Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New Buzz Making Waves on High-Tech Film Sets

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 13:16:25 -0500

New Buzz Making Waves on High-Tech Film Sets

Interference from wireless devices and other electronic gear can cause baffling -- and
expensive -- delays in moviemaking.

By P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer

Cinematographer Brian Heller thought all systems were
go as he prepared to shoot inside a New York
apartment building for the film "Code of Ethics." The
set looked elegant. The cast, poised for its cue, stood
ready.

Suddenly, the camera jerked to a stop. On a second
try, it did it again. The circuitry inside the camera
fizzled.

A crew member eventually pinpointed the problem: a
burglar alarm one floor below that was emitting a
strong burst of microwaves.

As moviemaking becomes increasingly high tech,
Hollywood film crews are finding themselves at odds
with the technology that permeates everyday life. They
sit on the cutting edge of a global laboratory in which
millions of computer chips, hordes of wireless devices
and even ordinary contraptions can wreak havoc on their productions.

In a world where science and art must mesh, the list of unexpected electronic
conflicts ranges from simple to simply baffling. They typically are the
consequence of the wrong technologies being in the same space at the same
time. These anomalies often are impossible to predict and can be nearly as
difficult to remedy.

"When you're working with a traditional film camera and it breaks, you can look
at it and pretty much figure out what's wrong," said cinematographer James
Matlosz. "A film camera's a machine. A digital camera's a computer. If the
computer stops working, what do you do?"

All manner of gizmos have been subject to technological interference. A
high-powered walkie-talkie being used too close to a sensitive power generator
confused its internal timing processor and sent it into shutdown mode, killing the
lights during filming of a poignant moment in the summer blockbuster
"Spider-Man."

And during a creepy scene in last year's camp horror film "Out of the Darkness"
at an old hotel in upstate New York, a dormant pool pump sprang to life with
ear-splitting screeches. It was inadvertently turned on when the crew plugged a
generator into an antiquated electrical system.

"It sounded like someone was sauteing a cat," producer Richard Miller recalled.
"It took us 20 minutes to figure out what it was."

For Hollywood, the most common electronic hiccups are caused by radio
waves. Like light waves, radio waves consist of oscillating electric and magnetic
fields that roam through space. A key difference between radio and light waves
rests in the technologies that are used to detect them -- and the ones that are
affected by them.

Computers, televisions, cameras, cell phones and even coffee makers are
embedded with tiny electronic components and circuits that often allow these
machines to interact with each other. But these components also may emit
undesired radio- frequency waves that create an ocean of buzz.

*

Polluted Environment

In the U.S., the radio spectrum is divvied up by the Federal Communications
Commission to avoid this chaos in the air. But when the circumstances are right,
the lines of division can blur, allowing the ghost in the machine to take over.

"We're living in a polluted radio environment," said Martin Cooper, chief
executive of Arraycomm Inc., a San Jose-based firm that makes tools to
enhance wireless technologies. "These kinds of problems are only going to
increase."

Of all the tools that can crash, the worst to lose is a camera. Digital cameras use
powerful computer chips to convert light to electronic pulses, which are
translated into data and stored on videotape. Even film cameras, which are
basically mechanical, rely on electronic parts that emit a subtle buzz.

Film and digital camera manufacturers have attempted to shield their equipment
from meddlesome radio-frequency waves, but nothing has been totally
successful, noted Larry Thorpe, senior vice president of content creation for
camera maker Sony Electronics Inc. in Park Ridge, N.J.

"You can only test your technology so much," added Stuart English, vice
president of marketing for Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. in
Secaucus, N.J., which provides digital cameras to news and film crews. "What
takes over is field testing, or testing by experience. They find the problems, and
we learn from them."

Such was the case with the 2001 Imax film, "Pittsburgh's Big Picture." Matlosz
and his crew had their gear set up on a rooftop overlooking an industrial skyline.
The sun, just setting, painted the horizon in rich hues.

The massive camera suddenly began to "hiccup uncontrollably," advancing the
film at wildly varying speeds, Matlosz said. The baffled crew, eager not to miss
the shot, scoured the camera for clues.

"Our heads were bobbing and weaving, looking all around for what was wrong,
like a loose wire or a switch in the wrong position," he said. After nearly an hour,
the crew deduced that the culprit was a forest of nearby cell-phone towers that
sent bursts of radio waves.

Such delays can become expensive problems for production crews, which are
under constant pressure to deliver their films on time and within budget.

As a result, many moviemakers say one of the first things they do when they
walk onto a set is to look for cell-phone towers, satellite dishes and even
skyscrapers topped with antennas and digital receivers so they can make sure
that the effects of potentially conflicting devices are accounted for when the
cameras are rolling.

"You have to know where the hot spots are and where you just can't shoot," said
cinematographer Heller, who shot "Code of Ethics" in 1997. "That alarm ate up a
couple hours of shooting. For us, time's money."

*

The Meter Is Running

Delays can be expensive for studios and filmmakers. The average cost of making
a movie reached $47.7 million in 2001. Television productions cost as much as
$1 million per half-hour, up 20% in the last three years. Even short delays can be
costly. Producers say the cost for a typical day of shooting for a Hollywood film
is about $100,000, or $5,500 to $7,000 an hour. That means a 10-minute pause
to clear up walkie-talkie interference can cost $1,000.

Hollywood has dealt with strange mishaps on sets since the earliest days of
celluloid. Around the turn of the 20th century, director Georges Melies hid
camera flaws and effects foibles by hiring scores of women to hand-tint each
print of "Voyage to the Moon."

The newer electronic conflicts are the modern "vacuum in the living room"
problem, where the simple task of cleaning can cause static on a TV screen.

Sometimes, the conflicts are more annoying than serious. While shooting the
upcoming Jim Carrey film "Bruce Almighty" in downtown Los Angeles a few
months ago, the crew could barely hear one another on their walkie-talkies.

The problem? The police and fire departments had filled the airwaves with their
own walkie-talkie chatter, and the cameras and equipment of another film crew
working around the corner threw off another conflicting layer of electronic buzz.

"We had the same thing happen on 'Liar Liar' when we were shooting out at
LAX," producer Jim Brubaker said. "It's a few minutes' delay here, a few
minutes' there. It's just a way of life."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-interfere17nov17.story?null

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