American Cinematographer - August 2019 - 98

The Next100 Years

Mat Beck, ASC: The traditional
definition of cinematography is
expanding. Imagery is data, and we
will see more and more data processing in the final image. Some high-end
movies are using visual-effects techniques in virtually every frame, so the
palette, the quiver of arrows, the toolbox - whatever metaphor you want
to use - is continually growing at the
high end. The question, 'Can we get
that shot?' is more and more answered with a VFX response: 'We can get it or make
it. How much money, time and processing power do we have?'
The data gathering is growing in kind as well as amount. Higher res, higher
frame rate, more camera and lens metadata, camera-tracking data, performance
capture. Multiple cameras for panoramic VR background. Multiple lens data for
computational photography. At the high end of film production, all this data and
processing power will further the separation between the final image and the original critical moment on set - if there even is a set.
With all these capabilities come more challenges - and more opportunities
for noodling, procrastination, dissolution of creative control. In a world where most
of the frame, or the scene, or the movie, has a virtual camera shooting a virtual
avatar on a virtual set, the cinematographer is going to put his or her creative stamp
on the picture outside the traditional arena - in the virtual one.
And while these new technologies create challenges at the high end, as they
trickle down it makes things easier for productions on the 'low end.' The future is
already here if we have A-list directors shooting movies on the iPhone. To mangle
Marx, the means of production - and postproduction and preproduction - are
being more widely distributed among the proletariat.
Looking forward, beyond more methods of distribution in the marketplace,
there are going to be more ways to get the imagery inside people's heads. In 100
years? We're going to be dealing with direct neural inputs, for sure. I'm imagining
interactive sessions tracking our neural response to the imagery. So besides being
visually creative and technically good, a great DP is also going to have to continue to
be nimble and curious as to what the latest thing is that's coming down the pike.
We can virtualize the set, the camera, even the actor, but we can't yet virtualize the audience. All that digital stuff goes through an analog processor - the 31⁄2pound lump of meat and fat between our ears - that continues to be the ultimate
creator and arbiter of great imagery. People care about people. And the more technology facilitates, intrudes into, and messes up our lives, the more people are going
to continually react to something that is human and organic - and in some ways
atavistic.
The technology will only ever be a tool, and never a solution, in my opinion.
There are some people who think that in 100 years, eventually there is going to be a
hybrid between computing power and us - some kind of cyborg, or whatever the
term is. That's entirely possible. And maybe that's the evolutionary path that was
always laid out for us and we just didn't know it, that we were destined to get smart
enough to invent machines smarter than us, and then crossbreed with them. I'm not
smart enough to see how that's going to turn out, but I think human emotion and
human aesthetic is still going to be the determinant factor. It's going to be the source
and the arena of judgment for how good a movie is - even if it's not a movie, and
it's not exactly us watching it.
98

August 2019

ASC 100th Anniversary

Robert Primes, ASC: Just as
there's been a long overlap between
the deep love we have for the beauty
of film and the technical superiority of
digital, I cannot help but feel we can
anticipate an even longer overlap
between our beloved tradition of
photographing live scenes and the
inevitable economies and efficiencies
of computer-created or computerenhanced subjects and images. Today
our digital lighting and image-manipulation tools are so powerful that it is
essential for cinematographers to
master them if they are to stay relevant. That's a harbinger of how the art
and science of cinematography will
need to adapt to even more disruptive
technologies.
Stump: A big piece of the future
will be cinematographers owning the
hybridization of image generation. In
the last few years I've started to use
LED display panels in various sizes
and configurations, both for lighting
and to present images to be
photographed. But the thing that I
think nobody sees coming is mapping
game-engine footage to panels of all
sizes and shapes to create environments that you just couldn't create
any other way except CG, as a post
exercise.
In order for a technology like
this to mature, we're going to have to
bring compositing, and adjusting the
nuance of compositing, onto set. And
that means putting it in the hands of
the cinematographer, and the camera
and
lighting
crew
as
well.
Cinematographers need to be ready to
manage that onstage. The ones who
are ready to own it are the ones who
are going to do great work with it. It's
just newer tech, and it gives you
greater possibilities for the places that
you can take us with your images.
Neihouse: As motion-picture
technology gets more sophisticated, it
creates all sorts of artistic possibilities,
and as cinematographers we have to
learn how to incorporate these
advances into our craft without letting
the technology drive the image or the

American Cinematographer - August 2019

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