COVID-19 has created a huge crisis in our community with terrible consequences for many of us. IMAGO is deeply concerned by the situation which strikes each country with different levels of casualties.
One thing that is for sure is that it will certainly create, in the coming months, different approaches to working on set. We believe that the IMAGO Technical Committee (ITC) could learn from different local experiences and share information and technologies that can help crews in facing this crisis.
With the many future collective challenges facing cinematographers, international collaboration through IMAGO is more important than ever, as is also the highly important work of the IMAGO Technical Committee.
IMAGO ITC conference at last Camerimage, attended by ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Canon, Panasonic, Panavision, RED, Sony, FilmLight, Cooke Optics, Fujinon, Servicevision and Zeiss.
ITC would like to present some news about one of its recent activities. In November 2019, at Camerimage, we succeeded in gathering numerous manufacturers to present the analysis of the survey ”Requests to Manufacturers” that we launched two years earlier.
Firstly, we would like to thank each association and their administrators who helped us in carrying out this survey. More than 600 cinematographers and other technicians replied to this survey and gave us valuable input through more than 13000 responses.
Below is a link to the survey results:
We would also like to share the IMAGO Technical Committee report which you can read by clicking here. This was meant to be shared at the IAGA meeting in Brussels this March and which has now revised after the pandemic lockdown…
You will find, at the end of this, the list of members and associate members of the ITC.
The ITC is active in self-isolation mode. Weekly team discussions and even more frequent direct contacts between ITC members have become a habit, at a time when the overwhelming majority of projects have been stopped.
Currently, the results of the study ”Requests to Manufacturers” are being actively discussed and new steps are being prepared:
– Publication of research results.
– Communicating the results to manufacturers and publishing conclusions.
– Creating a mechanism for monitoring and analysing the interaction with manufacturers and the accomplishments achieved.
– Preparing a list of topics for ITC’s next research.
One of the requested topics: ”MEANINGS OF WORDS” is currently being worked on. The objective of this project is to unify and streamline the technical terminology in film production.
As a first step, we selected about 20 terms, that we consider being technically fundamental and present in our daily professional work, terms like “pixel, photosite, definition, sensitivity, color space” and so on.
The IMAGO Technical Committee has members from all around the World, and those not being able to attend meetings physically, attend by Skype. Here Dave Stump ASC speaking to Juan A. Fernandez AEC and Patrick Lindenmaier SCS. In the background Philippe Ros AFC, Mick van Rossum NSC and Daniele Siragusano (FilmLight).
All these terms used with a certain ambiguity or are commonly misused in technical papers, specifications, manuals, and marketing brochures. This leads to confusion in our communications, especially in the growing world of international co-productions.
Our next step will be to deliver these terms to representatives from the manufacturing community, with a request for help in defining them.
We believe cinematographers must share a common ground with the suppliers of their tools regarding the technical parameters, specifications, and workflows for image acquisition and post-production.
The results of this project will be important in the everyday life of working cinematographers, camera crew members, DITs, postproduction specialists, and in the educational process at film schools.
The final results will be translated into all languages of member guilds and IMAGO associations and published on the IMAGO website.
The ITC has grown, we currently have 25 countries represented in the committee, but we still would like to have even more input from cinematographers from additional countries.
IMAGO Technical Committee:
Active Members
Aleksej Berkovic (RGC) Russia
John Daly (BSC) United Kingdom
Mario Costa (AIP) Portugal
Joe Dunton (BSC) (MBE) United Kingdom
Juan Antonio Fernandez (AEC) Spain
Stefan Grandrinetti (BVK) Germany
Kommer Klejin (SBC) Belgium
Zekeriyat Kurtulus (GYD) Turkey
Edward Lachman (ASC) USA
Alex Linden (FSF) (co-chairman) Sweden
Patrick Lindenmaier (CSC) Switzerland
Jannicke Mikkelsen (FNF) Norway
Alfonso Parra (ADFC) Colombia
Andres Holcke Petersen (DFF) Denmark
Claire Pijman (NSC) Netherlands
Philippe Ros (AFC) (co-chairman) France
John Christian Rosenlund (FNF) Norway
Mick van Rossum (NSC) Netherlands
Roberto Schaefer (ASC) (AIC) USA
Alex Sterian (RSC) Romania
Dave Stump (ASC) (co-chairman) USA
Ivar Taim (ESC) Estonia
Piet de Vries (ACS) Australia
Associate Members
Dirk Meier (colourist) (BVK) Germany
Charles Poynton PhD Colour scientist Canada
We are at your disposal to discuss further collaboration and looking forward to hearing from you.
Co-Chairs of the IMAGO Technical Committee
Alex Linden FSF (+46) 70 715 8017 @: president FSF/Sweden
