Timeline Analog 2. John Buck

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      New York Times journalist, Jack Gould reported:

       Computer to save millions in film editing, due soon. A major technological advance in Hollywood’s methods of producing films and videotapes for television and motion pictures is only weeks away with commercial introduction of an electronic computerized system for editing visual material. Savings of millions of dollars are envisioned in the system that can store scenes of a drama photographed in seemingly chaotic disorder.

       Upon demand the system produces a finished product in the logical narrative sequence of a director’s choice. The human hand never touches either the tape or film during the editing and the individual in creative control can choose between limitless versions of a given scene, repeatedly trying first one and then another and making deletions or insertions until he is satisfied.

      Gould called the CMX a ‘fusion of tape recorders computer banks and magnetic disks’. It was obvious that the new workflow could bypass the time consuming and costly steps of traditional linear tape editing.

       The system already has a nick name RAVE; Random Access Video Editor. Two major Hollywood studio heads have shown interest in acquisition of the system and representatives of foreign broadcasting companies have been attending private showings in New York.

       In laymen’s terms the heart of the CMX system is ability to collect and file away all the separate takes of a film and make them instantly available for an editor sitting at a console of two screens to put in a coherent order. Operation of the system borders on the eerie.

       The console operator can order up what he wishes to see. He presses no buttons nor pulls any switches. Rather he uses a pencil light which direct the system to record play back or edit.

      Bill Butler continues:

       From the engineering and technology challenge standpoint, it was exciting as hell. It was a great crew that started in January 1970 and 15 months later we presented a working model.

      Cal Strobele recalls:

       We knew it was new and novel. A smart use of existing technology but it didn’t seem it was earth shaking or industry changing at the time.

      But it was.

      3. Where is the Moviola?

      The biggest week in electronic editing history arrived. CMX Systems debuted its random access video editing (RAVE) system at NAB in Chicago 1971. On March 28th the CMX System/600 was released publicly and with its futuristic console looked to have been taken straight from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

      Jerry Youngstrom recalls the launch:

       Thanks to the hours of work put in by the skilled people at CMX, it was a major change from what had been available. The concept we had turned into a reality was a genuine leap forward from the Moviola.

      The 600’s modern lines, state-of-the art monitors and light pen were far from the noisy and cumbersome design of the Moviola, or any electronic editing system. Lon Priest reviewed the CMX System/600:

       With the light pen system, an editor can display in writing all the editing decisions he's made, the running time of the show as it is cut so far and the length of each individual piece he's added. Indeed, the light pen seems almost wand like in the hands of an editor.

       By simply touching the appropriate word or symbol he can dissolve from one frame to another (no optical lab needed here); stop frames or run them slow, normal or fast backwards and forwards on either monitor; splice; view his built sequence in its entirety and then change it or erase it completely, almost as quickly as he thinks.

       This solution has many advantages. For one, it is almost the fastest way to execute physically what the brain wants done. Also, at any given time in the editing process an editor is concerned only with those push buttons that relate to the task at hand.

      Setting aside its outward appearance, the CMX System/600 (the System/200 Assembler was not displayed at NAB) represented a paradigm shift in editing and the role of an editor. CMX had split the editing workload between two distinct machines.

      CMX stated explained that the 600 'Controller' was for offline editing and the 200 'Assembler' took an edit list and turned it into a high resolution video master. Akin to editing a film workprint and then producing a negative master.

      The CMX engineers had known from the outset that it was not possible to store full frame high resolution images to edit with, but it was within the technical constraints to edit in an offline capacity.

      To store and replay all the camera rushes, the 600 was linked to a stack of six Memorex removable storage platters which each held around five minutes of low resolution black & white video images plus the associated audio and time-code.

      Because the Controller was using low resolution images, much like a film work print, Dave Bargen had invented an electronic method to read the final cut list and share it with the Assembler.

      Bargen's critical invention, the Edit Decision List or EDL linked the two devices. Even though he was surrounded by brilliant engineering minds, Jerry Youngstrom is unequivocal:

       Put simply, the CMX would not have shipped without Dave Bargen.

      Engineer Gene Simon recalls:

       Since the CMX 600 did not come close to broadcast quality video, it by definition was an off-line editor which needed another system СКАЧАТЬ