With a film as critically successful as The Hurt Locker—picking up six BAFTA awards then six Oscars early in 2010, and making its way onto many best of the year, best of the decade and all around best of lists—it might be easy to forget that it did not appear from nowhere. Years of research, writing and acquiring the funds preceded the shoot which began in July 2007. Although Morocco and Kuwait were prospective shooting locations, when Jordan became an option, its proximity to the country being portrayed convinced producers that the Kingdom would provide a greater opportunity to more authentically capture the film’s setting.

This choice was not without its difficulties. Traveling to the area meant some people would drop out of the production, and once there, the temperature regularly surpassed the 90 and 100 degrees mark, twice giving cinematographer Barry Ackroyd heat stroke. To this was added, as is almost always the case with shooting on location, the necessary responsibility to search for local talent. Supplementing the cast and crew meant finding the right actors and regional film industry veterans. To aid in their search, they enlisted Platform Studios who, knowing the producer wanted high speed camera footage, introduced them to Lebanon-based Third Eye FX.

The Vision

Third Eye FX began as an idea of Lebanese Dory Aoun in 1999.  After five years of working with cameras in various capacities, he grew weary of the limited resources and resulting constraints for local filmmakers.  At that time, they were forced to travel or hire from abroad to achieve any sort of modern effects.  Like everyone, Dory saw the disadvantages of this situation, but he knew what would be the advantages of bringing modern techniques to the area.  Five more stressful years of freelance work—shooting the occasional documentary and crafting commercials for international companies including Toyota, Sony, Pepsi and Braun—were passed before he had accrued the capital necessary to realize his dream.

In order to establish a first rate production house, Third Eye FX needed first rate equipment.  For motion control, they chose the already established and versatile Milo system, but finding a high speed camera was not so simple a task.  Working within the 35mm format, Dory was unimpressed with the “crispness” he saw in most high framerate digital cameras; he wanted something that could more closely approximate the look of film.  Embarking on an international search, he visited labs in Europe and the US, stopping in Germany, Amsterdam, London and New York.  At each site he tested the cameras and committed his concerns, but it wasn’t until he saw the IDT/Redlake design that his search approached completion; though possessing the power and adaptability  wanted in the high speed system, it avoided the overly “digital image” he didn’t want, delivering, instead, an image closer to 35mm film.

But the work wasn’t done in the discovery.  Despite insides capable of producing visuals Dory felt he could marry to film, the camera’s utilitarian exterior, designed primarily for research in automotive testing and laboratories, left him wanting.  Encased in a reflective body and lacking the PL mount essential for attaching the 35mm cinema lenses necessary to complete the look he wanted, the camera required a redesign.  Fortunately, the distributors were eager to work with him to make the appropriate changes, “they were so helpful and ready to cooperate with me whatever I asked.”  Once the adjustments had been made to his specifications, Dory returned to Lebanon, and Third Eye FX became the high end production house he had imagined five years earlier.

The Collaboration

When Platform Studios suggested to the producers of The Hurt Locker that Third Eye FX was capable of producing the high quality slow motion footage they wanted without the need to bring their own cameras, they were interested.  Upon meeting with the group, and seeing past footage, the producers learned just how capable the team was, and any previous plans to use another camera for the shots were discarded.  Preparations were made.  In a meeting with the film’s cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, Dory was given a list of supplemental shots desired from his camera.  Once the initial scenes were shown to Ackroyd and director Kathryn Bigelow, the results were just what was wanted, increasing the excitement in preparation for the camera’s big test, the explosion scene.

By far, the most prominent use of slow motion occurs within the first 10 minutes of the movie.  In a fairly atypical (by Hollywood standards) blast, dust and debris are dispersed in an achromatic, ashy column, occluding all but a hint of the orange conflagration within, sending the unfortunate staff sergeant to the ground.  To provide a spatial sense of the broad influence such detonations affect, Ackroyd and Bigelow placed six super 16mm cameras at various points around the blast site.  To create a palpable sense of the disaster effected by them, the the high speed camera, operated by Dory Aoun and his assistant Elie Karam, acted more than merely to provide an alternate point of view; it acted to approximate an alternate perception.

“ . . . it showed exactly what you feel if you are in the middle of the explosion.  This is where the high speed scenes made [a] positive [impact], I think, because the explosion happens in less, maybe, less than one second, a fraction of a second the explosion happens; but when you shoot it at 1000 frames per second you feel the very fraction of it.  You feel the intensity of it and it’s amazing that it shows you things that your eyes cannot see.”

To magnify the intended tactility of the sequence, Dory was asked to place his camera on top of a smaller blast to capture the rippling ground, the quaking autos: the pulse that silently and invisibly travels the air in the wake of such an incident, often proving as fatal as the debris.  Initially he was reluctant to risk his camera, but when director Bigelow asked him to do it for the sake of the images it would yield, he agreed: “I said, ‘okay fine guys, put the camera on the explosion, no problem’ . . . it was a very nice shot.”

The Future

With the film’s international acclaim, Third Eye FX has achieved exposure it never before thought possible: “[The] Hurt Locker was like a spotlight on us, so we were working a little bit in the shadow, but now this movie came . . .  [and] opened the door for us.”

Third Eye FX has continued to be an innovator in its region.  With the release of the RED camera, they moved away from 35mm to offer a completely digital package.  They also maintain a genial relationship with IDT, having upgraded to a newer model camera, contributing useful input for improving future cameras to better suit the film maker’s needs.  Dory has also been working to introduce 3-D to his home market, and IDT is working to help him realize another dream.

(IDT wishes to thank Dory Aoun for his cooperation in the interview from which the quotes above were obtained, and in his efforts which help to accelerate the progress of the cameras we design.)

By Adam Smith

Earlier this year, the first Y5 HDiablo was sent out with an N5 to complete shooting of the next film by Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle in the wilds of Utah. Following their incredible success with Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle and long-time collaborator, cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, wished to further explore the benefits of digital cinema that they discovered shooting on the streets of India. Making use of an assortment of digital technologies–in conjunction with the 35mm Moviecam SL MK2–the collaborators crafted the upcoming 127 Hours.

Along with experienced director of photography Enrique Chediak, the filming crew were aided by HD Camera Rentals and its technical guru Michael Mansouri to rent and expertly utilize the multiple digital cameras in order to dramatically translate the various events for the big screen; from the SI-2K to the ultra high speed Y5 HDiablo and minuscule N5, the team was afforded the most versatile of new cinema’s tools. Based on the miraculous true story of Aron Ralston who found himself pinned by the arm beneath a fallen boulder, trapped for the titular 127 hours in the Utahn wilderness, the film explores the dread and ecstasy of such an ordeal and its aftermath.

Although Utah’s unique beauty is showcased in several scenes, one of the many challenges in conceptualizing the film—indeed, one of the draws for director Boyle—was the extremely claustrophobic and limited setting of the majority of the story. Because the real events occurred in one location, a narrow chasm, the filmmakers were excited by the challenge of filming in such a way as to both capture the truth of the incident and the attention of the audience. In the wrong hands, the story might become a shocking exercise in tedium; in the right hands, the proper tools could transform the story into an emotional whirlwind, taking viewers into the terror and joy of every moment.

With the primary location a narrow recreation of the slot wherein the events occurred only large enough for the lead actor—James Franco as Ralston—and one camera operator—alternately Mantle and Chediak—space was always an issue. To envision for audiences the circumstances in an engaging manner within the confined area, filmmakers were forced to test their creativity, and to utilize as many cinematic methods as possible. IDT cameras were a successful in helping the crew overcome both of these difficulties. Though often relied on for easy “cool”, skilled filmmakers know that slow motion can be effective because it can both simulate those moments in real life that time seem to approach infinity and it can heighten an audience’s experience by shifting the movie’s rhythm. Thanks to Mansouri’s ingenuity for dreaming up new rigs, his knowledge of digital technology and the native ability of Y5 HDiablo to film in high definition at as much as 1000 frames per second, filmmakers had extreme latitude in what they could shoot, and how. The N5, which shares the ability to shoot high speed in 2K, had the added benefit of being extremely small—2.4”x2.4”x3”—meaning that it could be placed almost anywhere, whether the goal was to shoot in slow motion or at the standard 24fps.

By most early accounts, the film is a success. Screenings at TIFF were greeted with overwhelmingly positive responses, reaffirming that everyone and everything involved in the rushed schedule—six months from beginning of shoot to first major screening—was up to the task. After it closes the London Film Festival, the film will be opening wide (in the US) on the fifth of November, providing the general public with an experience that should evoke Ralston’s life-changing experience. For film-wise viewers, however, there will be an additional experience: that of the expert usage of recording rhythm to convey the experience that everyone else is sharing.

For years, this site has provided corporations with the best for measuring all aspects of every crash, supplying high speed image capture and playback through a network of IDT cameras for incredibly accurate visual analysis. Ulrich Krüglstein from the renowned testing facility praises its N3 cameras:

As camera technician in charge of the DEKRA Crash Test Center in Neumünster, I have been using the IDT N3 models for more than two years. Again and again they have proven themselves as extremely reliable and robust cameras, essential for capturing data from every angle; whether mounted inside the vehicle, on the barrier, above the action or below, the cameras are sensitive enough to light that we use them extensively.

David Rudeforth is managing IDT (UK) Ltd. “The new UK office will provide local IDT presence, significantly enhancing the level of sales, engineering and technical support available to our UK customers. This is an exciting next step as we bring the most innovative high speed cameras to market”, said David, previously of Lake Image Systems and Kodak/ Redlake MASD. Redlake is now an IDT brand.
Gene Yazbak, C.O.O. of IDT added: “Given the rate of advancement of our camera product line, the addition of our latest generation of sensors and high-intensity LED lighting systems, and the size of our user community, we are pleased to make this investment in the UK. “

The UK operation is the latest addition to IDT’s worldwide sales network which includes 2 US sales offices and companies in Belgium, Japan and Taiwan, as well as distributors worldwide.
IDT will also continue to collaborate with their existing partner Lake Image Systems.
IDT (UK) Ltd can be contacted at:

IDT (UK) Ltd
Eastway House
7 Paynes Park
Hitchin
Herts
SG5 1EH
Tel 01462 621124
www.idtvision.com
sales@idtvision.com

About IDT
IDT is the leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of slow-motion cameras for automotive, broadcast, industrial, military and scientific high-speed image capture. The company has also developed its own line of high-speed imaging sensors and proprietary high-intensity lighting products.

“I never wanted to be a news cameraman, I honestly, I never wanted to be in this business, I, actually I am an architect.”

Everyone has a different story detailing their entrance into the art and business of cinema. For some it started as an unscratchable itch in childhood, becoming a lifelong ambition–yet for many of these, the itch is never eased and they never make the final cut–for others it was only after following a labyrinthine path of chance and coincidental necessities, stringing them along until planting them in the foothills of Hollywood. For Checco Varese, Director of Photography on the upcoming film Georgia, the path was more the latter, but like all whose lives place them far from their once-imagined futures, it is often the ostensibly unrelated knowledge comprising their own childhood itch which forms the unique lens through which their work is illuminated.

Son of Italian émigrés to Peru, Francesco “Checco” Varese learned from an early age the art of tinkering. His father, an attorney unpopular with the fascist regime prior to and during World War II, transitioned into jewelry after the family’s move to South America, and Checco gained his first employ assisting in this task. Whether it was this experience, or an innate propensity, his appreciation for putting things together grew as he did, culminating in his graduation from an Italian school wherein he studied architecture. But chance intervened before he could practice in his chosen field. Having experimented with black and white still photography, Checco was asked to operate a camera for a friend of a friend, and he accepted. While in school, to better understand how to integrate abstract ideas into ones physical design, a professor advised Checco to watch films and to examine the way that the film makers used aspects of visual imagery to express these abstractions. This effort to understand how visual choices are made and their subsequent impressions expanded beyond film to include visual arts in general, but that interest did not lead him immediately into the subjectively expressive side of film following that initial foray; instead, Checco found himself shooting documentaries and courting death to record news video from conflict zones around the world for nearly ten years. So it goes.

“[E]veryone finds their own path through life. It’s a cheap cliché, probably from a TV series. And I found my path through life through being a war correspondent. Is it good or bad, I don’t know. I think it was a very contorted way of doing music videos and commercials in LA 20 years later. I wouldn’t recommend that as a path to become a cinematographer. But to me it helped, it definitely helped.”

From there he moved on to music video and commercial work—again, as much the result of chance as hard work, his multicultural upbringing aiding in developing the multilingualism which made him a preferable candidate for that first Ozzy Osbourne music video—and then to narrative television and theatrical work. Through it all, he has attempted and, whether by force or by fortune, has succeeded in avoiding the industry’s tendency to pigeonhole, working on videos for artists as varied as Prince and The Dave Matthews Band (and Joe Pesci!), and on films covering a wide range of tone and setting, from the 1920s Florida African-American epic, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and the modern take on vampires in the series pilot of “True Blood” to the sparse Argentine noir Aura and the celebration of love between mother and child, La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon). Most recently, he teamed up with Renny Harlin, traveling to the nation of Georgia for the fictional account of two journalists caught in the midst of the conflict between the titular country and Russia which aroused international controversy in late 2008.

Although the film itself has courted controversy, Checco applauds Renny’s emphasis on “the human factor” and his desire to avoid the common temptation of glamorizing combat in the endeavor of easy entertainment. Here, again, the unexpected benefits of Checco’s distinct history impacted his involvement in multiple ways; having not only real life experience in war zones, but journalistic experience as well, the director offered him to the actors as a resource for finding and entering the emotional reality of the moments made visually real through the production’s use of authentic military materiel. As director of photography, if Checco cannot claim any deliberate reference to his past employment, he cannot, either, deny the influence it had: “It affected me personally, I mean one day I was shooting a scene and all of the sudden I started crying because I remembered something that happened to me. I cry easily, I’m Italian, that’s a given, but I just couldn’t stop crying, because something happened to me, probably 1985, that I don’t remember, but I saw it in the frame. So, yes it affected me in more than one way, and I hope I affected the movie in more than one way.”

“To me sexy is hair commercials, 40 frames per second, 150 frames, you know that’s sexy, that’s sensual. You slow the time, you can enjoy the details. But if you freeze the time, and the time freezes into a horrid event—somebody missing a leg, somebody missing an arm—that’s why still photography is so powerful. . . . The front page of Newsweek is still more powerful than every CNN piece I’ve ever done in my life.”

Understanding that Renny Harlin was a fan of The Hurt Locker, and how the slow motion sequences in that film avoided the aforementioned inclination to glamorize, for the slow motion sequences in Georgia, Checco had to find a high speed camera suitable for the material and the location. Given its nature as a high speed capture device, some complexity was expected, but the controls needed to be intuitive, straight forward, and the capability substantial in order to satisfy the needs of the group as they were headed far beyond the nearest help center should a problem or difficulty arise. The camera also needed to be tough enough to withstand the punishment that the location and subject matter might engender. For the right camera, they turned to Michael Mansouri, who also acted as Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) on the film. For the job, Mansouri chose the camera he knew was able to provide the necessary bit depth while robust and simple enough to endure whatever the elements or effects might offer and still be ready for the next shot: the Y5 built by IDT. Unbeknownst to the filmmakers, the camera he provided them for the Georgian shoot would not only meet their requirements, but it would also provide them with an updated version of the same which shot the Bigelow film that helped to inspire their own approach.

Contrary to the effect of slow motion in The Hurt Locker, which was utilized so as to create an impression of physically feeling the events portrayed, Harlin and Varese planned instead to use the sequences to emphasize, always, the “human factor” of each instant, realizing that even the most international of events influences discrete individuals, family members and friends, each living a real life as much separate from as dependent upon one another. Merely slowing time in the same fashion as is generally employed when using the technology would not be appropriate to the realization of their intent: with slow motion the focus can too easily become the superficial elements, the aesthetics, the commercial-like attractive elements within a scene. Checco wanted a motion picture analogue to frozen time, to the art of still photography with which he experimented in his youth, and to which he never felt his video journalism could compare in conveying the visceral, immediate impact of combat or tragedy at the human scale. To accomplish this, he set the IDT Y5 camera to 800 frames per second, merging the moving and static image in order to put on display not the sexy combat of Hollywood action–composed of colorful explosions and dramatic near misses–but the immediate and personal violence which, more often than not, is heaped upon those who are innocent of a conflict’s root cause.

“[T]he trick is to not try to make something out of something that’s not meant to be . . . there are different mediums for different films. When your decision is to make a movie with [digital cameras] that is only, specifically based on financial considerations, and it doesn’t take into account any other subject than finances, there is a mistake here.”

Influenced as much by Vittorio Storaro and his photography for Apocalypse Now as the war photographers from his journalist days, and Barry Ackroyd for The Hurt Locker, Checco Varese’s dedication in his work has always been, ultimately, to the successfully pairing the narrative with only those images which enhance it, moving beyond the references to build a visual landscape specific to the project at hand. Despite an appreciation for the flexibility and products of film, for Georgia, Checco understood that Renny Harlin wanted to film completely in digital, and in addition to the IDT Y5 for slow motion, chose to film predominately with RED cameras, also using SI-2Ks for certain shots requiring the camera remain hidden. Fortunately, Checco’s past yet again revealed its value in that his familiarity with shooting on formats other than film allowed him to maximize his use of the equipment to both capture what the director desired and to do so while capitalizing on the strengths of the medium, rather than trying to force it to fit the strengths of another.

This experience, and his sense of familiarity with the photographic instruments at his disposal, again seems to mirror the path of his life in that what comes before is just as important as any particular application. Before shooting, Checco spends as much time as he can preparing, visualizing how to tell the story, how to serve the story with images through test shots and discussions with the director. Once the shoot begins, the focus becomes interpreting by intuition those decisions made beforehand and aligning them with the reality of the moment. For slow motion as well as traditional 24 fps cinema, this means taking into consideration the limitations of where the camera can be placed, and, especially with the slow motion cameras, similar to the goals of the still photographers Renny and Checco hoped to imitate, this means being able to successfully capture the transience and significance of all life within an image easy to miss but difficult to forget.

At the end of the day, as Orson Welles once said about directing, a person’s journey through life is a matter of “[presiding] over accidents”; coincidence takes everyone along, but it is the knowledge and experience attained in living, and the choices made regarding the partners and tools that make the accidents manageable. For the filming of Georgia, choosing the RED and SI-2K proved successful in attaining the shots for which they were needed, and IDT’s Y5 proved essential for creating the sense of frozen time required in the slow motion sequences. For the future, Checco plans to continue following wherever the path leads, confident that those with whom he works can accomplish their roles as he does his.

Updated: 10 October 2010

With the pressing need to create and recreate the language of audio-visual production and the increasing ubiquity of professional devices at consumer prices arises a need for products capable of accomodating new forms of expression. IDT demonstrates an understanding of the market and of the need for technical progress, providing equipment that is feature-rich and simple to operate. On the professional end, the Y5 HDiablo, used in major motion pictures, such as the soon-to-be released 127 Hours–discussed below–records at super high speeds of up to 1000 frames per second in 1920×1080 resolution, and is able to film in 2K. For budget conscious professionals and nascent film makers, the Y3 HDiablo captures images at above 1000 frames per second in 720p (1280×720). Both incorporate a point and shoot interface and Pixel Pipeline for a simple and efficient workflow, while including total image control for image tinkerers and perfectionists. These, lighting solutions and the NR5 HDiablo will be on display at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Center for IBC 10-14 September.

The highlight will be the new NR5—the smaller, more versatile version of the Y5 HDiablo, in a rugged, nickle-plated body. Equal in resolution and clarity, the NR5 records up to 640 frames per second at an incredibly fine 2K resolution. With expandable memory and water-tight body that is 1/6 the size and 1/4 the weight of the Y5, the NR5 allows film makers unprecedented freedom with camera placement, fostering the inventiveness and ingenuity of the oncoming digital revolution.

Excited to be learning from and teaching the world’s best members of the broadcasting marketplace, IDT will be at stand 11.F65. Interested parties can use ticket number 16285 to gain free admittance into IBC 2010 by logging on at www.ibc.org/registration or bringing the code with you. We will keep you posted on upcoming trade shows.

Below is video of the interview and laboratory.

More on the researchers’ work which utilizes IDT high speed cameras can be found here.

Born in the rural, south German town of Mössingen to a farming family, Dietmar spent much of his youth around nature. While an appreciation for the environment may have been influenced by his childhood milieu, he will not agree that it shaped his desire to explore and to preserve. Though his family home might have placed him in close proximity to the animals and plants and earth that he loves, Dietmar acknowledges a sharp distinction between the approach to nature from a farmer’s standpoint relative to his own: regardless of motivation, the farmer seeks to shape the world around him, to work it; Dietmar, and those like him, seek to experience it.

His earliest and longest-lasting interest has been in winged creatures, finding something compelling in their freedom and movement. But though flying animals—and specifically bats, this specialty earning him the nickname “the batman”—may often be the subject of his photography, his intent remains separate from his interest. Since the initial discovery of photography, Dietmar’s intent has been to extract and concentrate the beauty which so often goes unseen. To achieve this, he uses his camera as a sort of trap, always striving to ensnare the moment that his subject appears most unreal and oneiric, to demonstrate to anyone, regardless of education or interest, how mysterious and marvelous the world still looks through his eyes.

This youthful enthusiasm persisted into adulthood, and, despite the burden of his day job as a nurse, Dietmar always made time to foster his lifelong dream. In 1996, after approximately ten years as an amateur nature photographer, his perseverance paid off, enabling the transition of his passion into his profession. Working and researching alongside scientists to document the lives and times of various animals—including, yes, bats—Dietmar has contributed to and completed a number of books and calendars, for academic and popular consumption, even inventing and selling a unique tripod head specially designed for the needs of an active nature photographer.

In addition to his role as a featured photographer for Wild Wonders of Europe (WWE), Dietmar has placed in five categories for Natural Photographer of the Year, run by GDT—organizers of the European Wildlife photographer of the year. He continues to hone his skills, paying special attention to the crispness and overall quality of the image, perpetually striving to bring to the forefront the beauty of lost times, the ignored actions. The advent and proliferation of computer manipulated images, however, has also increased the ease of creating the uncanny images he strove so long to capture, building an environment where weeks and months of preparation and patience can, at times, be matched by a few clicks of the mouse. Witnessing his niche fill, Dietmar branched out, seeking new, more challenging ways of expanding his personal vision. For the last two years, this effort has largely comprised of using high speed video.

Click image to watch video.

Click image to visit Dietmar's web site

From the start, his photographer’s eye for detail and beauty set for a new assignment: to find a camera capable of duplicating and sustaining the quality he was used to achieving in individual stills for hundreds of successive frames, and to find one capable without a price that would put him back in a second job. With his discovery of the Y5 HDiablo, Dietmar found what he had been looking for, image quality surpassing that of cameras more than twice its cost. These camera makers, he noted, had gotten it right. With the 30 bits of color depth and 2K resolution, he could expect the same fineness and fidelity he had come to expect from decades as a still photographer. Capitalizing on the optional mount for Nikon lenses, Dietmar continues to find new ways of producing images that satisfy his quest for the impossible shot.

Not only gear, but research is paramount for his excursions. Acquiring award-winning images requires an intimate knowledge of the animals being photographed, from their habits to their habitats. Dietmar approaches this responsibility with the same tenacity as he approaches his art, internalizing the necessity to empathize with his subjects, to understand what is and is not the appropriate time or place to snap a shot. The importance of this knowledge comes into focus as the contextual limitations increase, such as when the appropriate distance from an animal for the best image requires that he use a 600mm telephoto lens with the Y5—the high shutter speeds already decreasing available light to near blindness—which makes time of day an even greater component, often narrowing the daily window of opportunity to minutes. Attaining usable super slow motion footage under these conditions requires complete knowledge of his purpose, complete understanding of his target, and complete preparation for his point of view; the absence of any single component means the loss of the whole. Knowing not only the species, but the characteristics and preferences of the species, knowing the mating periods and rituals, recognizing the signs of comfort and aggression, all must be present before stepping into the field.

Once thoroughly prepared, Dietmar leaves for weeks at a time. Sleeping habits borne at home no longer apply: during his most recent bat-filming expedition, Dietmar found himself going to bed at 1:00 am and waking up at 4:00 am—it is times like that, he reckons, that he must own up to his obsession: to capture the perfect shot. Knowing the opportunity often arrives when least expected, his preparation and adventure put him into place ready to accidentally acquire images to rival his photographic forefathers. Having a camera that is extremely simple to set up and straight forward to use plays a huge role in his ability to be always ready for that singular moment. Dietmar sees excitement in each capture, comparing his passion to that of an athlete’s—training, training, training, devoting a life to one thing in order to achieve, if lucky, a moment of genius—and his profession to an extreme sport—bringing his skill and focus into perfect cooperation for the decisive moment: manifesting the unseen image.

Since his high speed enthusiasm, and conversion to Y5 superfan, Dietmar continues to find new venues for sharing the invisibles he sees around us: taking a video to BRF (German public radio and television), and impressing a 60-year veteran to play the videos for his staff; displaying his videos at a beach event, without narration, without narrative editing, with only a live band, letting the simplicity of nature speak for itself. He doesn’t believe images should be a part of a story, but that they should tell a story in and of themselves—whether an individual still, or a series at 1000 frames per second—the power must be in the images without editorial manipulated and regardless of how they are displayed. Great images, according to Dietmar Nill, tell a story without an author. And, despite transitioning to high speed video from an exclusively still background, the great nature image, fraught and elusive, remains his stock and trade.

Dr. Luiz Lourenco, Founder and Chairman of Integrated Design Tools, Inc. (IDT), has announced the appointment of Mr. Eugene Yazbak as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Yazbak has also been named to IDT’s Board of Directors.

Previously, Mr. Yazbak was President of II-VI Infrared, the largest manufacturer of laser optics. Prior to that position, he was President or C.E.O. of six subsidiaries of Roper Industries, Inc. including RedlakeMASD. Redlake is now an IDT brand. Mr. Yazbak holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from McGill University.

At IDT, Mr. Yazbak will be responsible for leading the design and implementation of next-generation manufacturing, product management and business processes.

Dr. Lourenco will continue in his role as President and C.E.O.

About IDT

IDT is the leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of slow-motion cameras for automative, broadcast, industrial, military and scientific high-speed image capture. The company has also developed its own line of high-speed imaging sensors and proprietary high-intensity lighting products.

www.idtvision.com

Attracting both media professionals and industry competitors interested in learning what was so special about the company’s cameras, IDT spent the three days at NAB disseminating important information such as where the cameras have been and are being used, how to successfully integrate them into one’s program, and the company’s future plans for its continued ascent in the entertainment and broadcast industries.

During the proceedings, IDT welcomed from Lebanon Dory Aoun representing Third Eye FX, his high end production company serving international clientele  with the area’s most advanced film technology — including their own IDT high speed cameras — since 2005.

Watch Ciamac Parhizi, IDT’s Creative Director, discuss the company’s high speed cameras with The Digital Scene show.

(Below) Dory Aoun with Dr. Luiz Lourenco look into the future of high speed during the NAB Show.

Included on display will be the legacy camera used to film the high speed scenes in the Academy Award winning film The Hurt Locker, as well as cameras part of IDT’s continuing effort to offer creative professionals the perfect high speed cameras for their slow motion needs.

Any attendees interested in learning about the exciting directions IDT is taking high speed should be sure to visit booth C8449 to ask about how IDT continues to affect the future of digital cinema and see it themselves.