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2 ■ CGW M ay / Ju n e 2 014 A THE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT PROFESSIONALS few years ago, the talk at NAB had been focused on the move to 2k. At NAB 2014, there were two things on everyone's mind: 4k and the cloud. In fact, some were claiming that 4k is "today," while 6k and even 8k is "tomorrow." But, it's not just about adding pixels – a lot of them, to be sure – and resolution. Higher frame rates, a wider color gamut, and expanded dynamic range are part of the scenario, as well. Audiences got a taste of what to expect with digital cinema's latest step when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was shown in High Frame Rate – 48 frames per second (fps), as opposed to the standard 24 fps – 3D. Reactions were mixed, with some claiming the movie was "too realistic." Nevertheless, a revolution in cinema has been brewing for some time. James Cameron has stated that he is looking at 48 or 60 fps for his upcoming Avatar sequels, leaning toward the latter. For a while now, Douglas Trumbull has been working on the short film "UFOTOG," a 12-minute technology demonstration of a 4 k 3D movie at 120 fps. It seems, though, that the biggest hurdle has been finding a theater capable of showing the project. The movie made its public debut recently at the Seattle Cinerama Sci-Fi Film Festival, with Christie providing a special digital projector for the premiere. For Trumbull, 60 fps is so, well, 1980s. That is when he invented the 70mm 60 fps Showscan technology for his 1983 movie Brainstorm. However, Hollywood was not quite ready for this revolution, and MGM backed out of plans to release the experimental film in this new format. Today, though, the climate is far different. Why the big push for these new formats? As filmmakers will tell you, the motion blur and flickering that occurs with 3D at the lower frame rates disappear at 48 fps and above. The move to higher frame rates and higher resolution is not the stuff of science fiction or the future, as Ted Schilowitz will attest. A year ago, Schilowitz was creating a revolution with the Red cameras, used by Director Peter Jackson on The Hobbit. Since then, he was named Futurist for Twentieth Century Fox, where his main focus is to identify cinema trends before they become trends. Another related position he holds is Cinema-Vangelist at Barco. There, he is developing the "Escape" plan, which debuted during CinemaCon and received an encore at NAB. Escape offers a novel way to watch films through the introduction of at least two additional screens situated on each side of the main screen, immersing audiences in the wraparound action. The temporary setup used Barco's new 4 k laser projector, along with a pair of 2k projectors for the side screens. An Escape system is being installed at Twentieth Century Fox's Zanuck Theater. While new movie formats are already here, the present slate of movies did not take advantage of them. Still, audiences can expect plenty of visual adrenaline as Spider-Man swings into theaters in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was shot using 35mm film and post-converted to 3D (see "Let Him Fly," page 6). Meanwhile, Maleficent takes a dark approach to the re-imagining of the "Sleep- ing Beauty" tale. Make no mistake, this movie is a cry far from the 1959 traditionally animated film. Rather, the 3D movie takes a live-action approach augmented with state-of-the-art visual effects and CG characters (see "Tricky Pixies," page 14). Also, as an extra treat in this issue, we introduce Joel Payne, a fine artist who uses a unique blend of painting/CGI to make his artwork pop with color. Disney named him a Disney interpretive artist, and he uses this novel technique to create Disney character-themed pieces (see "Main Street Artist," page 30). ■ CGW R E C E N T AWA R D S THE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT PROFESSIONALS EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Karen Moltenbrey e: karen@cgw.com t: 603.432.7568 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Courtney Howard, Jenny Donelan, Kathleen Maher, George Maestri, Martin McEachern, Barbara Robertson PUBLISHER / PRESIDENT / CEO William R. 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