Inter BEE Special Interview Video Section Taro Kimura & Hideichi Tamegaya [Part2]

Today, with the importance of content further highlighted by the appearance of various new types of hardware, Kimura and Tamegaya agree that "hardware technologies must be used appropriately".


Kimura:
I gather that content creators will also be participating in the video sessions at this year's Inter BEE.

Tamegaya:
Yes, that's right. There will be talks on cutting-edge technology, but it won't just be technical stuff. We also plan to talk about how the video content is produced in the hope that people will get the broader picture. Specifically, we will introduce the kind of work top people in the movie industry are involved in - for example, what kind of quality is achievable with the CG image processing and combined special effects used in movies.

Kimura:
When I look at movies, I feel that there is nothing they can't do with digital technologies, and also that there are far too many movies which go all out to prove that. CG has taken on the main role in movies. Yet, if we see CG all the time it turns from a solution into a problem. It would be more effective to use it subtly.

Tamegaya:
That's exactly right. For example, Spiderman is a CG actor. At the moment, Hollywood's number one development goal is to see just how real they can make CG characters. They have built up such momentum, it's as if they want to completely replace the actors. Indeed, technically they can do anything these days. But when it comes to applying the technology, they really need to think about it on a case-by-case basis. There are many situations where it can be used subtly, and there are productions that would be impossible without CG. But at the same time, there are ways of using it so the viewer will hardly be aware. Nowadays, there are almost no movies which don't use some CG process. They should always think about how to use it appropriately.

Kimura:
Movie audiences are getting more experienced and they can recognize good CG. The production side will perhaps have failed in a sense if their tricks have been spotted. But the only other route is to shout about it and use the CG to promote the movie. I suppose production is going to get more difficult.

Tamegaya:
In the world of Hollywood CG right now, everybody's attention is focused on character animation. Two-dimensional, hand-drawn animation has been staked out by Japan, and Hollywood can't hope to compete anymore. So they are pouring everything into creating entertainment products using three-dimensional CG. They are using the right technologies for the right projects. And because they are generating 3D CG models, in Hollywood now most character animation movies are simultaneously being made into 3D movies. Computers are getting more powerful and they can use a single CG model to calculate two views, one for the left eye and one for the right. Hollywood has always been good at creating new business by making good use of new technologies. They create a 3D effect using spectacles that have Polaroid filters or shutters that flip on and off.

Kimura:
Do you think even regular TV dramas will be shown in 3D?

Tamegaya:
It's possible. I think it depends on the specific aims, but now that movies have reached a certain level, people are thinking about what the movie business will be like in the future. In that case, we must think about what kind of services we can offer the viewers using the new technologies. This is because, when people are able to see high-resolution movies in their own homes, they will start wondering what the theater will be able to offer them. That's why you see this trend of screening the sort of movies that can only be experienced in theaters. This means digital projection systems are replacing the movie projectors in theaters, and a new entertainment genre, digital cinema, is coming to town.

Kimura:
For this digital cinema, do you think the natural way forward is to use satellites to beam the movies into the theaters, rather than use movie or digital media?

Tamegaya:
Yes, and it's also possible to use fiber-optic cable. It's all digital information, so the data can be saved as files on a server and then used. But the biggest problem is how to prevent piracy.

Kimura:
So technology developed for the industry has moved into the consumer realm in no time at all. And then systems emerge for distributing content right into people's houses, which in fact is what Apple is already doing.

Tamegaya:
The greatest advantage of going digital is that content can be adapted to many different media, processed into formats that suit each one, and then dispatched. The use of digital data links back to what I was saying about the real-time image processing technology, because this technology makes it possible to deliver content to various media in real-time, including delivery via the Internet. This is called IPTV, a field that is growing very rapidly.

Kimura:
Although I hesitate to mention any specific product names, I think that Apple has created something very interesting with iTunes. Something that started out as just music has expanded into movies, television programs, and has even given rise to Apple TV. With Apple TV installed on a family TV, you can pick video content from your computer's hard disc and stream it through a wireless network to watch it on your television. On a 42-inch plasma TV, the quality is as good as you get with an NTSC signal. Perhaps "TV" of the future will be about watching video as we have never watched it before. A variety of new hardware like this is appearing, but in the case of Apple, the way they have combined hardware with the iTunes content delivery system is very well executed.

Tamegaya:
Yes, and they've succeeded as a business not only with their hardware, but also with their decisions about how to deliver content, and what kind of content is likely to be a hit. [Continues to Part 3]