CYAN DYE TRACKS: A STATUS REPORT PANEL:
Ioan Allen, Dolby Labs - Moderator SUMMARY: The studio executives publicly gave broad support for the conversion to cyan dye analog soundtracks on release prints, based on the environmental issues outlined by Kodak, and the benefits to the laboratories and the theatres. There was discussion of, but not a commitment to, a completion date of 1 January 2003. * * * * * * * * Ioan Allen introduced the panel to the ITEA audience and summarized progress to date, including the successful releases of limited numbers of cyan prints of Get Over It and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back by Miramax. These prints had played perfectly in theatres equipped with the necessary red analog sound readers. Alan Masson described the historical reasons for redeveloped silver tracks: required to play with the same white-light sound readers as black and white prints. Very large quantities of hazardous and polluting chemicals and of wash water will be eliminated by conversion to cyan tracks, providing a major environmental improvement to laboratory operations, and silver will be eliminated from used release prints sent for destruction. Jeff Miller indicated that the environmental benefits presented to the studios by Kodak at a meeting with Kodak and Dolby were so compelling that he was asking the ITEA and NATO to find the best way to move this forward. The hardware cost per screen could be as low as $500. Bruce Markoe indicated that he was in a similar position to Disney. He believed the major issues were simple and easy to solve. He fully supported the conversion to cyan tracks. Apart from the environmental benefits, he predicted an improvement in the quality of analog soundtracks with the elimination of track application problems in the labs. This would be good also for the consumer. There was a need to move the conversion forward as soon as possible. Schawn Belston said that Fox was in the same position. They had been one of the early adopters of the interim high-magenta track format, and were very keen to make the transition to cyan. He noted the benefits to the environment as well as the longer life of the red LED readers. At the recent AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists) conference it was demonstrated that old prints would play equally well on red readers. Warner Bros. (not present) reported via Ioan Allen that their engineering department was watching the situation. They wished to present the highest quality product. They were one of the early adopters of the high-magenta format. They welcomed the environmental benefits of the simplified film process. They would continue to monitor the number of theatres equipped with red sound readers. Miramax (not present) reported via Ioan Allen that their limited releases of cyan prints (noted above) had played so well that there had been no feedback from the theatres. They looked forward to achieving 100 percent cyan. They would continue to push forward, and would place fliers in their print shipping cases indicating their objective of reaching 100 percent cyan by year-end 2002. Mary Ann Grasso noted that NATO was working closely with ITEA on this issue. Ioan Allen had requested a survey of NATO members. The main issues raised were the cost of the red readers and the quality of the presentation. Now the need was to facilitate the conversion and to educate the theatre owners, working with all present to begin to prepare the theatres for the cyan conversion. Opening the meeting to the audience, Ioan Allen noted that about 55 percent of screens in the US now had red readers and he brought up the question of getting the remaining 45 percent converted. An audience member stated that some theatres would wait until they started receiving cyan prints before they would install red readers. They would certainly notice the 10 dB drop in sound level. The costs of readers had dropped. LEDs were more reliable than exciter lamps. The supply of lamps was now in doubt and their quality had dropped. In reply to a question about a possible drop in print prices, Alan Masson noted that the chemicals involved were mostly relatively inexpensive inorganic chemicals. The cost savings were likely to be minimal, but the benefit to the lab would be the more reliable supply of release prints especially in tight release schedules. An audience member said that red LED readers required a technician to replace and re-align them while an exciter lamp could be changed by a projectionist in a few seconds. Ioan Allen noted the risk of sudden failure with exciter lamps, causing an interruption of a show, whereas a red LED reader slowly decreased in output with no risk of sudden failure. Wayne Anderson, Chairman of the Intersociety, said that we needed the studios to say they would convert to cyan by 1 January 2003. He felt this was a reasonable time scale. Mary Ann Grasso felt that there should be an increasing percentage of cyan releases through 2002, leading to 100 percent by January 2003. She agreed with Ioan Allen that there should be no dual inventory of silver and cyan prints. An audience member suggested that NATO should take the "high road" and propose a date for 100 percent conversion. Ioan Allen wondered whether theatre Technical Operations knew that cyan was coming. There was a consensus that this was well-known, but they were waiting until the last minute. Ioan cautioned that a last-minute rush of orders for red readers would be a problem for the suppliers. An audience member stated that small theatres needed "film can propaganda" but that an enclosed letter would have been discarded or lost by the time prints reached second-run houses. The letters should be taped to the outsides of the shipping cases Terri Westhafer believed that a deadline was essential, but noted that some theatre owners believed digital cinema was inevitable and that consequently there was a general reluctance to spend any more money on film equipment. Xenon lamp sales were down. Jack Cashin (USL) proposed that if we were agreed that this was an environmental issue, a non-profit organization should be set up to collect contributions as tax write-offs and make grants for red reader purchases this year. He estimated a total cost of $5 million. Ioan Allen questioned whether this could be done on the time schedule suggested. An audience member said that a hard deadline was needed and that information letters enclosed with cyan prints during the scale-up should state "this is not a test run". An audience member asked the studio executives if they would issue a joint press release about a completion date. The response was that there were legal concerns about a joint press release from the studios, but that the ITEA and NATO would issue a joint press release about today's meeting, which will be submitted to the participating studios for their approval. E&OE |
