Frankly, I'm happy with my Film-Tech photo the way it is, as last year's Film-Tech get-together at ShoWest where the photo was taken is an enjoyable memory.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

I heard about this fabulous poem that was read as your acceptance speech... any chance of sharing that with us?

Congrats again!

When I first presented the Laboratory Aim Density Control (LAD) System at the SMPTE Technical Conference in Toronto on November 11, 1974, I opened the presentation with a poem:

________________________________________

Have your highlights lost their sparkle?
And the midtones lost their scale?
Are your shadows going smoky?
And the colors turning stale?

Have you lost a little business,
to labs whose pictures shine?
Because to do it right,
takes alot of time?

Well, here's a brand new system,
as simple as can be.
It's name is LAD, an acronymn,
for Laboratory Aim Density.
__________________________________________

In my acceptance speech at the Academy Scientific and Technical Awards March 3, I thought it fitting to use that silly little poem to open my speech.

The Kodak website has a brief article on LAD and how it is used by film and digital laboratories to set up electronic color analyzers and to better control color duplicating:
http://www.kodak.com/country/US/en/motion/support/h61/index.shtml

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

____________________________________________

All the world's a gray, they say,
for any film, shot night or day.

LAD took the scale, from white to black,
and reduced it to a single fact.
By printing LAD at the center aims,
laboratories had much to gain.

But grays and numbers are rather dry,
and labs make pictures for the eye.
A film to measure, but also view,
was needed -- that we knew.

Take a LAD, reduce its size,
Add a picture to please the eyes.
Combining the two was the key,
to the concept you're about to see.
____________________________________________

Since this is your first posting on Film-Tech, I'd like to introduce you to the other participants. Jamie is the new Editor of Kodak's Cinema Notes, working in her role as the Marketing and Public Relations Manager of Kodak's Cinema Operations Team, based in Culver City, California. Her photo can be found on the inside of the front cover (page 2) of the Spring 2001 issue of Kodak Cinema Notes:
CLICK HERE

You can contact her with any ideas for Cinema Notes at: jamie.powell@kodak.com .

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

BTW, who's the girl in the test frame? I remember seeing an article some time ago, about 'the girl who's in every movie, but you never see her'.

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Better Projection Pays!

Tim Reed: I was on the set when the "LAD Girl" scene was photographed in 1982, and lost track of the pretty model in the picture. But with all the recent interest in LAD, I'm tracking down who she was, and where she is now. In my acceptance speech, I noted that she has probably been in more movies than any other actress in history, even if it is only in the film leader used to control the color at the lab for each picture.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Those pictures were definitely cool! Great stuff to have on Film-Tech. Now send me a videotape so I can make a Quicktime download of the entire ceremony! Or at least you winning your award and everybody making the acceptance speech.