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APRIL 2010

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Datacentric Lie To Me: DP Sidney Sidell shoots this Fox show with the Arri D-21. It’s colored at Encore by Pankaj Bajpai. Workflows Whether you’re on set or in a suite, digital productions hold special challenges. By Randi Altman It started with independent films and docs and then made its way to episodic TV se- ries, spots and feature films. Digital production is now a way of life for many, and while the workflow still isn’t foolproof, it’s getting easier.To give you a well-rounded glimpse from a few different angles, we spoke to a DP, a colorist, a digital imaging technician, and an editor to hear how they are faring in the wonderful world of digital production. SIDNEY SIDELL When veteran cinematographer Sidney Sidell signed on for Fox’s Lie to Me, he knew the studio mandated a digital shoot. After testing some of the latest in digital cameras, he opted for Arri’s D-21 because of, among other things, its “image quality and ease of use.” While Sidell calls himself a film purist at heart, he realizes the reality of television produc- tion at the moment is that film is “going by way of the dinosaur” and as a result, has had no problem embracing digital. But he emphasizes, he’s not just pro digital for television,“I am just pro digital. I have now been working with digital for about a year straight and I quite like the format, system and images I get with Arriflex. I don’t feel like I am compromis- ing a lot on the quality of my work.” Even though Lie to Me is a digital show, Sidell conducts the production in a similar way to a film shoot. He set up the D-21 like a film camera in that there is no tape drive and no external cables coming off the camera into a record- ing system. “It’s a self-contained camera system with cine lenses and the sensibilities of shooting in that way,” he says. Sidell chose S2’s OB1 drives, which are fairly small and light- weight, to capture Arri’s Log-C mode 4:4:4.The OB1 drives are set up the same way a film magazine would be attached to a traditional film camera. The process has been an easy one because Sidell and his colorist, Encore’s Pankaj Bajpai, did extensive testing prior to the production.“When I went into post, I looked at the images on the screen and on the scopes and my colorist and I went through a full range of 40 Post • April 2010

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