American Cinematographer - May 1990 - 88

SALES/SERVICE/RENTAL
*

major
companies including
ARRIFLEX, SPECTRA,
Full line of

expendables

*

Buy/Sell/Trade Used
Equipment

*

Motion Picture

using 38 instruments and
combining stage and video lighting. In
addition, the lighting scheme relied
heavily on highlight as a common de¬
nominator.
Most of the eleventh hour

Dealer for most

STEENBECK, and TIFFEN
*

with Griebsch,

Equipment

Service/Sales/Rental

problems that seem obligatory in a
grand-scale experiment ensued. Snow¬
storms threatened the arrival of the light¬
ing director from Chicago, crew members
teetered precariously on 30' high ladders
as the lights were hung and focused, co¬
producer Dorothy Shamonsky slid on
some winter ice and broke her arm days
before the shoot. And yet, in the end, the
shoot itself flowed smoothly, much to our
amazement.

AATON
ANGENIEUX
REPAIRS
(ARRI, ECLAIR, BEAULIEU, BOLEX Etc.)
Factory trained by AATON
20 yrs

experience in motion

picture field
Servicing all major motion
picture equipment

SMS PRODUCTIONS, INC.
445 W. Erie Street Unit 103

Chicago, IL 60610 312-664-3752

FIRST IN THE WORLD
ARRI-COMPATIBLE FRIES MODIFIED MITCHELL CAMERA BODY

FIRST IN AMERICA
12 MM T2.1

PL ZEISS WIDE ANGLE PRIME LENS

FIRST OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD
25-250 MM T2.3 TECHNOVISION-COOKE ZOOM LENS

FIRST IN SAN FRANCISCO
FIRST ARRIFLEX 35 BL FOUR CAMERA BODY
FIRST CEI VIEWPOINT VIDEO ASSIST SYSTEM
FIRST NORRIS INTERVALOMETER SYSTEM
FIRST JURGEN ORIENTABLE VIDEO DOOR
FIRST ARRIFLEX 35 BL III CAMERA BODY
FIRST MICRO FORCE ZOOM CONTROL
FIRST COOKE VAROTAL 5-1 ZOOM LENS
FIRST COOKE VAROTAL 10-1 ZOOM LENS
FIRST CEI VP II VIDEO ASSIST CAMERA
FIRST ARRI III 1000 FT MAGAZINES

FIRST SACHTLER 7 + 7 STUDIO HEAD
FIRST ARRIFLEX IIC PL HARD FRONT
FIRST ZEISS 10-100 T2 ZOOM LENS
FIRST WILSON SUPAFROST FILTERS
FIRST PRECISION SPEED CONTROL
FIRST NIKKOR 200 MM T2 PL LENS
FIRST ARRIFLEX HI SPEED 16 SR
FIRST ARRIFLEX 35 III CAMERA
FIRST ZEISS 60 MM MACRO LENS
FIRST CANON 300 MM PL LENS
FIRST CANON 400 MM PL LENS
FIRST CANON 800 MM LENS
FIRST CANON 14 MM PL LENS
FIRST 150-600 MM PL LENS

CAMERA RENTALS

(Hi
■

uttemiach

151 KING STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

94107

perception of "the look" was not easy.
Very few seemed to use the "look" or the
"feel" of the piece as an indicator and
most found it difficult to isolate them¬
selves from their preconceived biases. It
was

generally agreed that there

videotapes -
film-originated and one the video
original - two identical tape masters
edited. These masters were iden¬
tical in every way but for medium origi¬
nation and virtually undetectable paral¬
lax.
It was now time to test the
work we had so carefully crafted.
The study was composed of

of subjects. A mass audience
chosen by random number
selection from the local telephone direc¬
tory and an expert sample from produc¬
tion and engineering media profession¬
als. These subjects were assembled
singly or in pairs in a viewing room at
two groups

sample

was

MIT's Media Lab.
Before we screened the paral¬
lel material for these groups, we did an
additional study. The subjects saw a
series of 13 program clips which were
selected from a variety of television

on a

combination of content, his¬

tory and technical cues. It was not un¬
common to get comments like, "I know
that

a

news

guy

sitting in the studio reading

is video, I don't have to see the way

May 1990

are

several types of programming that have
a blatant film look, such as movies (fea¬

look (news, soaps and

shows).

done. From the two l-inch

TEL. 415-974-1982, FAX. 415-541-9365

86

program is of film or video origin, view¬
look at content and historical factors
first. Trying to get at people's intuitive
ers

game

relied

INCORPORAlED|

Iee

that when asked to state whether

a

ture films) or video

programming and traditional theatrical
film. These 30-second excerpts covered
a range of content types including drama,
sports, music, news and adventure.
Subjects were given a questionnaire and
asked to place a "V" (video) or an "F"
(film) in a blank corresponding to the clip
number they viewed to indicate their
choice of originating format.
This segment was crucial to
the study in that it demonstrated pre¬
existing content biases. After viewing the
13 program clips, subjects were asked to
explain how they decided whether each
clip was film or video. To do this, they

FIRST ZEISS CLOSE FOCUS LENS SET

seems

otape on a Bosch transfer station was
one

since they're

Though it is difficult to distin¬
guish specifically when viewers are us¬
ing certain factors of identification, it

On the heels of this success, a
transfer from film negative to l-inch vide¬

were

and ANGENIEUX in France

it looks," and "You expect

called 'music videos' for them to be
video."

one

and

the

mass

a

On the average, experts got
half more correct answers than

audience, and 48 percent of the
experts got ten or more correct compared
to 15 percent of the mass audience
sample. This implies, not surprisingly,
that the trained eye has a better sense
of the "look" than the average viewer.
However, the experts did demonstrate
fixed ideas about particular content types
and carry assumptions with them that
sometimes get in the way of their ability
to see the "look." (For example, the as¬

sumption that a sit-com would be video
prevented the experts from realizing that
both The Odd Couple and Cheers were
shot on film.)
After the 30-second excerpts
screened, subjects were shown the
parallel dance program on two identical

were

TV monitors and asked to write down
which screen displayed the film and

which video.

Seventy-four percent of the
random sample preferred the film. All of
the subjects who preferred film were
correct in their guess, whereas 35 per¬
cent of the subjects who preferred video

thought they were preferring film. This
might indicate that viewers want to be¬
lieve that they prefer film. In response to
the question, "Which screen is sharper?"
65 percent of the expert sample found
the video image sharper compared with
45 percent of the mass audience.
After

a

discussion about the

parallel content, subjects were asked
questions which focused on arriving at
individual perceptions of the look. Sub¬
jects were asked to use adjectives de¬
scribing the film look and the video look.
They were asked their ideas about cul¬
tural similarities, differences between
American Cinematographer - May 1990

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 1990
