Electronovision
Encyclopedia
Electronovision was a process used by producer/entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. to produce a handful of motion pictures, theatrical plays, and specials in the 1960s and early 1970s using a high-resolution videotape
process for production, later transferred to film via kinescope
for theatrical release. More than half a dozen films were produced in this fashion, including the 1964 production of Richard Burton in "Hamlet
", the now historic 1964 concert film the "TAMI Show", and the 1965 production of "Harlow
", starring actress Carol Lynley
as the 1930s sex symbol. Electronovision was a forerunner of Digital cinema
, now used in the 2000s to project digital images through projectors onto cinema screens. Bill Sargent, creator of over 400 electronic patents, is best known for pioneering Pay-Per-View in 1962 in a boxing match between Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali
, and George Logan
.
Electronovision was an entirely separate and more advanced process from the earlier Electronicam
, used by the DuMont Television Network
in the 1950s to telecast live TV shows with electronic cameras, while simultaneously filming the production with a film camera attached to the side of the video camera. That process had been used on TV series like The Honeymooners
, allowing the producers to archive a high-quality film negative for reruns.
While the press releases on Electronovision were deliberately vague, perhaps to add more mystique to the process, it used conventional analog Image Orthicon video camera tube
units, shooting in the B&W 819-line interlaced 25fps French video standard, using modified high-band quadruplex VTRs to record the signal. The promotors of Electronovision gave the impression that this was a new system created from scratch, using a high-tech name (and avoiding the word kinescope
) to distinguish the process from conventional film photography. Nonetheless, the advances in tape-to-reel time were, at the time, a major step ahead. By capturing more than 800 lines of resolution at 25 frame/s, raw tape could be converted to film via kinescope recording with sufficient enhanced resolution to allow big-screen enlargement. The 1960s productions used Marconi
image orthicon video cameras, which have a characteristic white "glow" around black objects (and a corresponding black glow around white objects), which was a defect of the pickup. Later vidicon and plumbicon video camera tube
s produced much cleaner, more accurate pictures.
Videotape editing of the period was very primitive, which forced Electronovision producers to approach their productions essentially as if they were live TV broadcasts. Whole scenes were shot in long blocks, typically at least 5 or 10 minutes, and segments were physically cut together using mechanical 2" videotape splicing blocks. A special chemical solution and magnetic powder, applied to the videotape and viewed under a microscope, allowed the editor to see the video pulses and precisely align them for glitch-free editing. However, the technique was hit-and-miss and made it difficult to make accurate, fast edits.
Despite the success of these productions in the mid-1960s, Sargent's original Electronovision empire went out of business around 1966, following the release of "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off". The producer revived the idea in 1975 with newer, color video equipment, and was able to mount a critically acclaimed independent release of James Whitmore
's one-man show "Give 'em Hell, Harry!
", an autobiography based on the life of U.S. President Harry S. Truman
. Two years later, Sargent had his most successful production, Richard Pryor
's early-1979 live stand-up comedy performance "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert", the first stand-up comedy film by any comic,which received wide distribution in theaters as well as cable TV and, later, home video.
Health and business problems forced Sargent to retire in the 1980s. The process became a footnote in history, though several other attempts were made to revive the essential concept -- a higher-res videotape system, using modified video cameras, recording to videotape and then making a kinescope for theatrical release. Decades later, the process was perfected with the introduction of high definition
television equipment in the late 1990s, resulting in digital cinema
, digital intermediate
s, and was the beginning of the end of traditional photochemical filmmaking, ushering in an entirely digital era of motion picture production.
co-directed and co-wrote "200 Motels
", which was shot on PAL
color videotape at Pinewood Studios in England. The production featured dazzling graphics, video feedback, and chromakey visual effects, and is considered a precursor to the music videos of the 1980s. The production was electronically edited using early Ampex
equipment, then transferred to 35mm film for theatrical release.
In 1973, Hollywood actor/producer Ed Platt, made famous by his role as "The Chief" in the NBC-TV series "Get Smart
", raised the money to produce one of the very first independent color motion pictures shot entirely on videotape: Santee
, starring Glenn Ford. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and used the facilities of Burbank's Compact Video Systems to shoot the western on location in the California and Nevada deserts. The motion picture was shot with Norelco PCP-70 portable plumbicon NTSC cameras and portable Ampex VR-3000 2" VTRs, then transferred to film at Consolidated Film Industries
in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the film was not commercially successful. Platt died about six months after the film was released.
In 1976, TV producer George Schlatter
, known for his successful NBC-TV series Laugh-In and many TV comedy specials, wrote and directed the motion picture "Norman, Is That You?
", based on the controversial Broadway play. Also shot on NTSC videotape, the film starred comedian Redd Fox and Pearl Bailey. The film enjoyed some critical success, but was Schlatter's only foray into feature films.
Los Angeles video post-production company Image Transform specialized in creating very high-quality kinescope
recording during the 1970s and 1980s. Their Image Vision process used modified PAL
color video cameras, upping the resolution from 625 lines to 655 lines for slightly improved resolution. This process -- very similar to Sargent's Electronovision -- recorded the signal on ultra-wideband IVC 9000 analog VTRs, but allowed easy electronic editing, titling, and effects, similar to a traditional 1980s videotape TV show. The Image Vision process was used on several minor shorts and theatrical releases, including "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
" in 1982. It was superseded by the analog NHK
Hi-Vision high definition
system of the early 1990s.
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
process for production, later transferred to film via kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
for theatrical release. More than half a dozen films were produced in this fashion, including the 1964 production of Richard Burton in "Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
", the now historic 1964 concert film the "TAMI Show", and the 1965 production of "Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
", starring actress Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley is an American actress and former child model.-Life and career:Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in New York City, the daughter of Frances , a waitress, and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Native...
as the 1930s sex symbol. Electronovision was a forerunner of Digital cinema
Digital cinema
Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, optical disks or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector...
, now used in the 2000s to project digital images through projectors onto cinema screens. Bill Sargent, creator of over 400 electronic patents, is best known for pioneering Pay-Per-View in 1962 in a boxing match between Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, and George Logan
George Logan
George Logan was an American physician, farmer, legislator and politician from Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He served in the Pennsylvania state legislature and represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate. He was a founder of the Democratic-Republican Societies in 1793...
.
Electronovision was an entirely separate and more advanced process from the earlier Electronicam
Electronicam
Electronicam was a television recording system that shot an image on film and television at the same time through a common lens. It was developed by James L. Caddigan for the DuMont Television Network in the 1950s, before electronic recording on videotape was available...
, used by the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
in the 1950s to telecast live TV shows with electronic cameras, while simultaneously filming the production with a film camera attached to the side of the video camera. That process had been used on TV series like The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
, allowing the producers to archive a high-quality film negative for reruns.
While the press releases on Electronovision were deliberately vague, perhaps to add more mystique to the process, it used conventional analog Image Orthicon video camera tube
Video camera tube
In older video cameras, before the mid to late 1980s, a video camera tube or pickup tube was used instead of a charge-coupled device for converting an optical image into an electrical signal. Several types were in use from the 1930s to the 1980s...
units, shooting in the B&W 819-line interlaced 25fps French video standard, using modified high-band quadruplex VTRs to record the signal. The promotors of Electronovision gave the impression that this was a new system created from scratch, using a high-tech name (and avoiding the word kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
) to distinguish the process from conventional film photography. Nonetheless, the advances in tape-to-reel time were, at the time, a major step ahead. By capturing more than 800 lines of resolution at 25 frame/s, raw tape could be converted to film via kinescope recording with sufficient enhanced resolution to allow big-screen enlargement. The 1960s productions used Marconi
Marconi
-People:*Guglielmo Marconi, Italian-born radio pioneer*David Marconi, American screenwriter*Dominic Anthony Marconi, American Roman Catholic bishop*Enrico Marconi, also known as Henryk Marconi, architect*Gloria Marconi, Italian long-distance runner...
image orthicon video cameras, which have a characteristic white "glow" around black objects (and a corresponding black glow around white objects), which was a defect of the pickup. Later vidicon and plumbicon video camera tube
Video camera tube
In older video cameras, before the mid to late 1980s, a video camera tube or pickup tube was used instead of a charge-coupled device for converting an optical image into an electrical signal. Several types were in use from the 1930s to the 1980s...
s produced much cleaner, more accurate pictures.
Videotape editing of the period was very primitive, which forced Electronovision producers to approach their productions essentially as if they were live TV broadcasts. Whole scenes were shot in long blocks, typically at least 5 or 10 minutes, and segments were physically cut together using mechanical 2" videotape splicing blocks. A special chemical solution and magnetic powder, applied to the videotape and viewed under a microscope, allowed the editor to see the video pulses and precisely align them for glitch-free editing. However, the technique was hit-and-miss and made it difficult to make accurate, fast edits.
Despite the success of these productions in the mid-1960s, Sargent's original Electronovision empire went out of business around 1966, following the release of "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off". The producer revived the idea in 1975 with newer, color video equipment, and was able to mount a critically acclaimed independent release of James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
's one-man show "Give 'em Hell, Harry!
Give 'em Hell, Harry!
Give 'em Hell, Harry! is a biographical play and 1975 film, written by playwright Samuel Gallu. Both the play and film are a one-man show about former President of the United States Harry S. Truman. Give 'em Hell, Harry! stars James Whitmore and was directed by Steve Binder and Peter H...
", an autobiography based on the life of U.S. President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
. Two years later, Sargent had his most successful production, Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
's early-1979 live stand-up comedy performance "Richard Pryor: Live in Concert", the first stand-up comedy film by any comic,which received wide distribution in theaters as well as cable TV and, later, home video.
Health and business problems forced Sargent to retire in the 1980s. The process became a footnote in history, though several other attempts were made to revive the essential concept -- a higher-res videotape system, using modified video cameras, recording to videotape and then making a kinescope for theatrical release. Decades later, the process was perfected with the introduction of high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
television equipment in the late 1990s, resulting in digital cinema
Digital cinema
Digital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, optical disks or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector...
, digital intermediate
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
s, and was the beginning of the end of traditional photochemical filmmaking, ushering in an entirely digital era of motion picture production.
Rival Processes
In 1971, avant-garde musician Frank ZappaFrank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
co-directed and co-wrote "200 Motels
200 Motels
200 Motels is a 1971 American-British musical surrealist film cowritten and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer and starring The Mothers of Invention, Theodore Bikel and Ringo Starr. The film covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville...
", which was shot on PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
color videotape at Pinewood Studios in England. The production featured dazzling graphics, video feedback, and chromakey visual effects, and is considered a precursor to the music videos of the 1980s. The production was electronically edited using early Ampex
Ampex
Ampex is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff. The name AMPEX is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence...
equipment, then transferred to 35mm film for theatrical release.
In 1973, Hollywood actor/producer Ed Platt, made famous by his role as "The Chief" in the NBC-TV series "Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
", raised the money to produce one of the very first independent color motion pictures shot entirely on videotape: Santee
Santee
Santee may refer to:Places:* Santee, California* Santee, Nebraska* Santee, South Carolina* Santee River in South Carolina* Santee Education ComplexPlumbing:...
, starring Glenn Ford. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and used the facilities of Burbank's Compact Video Systems to shoot the western on location in the California and Nevada deserts. The motion picture was shot with Norelco PCP-70 portable plumbicon NTSC cameras and portable Ampex VR-3000 2" VTRs, then transferred to film at Consolidated Film Industries
Consolidated Film Industries
Consolidated Film Industries was a film laboratory, and film processing company, and was the leading film laboratory in the Los Angeles area for many decades. CFI processed negatives and made prints for motion pictures and television...
in Hollywood. Unfortunately, the film was not commercially successful. Platt died about six months after the film was released.
In 1976, TV producer George Schlatter
George Schlatter
George Schlatter is an American television producer and director, best known for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and founder of the American Comedy Awards....
, known for his successful NBC-TV series Laugh-In and many TV comedy specials, wrote and directed the motion picture "Norman, Is That You?
Norman, Is That You?
Norman, Is That You? is a 1970 play in two acts by American playwrights Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick about a Jewish couple coming to terms with their son's homosexuality. The work is notably the first play written by both writers. After 19 preview performances, the play officially opened on Broadway...
", based on the controversial Broadway play. Also shot on NTSC videotape, the film starred comedian Redd Fox and Pearl Bailey. The film enjoyed some critical success, but was Schlatter's only foray into feature films.
Los Angeles video post-production company Image Transform specialized in creating very high-quality kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
recording during the 1970s and 1980s. Their Image Vision process used modified PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
color video cameras, upping the resolution from 625 lines to 655 lines for slightly improved resolution. This process -- very similar to Sargent's Electronovision -- recorded the signal on ultra-wideband IVC 9000 analog VTRs, but allowed easy electronic editing, titling, and effects, similar to a traditional 1980s videotape TV show. The Image Vision process was used on several minor shorts and theatrical releases, including "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, which had been...
" in 1982. It was superseded by the analog NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
Hi-Vision high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
system of the early 1990s.
See also
- Digital cinemaDigital cinemaDigital cinema refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, optical disks or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector...
- Digital Cinema InitiativesDigital Cinema InitiativesDigital Cinema Initiatives, LLC or DCI is a joint venture of major motion picture studios, formed to establish a standard architecture for digital cinema systems.The organization was formed in March 2002 by the following studios:* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
- Digital cinematographyDigital cinematographyDigital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
- Digital film post-production
- Digital intermediateDigital intermediateDigital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
- Digital projector
- Display resolutionDisplay resolutionThe display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
- KinescopeKinescopeKinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
- QuadruplexQuadruplexQuadruplex may refer to:*Quadruplex telegraph, an improvement on the electrical telegraph patented in 1874 by Thomas Edison*2 inch Quadruplex videotape, the first practical and commercially successful videotape format...
- VideotapeVideotapeA videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
- VTR
External links
- Bill Sargent film credits http://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0765090/
- Bill Sargent NY Times obituary http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/31/arts/31SARG.html
- TAMI Show and Bill Sargent bio http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-Rock-Concert-That-Captured-an-Era.html
- Chuck Pharis video camera web page