AmericanCinematographer201201

◗ Go with the Flow
The author used
this workflow on
the 2012
Lionsgate feature
release Fire with
Fire, shot with the
Red Epic. Tunnel
Post in Santa
Monica will
handle the digital
mastering.
down that material again, this time in
the proper aspect ratio.
“That’s a perfect example of a job
where everything goes right, and then a
simple 1.89-to-1.78 conversion is
missed and the whole workflow is
compromised,” notes Cioni. “It wasn’t
the file format or color corrector that
created the problem; it was the nature of
change that created the problem. We
are all engaging in completely new
acquisition formats, and now, with filebased
systems, this generation of film
professionals is tackling the steepest
learning curve they’ve ever confronted.”
“Every time you get that type of
phone call, you can spend two days
doing detective work trying to figure
out what happened,” observes Jeff
Heusser, a digital-effects supervisor at
Digital Domain and cofounder of
fxguide.com. “I recently spent several
days dealing with a problem on a 3-D
project, trying to sync up two cameras
that had time codes that wouldn’t
match. Eventually I looked at the metadata
and found that the two cameras [in
the stereo rig] were running completely
different firmware! I’d never have
thought we’d have to specify to crews
that both cameras shooting on a 3-D
rig must have the same firmware.”
The difficulty in moving to filebased
cameras and workflows is exacerbated
by the fact that many companies
“This generation of
film professionals is
tackling the
steepest learning
curve they’ve ever
confronted.”
are trying to introduce this new workflow
into existing systems and methodologies.
“One of the biggest workflow
mistakes is that people attempt to force
material through a pre-existing
pipeline,” says Willard. “I’ve seen
numerous productions get into major
trouble by, for example, jamming Red
.r3d files through their ‘proven’ workflow
rather than embracing the camera for
what it is. You can get .r3d files through
any workflow you want, but you can do
a lot of things in life that are not recommended.
When all you’ve got is a
hammer, everything begins to look like a
nail, and when all you’ve got is an
HDCam-SR deck, your .r3d workflow
is going to be compromised.
“That’s not to say a tape workflow
is the enemy,” he adds. “It’s just an
outdated solution to an outdated problem.
There is always a ‘best’ workflow for
a given project based on the required
speed of turnaround and deliverables. If
you want to shoot on camera X, watch
dailies in format Y and deliver files to
everybody in format Z, there’s a line that
connects those dots. The addition of
specialized hardware or software breaks
that line by forcing a detourfor the sake
of the workflow rather than for the sake
of the result.”
For post facilities, transitioning to
file-based workflows requires not only a
change in thinking, but also considerable
financial investment. “Because I
work in post, I can honestly blame the
Diagram by Christopher Probst.
78 January 2012 American Cinematographer