Richard H. Vetter

Richard H. Vetter (born February 24, 1928 in San Diego , California , United States - † August 11, 2015 in Carlsbad , United States) was an American technician , engineer and camera specialist who played a decisive role in the development of the wide screen Procedure.

Live and act

Vetter grew up in his hometown San Diego in the extreme south of California and went to school there. After graduating from Hoover High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. In accordance with his photographic talent and interest, which was visible very early on, he was brought to the School of Photography in Pensacola (Florida). After Vetter's military service, he continued his training at Pepperdine University and made his first (master's) degree. After a brief stint as a high school teacher, Vetter returned to university to do his PhD in Audio Visual Studies and Theater Arts from UCLA . He was then appointed private lecturer at UCLA and taught there for several years. During this time Richard Vetter developed a film simulator, which earned him special financial support from the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering. This widescreen development caught the attention of the documentary filmmaker Louis de Rochemont , who introduced him to the executives of the United Artists Theaters. Richard Vetter eventually became Vice President of Research and Development for the United Artists Kinotheater. The development of the simulator system into a technology suitable for cinema films for the production and publication of full-length films led to the establishment of a new subsidiary of United Artists called Dimension 150, or D-150 for short.

Richard H. Vetter had quickly made himself a specialist in the Todd-AO wide-wall process. With the combination of Todd-AO 65mm cameras and D-150 optics, it was designed to compete with Cinerama, Panavision and other widescreen formats. Vetter's patented technology has been implemented in over sixty D-150 systems in the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe, and the Far East. After a demonstration of the D-150 system at the United Artists Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Frank McCarthy of 20th Century Fox and director Franklin J. Schaffner selected D-150 for the production of the war film Patton: Rebel in Uniform . Cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp received an Oscar nomination thanks to the use of Vetter's D-150, and Vetter himself was named as a “process consultant” in the credits. In the following years, Richard Vetter was named in this role as well as a consultant for the Todd-AO process in the films Macbeth , The Son of Mandingo and Escape into the 23rd Century . In those years (1974) Richard H. Vetter, as a representative of the Todd-AO-Corporation, received a technology Oscar for, as it was said in the explanation, "Design of an improved anamorphic focus system for film photography (lenses and filters)." Richard Vetter held over 40 patents, many of which were related to widescreen film technology, as well as other patents that have led to improvements in the scientific advancement of the film industry. Vetter was also a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Society of Cinematographers .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Scientific or Technical Award Class III for Richard H. Vetter

Web links

• Richard H. Vetter in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• biography