital video and projects in wide-screen format in NTSC, but must outsource for finishing to serve those clients who want to master in HDTV. Long term, Blauvelt plans to expand into the L.A. and New York markets as the transition to hi-def becomes more pronounced. Were planning to open a West Coast presence, says Blauvelt. Initially, it will be production oriented, but as soon as the technology is available, we would probably have hi-def post there sooner than we would here [in Atlanta]. The ultimate goal, however, Blauvelt adds, is not to try and compete with the established graphics powerhouses that already call L.A. and New York home.
Not a huge facility, just the ability to edit and deliver in hi-def, explains Blauvelt. Jeffs going to go out and compete with Digital Domain? Yeah, right. But I am going to participate with other program and film producers.
Even Crawford, which serves as a major uplink for several cable networks such as Travel Channel and Discovery Channel, and owns a campus that sprawls over several buildings covering 11 acres, is cautious about investing in a full-blown HDTV online suite.
Right now, it costs up to $3 million to build and equip an edit suite for hi-def, says Fulks. Where we have the problem is transferring data between platforms. A single frame of video in NTSC is about 1 megabyte. A frame of high def video is 6.75 megabytes. The switchers and routers we have now are designed for NTSC and arent up to handling the load hi-def places on them.
Fulks expects the upcoming NAB convention in Las Vegas (4/17-22) to become a watershed in the digital transition. Suppliers such as Sony, Silicon Graphics and Panasonic are promising to showcase new fare, including switchers, routers, monitors, digital audio and software, that promises to make posting in hi-def less expensive and more akin to editing in NTSC.
All we can really do in an edit bay right now is cuts and dissolves in hi-def, Fulks says. Graphics work on the Onyx, Inferno and so forth, has to be done separately. Thats about to change. When the new equipment becomes available, producers wont notice the difference. The Inferno will look and work the same as it always has, only it will be hi-def.
Hi-def is going to affect everybody down to the AD [assistant director] on the set, Judson promises. Theyre really going to have to be on their toes. Painting wood grain onto plasterboard? You wont be able to get away with that anymore because it will show. This format is that sharp.v
