VIDEO WORLD PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS Oh, Brave New Workflow If you’d like the full surround sound versi<strong>on</strong> of this column, I’d re<strong>com</strong>mend playing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are A-Changin’ ” as you read al<strong>on</strong>g. I recently had the opportunity to shoot with a S<strong>on</strong>y XDCAM-EX, a new full-featured professi<strong>on</strong>al camcorder that offers HD resoluti<strong>on</strong> up to 1080i, at a very ec<strong>on</strong>omical price point. The differentiating factor, though, is that the model EX records <strong>on</strong> high speed, high capacity “SxS” memory cards, and this presents a few workflow surprises to the shooter. This m<strong>on</strong>th’s video installment isn’t intended to review the XDCAM-EX, and I’m not going to read the spec sheet to you. Instead, the intenti<strong>on</strong> is to provide a few words to the wise for the shooter who’s making the transiti<strong>on</strong> from media-based recording to memorybased (solid state) recording. Things indeed are a-changing. A Box of Tapes <strong>PLSN</strong> From a quality and flexibility standpoint, S<strong>on</strong>y’s XDCAM-EX is absolutely superb at its price point, and it sports many features typically found <strong>on</strong> high-end cameras. Of course, with any new <strong>com</strong>pact camcorder, every square millimeter of the camera surface is covered with butt<strong>on</strong>s and switches. So for my first tip, you better know (blindly) where Ad info:http:// www.plsn.<strong>com</strong>/instant-info By PaulBerliner gain, white balance, iris, peaking, and zebras are — before you head out <strong>on</strong> a shoot. But given these w<strong>on</strong>ders of miniaturizati<strong>on</strong> and quality, there are hidden costs in the workflow. As an editor who learned his trade back in the 1980s, I’m rooted in a workflow that involves physical media — specifically, tape. I write the script, produce the graphics, hire the talent, shoot the footage, index the original tapes, edit in n<strong>on</strong>-linear fashi<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the PC, and then deliver the edited master to the client. At the end of the day, I’ve got a box of original tapes that I can pull from the archive when the client wants to re-edit. Today’s modern memory-based workflow changes the entire dynamic. With cameras such as the S<strong>on</strong>y XDCAM-EX and the Panas<strong>on</strong>ic HVX series, recording is solid state. The camera’s record path has no moving parts, and unlike tape-based methods, there are no spinning heads moving across magnetic tape. Instead, the recording medium is a tiny flash memory card, optimized for the high bandwidth and high capacity data rates required for HD. Typically, these cameras have slots for two memory cards. Dollars, Cents and Gigs <strong>PLSN</strong> For today’s less<strong>on</strong> in ec<strong>on</strong>omics, a 16 gigabyte (GB) “P2” card for the Panas<strong>on</strong>ic HVX-200 costs around $899.00, while a 16 GB S<strong>on</strong>y SxS card costs around $875. Record capacities are similar (around 60 minutes), but recording times can vary based <strong>on</strong> the quality and <strong>com</strong>pressi<strong>on</strong> ratio at which you record. Regardless, the media is by no means inexpensive. Weigh these factors against a traditi<strong>on</strong>al tapebased workflow in the DV format. You can go down to Best Buy and pick up a five-pack of mini-DV tapes for about 30 bucks. If you shoot at a 20:1 ratio for your hour-l<strong>on</strong>g documentary, you’ve spent about 120 bucks for tape stock. No biggie. But in the memory-based workflow, there’s no way that I’m g<strong>on</strong>na stock up <strong>on</strong> a six-pack of flash memory cards at over $800.00 a pop. You could make a sizable down-payment <strong>on</strong> a new HD camera for that price. Instead, these puppies are intended to be re-used — again and again. Panas<strong>on</strong>ic P2 Card, 16 GB The Need to Re-Use Media <strong>PLSN</strong> This little financial and operati<strong>on</strong>al quirk — the need to re-use your original recording media — presents an interesting dilemma to the paranoid producer/director (me). Let’s say you go out <strong>on</strong> locati<strong>on</strong> with <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e flash memory card. In order to record hour number two, you have to delete your original footage and make a safety backup — in the same way that you backup the memory card from your digital SLR after your Grand Cany<strong>on</strong> vacati<strong>on</strong>. After the backup, you delete all the pix to free up space, and the wise photographer probably makes a backup of the backup — in case your primary PC decides to toast its hard drive. If you’re shooting in HD for a client, however, with a major producti<strong>on</strong> budget, some serious planning is required — as I learned first-hand <strong>on</strong> last week’s shoot. First of all, for field recording, you must include a laptop in your producti<strong>on</strong> inventory, plus lots of batteries, and a stack of portable USB hard drives. As another prerequisite, the laptop requires a high speed flash card reader <strong>com</strong>patible with the S<strong>on</strong>y SxS or Panas<strong>on</strong>ic P2 format. You might also want to hire a PA to handle the backup tasks and logistics — yet another line item <strong>on</strong> the bid. Brave New Workflow <strong>PLSN</strong> Even with the luxury of a dual flash card setup, the workflow now goes like this: Shoot the first hour. On the camera, switch over to memory card slot B — and c<strong>on</strong>tinue shooting. Eject the first card and back up all of your footage to the PC, and/or the external USB drive. Ensure that you account for the backup time, which can take upwards of 20 minutes, depending <strong>on</strong> the resoluti<strong>on</strong> at which you recorded. Now, Mr. Trustworthy, here <strong>com</strong>es the fun part . With your first hour of camera original footage backed up, insert the card back into the camera, delete all the clips from the card, and c<strong>on</strong>tinue shooting. It makes an old media-based shooter like me turn gray. (Wait — I already am turning gray). So, what could go wr<strong>on</strong>g in this workflow? Drop the PC or <strong>on</strong>e of the external USB drives, and your footage is toast. The Earth passes through a high-gauss magnetic intergalactic S<strong>on</strong>y SxS PRO Card, 16 GB storm cloud, and your footage is toast (al<strong>on</strong>g with all the Earth’s data, but that’s a topic for another column). Your hairy-eared PA can’t remember any instructi<strong>on</strong> bey<strong>on</strong>d “Here, dude, back this up” … and your footage is toast. You invited Murphy to the shoot. Toast! Me? C<strong>on</strong>cerned? I’m <strong>on</strong>ly trying to protect my client’s footage, because I d<strong>on</strong>’t have a box of camera original tapes in the vault at the end of the day. On this particular shoot, my cauti<strong>on</strong> paid off, and there’s a beautiful edited master to show. But Wait, There’s More <strong>PLSN</strong> Yesterday’s archive soluti<strong>on</strong> was a tape vault, with all of your masters waiting patiently <strong>on</strong> the shelves. Today’s archive soluti<strong>on</strong> is <strong>on</strong>e (or more) terabyte raid arrays, capable of storing all the footage that you’ve shot. Editors typically call this “nearline” storage, because the footage can be brought back <strong>on</strong>line fairly quickly if a reedit is required. For true l<strong>on</strong>g term storage, editors are turning to ultra-high capacity tape-based soluti<strong>on</strong>s, such as those made by Quantum. As an alternative, you could cut Blu-Ray disks of the footage, but this introduces additi<strong>on</strong>al <strong>com</strong>pressi<strong>on</strong>. In this digital age, the questi<strong>on</strong> of l<strong>on</strong>gterm archiving actually poses some interesting questi<strong>on</strong>s. When a big film studio archives a movie, a sprocket hole still resembles a sprocket hole — year after year. And film projectors will still be film projectors, in spite of the migrati<strong>on</strong> to digital cinema. The questi<strong>on</strong> is … will the digital devices, codecs and drivers with which you archive your digital video masters still be in use — five or ten years from now? And if not, what expenses would be required to keep those archives current with the changing state of storage? My <strong>com</strong>puter junkyard at home (if it’s anything like yours), is full of obsolete devices, some of which no l<strong>on</strong>ger work. The power supply has failed, the drivers have been lost, the OS has changed — and those archives are harder and harder (if not impossible) to access. C<strong>on</strong>sider the floppy disk (RIP). Yes, we embrace the new technology, and for the shooter, it puts w<strong>on</strong>drous capabilities at our fingertips — as simple and elegant as solid state recording. Yet it can’t be overlooked that this technology is delivered with a price, in terms of workflow, <strong>com</strong>patibility and <strong>com</strong>plexity. The underlying message is — adapt, but be fully aware of the ramificati<strong>on</strong>s. During a shoot, I used to say “roll tape” to the crew. Now, I can’t say “roll” — because nothing inside the camera is rolling, and I can’t say “tape,” because it’s a lump of silic<strong>on</strong>. I know — how about just “acti<strong>on</strong>!” Paul Berliner is President of Berliner Producti<strong>on</strong>s in Davis, Calif. He can be reached at pberliner@plsn.<strong>com</strong> 48 <strong>PLSN</strong> JUNE 2008
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