Every day, Fujifilm faces two big challenges. On one side, as a manufacturer of motion picture film, it has to contend with the rise of digital technologies – in Fuji’s case, embracing the new media, which means going up against digital leaders such as Sony. On the other side, the Japanese giant has, for 70 years, been battling for market share against Kodak, the big kahuna of photochemical.

Taylor Ogston, VP of sales for motion picture and professional video products at Fujifilm Canada, spoke with Playback recently about how his company has fared in recent months.

Playback: How has the rise of digital affected sales of motion picture stock?

Ogston: We had an incredible upward ride until mid-2001. It was record growth on growth for about five years, but then…it took a downward slide.

Playback: Because of digital?

Ogston: Mostly for other reasons – 9/11 and the strikes that never were. But certainly digital has had an impact. Episodic shows that traditionally shot on 16mm or 35mm have migrated to HD or digiBetacam.

Playback: Are you concerned that the popularity of reality and lifestyle shows, shot on digital, coupled with the slump in high-end Canadian shows, will make things worse?

Ogston: Well, it probably makes sense for a studio kind of sitcom, with four cameras and a standing set, to go over to digital because it’s very simple. But [with] dramatic one-hour TV shows, there’s some experimentation – some shows are making a go of it with digital but…I think they’ll end up spending more on post.

Playback: What about feature films?

Ogston: Other than Mr. Lucas? [Laughs] No. I hold him up to no derision at all. He wanted to show what digital could do and he’s taken it to the nth degree. But I don’t think he’s convinced the rest of the industry that that’s the way to go at this time.

Playback: Super 16mm is the stock mostly likely to be edged out by digital formats, such as Sony 24p HD. Is it becoming obsolete?

Ogston: That was our assumption two years ago – that it would take the first hit. But in fact we found within a year of the rollout of HD that it actually ended up being a bit of a lifesaver for 16, because of cost savings. Especially in the first years of HD, there was a bit of a bottleneck. You only had so many cameras available and only so many HD-capable post facilities. So they were able to command higher rates for camera rentals and for the hours in the post suite. So people went back to shooting film.

Playback: How’s Super 16mm selling now?

Ogston: It took a hit in volume in the first year after the rollout of HD, but then it rebounded in 2002. We still thought it would be depressed, but so far we’ve been able to hit a home run month after month.

Playback: Going forward, how important are digital products to Fuji?

Ogston: It’s huge. It’s having a huge impact now and it’s huge going forward. We’ve always been a lens manufacturer and so we’re commanding a very good share of still digital cameras worldwide, [which] transitions quite nicely over to the motion capture side of the business.

Playback: What are Fujifilm’s newest digital products?

Ogston: We’ve trumped our ATTOM technology with nanocubic technology, which rolled out mid-last year. It represents a 10-time increase in the recording capability on a single unit. So before, where the LTO or DLT could record maybe 100 gigabytes, this can record one terabyte. In the six months since, that format has been able to double up, so it’s maybe 2 terabytes now.

Playback: A rule of thumb in computer science says the processing power of chips doubles every 18 months. Is a similar equation at work in digital storage?

Ogston: In broad terms, yes.

Playback: You seem to have the advantage because Kodak, which leads Fuji in the conventional market, seems to be moving slowly on digital. Can you use digital as leverage to overtake Kodak?

Ogston: That’s a tough question. Digital is important for us, as I’m sure it is for Kodak. All I can fairly say is that Fuji has always excelled in research and development. In 2001 we were among the top 15 worldwide manufacturers in R&D spending as a percentage of total global sales. And the dozen or so companies that were ahead of us were not in comparable industries.

Playback: What about the conventional Hollywood market? How do you lure DPs away from a company that’s dominated the market since the days of Edison?

Ogston: Big-budget theatrical features tend to get shot by bigger-name DPs, and while they like a choice between film manufacturers…there’s a comfort factor there.

Let’s face it, Kodak has been in the business for 100 years, we’ve only been out there for 70. So we’re still the new kid on the block. It’s just barely 20 years ago that [Fuji] evolved out of 250 speed and set a new standard for speed and grain. But if you’re a DP and, say, 65 years old, with two Oscars on your mantle, well, we just started to make big improvements when you were 45, and probably just winning your first Oscar.

Here’s a guy getting seven figures to shoot a picture. Sure he’s heard about a great new Fuji stock but ‘Geez,’ he says to himself, ‘do I want to take a chance?’

Playback: So what’s the strategy? Hope for the best from veterans and try to win over new talent?

Ogston: Oh, it’s always been about new talent. That’s why we’re always active in film schools and festivals.

– www.fujifilm.ca