A Brief History of MITC

Since its formation in January of 2003 (then known as the ASC Technology Committee), the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council has diligently pursued its objective to understand the technological sea change impacting our motion picture and television production and postproduction industries so that we might be able to effectively influence their developments in ways that best serve creative interests of filmmakers while emphasizing the cinematographer’s contribution in advancing our evolving art form.

The ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council (also known by the acronym MITC, or “My Tech”) includes numerous Committees and working groups, each with an assigned task of working on key aspects of the production and post-production workflow. The Committees are: MITC Strategic Planning Steering Committee, Camera Committee, Lens Committee, Lighting Committee, Motion Imaging Workflow Group, Image Data Management Committee, ACES 2.0 Color Management Committee, Next Generation Cinema Display Committee, Professional Monitors Committee, UHDTV Advanced Consumer Displays Committee, HDR Evaluation Working Group, Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production, Advanced Imaging Committee, and ASC MITC Artificial Intelligence Committee. (See below for further detail.)

MITC is widely recognized as a vital and influential motion picture industry forum on digital motion imaging technology and has developed a close working relationship with other film industry groups that share our mission. They include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Science and Technology Council, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Digital Cinema Initiatives, the Art Directors Guild, the Producers Guild of America, the Pre visualization Society and the Visual Effects Society Technology Committee.

Notable milestone MITC achievements include:

(2003 -’04) The ASC-DCI Standard Evaluation Material (StEM) provided essential motion picture image content used by DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) to create the imaging quality requirements for digital cinema that enabled the sevaluation of digital cinema projection systems.

(2005) Two-part article “Color-Space Conundrum,” published by American Cinematographer in print and online, is a comprehensive exploration of the importance of understanding color space and its impact on the cinematographer’s work. (Part 1 and Part 2)

(2006 -’07) The four-part Authoring Images supplement to American Cinematographer, which was the result of collaboration with the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Technology Committee which explored how the new digital “look management” and pre-visualization tools had the potential to reinforce the creative collaboration between the director, cinematographer and production designer.

(2007-’12) Digital camera metadata initiative in conjunction with AMPAS

(2007-’18; ongoing) For the past decade, MITC has prepared comprehensive annual Progress Reports on areas of interest, study and research for publication in the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. This series of reports has been of vital interest to SMPTE members and helped foster a dialog between engineers and end users, especially cinematographers. (All these reports are available here.)

(2008 -’12; ongoing) Our DI Committee has developed the American Society of Cinematographers Color Decision List (ASC CDL) which has become the de facto industry standard for cross-platform primary RGB color grading and proposed for official SMPTE standardization by both AMPAS and the Walt Disney Co.

(2009) The ASC-PGA Camera Assessment Series (CAS) which assessed the photographic performance of seven digital motion picture cameras in comparison with film via the then prevailing Cineon-based 2K digital intermediate (D.I.) postproduction workflow.

(2010 -’12; ongoing) Proactive collaboration with AMPAS on the development of the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), an innovative open and transparent cross-platform color management system supporting dynamic range and color gamut greater than film.

(2012) The ASC-PGA Image Control Assessment Series (ICAS), which assessed five digital motion picture cameras in comparison with a film reference using an ACES-based 4K DI post production workflow.

(2013) Significant advances that were being made regarding on-set/near-set workflow for look and data management of digital camera images dominated the content of the 2012 SMPTE Progress Report.

(2014) Central among MITC areas of interest are technology advances in laser projection; new enhancements to digital display technology, i.e., High Dynamic Range (HDR) Reproduction a.k.a. Extended Dynamic Range (EDR) Reproduction for both monitors and laser projection; Ultra-high-definition-television (UHDTV); a new wide gamut color space, Rec. 2020, to accompany UHDTV; and, of course, Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) development.

(2015 – Ongoing) High Dynamic Range for cinema and UHDTV, and maintaining/delivering artistic intent on the wide variety of displays in use. Also of interest was growing interest in high frame rate (HFR) shooting, sometimes mated with HFR digital cinema projection that in- creases temporal resolution in addition to the already pervasive 4K spatial resolution for cameras, digital cinema projection, and ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV).

(2016) Publishes the “ASC Display Evaluation Plan & Test Protocol.” As higher performance cinema projectors and active screens emerge, it is important to identify where value is created from the filmmakers’ point-of-view, independent of the technology. This represents the first step towards this goal, defining a method for the visual evaluation of parameters that characterize next-generation cinema projection and active screens.

(2016) MITC establishes the Lens Committee, which has helped coordinate “Lens Day” events (Anamorphic and Spherical) at the ASC Clubhouse, showcasing the proliferation of optics makers and new creative options available to cinematographers.

Upcoming MITC initiatives designed to encourage ASC member participation in committee activities include such subjects as:

• Next Generation Cinema Display and test protocol; including theatrical exhibition LED Emissive Cinema Displays

• Previsualization, Virtual Production, Virtual Reality

• Continuing work with the Motion Picture Academy on the further development of ACES 2.0 (a.k.a. “ACES Next”)