A Review of Production & Post Production Workflows from the current TV Season

 Spring / 2009 – SAG threatens to strike  AFTRA alternative – but only if you shoot on tape, not film  Studios shot 90% of their pilots on tape under AFTRA  And the studios learned that 24P worked & saved $$$  2009/2010 season – a lot of film cameras sat on shelves  2010/2011 – 80% shooting on tape (even Alexa)  March 11, 2011 – Tsunami hits Northeast Japan  Current season of 2011/2012 – 90% shooting onto files

 By Aug 2011, tape was still in short supply  Many shows adopted the Alexa or Red camera  Once the efficiencies of file based production became obvious….there was little reason to go back to tape  Saves time > processing & ingest is faster than real time  Processing > uses computers instead of dedicated hardware: vtrs, routers, etc…means lower capex cost  Saves archiving space & costs > 1 hour Episodic > hrs, > 6-8 LTOs > replace 50+ SR tapes

 Color Management  Data Management  Dailies Processing  Conforming  Archiving

 For best results we shoot LOG  Trending away from hands-on dailies colorist  How to make it relevant for on set & dailies?  Need to choose & apply LUTS or Looks while shooting the scenes.  Choosing LUTS for on-set….& for dailies?  Currently there seems to be 4 specific approaches

 Lut box tethered to camera(s) – the luts to lab  Apply luts during data management (Red)  Use one single default lut - rec709 or custom  Create a collection or set of luts or looks in advance ….apply them accordingly.  LUT – color look up tables applied to dailies – typically for editorial & general distribution  “look or looks” – the generic term  Arri Look – color as applied to the viewing outputs on Alexa using Arri tools

 Breaking In – DIT plus Truelight box  Justified – on set DIT creates looks w/ DP during data backup (Red Epic)  The Big C – one lut  Unforgettable & The Client List – collection of preset luts

 Introduced in version 4, Alexa firmware  Allows for loading 16 Arri Looks into Alexa  Arri Looks are 1D luts and designed for Alexa’s on board color processing capabilities  No external color boxes required…as Arri Looks can be called up in camera & applied to outputs  SxS recordings can stay native LogC  Embeds the name of the chosen Look into the file for tracking later in the post workflow

 Pilot shot > well known graphic novel  As such > extreme looks  Director wanted to preview looks on set  DP shot test material & created a number of looks he might use…. 23 in fact.  Ended up using only 7 during actual production

 In August, 2011 – no tools for translating the LUTs created on Baselight to an official Arri Look  Peter Postma (Filmlight-LA) worked to translate….  Variances crept in to the exercise due to differences in decoding - legal vs extended ranges – required “tweaks”  Ultimately we ran tests to make sure what was seen on set was what was being delivered to Editorial and in the Studio & Network Dailies

 We now have tools from Arri to build these Arri Looks & to generate matching compatible LUTS  Arri Look Creator - application  Arri LUT Generator – online web app  We also now have third party tools that will generate compatible Arri Looks from LUTS  Pomfort’s LiveGrade - beta

 Original Camera Negative exists as files on card  Cards are expensive > transfer the files to a shuttle drive > lab  Need to have multiple backups  Need to have a workflow system in place to assure no files are lost  Need supporting software to confirm transfers on a bit by bit basis  Need to QC or review each days material that flows – SET > LAB  1) On set data wrangler  2) Dailies operator and manager  3) Assistant Editor  4) Archivist at the Lab

 File based > faster than real time - transfer & conversion  Syncing Sound to Picture > w/ proper onset timecode management > quick and easy  Logging > sound recorders label wav files - SC/TKs  Color > applying luts from set or from a colorist working in parallel on the same networked system  Systems > process dnx + mpeg2 (dvds) + h.264 (stream)  Reference > Original codec or a mezzanine codec

 Concerns re: compression seems to be reduced  Many shows are using dnx175x for conform – especially popular at post houses….  Several shows are even using dnx115 – popular with in house post workflows…. SOUTHLAND (TNT)  SPT’s goal > conform directly from the native codec or a codec that maintains 444 quality.

 Avid file based conforming (MC 5 +) references “sourcefiles” plus timecode vs. tape roll plus timecode  Each sourcefile or clipname is unique  Camera Reel/clip number/date/camera serial #  Example > A004C010_ _R1JL.mov  Each clip or sourcefile is usually one take of one scene….  Decision to conform with a mezzanine codec instead of the original file is typically driven by the devices being used to complete the conform and grading

 Final vetting of files for name and substance  Hard copy onto LTO5 x 2  Working copy of each episode’s OCN footage on a portable RAID for transport to the “online” or conform – transfer via eSata or SAS  In House – files move via network transfer to the studio’s TV Repository

SOUTHLAND - TNT UNFORGETTABLE - CBS

 shoots RED, Canon 5D, GoPro  Dailies – all footage color timed by a dailies colorist & processed into dnx115 on Fotokem’s NextLab  Show is then cut on Avid in dnx115  Final cut IS the edited master (w/color)  Output as files > grading takes only 3-4hrs  Southland IS a stylized show and thus can sustain artifacts created by this workflow

 Shot on Arri Alexa – using collection of luts  OCN (ProRes 444 LogC) is collected and held on an episodic raid for conform  Conformed on Avid Symphony – uses AMA transfer of ProRes – transcoded to Avid RGB 444 – then conformed & pushed…  To Colorworks where it is graded on a Baselight from scratch… only referencing the original onset looks

 Tape > The Good Wife / CSI-NY / Weeds / Modern Family / Dexter  Red > many Red shows are conformed from Quicktime files instead of the R3D originals  Alexa with dnx recording has been demo’ed and tested and will be available soon….  Some post houses were using dpx for the conform…

 ArriRaw for TV > just not required….  What happened to all of those file based recording devices introduced at the last NAB ?  Convergent Design’s Gemini  Sound Devices PIX 240  ATMOS Samarai  Along with – CineDeck, KeyPro, Nanoflash

Sony F65 – 4K & HD SR Memory – 440/220 DNX440 – 444 version of Avid’s DNX Canon EOS - IIF-ACES