Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/44580
entertainment television at Burbank-based Deluxe (www.bydeluxe. com). "Customer demand is more and more dictating how content is made, distributed and consumed. Today, people tell content owners how and where they want to watch content and they, in turn, tell service providers how they want it delivered." That has meant moving beyond the old model of getting a feature fllm into the theater or a show on television then warehousing it. "As the timeline of motion picture and TV consumption has matured, there's been more deliverables demanded — foreign versioning and pan-and-scan versions for television," he notes. "Then home entertain- ment came in and cable with hundreds of potential outlets all requiring slightly different deliverables. Recently, small-screen distribution has exploded in a variety of ways: Internet, cell phone, iPad, game boxes. We seem to be moving to a windowless world of simultaneous deliv- ery on a multitude of devices." And that has resulted in "a massive increase in digital headaches and opportunities." The headaches are spawned by a "Wild West" landscape of deliver- able specs, the necessity for proper asset management, the need for sufficient storage and the issue of automation. Price pressures also play a role: the expectation that "digital [post MODERN VIDEOFILM At Burbank's Modern VideoFilm (www.mvfinc.com) some TV pro- Modern's Michael Rebel: The studio, which works on TNT's Franklin & Bash, uses DPX files for its post production workflow. gramming clients not only require multiple deliverables within the post production process — such as proxy files for audio houses, captioning facilities, and executives, directors and DPs — but also need episodes quickly available on Web portals via Apple iTunes, Hulu and Netflix, and clips prepared for YouTube and social media sites, and versions created for international markets. To turn clients' assets into multiple deliverables, Modern VideoFilm chooses uncompressed DPX files for its file-based post production workflow. "From uncompressed DPX files you can go to tape and cre- ate the major file types needed for most deliverables," says Michael Rebel. "DPX files are a good base to start from since there is no compression, and you can get to any deliverable, even if indirectly." Typically, a DPX file serves as the mezzanine, or mastering, file stored in the digital library. Modern VideoFilm also makes a sub-master mezzanine file — a high-quality Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) file — to store for mastering and to meet immediate needs for VOD, Web por- tals and international deliverables. The company employs an array of tools for the process. Digital Rapids' StreamZ and Transcode Manager are used to capture or trans- code ProRes mezzanine files to client deliverables. Transcode Manager also transcodes ProRes files for the Web, converting ProRes to AVC H.264. "You get good quality-to-file size with that codec," says Rebel. iTunes works natively with ProRes files. A versatile DVS Clipster converts DPX files to ProRes mezzanine files. DPX sequences can go straight to tape with Clipster and a Spect- Soft Rave DVR working directly off a StorNext SAN. In addition, the QC bay can control Clipster like a tape machine for quality-control checks of DPX sequences. Other key components of the post workflow are Autodesk Smoke for editorial, Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve for color correction and Autodesk Inferno for VFX. All run off the StorNext SAN. "The file- based world is changing so rapidly — it's very fluid," says Rebel. "These applications are constantly adding capabilities to support new needs." Among the shows taking advantage of Modern VideoFilm's file- based workflow are Desperate Housewives, Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Torchwood and Franklin & Bash.. DELUXE The need for multiple deliverables is all about "the rise of choice," according to Gray Ainsworth, executive VP/GM, media services and workflows] will be cheaper versus the need to be able to make expenditures in technology that enable us to respond" to changing customer demands, says Ainsworth. "We have to figure out new ways to work better and more efficiently with shorter turnaround times and less money." He reminds us that, "More and more deliverables have been added in every stage of [a production's] life," with post production starting on the set for many projects. At that stage "some deliverables are transi- tory and some become components of the next stage with files being rendered to become part of the editorial and VFX process. Then edi- torial and VFX become part of making master deliverables: archival elements and a universal file or physical format for conducting all kinds of distribution activities." To be nimble enough to meet customers' varied digital distribu- tion specs, Deluxe taps a number of different tools, from propri- etary transcoding packages to off-the-shelf solutions from Digital Rapids, Inlet and Harmonic. Deluxe has established a proprietary pipeline for moving content among its units as content moves through its various windows. Although videotape remains "a pretty robust physical distribution medium, digital is still a work in progress" from a format standardiza- tion perspective, Ainsworth points out. "Some standards-making bod- ies are working on it: SMPTE, the ETC, the Academy. They seem to be getting closer to an acceptable format that can act as a true distribu- tion or archival master. Once you get something that everyone can accept, you'll start to see the Wild West go away." The rise of choice for consumers and the increased demands on post houses to "manage more of the life cycle of content on behalf of the owner" drives innovation, he notes. "Delivering more efficient workflows to accomplish what we need to do benefits everyone in the long run — the customer, the post vendor and the consumer." CRAWFORD MEDIA SERVICES At Atlanta's Crawford Media Services (www.crawford.com), senior editor/technical director Ron Heidt traces the evolution of deliver- ables for spots and TV programming from the era of tape dubs to today's "countless deliverables," many of them file-based and all with different specs. On the TV programming front, the massive earthquake/tsunami/ nuclear disaster that hit northern Japan last March and affected the sup- ply chain for videotape stock has triggered a change in show deliverables. "The delivery format of choice had been HDCAM SR, but with that and other tape stocks hard to come by in the aftermath of the disaster, www.postmagazine.com Post • October 2011 25