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Outstanding Technical Achievement
Award: David F.E. Corley
 David
Corley is one of Canada’s least known inventors, yet
one of his most important inventions—the Corley
color pattern test—arguably changed television
everywhere.
Knowing nothing about film production, David learned
the business from the very bottom; he bought a used
camera and other equipment and built an editing
synchronizer using old camera sprockets. In 1962,
now married with four kids, David and Susan started
a TV production company D and S Corley Limited (DSC
Labs) in the basement of their Etobicoke bungalow.
David
found that there were no test materials for lining
up new color telecines. Building or modifying
cameras, printers, film processor and
densitometers 10 times more accurate than
industry standards, he worked with Roger Ross and
Stan Quinn at the CBC on the design of grayscale
and color patterns - two years later the
first Corley test pattern was born.
David and Sue decided to expand the production of
precision test patterns, primarily for television.
First specializing in rear -lit
test materials they patented the Ambi (Ambient Light
Illuminator). Ambi became popular with television
engineers and, more recently with production crews
in both television and digital cinema communities.
Perhaps DSC's biggest advance in test patterns was
the high gloss test chart David found that he could
add two to three f-stops by using an ultra
high-gloss surface. Matte charts produce flare
invisible to the human eye but seen by cameras,
reflections in DSC's gloss charts are obvious and
can be corrected easily by tilting the chart.
The
ChromaDuMonde chart with its patented
spectrophotometrically neutral grayscale,
precision colors and rugged design has been an
instant hit. For precision film and slide production
David designed some remarkable devices including a
precision additive optical printer with a gamut of
512 million colors; they called it CAMI (Computer
Automated Multi- Imager). David also developed
precision slide reproduction and manipulation for
AV.
Other
DSC developments, Fuzzies Soft Edge Masks, DSC
precision projector alignment grids and precision
slight duplicates with the emulsion the same side as
originals were the foundation on which the
multi-image boom of the 1980s was built. David is a
Life Fellow of the SMPTE and has served as both
Canadian Governor and Director of Education for the
Society. Recognition by his peers includes The Fuji
Gold Medal. DSC Labs is a recipient of The Canada
Award for Business Excellence.
Today David is working on standardizing image
quality in medicine, law enforcement and the
forensic sciences.
See the full Academy of
Canadian Cinema and Television Press Release by
Clicking Here.
See the Academy Special Awards
Announcement by Clicking Here
2011 Gemini Awards
Pictures
Shirley, David and Susan pose for a
picture during the Gemini Gala Dinner.
David receives his Outstanding Technical
Achievement Award.
David giving his acceptance speech.
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