Digital intermediate

Digital average (typically abbreviated to DI) is a motion account finishing action which classically involves digitizing a motion account and manipulating the blush and added angel characteristics. It generally replaces or augments the photochemical timing action and is usually the final artistic acclimation to a cine afore administration in theaters. It is acclaimed from the telecine action in which blur is scanned and blush is manipulated aboriginal in the action to facilitate editing. However the curve amid telecine and DI are always blurred and are generally accomplished on the aforementioned accouterments by colorists of the aforementioned background. These two accomplish are about allotment of the all-embracing blush administration action in a motion account at altered credibility in time. A agenda average is aswell commonly done at college resolution and with greater blush allegiance than telecine transfers.

Although originally acclimated to call a action that started with blur scanning and concluded with blur recording, agenda average is aswell acclimated to call blush allocation and final arrive even if a agenda camera is acclimated as the angel antecedent and/or if the final cine is not achievement to film. This is due to contempo advances in agenda cinematography and agenda bump technologies that strive to bout blur alpha and blur projection.

Film projection.

In acceptable photochemical blur finishing, an average is produced by advertisement blur to the aboriginal camera negative. The average is again acclimated to accomplish the films that get broadcast to theaters. Blush allocation is done by capricious the bulk of red, green, and dejected ablaze acclimated to betrayal the intermediate. This seeks to be able to alter or augment the photochemical access to creating this intermediate.

The agenda average action uses agenda accoutrement to blush grade, which allows for abundant bigger ascendancy of alone colors and areas of the image, and allows for the acclimation of angel anatomy (grain, sharpness, etc.). The average for blur reproduction can again be produced by agency of a blur recorder. The concrete average blur that is a aftereffect of the recording action is sometimes aswell alleged a agenda intermediate, and is usually recorded to internegative (IN) stock, which is inherently finer-grain than camera abrogating (OCN).

One of the key abstruse achievements that makes the DI accessible is the look-up table (aka "LUT"), which can be fabricated to actor how the agenda angel will look, already it's printed assimilate accustomed absolution book stock. DI accessories about acquiesce comparing the agenda angel anon to a book on the aforementioned screen, ensuring absolute arrangement of the process.

The agenda master, created during the Agenda Average process, can be recorded to actual abiding yellow-cyan-magenta (YCM) separations on black-and-white blur with an accepted 100-year or best life.

The agenda adept is generally acclimated as a antecedent for a Agenda Cinema Initiatives (DCI) adjustable administration of the motion account for agenda projection.

History

Telecine accoutrement to electronically abduction blur images are about as old as advertisement television, but the consistent images were broadly advised clashing for advertisement aback assimilate blur for affected distribution. Blur scanners and recorders with superior acceptable to aftermath images that could be inter-cut with approved blur began actualization in the 1970s, with cogent improvements in the backward 1980s and aboriginal 1990s. During this time, digitally processing an absolute feature-length blur was abstract because the scanners and recorders were acutely apathetic and the angel files were too ample compared to accretion ability available. Instead, alone shots or abbreviate sequences were candy for appropriate beheld effects. In 1992, Beheld Furnishings Supervisor/Producer Chris F. Woods bankrupt through several "techno-barriers" in creating a agenda flat to aftermath the beheld furnishings for the 1993 absolution Super Mario Bros. It was the aboriginal affection blur activity to digitally browse a ample amount of VFX plates (over 700) at 2K resolution. It was aswell the aboriginal blur scanned and recorded at Kodak's just launched Cinesite ability in Hollywood. This activity based flat was the aboriginal affection blur to use Discreet Logic's (now Autodesk) Flame and Inferno systems, which enjoyed aboriginal ascendancy as top resolution / top achievement agenda compositing systems. Agenda Blur compositing for Beheld Furnishings was anon embraced, while optical printer use for VFX beneath just as quickly, and never came back. Chris Watts added revolutionized the action on the 1998 affection blur Pleasantville, acceptable the aboriginal beheld furnishings administrator for New Line Cinema to scan, process, and almanac the majority of a affection length, live-action, Hollywood blur digitally. The aboriginal Hollywood blur to advance a agenda average action from alpha to end was O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000 and in Europe it was Chicken Run appear that aforementioned year.

The action rapidly bent on in the mid-2000s. About 50% of Hollywood films went through a agenda average in 2005, accretion to about 70% by mid-2007.1 This is due not alone to the added artistic options the action affords blur makers but aswell the charge for high-quality scanning and blush adjustments to aftermath movies for agenda cinema.

Milestones

1990 – The Rescuers Down Under – Aboriginal feature-length blur to be absolutely recorded to blur from agenda files; in this case action accumulated on computers application Walt Disney Affection Action and Pixar's CAPS system.

1993 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Aboriginal blur to be absolutely scanned to agenda files, manipulated, and recorded aback to film. The apology activity was done absolutely at 4K resolution and 10-bit blush abyss application the new Cineon arrangement to digitally abolish clay and scratches and restore achromatic colors.2

1998 – Pleasantville – The aboriginal time the majority of a new affection blur was scanned, processed, and recorded digitally. The black-and-white meets blush apple portrayed in the cine was filmed absolutely in blush and selectively desaturated and adverse adapted digitally. The plan was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite utilizing a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution3

2000 – O Brother, Where Art Thou? – The aboriginal time a agenda average was acclimated on the absoluteness of a first-run Hollywood blur which contrarily had actual few beheld effects. The plan was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite utilizing a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution, a Pandora MegaDef to acclimatize the blush and a Kodak Lightning II recorder to achievement to film.4

– Chicken Run was the aboriginal affection blur in Europe to use the Agenda Average process, digitally autumn and manipulating every anatomy of the blur afore recording aback to film.

2004 – Spider-Man 2 – The aboriginal agenda average on a new Hollywood blur to be done absolutely at 4K resolution. Although scanning, recording, and color-correction was done at 4K by EFilm, a lot of of the beheld furnishings were created at 2K and were upscaled to 4K.

2008 – Baraka – The aboriginal 8K resolution agenda average by FotoKem of a 65 mm abrogating antecedent for the October 2008 remastered DVD and Blu-ray Disc release, as able-bodied as for bearing new 70 mm prints. The browse produced 30 terabytes of abstracts and took 12–13 abnormal to browse anniversary frame, for a absolute browse time of over 3 weeks