OZ MAGAZINE — 2007

RIPPLE EFFECTS OF HI DEF:

At NAB 2007 in April, attendees were able to see firsthand advances in look management software that allow for cross-platform data exchange. This exchange is enabled by the ASC CDL (Color Decision List), a means in which you can take red, green and blue color correction using lift, gain and gamma and be able to exchange specific color correction across different color corrector platforms. It has been two years in the works, but the creation and release of a data exchange standard is imminent.

"We’re past the beta stage," said Curtis Clark, ASC member and chair of the Technology Committee. "This is something that will be happening this year. All the major players and vendors are on board with this."

No longer will directors and cinematographers be vexed by the possibility that their choice in technology for look management in pre-visualization and principal photography will later be an issue in post. Trying to match up the system used at the beginning of the workflow with the system used at the post-house, while desirable, can be challenging and occasionally not possible. What if the decision on which facility will be used is late in coming or changed – and that shop works on a platform that doesn’t synch up well? It can mean the integrity of the original decision in establishing a look is simply lost.

"With the innovations at hand, that challenge is eliminated and directors will have greater flexibility," said Clark. "And it’s cost effective too."

The Future of Colorists

So how does all this changing technology impact the role of the colorist, just one of many specialists caught in the high-def whirlwind? Sure, there will always be a need, but so much is happening earlier in the process, too.

It seems that the once linear process of film production is no longer a reality. In the hybrid film/digital environment, you’re able to create look references for the dailies that are far closer to the final look than was possible a few years ago. You can make multiple copies and multitask, facilitating editorial and creating CGI images -- such as those tentacles coming out of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean -- in a non-sequential order.

So on the one hand, the boundaries between production and post are blurred, opening doors for a guy in post to take some HD seminars and try life outside of the box. But on the other hand, having the capability to modify the look on-set may be nice for communication purposes, but – so far – hasn’t eliminated the need to do color correction when all the moving parts come together at the end.

"The colorist’s reward is that it’s most satisfying to be the end-all on the look, the final touch, the last guy," said Ian Vertovec, a colorist/VFX artist with PlasterCITY Digital Post, Los Angeles in a recent interview. "Other people like establishing the look, more on-set decisions and pre-visualization. We enjoy the anchor leg of the relay."

Founded in 2003, PlasterCITY markets itself as the "new breed of post production," a 100 percent HD post facility specializing in post supervision, offline editorial, online, color correction and graphic design for film and TV. Together the team of founding artists, which includes Vertovec, has garnered 6 regional Emmy’s from the Chicago and St. Louis chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences since 2001.

Vertovec has found that technology is moving so fast that every project is different than the last and that roles are very different now than even two years ago. But that’s part of the attraction – keeping up with what’s new and constantly evolving. His digital colorist credits include The Great New Wonderful (2005), All In (2006) and Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006). Most recently, he has worked on Prisoner (due out this year) as both the digital colorist and visual effects supervisor.

"Colorists use the right and left side of the brain, equally technical and artistic," he said. "The technology serves the art and serves the craft. There’s artistic license and telling stories, but you have to understand the ‘geekery’ aspect of it in order to have the product look as good as it can."

Crawford Post Production, a service area of Crawford Communications, Inc. in Atlanta and among the largest post production operations in the Southeast, is no stranger to the challenges of changing technology.

"Bottom line, it’s not the equipment, it’s the artist," said Crawford colorist Jeff Bauman. "Once you have an understanding of color and picture manipulation, a good colorist just needs to learn the buttons to work on any system."

At NAB this year, Bauman was intrigued by all the new color correctors that are emerging. Computers are faster and more work is being done from drives and these technologies are far more affordable than ever before. Yet, as inexpensive systems flood the market, there may be consequences to trying to do it yourself without the knowledge and expertise of a veteran colorist.

In Bauman’s view, "It’s becoming clearer it takes more than just editing gear to qualify a person to be a colorist or an editor. It can slow a job down because someone with little experience with coloring manipulates the image and the client ends up spending more time and money than allotted for the project."

Bauman has done color correction work for O’Charley’s Restaurants, BellSouth, Bassett Furniture and The Coca-Cola Company & Disney Resorts. He has found that -- particularly on commercial projects -- clients at Crawford "may come in with an idea that their footage looks good and they leave knowing that from now on they have to budget for color correction. This is across the board," Bauman said. "I’ve never done a job from tape where a client wasn’t drastically impressed with the improvement of quality of their footage."

From Digital Comes Metadata

In the old days when film was the only game in town, a DP might communicate with the colorist by shooting a color chart at the head of the film roll to assist the lab in calibrating color and density when printing the dailies. That was just something to get in the ballpark of what the DP intended to create with adjustments expected later on down the line.

With digital acquisition, there is the possibility of recording "metadata," ancillary digital information that is recorded along with primary picture and sound and could include anything from time code and script notes to lens and camera location and lookup tables.

Cinematographer James Mathers of Los Angeles, president of the Digital Cinema Society, appreciates the opportunity metadata provides to communicate his color management, or "look" choices, without "baking-in" those choices on the "negative" or master recording.

"The way to get the best latitude in post production when you’re shooting high-end uncompressed digital is to expose and record very flat and try to capture the most dynamic range" Mathers said. "But the output of the camera in that mode looks very unappealing on set – flat, gray, sometimes greenish.

"An unrefined image may hold a lot of potential in post," said Mathers, "but it may look pretty awful during production – and that’s hard to sell to the director, producers and others who have an overseeing interest. Add to that the fact that cinematographers are not always given access to the post production, and with so much latitude nowadays, a low key night scene can be made to look like high noon. Cinematographers fear what might happen by not locking in choices on the set."

With metadata, the DP can adjust the settings to get the picture to look the way he wants, preview the image choices for approval via look-up tables, (or "LUTs"), applied to the monitor on set, then have this information recorded along with the raw picture material to convey his choices without locking them in.

"It is still possible to later ignore our choices – a situation cinematographers constantly grapple with," Mathers said, "but at least the intent can be communicated."

While friction between a cinematographer and the post-shop may happen from time to time, mutual respect is far more often the norm. There’s a recognition for the value added at different stages of the process and a common desire to produce the best results.

"The images that the higher-end shooters bring to Crawford look flat right off the tape, which gives me the latitude I need to manipulate," said Bauman. "These shooters depend on me for the right look. I believe they have enough to worry about on the set and if they are confident that their image has a decent contrast ratio, it’s perfect for the next step."

Technician or Artist?

Perhaps it’s inevitable to have a certain amount of pushing and pulling between production and post production. There are pros and cons of manipulating the image on set and pros and cons of manipulating the image in post.

"Communication leads to the best result," said Vertovec, when asked about the DP’s involvement during the post stage. "I really look at film-making as a collaborative effort. It’s like an orchestra and you can have a few soloists, but every one can’t be a soloist. The key is having a precise plan function together to make the best product. Maximize the best result."

In the experience of Atlanta colorist Richard Parker of Colorbay Inc., it’s not unusual for a DP, cinematographer or agency creative to anticipate the concerns with the final look and consult with a specialist on lighting, filters, equipment and other considerations.

"There have been times I have been called from a shoot with questions on the capabilities that Colorbay might have at our facility," Parker said. "I have been consulted prior to a shoot to work with the creatives in the best way to achieve the look they desire. Also many DPs when wanting a very different feel will do a film test and we will take an hour of transfer before the shoot to experiment and explore."

Although the process of transfer can be slowed down with a DP involved, Parker sees that interaction serving a dual purpose. First, there’s the basic communication need. Their vision is "invaluable" in helping to set the look. But a secondary benefit is that the more the agency creatives are a part of a transfer, the more knowledge they gain in knowing and understanding all that can be done.

"This helps them immensely when on a shoot," Parker said. "They are able to achieve exactly what they want in terms of mood, color and feel for their concept to be everything they have dreamed."

"I love it when DPs are involved in the session," echoed Bauman. "Before most sessions it’s great to talk to them on the phone about issues I may run into or ideas they had while shooting. I encourage creative input from everyone and I feel it’s my job to show the client multiple options. Some work, some don’t.

"At the end of the day, it’s all about finessing an image to make it visually pleasing and putting smiles on the clients’ faces."

A Burgeoning Business

From LA to ATL, production companies are finding that HD is becoming a bigger and better part of the business.

Don McNeill, president of Digital Kitchen, has seen a jump in the amount of material coming in that has been shot in HD, particularly TV production. He estimates that 60 percent of their TV work is shot HD and 100 percent is finished in HD. Six Feet Under was originally shot in film and finished in standard definition, but they later re-did it in HD. FX’s drama "Nip/Tuck" and "Dexter" for Showtime are other HD projects finished at Digital Kitchen. Meanwhile, commercial work has been slower to make the move.

"Commercial is different. I’d say less than 25 percent is shot in HD," McNeill said. "Our experience is that it’s mostly 35 millimeter. Less than 50 percent of the spots are finished in HD. A major marketer, like Budweiser, will do HD. But the aspect ratio has to be set up, a wider format, so you have to know ahead of time."

"We have been transferring much more HD over the past year," said Parker regarding the workload at Colorbay, which has a client list featuring Sports Illustrated, ESPN Films, the golf name Slazenger, as well as the Georgia and Alabama tourism bureaus and the U.S. Marine Corps. "This has included 16mm and 35mm film transferred HD along with tape-to-tape HD transfers. Although HD has been around for a while now, it has finally begun to take hold as the preference for the majority of our clients."

The industry is a maze of technical challenges and artistic goals. Yet, despite the technical aspects of the work or perhaps because of the challenges they present, the ability to think creatively remains key in post production.

"This is a time where the creative guys can really shine," McNeill said. "I think the tech guys who are creative should continue to do very well as technology advances."

"In my opinion, colorists will be around for a long time," said Bauman. "You know all those ads you’re seeing on the Web? Someone is color correcting those spots and I guarantee you’re going to see a lot more."

Clients at Crawford are starting to do "for air" spots and "for Web" spots. With the introduction of digital video recorders in more and more homes, people are now skipping commercials on TV shows. That can’t make companies happy – or at least not the ones that count on TV commercials to drive consumers to their business. Mass media is becoming more viewer-controlled.

"Advertisers are exploring new ways to get their message out and the Web is becoming a popular place for advertising dollars," Bauman pointed out. "Editors have a lot of fun with the Web spots because they’re typically not locked into the :15, :30, :60 second traditional mold."

What’s Next?

While cinematographers may be using the latest image capture technology, don’t be surprised if low-tech tricks of the trade linger. After all, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

The Digital Cinema Society, founded by Mathers in April 2004, aims to examine objectively all media, solutions, services and technologies without favoring one brand, service or format over another. It’s a continuing quest to educate and inform the entertainment industry about digital motion picture production, post, delivery and exhibition.

In pursuing these goals, Mathers has encountered at least one seemingly innocent holdout to the HD wave: the Polaroid, the very vestige of old-time photography and as American as apple pie. It’s laughable except for the valid points on either side.

According to Mathers, most script supervisors and wardrobe and prop departments still use Polaroids for continuity matching. Crew members, asked why they don't use digital pictures, claim it is too difficult to catalogue the digital images for random access retrieval.

"With Polaroids, they can simply punch a hole in the corner and throw them onto a spindle to quickly flip through them for a low-tech solution," Mathers said. "Using metadata, this cataloging would be automatic, and all that would be necessary to retrieve a still image from a scene would be entering the take number, even if it was shot many months ago."

On a larger scale, he continued, a studio might catalogue its entire library of finished films, as well as outtakes, stock footage, and various versions and formats necessary for theatrical, foreign language, TV and home video release.

Viewed in this light, Mathers sees the potential for metadata to go beyond serving as a collaborative look management communication tool and become an asset management practice.

Perhaps, for simplicity’s sake, the answer in this case may be to keep using those Polaroids, but take the digital shots too -- they serve a larger purpose.

There are a lot of cooks in kitchens around the country who actually have moved to storing recipes electronically on counter laptops – but that doesn’t mean that Mama’s box of recipe cards is thrown out. If hi tech doesn’t surpass the quick convenience of a hard copy, it may not be right for every occasion.

Metadata. Asset management. Polaroids. They all serve common goals in delivering the best product at the end of the day. The trend toward HD may be sending ripple effects throughout the industry, but it won’t be long before another pebble is cast into the pond.

For information on becoming a member of the Digital Cinema Society, please visit digitalcinemasociety.org. For information on the American Society of Cinematographers Technology Committee, please visit theasc.com/clubhouse/index_tech.htm.

Original article available online.