The hottest new technology innovation in television isn’t all that new. It isn’t computers, it’s not electronic or video. So why are networks and well-healed producers now rushing out to buy $100,000 cameras to embrace this technology after all these years of near anonymity on the fringe of the mainstream of television and film production.

The Super 16 format came into being over 20 years ago as an improved method of low-budget 16mm production for blow up to 35mm for theatrical release. Having originated in Europe and reached a state of maturity there, it never really caught on in any major way in North America except in fits and starts.

Many low-budget features were produced on Super 16, but labs and post-production facilities here certainly never fell in love with it and preferred not to deal with the potential problems it presented.

The fact that it can be done relatively seamlessly as far as the end viewer is concerned (Welcome Back To The Five And Dime, She’s Gotta Have It, Working Girls and many others) has not converted the bulk of production and distribution organizations to endorse it in a major way.

In any case, the proponents have been saying for the last five years or more that Super 16 is the best format for high-definition television, and low and behold it’s now happening. Not high-def per se, but a catch phrase known as ‘future-proofing.’

Whether networks start broadcasting in ntsc wide-screen, PAL Plus or real hdtv, the current state of Super 16 cameras, lenses, film stocks, and now wide-screen telecine gates, are such that the cost of this future-proofing is minimal in comparison to other budgetary considerations.

Certainly for television specials, including documentaries, many dramas and series, Super 16 has become standard. The list of series and specials now being produced on this format for networks in the u.s., Canada and Europe is long and growing.

Consider the fact that the National Film Board produces almost 80% of its production in Super 16. Channel Four in the u.k. and most European networks now demand it. The Discovery Channel (u.s.) and National Geographic now shoot their specials on it, and our own cbc has committed to it in a serious way; it has just ordered its third and fourth Arriflex SR3s. This, as they say, is just the beginning.

Camera manufacturers Arriflex of Germany and Aaton of France have made major long-term commitments to the technology by developing studio-quality Super 16 cameras. Lens makers Canon, Cooke, Ziess and even a Russian clone are right up there as well with super sharp primes and zooms.

Not surprisingly, the film manufacturers are delighted with the situation. None more so than Kodak Canada Motion Picture and Television Imaging, which last year sponsored, along with the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, a full-day symposium at Film House. At that time it was dubbed the ‘Format of the Future,’ and for many producers and networks in the know, that future is now.

The symposium is now being held annually to provide camera and post-production personnel, directors, producers and others with an interest in being updated, a forum for finding out and asking questions of industry experts.