Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/82522
WORKFLOW [ Cont.from 20 ] ing from other cameras you some- times have to work with the color science to get to the starting point for your grade, but the F65 4K RAW is just there from the start." Cavanagh performed an initial balancing grade, and was able to access the S-Log curve within Scratch to adjust the highlights and black levels to enhance a [ Cont.from 26 ] given back to the DP. Since our cam- eras shoot raw files, the digital equivalent of film, the DP doesn't have to worry about the video signal, only about exposure, framing and color choices. The DT works with the DP to ensure that what he wants out of the on-set experience is delivered. "The DT also has to deal with all the complexities of dealing with files and everyone who wants to look at them." FANTHOM: "The 'perceived' role of the DIT is evolving as camera systems such as Alexa deliver edit- ready archive quality content 'right out of the box,' with mission-critical confidence, straight into post. Most DITs have recognized this and are adding to the value chain by performing data management/on-set archival roles as well as developing wider systems-level exper- tise in the growing plethora of on-set image capture, processing and monitoring systems. This is of impor- tance, as it adds value to complex shoots where the cost to production of systems' reconfiguration or downtime can be significant." MARSH: "There are some sensitivities in the DIT/ DP relationship, so we tried to make a camera that was easy to operate — you can treat the memory card like a film magazine. But the DIT is still very important: Shoots today want a lot of back-ups to ensure that the pipeline is intact. We've tried to pro- vide a camera system that services both the DP's and DIT's worlds. "Our DMPC has worked closely with the ICG to develop an in-depth course attuned to the needs of the DIT and F65; it starts this fall. There's an enormous amount of detail in a DIT's life and this course will take them through every part of the F65 from its menus and functions to data wrangling. Our goal is to make everyone comfortable with the camera." BERGERON: "The DIT is the guy who's a year ahead of the rest of the crew in terms of new technol- ogy. He's read all the manuals, seen all the new stuff and has a method to handle everything down the road. The stuff a DIT was doing 18 months ago you can perform comfortably now, but it's the new things you need him to handle: He's sort of the mountain guide through technology." YANAGI: "From a production standpoint, our record formats are [easy] for anyone to work with. But the complexity of other formats and codecs and the vast number of imaging adjustments for cameras on the market today will keep DITs as necessary mem- bers of the production team. If anything, their role will be expanding with specialized tasks, such as setting up LUTs, establishing camera settings and designing media management systems. 46 Post • September 2012 number of shots. For example, to bring out the crowd in dark areas of the stadium. "The material responded really well, better than other cameras. Even on extreme grades, there was no noise in the image at all," she says. "There is so much information in the F65 RAW image, that on secondary correction, when applying a grade through a tracking "File structures and image manipulation are becom- ing more and more complex. As the dynamic range of manipulation becomes increasingly broad, you'll need expertise to understand that and to control and manip- ulate that information and technology. The DP team almost has to have a sense of alchemy to create some- thing that's not just an image but an artistic image. " WESTFALL: "The DIT is a valuable asset who understands things about the camera settings that others may not, who knows how to get the maximum results out of the camera — that's an important role to fill. The DIT is also responsible for checking the quality of the recorded footage on set. If there are problems, such as a bad memory card, an incorrect camera setting or something similar, the DIT can often notice them and correct them before they become expensive to fix in post." mask, the pixel tracker never got lost. When you see the material projected you get a real sensation of being there. It's extraordinary." The experience of making Wayra, proved to be so good that plans are now afoot to finish the shoot for the entire show and enter the resulting film into the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. CAMERA ROUNDTABLE interfaces with everyone in the post business — sometimes on an hourly basis — to make sure that our software development kit, which runs the under- pinnings of the Red workflow, is working as it should." WESTFALL: "Before we release a codec we go directly to the software developers at each major edit Jason Reitman with the Arri Alexa on the Young Adult set: it offers in-camera recording of Apple ProRes QuickTime files onto SxS Pro media. How are you currently work- ing with developers of edit systems to ensure com- patibility of your cameras with their workflows? MARSH: "We have very good relationships with the 'Big Three': Avid, Adobe and Apple. Avid and Adobe are on board with F65 raw files, and Avid and Apple with SR files; we hope to have Adobe on board with SR files by NAB, and we're discussing Apple support for F65 raw. At every major trade show we have meet- ings with the Alliance group and major manufacturers. It's an ongoing thing. "Sony Vegas is also part of our family, and we do an enormous amount of work with them, so Vegas will be able to edit with all of our camera systems. Right now it has SR file decoding and encoding; as 4K becomes a bigger part of their offering we expect Vegas to sup- port F65 raw, perhaps by NAB." FANTHOM: "Arri works closely with the major recording and post production tool providers through our Arri Partner Program to ensure that high quality, trustworthy and reliable products and file-based work- flow solutions are available to all our customers world- wide. Arri also provides freely available reference tools for customers and partners alike to ensure that regardless of the recording format or choice of workflow system, image quality is always traceable back to Arri's own research and development and QC standards." SCHILOWITZ: "Our whole engineering team www.postmagazine.com company and provide information about it to make sure the compatibility between our input and their program is as good as it can be and that it matches their standard. The software developers appreciate the support from the camera manufacturer, and vice versa." BERGERON: "When we first developed our P2 cameras, and later our AVCCAM cameras, we knew there wasn't much value to going to reusable media if it wasn't going to speed up the process. We were breaking the baseband chain. So we began building relationships between our development teams and the core development teams at all the edit systems. These longstanding relationships make it easier to work in new technology situations — we can speak frankly and we all have each other's interests at heart. We try to get the development teams at the leading edit system manufacturers around the world sitting at the table as often as possible." YANAGI: "Our product engineering team and I are in constant contact with the major NLE companies and their engineering teams; that's evident in the post-friendly operation of our cameras. We consider ubiquity very important with regard to the internal workings and file formats of our cameras. At the end of the day, an image is worthless if you can't manipulate the image file. "At the same time, we have no intention of compro- mising the imaging aspects of our cameras."