Fujifilm To Receive Scientific And Engineering Award From The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences

Award Given For Development Of World’s First Film Stock Specifically Designed To Produce High Picture Quality From Digital Image Data

Hollywood, CA, January 11, 2010 – FUJIFILM Corporation has announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected FUJIFILM Corporation to receive an Academy Award on February 20, 2010, in the Scientific and Engineering category.

The award is being given in recognition of the significant picture quality and workflow improvements made possible in the moviemaking process through the development of Fujicolor ETERNA-RDI, the first motion picture film in the world designed specifically for use in converting digital image data to negative film. The award is given in the name of FUJIFILM Corporation as well as in the names of Ryoji Nishimura, Masaaki Miki and Youichi Hosoya, the three Fujifilm engineers who designed and developed the product.

“Everyone at Fujifilm is proud of this achievement and proud to be recognized by the most prestigious institution in the motion picture industry. Best of all, we are gratified that our work has helped to answer an unmet industry need with a solution that will contribute to the enjoyment of motion pictures and to visual technology and cinema culture,” said Graeme Parcher, group vice president, FUJIFILM North American Motion Picture Division. “Most importantly, our sincere congratulations go to Ryoji, Masaaki, Youichi and the entire R&D and engineering team for their hard work and dedication in making this industry recognition possible and for receiving this high honor from the Academy.”

Today the use of digital technology in the making of motion pictures, especially in the editing and visual effects process, is widespread; yet the majority of movie theaters still present on silver halide film. To bridge this digital/analog gap the moviemaker must convert the digital master to intermediate film. However, since no intermediate film had been specially designed for this application there had been a large disparity in image quality between the digital master and the film reproduction, resulting in a strong industry demand for something better. In 2007, Fujifilm answered that demand, introducing ETERNA-RDI -- the first specialized film for digital recorder output that dramatically improved the image quality of film recording.

ETERNA-RDI offers a significant improvement over intermediate films not specifically designed for digital reproduction, producing fine detail and accurate color from digital image data. In order to achieve high picture image quality Mssrs. Nishimura, Miki and Hosoya developed two proprietary technologies, Super Nano Cubic Grain Technology and Super Efficient Light Control Technology, and worked to ensure that the technologies would complement and enhance each other. As a result ETERNA-RDI can faithfully reproduce even the most challenging high contrast images. This contributes to the printing of sharp, crisp images and makes it possible to achieve rich images that convey a strong sense of depth and dimension.

ETERNA-RDI Features
Revolutionary Image Blur Reduction
Laser-created high-detail digital images that could not be reproduced on intermediate film can be reproduced on ETERNA-RDI. Ordinarily, when the intensities of lines and text contrast strongly with those of their surroundings, thin lines become thinner and disappear, and fat lines are blurred. This makes the reproduction of details difficult. With ETERNA-RDI, even the highlighted areas of high-contrast images can be reproduced with very high similarity to the original image.

Faithful Tone and Color Reproduction
ETERNA-RDI widens the range of expressible densities. ETERNA-RDI reduces image irregularities even in highlighted areas, makes the expression of darker shadowed areas richer, and increases resolution. The combination of these factors leads to tone reproduction that conveys an intense sense of depth. Furthermore, while the reproduction of original colors at the edges of the color range was difficult in the past, ETERNA-RDI is capable of reproducing these colors faithfully.

Improved Lab Handling
In the post-production phase accurate reproduction in the film development process is the goal. It takes a few seconds to record a single frame; this means that for a single 2000-ft roll the time between when the film is exposed and when it is developed is 15 hours or more. When using conventional intermediate film, this long duration causes color discrepancies between the top frame and the last frame in long reels of film and requires additional lab hours to correct the discrepancies. The superior photographic stability of ETERNA-RDI maintains true color reproduction from the top to the last frame, thereby reducing lab workload.

About FUJIFILM
Since its founding in 1934, Fujifilm Motion Picture products have driven advances that established the company as a pre-eminent leader in the science of ultra-thin film coating technologies. The company’s photographic, graphic arts and medical imaging films, magnetic recording media, flat panel display materials, and photolithographic semiconductor coating technologies all share in this core technology heritage. Fujifilm has made continued advances in its film stocks, most notably through its popular Eterna line. In addition to numerous awards for technical merit, Fujifilm’s product performance has been acknowledged by leading cinematographers and directors of photography who have selected Fujifilm stock for productions including A Beautiful Mind, Sideways, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Slumdog Millionaire.
FUJIFILM Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including electronic imaging, photofinishing equipment, medical systems, life sciences, graphic arts, flat panel display materials, and office products, based on a vast portfolio of digital, optical, fine chemical and thin film coating technologies. The company was among the top 15 companies around the world granted U.S. patents in 2008. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmholdings.com.

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Contact Information

Adam Yates

Director, Corporate Communications

Fujifilm

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