SMPTE
MEETING
REPORT
The
March 21st
meeting of
the
Hollywood
Section
was held
at the
Linwood
Dunn
Theater,
with the
theme of
“Innovations
and
Inventions”.
Included
in the
program
were two
of the
winners of
2005
Scientific
and
Technical
Awards
from the
The
first
presenter
was Scott
Leva, who
was
honored by
the
Academy
for the
design and
development
of the
Precision
Stunt
Airbag for
motion
picture
stunt
falls.
Mr.
Leva told
the
audience
that after
many years
as a stunt
man, the
death of
two of his
co-workers
in falls
inspired
him to
design an
air bag
that
enveloped
the
performer,
preventing
bouncing
out of the
bag.
He
ran a
short
video
showing
himself
making
jumps from
as high as
150 feet.
This
presentation
was a
fascinating
change
from our
usual
technical
material.
The
second
presenters
were Bob
Heiber,
president
of Chace
Productions,
and Jamie
Howarth of
Plangent
Processes.
They
have
developed
a system
to
eliminate
wow and
flutter
from
magnetic
recordings
where the
base
material
was warped
or
shrunken.
Details
were
projected
on screen,
together
with audio
examples
which were
played
through
the Dunn
Theater’s
exemplary
sound
system.
Also
honored by
the
Academy
was
Technicolor,
for their
Real Time
Answer
Print
System.
Technicolor
was
represented
by Bob
Olson,
vice-president
of
operations,
who made a
PowerPoint
presentation
describing
the
procedure.
This
system
allows a
print to
be
projected
on a unit
containing
printer
light
sources.
Changes
to color
and
density
can be
viewed,
and
changed in
almost any
manner
wanted by
the film
makers.
These
changes
are
translated
into
printer
light
changes.
This
generally
cuts in
half the
number of
prints
needed to
arrive at
the
desired
quality.
Following
Bob’s
talk, Tim
Reynolds
and Harold
Rattray,
both of
whom were
part of
the
development
team,
answered
questions
from the
audience.
The
final
presenter
was