sundance 2006 - Zoael

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Good Color Space in Miami BY SCOTT BAYER BRADLEY GREER, POST Production Supervisor at Cineworks Digital Studios in Miami, started with the facility when they opened their doors six years ago with just one telecine and one editing suite. Today the company sports three telecines, full-blown HD facilities, a screening room with complete 2K capabilities. Cineworks’ owner originally intended to provide the level of sophistication technically and creatively that flourishes in New York and Los Angeles to the Miami marketplace. That goal has been more than accomplished as Cineworks now offers the only full digital intermediate work flow not only in Miami but the whole southeastern part of the country. “We pretty much have all the standard decks,” Greer observes. “On the high end we have the DVCPRO and all the mini DV options but we do sit on a HDCAM format. We do a lot of independent features on HDCAM because it is very cost effective and allows producers with limited budgets to increase their production value. At the same time we have just invested in the latest and greatest technology, the HDCAM SR format which is 4:4:4.” (Cineworks can do 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and 2K) When I was in film school, I made my first video when it was being recorded on porta-paks and they told us that video would keep getting better and film would be gone soon. That’s around 25 years ago and as I’ve gotten deeper into restoration, preservation, digital intermediates and yes “Color Space” (or 4:4:4 vs. 4:2:2 vs. 4:2:0 vs. 2K) and as evangelizing HD has turned into moving product; it has become quite relevant that film technology and film itself keeps improving and that film still lasts longer than any other medium. According to Greer “it’s certainly a da Vinci CONTINUED FROM PAGE 79 cal for comparing color nuances, especially in matching skin tones. With release of the movie scheduled for theaters, HBO and DVD, the project passed several times through a Spirit telecine for pan and scan. Dowdell then utilized the da Vinci Revival restoration toolset for final touch-ups on the different versions of the material. complicated issue with people talking about HD over film and film over HD. For me the bottom line is this: video has come a long way. HD image capturing is incredibly impressive especially when you reference it to what video used to be which is the handicap we always give it. We’re all going “Oh my god, we never thought a video picture could look so good. But we should be referencing it to the standard of film. When you do a split screen comparison, video technically still has a long way to go to be at the quality film is at. But the most exciting thing about filmmaking and HD is the fact that since its been phased into the post end of the process, it has become the most powerful technology available to manipulate your film-originated material and still maintain a level of quality that is rather superior and keep resolution and integrity. That certainly is pretty intense in terms of the option and flexibility it gives you. When you look at it over the last couple of years HD has exploded in the business and digital intermediates have really taken off. Unfortunately, what you find is that the dust has yet to settle. There is just not enough standardization yet between all of the big competing corporations, offering the decks, the cameras and the technology. There is such a war going on that the filmmakers and the post-facilities get stuck in the middle of this confusion. It certainly can get very complicated and tricky and I think we are years away from that being sorted out to a point that everyone is comfortable with the new pipelines and the digital tools. Because as much as we have this computer power and certainly it liberates you creatively, so I can do almost anything With the transfer of Jarmusch’s most recent work successfully completed, Jarmusch and Dowdell proceeded right into tackling the more complex remastering of Permanent Vacation. Originally shot on 16mm reversal film, Jarmusch’s thesis film for completion of his studies at NYU had been blown up from 16mm to 35mm negative. Then, using a Spirit telecine and da Vinci 2K Plus processing, Dowdell transferred the 35mm 4:3 negative images into HD, mastering them at 24p on Panasonic HD tape. Now with a remastered tape of his film, Jarmusch turned to both the 2K 82 PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW BRADLEY GREER • CINEWORKS DIGITAL I want to my image. to tell my story but, at the end of the day, what people take for granted is the fact that you could have all the power and capacity, in the world, but who’s operating or driving your machine? “Everybody gets all excited about hearing 2K, 4K, 6K, 8K and those resolutions are only limited by the CPU processing power which will never stop increasing. So certainly that’s just around the corner. Regrettably, I think the discussion point out there among the trade magazines and people inside the industry is the wrong point of discussion. Everybody goes ‘Oh my god’ I want to scan at 4K instead of 2K because it’s going to be better. You know you can add all the resolution, into the image, you want. You can add all the scan lines you want. The real flaw in the system right now is really your color space and nobody talks about color space. You can add all the lines of resolution you want and sharpen and sharpen and sharpen your image but you are still dealing with the video electronic color space of NTSC television, which was invented in the 1950s, and which is essentially what we are still stuck with. You can add all the lines you want but it’s still going to have that video characteristic. At least until somebody comes along and actually reinvents that color space to capture millions and millions of colors more accurately like film. You can go up to 12K in four years, all you want, but its just going to look like a really sharp video picture. And I’m really kind of disappointed that isn’t a “common” point of discussion out there in the business.” Yeah, people don’t know what colorspace is—they have enough trouble getting DI down. “We have people Plus and Revival toolsets. Dowdell utilized the da Vinci tools to make a number of adjustments to the original material that were not available in 1980, including post-production changes in exposure, focus, contrast, and density. Not only was the color adjusted and improved compared to the film print, the team also took the opportunity to correct other problems with the original, such as removing an original camera scratch from an important scene. Jarmusch was so amazed with the improvements that he often came to request “Why don’t you da Vinci that?” during the screenings. coming in all the time,” Greer continues, “saying can you give us a 2K scan, because that’s the buzz word, and that’s not really what you want to talk about. You should be talking about getting the best image out of your film. The other problem is when you look at 2K and 4K, the scans are so high resolution that they pick up more film grain then you would have gotten doing an old school answer print. I don’t think film is going anywhere too soon but certainly Sony is trying hard. What about Super 16? “That’s the exciting part as HD options in the post pipeline have created a renaissance in Super 16mm. You are now really able to make a competitive product with good photography, shot on Super 16 film and finishing on HDCAM”. I ask whether the Super 16 look is as good as the top HD. “Super 16 is far superior because you are still originating on film.” All things being equal, cinematographer, lighting, crew, everything else; if you are shooting Super 16 or the best 4:4:4 HD what is going to look better? “Super 16, indisputably,” Greer proclaims without any hesitation. “Super 16 is far superior because you are still originating on film. We get these independent filmmakers who come in all the time and they’ve got half a million, three quarters of a million, million dollar budgets and they go, “hey we are ready to make our movie and we’re going to shoot it in HD.” That’s when we give them the big Super 16 pitch that they are going to get more bang for their buck and are going to have a better image at the end of the day. And their response typically to us is “oh no we’d never shoot film because it is so much more difficult than video” but the reality is, capturing a strong, seductive image on video requires four to five times the effort and time than it does to capture it on film.” Revival’s combination of automated and interactive toolsets made it possible for Dowdell to tweak every single shot in the film, yet still complete the restoration in just 16 hours and on budget. “The tools that da Vinci provides are outstanding for achieving the results that I’m looking for when transferring a film to video,” said Jarmusch. “The transfer of Broken Flowers was a straightforward process with beautiful results, but it was the transfer of Permanent Vacation that really put da Vinci to the test. Their tools let me give this film new life.”
New York Cine Equipment Show New show fills void left by defunct ShowBiz Expo BY MICHAEL VITTI AS THE PAST YEAR STARTS its inevitable fade, one bright spot was the maiden run of the New York Cine Equipment Show September 20-21, 2005. Michael and Amy Trerotoli of Trerotoli & Associates, Arri’s Franz Wieser and the American Society of Cinematographers turned the New York Hilton into cameraland for two full days of seminars, exhibits and social events. The exhibition hall and ASC powered seminars were free to the cine conscious public. Some of the notable NYCES events: Jon Fauer’s Lighting 101, NY Film Production, Digital Intermediate sessions, Arri debuted the Arriflex D-20 digital cine camera to the American East, the new Arriflex 235 film camera and new Arrimax 18/12K par fixture in the exhibit hall and the industry cocktail party were heavily attended. Amy excitedly told me about the new show for the South East, the Miami Digital and Cine Expo, November 13-14, 2006. Refering to the upcoming NYCES, “We look forward to seeing New Yorkers NAB Post+ again Oct. 9th & 10th, 2006 at the beautiful Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street,” says Amy Trerotoli. Trés cool space, the Metropolitan is usually filled with super models, luxury sample sales and fashionable events. The atmosphere was collegial and boundless between presenters and attendees. Found at the door or in the hallways greeting and meeting was Franz Wieser acting as Arri’s emissary. Inside, Jon Fauer’s ‘user friendly’ approach to camera workings is legendary and the same approach is applied to his Lighting 101 session. Copies of Film and Digital Times were on every seat, sessions were ambitious, and attendees swapped questions with panelists during Q&A or in the halls. A sampling of panelists included Ellen Kuras, Sol Negrin, Dejan Georgevich, Billy Baldwin, Stefan Czapaky and John Dowdell offering great access and facilitated the exchange of ideas with the accomplished. Though foot traffic varied across the two-day event (partially a result of the 83 event being scheduled the same week as the IFP Market), the exhibit hall was just busy enough to keep vendors in their booths offering unprecedented knowledge & gear exposure for attendees. Abel Cinetech had all it’s stars on the floor for Q&A, Aaton and Panasonic camera gear and some cool grip gear as well. In this photographer’s opinion, Chimera had the best show schwag with its velcro rip key fob. Eric Druker repre- First event in New York City shows promise BY MICHAEL VITTI TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE turned in another regional first: The National Association of Broadcasters developed a post production show for the northeast in New York City. Well, at least the famous South Hall of the International NAB Las Vegas show migrated east to the Jacob K. Javits last November. Sandwiched between the Kosher Food Festival and the International Hotel & Food Show, NAB Post+ produced its first East Coast event 15- 17 November, 2005. Emphasizing training and all things digital, this show featured Apple Pro Applications and Avid certified training, exposure to production and post production techniques, and several Adobe, Flash and web applications produced by Future Media Concepts. For all other attendees, the big attraction was the freebies, the keynote events and exhibit hall. Video acquisition and post, DVD authoring and web based distribution figured prominently in this show, perfect for the independent storyteller with limited capital and a desire for solid production value. Every day of the NAB Post+ show produced a unique keynote event with three editors and a documentary film screening, Secrets of Movie Magic Revealed (co production with NHK, BBC, AVRO and ACE). Emmy award winning editor of the TV series 24, Chris Willingham took the first keynote on Tuesday evening. Oscar Award winning editors Thelma Schoonmacher (Raging Bull) and David Sqyres (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) spoke on Wednesday and Thursday mornings respectively. By the way, Secrets of Movie Magic Revealed is out on DVD, and was surprisingly candid. Wednesday night was Post Magazine’s 20th anniversary party at 44 1/2 Restaurant located in the Hell’s PHOTO BY MICHAEL VITTI, VITTIPHOTO Exhibit hall floor,NY Cine Equipment Show. Kitchen neighborhood while the local user groups met on site. The East Coast Final Cut Pro User Groups prevailed with six speakers (audio engineer Peter Levin, trainer Jem Schofield, Avid’s Tim Wilson, editor Anne Renehan, Total Training guru Richard Lainhart, and composer David Majzlin) on audio and music for film and schwag bags with Genarts killer laser pens. Programming was completed by Don Gaile and Keith Larsen of the NYC FC UG and CTFCPUG. With that kind of lineup, the ECFCPUG meeting resulted in a nearly a full house despite the competition and inclement weather. The show floor traffic was strongly supported by local retailers and VARS like Tekserve, Manhattan Production Music, Student Filmmakers, Dale Pro Audio, and B&H. The exhibits provides senting Lowel set up a mini studio with every light out of their catalog. Several rental houses like TCS, Plus 8 Digital and Tamborelli were on hand with a good amount of grip equipment, lighting and video equipment to mark the progress in digital cinematography’s incursion. NYCES also worked closely with local labor unions and the New York City Final Cut User’s Group. Several publications were on hand to round out industry representation with Millimeter, Post, American Cinematographer, Videography, and Markee Publishing. If the visual image is your passion, occupation or preoccupation, the New York Cine Equipment Show may be a new calendar entry. The NYCES is an ideal show for indie filmmaker, commercial DP and feature cinematographer fulfilling the need for idea exchange, peer to peer interaction and education opportunities. Look for NYCES this fall, October 9-10 at the Metropolitan Pavilion. For current information, visit www.nyces.org. PHOTO BY KEITH LARSEN, SLEEPLESS KNIGHTS PRODUCTIONS IMAGE SOURCE The East Coast Final Cut Pro Users’ Gropu event at NAB Post+ opportunity for visitors to meet the representatives, ask questions and get to know their wares in an unhurried atmosphere. As one vendor opined, “this has been a relaxing show, probably not a good thing!” The National Association of Broadcasters site has New Yorkers looking forward to NAB Post+ 2006, October 24-26th also at the Javit’s Center. I would suspect this show will see heavier attendance, more like the Las Vegas experience sans neon and desert sand. Visit www.nab.org for more information.
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SUNDANCE INSTITUTE 25th • SLAMDAN
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