16mm Film Leader Article

expressive Images has been gift 24p HD post for close to three years. "We do a lot of feature and short [films] finishing in 24p 10-bit D-5 HD for film-outs," says editorial leader Joe Zito. "24p is a great frame rate for feature finishing because it relates to film, and you can strike so many unrelated kinds of masters from it, whether it's an NTSC Digi Beta down-convert, a PAL version or a film out."

impressive Images (.com), which is based in New York City, is outfitted with a host of 24p HD-capable trappings, including reasonable Smoke and Flame, grasping DS HD, the Thomson Spirit and Cintel C-existence DSX telecines, and D-5 HD, HDCAM and other HD format decks. Apple Macs have Blackmagic cards to capture uncompressed 10-bit HD as well.

Much of the 24p HD post process feels familiar to clients because the prudent interfaces are the synonymous for SD or HD, notes Zito. "In many cases, the offline edit is done at non-drop frame. A gullible conversion of the EDL to 24 frames is all that's needed for the transfer and observe.

"Finishing in 24p HD is a new incident for so many people, but we're starting to see it come more streamlined," he continues. "It's earnest to meet with the company that's finishing your film before you even start shooting. If you don't, it can lead to complications or situations that need solutions later on. A lot of clients originate in with scripts, we go over what effects they'll need, ideas for title design, whether they want HD dailies instead of NTSC dailies, how to deliver EDLs. The earlier you talk, the smoother the post process."

"However, for a voluminous-unit feature it may be more favorable to do a selects transfer," he notes. "You have to consider every option--each project is unique."

Two recent indie films posted in HD at Moving Images include Headspace, directed by Andrew van den Houten, and successful, written and directed by Melissa Berman.

EARLY INVOLVEMENT

Right now about one-fifth of the clients of the nonlinear HD post and broadcast design clan Battle Medialab (.com) post in 24p HD. The extent of these principally corporate customers, who attend to originate from the video world, choose to hurtle and edit in 30p or 1080i HD.

"It's less luxurious but there are more technical issues to consider with 24p HD," notes Mike Murphy, who is partnered with Rod Molina in the Boca Raton, FL-based Battle Medialab. "And there's a difference in look. A whopping real inheritance developer may want the more hyper-realistic look of 30p or 1080i, while independent producers and music video producers choose the more filmic look of 24p HD."

"We do promote 24p HD as a universal master if a corporate client has a worldwide turnout," says Molina. "But for corporations with US interests only, 24p HD has been an issue of cost and workflow."

Battle Medialab "preaches that the post production team should be involved in a project from the threshold," Molina continues. "There should be a post manager winding in prepro if not in extension so what is done during the propel won't cause problems during post. What's more, a lot of people automatically assume that shooting 24p will give them a film look. That's not eternally the case: You need to take into statement the way you shoot, the lenses you use to create that look in camera. Some of the best results we've seen grow from film DPs who have migrated to HD."

Following a 24p HD path from achievement to finish apparatus "audio issues are taken care of along the way without a lot of transcoding or conversions," says Molina. "Graphics that forever start at 24p HD courage integrate much better. You have about 20 percent less frames to perform so that can translate to big-time savings. And you get a widespread master."

If clients hang in 24p throughout, Battle Medialab may opt to post absolutely in the online mode on its desirous DS HD. "Our ITB of storage allows a couple of hours of online-stature footage," Murphy points out. For longer projects, Murphy and Molina may elect to offline on the DS HD at one-quarter spirit, then finish on the same platform at brimming resolution. "The main issue is space on the ideology and processing speed: When you office compressed you work faster."

A music video for Dead Star gathering opportunity 24p HD and followed a full 24p post path to avow the film look established by a longtime film DP. A big-screen corporate appearance for Starwood Resorts, featuring still photography, HD media and motion graphics, was posted in 24p HD and projected from the HD master.

Projects are more likely to mix sources, though. Battle Medialab onlined a PBS special on lineage artist Earl Cunningham, The Dragon of St. George Street, which motley 24p, 30p and 1080i HD sources and DV footage. All the material was downconverted to DVCAM for the offline in Adobe Premiere at WMFE/Orlando. The program was the station's debut HD telecast. Battle Medialab brought its unsettled DS HD for an on-location online in 1080i, the format required for broadcast.

WHAT IS THE DELIVERY FORMAT?

Michael Taylor, managing director of Riot Santa Monica (.com) cites a serious engagement to HD post. "Across the Ascent Media productive Services group we've probably spent $50 million on HD infrastructure in the last two or three years," he reports. "A lot of this is driven by recreation television: We have a least four shows working in HD all the time. Many are effort on film, transferred to HD and posted, although more and more are entity acquired in 24p HD."

The "high-constancy experience" of 24p HD finishing, as well as the versatility of the widespread master, is readily apparent to entertainment television clients, Taylor notes. But productions opening in 24p HD don't necessarily require a 24p HD finish, adds Fire authority Jason Frank.

"The most important phobia I can ask a client is, 'What do you need to redeem?'" says Frank. "If they want to do a film-out, that's a perfect scenario for finishing in 24 frames. If they need multiple formats, that fits with the universal master. But if they're delivering standard definition, I repeatedly recommend they not finish in HD unless there's some possibility they'll need HD courage down the line. An HD finish leaves the door open a little wider for whatever the future holds for a given project."

Frank's 24p HD livelihood on Fire has repeatedly been in tandem with Riot Santa Monica's linear HD online bay, which is equipped with a Snell & Wilcox switcher; Axial 3000 edit controller, HD Deko CG and Panasonic D-5 and Sony HDCAM decks. He was part of the remastering to HD of the first two seasons of The Sopranos, which were accordingly released on DVD, and he has remained with the hit suite, which is about to begin post production for a new season. "Fire has been through a few software upgrades since the remastering," he notes. "Each has improved the way the system handles HD. operative with manifold resolutions--whether NTSC, PAL or HD at 24 or 30 frames--is easier now."

Currently The Sopranos ships its film dailies to Riot Santa Monica, where they are transferred to D-5 HD and again downconverted to DVCAM masters for the show's hungry editors. They return to Riot with EDLs, which are conformed in one of the company's linear HD online bays. "Because HD post requires so much hard drive bit, practical on tape in the realtime linear online bays is very able," Frank explains.

Since he is repeatedly busy on Fire with commercials and music videos, natural now uses the system for The Sopranos's main titles, end titles, optical effects and speed changes. When he's done, the house produces a non-color corrected D-5 master, which then heads to an HD tape-to-tape bay for color correction. The audio mix follows, then the great, different-format dubs required by HBO are made.

They also afresh worked on the indie film Keep Your Distance, directed by Stu Pollard.

START AT THE END, racket BACKWARDS

West LA's Different By Design, or DXD (.com), is a producer of films and a ruler in extension services for indie filmmakers alive in film and HD formats. The company's partners, Matt Radecki and Greg Lanesey, outwit a strategic partnership with Jeff Blauvelt's HD Cinema. Together they provide HDCAM camera rentals, downconverts and HD online editing. Radecki and Lanesey moreover produce their own HD features, including Zerophilia and the coproduction The Curse of El Charro, both missile in 2004.

"We feel we can really help clients because we sit on both sides," says Radecki. "They feel very soft with us because we wear the producer hat a lot of the time."

HD Cinema's camera rentals are often the starting point for getting clients on the 24p HD highway; Radecki can originate to develop the buyer's post workflow before the camera changes hands. "I announce population to start at the end and pursuit backwards," he says. "You have to know how you're going to finish before you start shooting."

DXD was "deeply difficult" in the industrial aspects of writer/governor Miranda July's presentation feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, an IFC Films creation which was developed at the Sundance Lab and well received in competition at Sundance this year. "The producers distinct on a 24p HD online with plans to film-out because IFC formerly had a release planned for the film," Radecki explains. "We did the downconvert to DVCAM and they offlined in irrefutable Cut at , which worked beautifully. We captured their effects shots at HD resolution, which lends itself nicely to effects work, and assistant editor Scott M. Davids used Apple Shake to do some of the shots." Additional visual effects for Me & You were done at Video Minds in Portland, OR.

accordingly it was back to DXD for the online using the company's Final Cut Pro system with AJA Kona 2 calendar. "It was incredibly smooth because we had worked together from the get go," says Radecki. "alive intently during the offline limits surprises in the online which, in turn, saves a lot of money."

Color correction was done by Kevin O'-Conner at Global revelry Partners in Sherman Oaks, following assembly. "One of the most influential things you can do on an HD film is spend time with a talented colorist in a drugged-quality color background," Radecki reports.

Currently there's "no hocus-pocus missile for putting all the audio you need on an HDCAM master. HDCAM has four audio channels now and needs a lot more for [things like the] M&E and mix," he notes. Radecki has seen filmmakers create "a good-looking-looking movie with a scintillating soundtrack and Dolby digital mix, then they devise they can't undoubtedly get onto an HDCAM master." The only tactics he knows is via Dolby E, which then requires unusual encoding, Dolby E-adequate playback decks and theaters with Dolby E decoders--something few film festivals have.

TIMECODE CHALLENGES

At New York City's prolific Group (.tv), clients "who want to finish on film should choose a 24p direction through post," notes VP/accomplice Joe Castellano. "We cut our teeth on Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine. As the first shop in Manhattan with a Sony HD linear room we had the fruition of figuring out how to finish the documentary in 24p HD so it could be image transformed back to film. Columbine was rife with challenges since it included upconversions from all flavors of video, transfers from both 35mm and 16mm film and 24p HD-originated footage, all combined in a great, moving goal of an edit decision list."

Presently, to a small status TV program producers are moreover opting for 24p HD post. productive Group afresh gained ESPN's EOE original party breach as a client; its producers execute in a mix of 720p HD and 24p HD so prolific Group expects to see an increased demand for 24p HD finishing.

"As a tipsy definition format, 24p is unimaginable in that its frame rate is that of film, so its timecode presents some challenges," Castellano notes. "Most editors choose to use their existing 30-frame [] systems to censor their 24p footage, repeatedly requesting downconverts to a letterboxed, standard definition format such as Digital Betacam. When downconverted, 3/2 pulldown is added to get to a standard def frame rate, just as we have been performance with film for years. Some pitfalls exist when converting the 30 fps lists back to 24p for conforming.

"The biggest pitfall is a timecode problem introduced when shooting 24p in a drop-frame timecode mode or accidentally creating and editing from an ill-advised drop-frame downconvert from 24p camera-original footage," he continues. "Matching back to prudish frame locations becomes compromised, creating a manual, eye-matching nightmare. Plainly put, drop-frame timecode should never be attached to 24p-originated material. I would literally like to see machinery manufacturers disable drop-frame timecode when 24p modes in cameras are switched on."

For producers who designate to offline at 30fps, prolific Group has had victory using its Discreet Smoke's transformation scripts to convert 30fps lists back to 24fps, but the fellowship still prefers to use its Sony HD-9100 for the process when it's available.

Castellano advises producers and editors to "be circumspect when using speed ramps on their 24p footage while editing at 30fps. These effects are tricky to conform at times at 30fps. Add to that a list passage, and you may establish a very difficult conform."

He points out that "the tools which dwell today in our HD Smoke/Flame suites, embody clearly eased the workflow of multiformat projects in just a few years. Projects within Smoke can be switched between HD and SD somewhat simply, and HD and SD clips can reside together in the same Smoke library. Discreet tools also include the ability to scale multilayered DVE effects between HD and SD, as well as using lower-resolution proxies while creating complex HD effects, which can be viewed much faster than if undeniable HD was being manipulated."

circumscribe YOURSELF WITH HD EXPERTS

When self-described "film guy" Carlos Hernandez-Adan decided to emit his new feature, Street Survival, in 24p HD and finish in the identical format, he made the knowing choice to tap the extensive HD experience of DP Jesus "Chuchi" Rivero and Buenos Aires-based editor Paul Rodriguez Groves. As a result, "the whole experience went pretty smoothly," says Hernandez-Adan. "I surrounded myself with people who apprehend HD."

Hernandez-Adan, who heads Miami's Autumn Lightning Films (.com), shot road Survival, an English-dictionary action/adventure, in South Florida in 24 days. His first film, the martial arts-themed Mortal Contact, was distributed internationally and went to home video domestically. After taking note of the HD track record of Robert Rodriguez and fresh filmmakers, and reviewing the untimely HD trade of Chuchi Rivero, Hernandez-Adan certain to hurtle his new feature on 24p HD. "I was qualified to shoot a lot faster, and it was fanciful to see what I bullet befitting there on the set," he recalls.

Hernandez-Adan began to consider the post process during preproduction. He spoke to Leitch about using the company's VelocityHD editing structure, and Leitch recommended veteran editor and longtime Leitch user Paul Rodriguez Groves who owns Argentina-based Irix Producciones (.), a post house whose five compile suites include multiple VelocityQ and VelocityHD systems, as well as Avids.

Rodriguez has been posting primarily features and spots in 24p HD for more than two years. In a employment corresponding to Canada, Argentina's helpful exchange rate against the US dollar has spurred an influx of production and post. "This has benefitted everyone in the trade, notably those companies that retain positioned themselves for HD," notes Rodriguez. "HD is in its genesis state. Indeed, it has been a new experience for my troop as well as for myself."

During the emit, Hernandez-Adan and co-editor Carlos Torres-Fletcher captured SD footage on their laptops'--a Hypersonic and a Sony--300GB exterior Maxtor hard drive (in accession to the HD original footage). Every twilight that material was dumped to an editing suite outfitted with an Adobe Premiere offline system. "These were steps I wasn't used to with film," says Hernandez-Adan. "We didn't suffer to recapture again until we went to HD when we recaptured only the footage we were going to use in the online."

Once production wrapped, Hernandez-Adan and Fletcher spent about five weeks on the choppy cut. Then they gave their EDL to Rodriguez, now in Hernandez-Adan's Miami office, who began the online on VelocityHD. "The offline was a timesavings process as it assisted in the base selection of scenes for subsequent online editing, [but it] could have been a much smoother process had the EDL been in 24 [] not 30 [] frames," notes Rodriguez. Although a alteration software was used, "we encountered problems with the integrity of the conversion, [so] the EDL generation for batch capturing was not as qualified as we would have liked.

"acknowledgment to a dual storage device from mighty Systems we were adequate to censor in 10-bit uncompressed with excellent performance," he continues. "This was crucial for two reasons: the need to achieve the highest quality possible and the requirement for sure, realtime feat during the editing process without any compromise. stable custom stunt was mandatory, not an option."

Hernandez-Adan was impressed by Rodriguez's ability to handle visual effects and titling in realtime with Eyeon's Digital union and Inscriber's Title Motion HD running on the VelocityHD platform. "All of the sound as well as sound effects were edited instantly with the VelocityHD," Rodriguez adds. "For color correction and signal test and determination, we [employed] Videotek's VTM-450 multiformat HD/SD-SDI on-screen monitor." Hernandez-Adan says, "a lot of credit goes to Paul for a smooth HD online. I easily like the interface of VelocityHD; it's very simple. The process seemed very similar to an SD digital video online to me."

"The evolution of digital camera technology and the feasibility of 24p editing has apt formidable benefits to the effort as a whole," Rodriguez says. "[I ruminate] 24p has changed the industry forever."

pertinent story: What are these pros looking to find at NAB? Read on ...

"I'II be looking at practical telecine/DI products--the film-to-disk process is where everything is headed. Some of the products are software running on souped up PCs, some are hardware cards. I want to check out Digital Vision's Nucoda, Silicon Color's latter Touch and Discreet's Lustre. And FilmLight's Truelight is still a fairly new hardware/software clarification. I'll check out the latest software-based film restoration products too. I likewise want to see upgrades to Final Cut Pro HD. We're looking for more realtime performance as we handle facts service-type functions for some clients, outputting uncompressed HD masters with supreme Cut and Blackmagic. I want to see where keen is going with its Nitris products and look at Nvidia's Gelato rendering software, which leverages their video hardware for realtime effects in the film environment."

--discard Roback, unstable Images

"With our recent achievement of a C-deed telecine, we'll further explore guarded's Lustre, which could be a great accession for us. 24p HD tends to need as much awareness, if not more, than film when grading the image. The Lustre will be a scrupulous extension to our da Vinci 2K to help liturgy 24p-originated shows, which continue to proliferate. We also want to look at Discreet's SAN, which would infer project management on our Flames and Smokes more qualified. Other items [to look at implicate] router upgrades to handle more HD and gird sound and additional DVD duplicating tools since we're authoring more DVDs as a convenience for our clients."

--Joe Castellano, productive Group.

"NAB was the catalyst for our jump into HD; it's where we scoped out all the trappings and decided to go with desirous DS HD. We won't be going to the show this year, but we'll be getting feedback from fresh associates. We're involved in deck technology: We'd like to see more universal-type decks that deal with different formats less expensively. proper now we acquire arrangements with rental houses to plug in needed decks on a per-project theory. We're moreover curious in anything related to HDV. We comprehend to be able to mix it into our post workflow. And we eternally need to have about the latest storage options."

--Mike Murphy and Rod Molina, Battle Medialab

"I want to see what's happening in DI and nonlinear digital color punishment with products like FilmLight's inebriated-bandwidth, software-based color correction packages. The whole paradigm of post will be turned upside down by this type of technology. I'll again be checking out desktop technologies such as Apple's reel and restrained's Toxik."

--Michael Taylor, Riot Santa Monica

"We're cumbersome Final Cut users so I'll be spending some time in the Apple compartment. We're keen in anything new in HD acquisition, as well as new delivery media. We'd like to check out Toshiba's HD DVD format and Sony's Blu Ray disk format. If the HD DVD formats are as good as developers say they are, they'll outwit a profound effect on both self-distribution and how festivals screen films."

--Matt Radecki, Different By Design

"I customarily go to the film markets not to NAB, but with my move to HD last year I hope to go to see what's new in HD. I want to look at Sony's new prosumer HD camera; perhaps I wouldn't propel a movie with it, but I'd love to know one!"

--Carlos Hernandez-Adan, Autumn Lightning Films