A Star is Born - From 4K resolution film up to high-res 6K digital video

On the frontier that is digital cinema, Sony is now presenting its latest blockbuster, Hancock, at selected theaters in state-of-the-art 4K resolution. If 4K is good, 6K must be better, right?

“A 6K transfer is just an attempt at marketing position," declares Lowry Digital Images' Chief Technical Officer John Lowry, who's done high-definition and 4K transfers on some of Hollywood's greatest films, including, Citizen Kane, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a number of James Bond movies, and the Indiana Jones and Star Wars collections. "Everything on film is captured at 4K, down to the film grain. In fact, if there is any motion, there’s even less resolution than 4K. If the camera pans, there’s less than 4K. The bottom line is this measurement of resolution is fragile. Any movement, and you’re probably at 2 or 3K in terms of actual resolution due to the blurring caused by camera shutter limitations (similar to how movement causes a blurry image when you’re shooting a still frame picture). Even slight camera pans and tilts will cause this. If you’re gonna talk about 6K, why not 8K, or 10K? At some point, it just becomes ridiculous. Bottom line: 4K is pretty darn good.”

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/features/2880/the-truth-about-6k.html

I'd love to see something in 4K just to see how good it really is.

Falcon,

Most modern motion pictures shot on conventional film stock are scanned at 4K for high-definition digital intermediates, which are what editors and other post-production people work with. Then they're converted back to regular reels of film for showing in theaters using conventional projection or they remain at 4K on hard disks for digital projection and later downconverting to 480 and 1080 SD and HD discs.

(Incidentally, I believe most motion-picture digital photography is now shot at 2K and edited and shown that way, which is why it isn't always as sharp and clear as conventional film.)

More on the subject from Bnet:

"We hear the term 'digital intermediate' frequently, especially connection with digital cinema projects. But what exactly is a digital intermediate?

While it's difficult to get agreement on a precise definition, the digital intermediate is basically an electronic alternative to the conventional film process where color timing is done photochemically at the film lab in preparation for theatrical release.

Enabled by the advancement of video to near-film resolutions, the digital intermediate brings film finishing into the electronic environment where directors and DPs gain real-time, interactive and accurate creative control over color and other picture attributes, with the ultimate objective being to shoot it back to 35mm film for theatrical release. Once produced, the digital intermediate can also serve as a "universal master" from which all video deliverables can be derived."

John