Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/100015
OUTLOOK ON SET Besides cameras, Otto Nemenz provides on-set archiving solutions, most recently for the upcoming feature The Last Stand . There���s been a rapid change from tape and film right to digital workflows. Questions about security have made people think. Are dailies secure? Are the archives secure? What about backing up on-set? Is the transportation secure? Do I have to QC every clip? The more you talk about it, the more people question each option. I would say more than one piece of equipment, the person who educates correctly ��� the DP, the data manager ��� that is the person who will be valuable.��� THREATS: ���The biggest threat is unfounded personal greed. The person who is trying to get a rental for something as opposed to doing the job as best they can. Proprietary things become more of a detriment. Cultivation of talent is a threat. We���re watching it happen. Solutions that don���t require human talent.We���re watching people look for pure automation. The biggest opportunity is also a liability ��� education.��� OUTLOOK FOR 2013: ���I think 4K is still a growth segment ��� the F65 and Raw in an economical sense. Red, Arri and Canon ��� there are 4K offerings that will push limits of what post can handle.��� RICHARD WINNIE VP of Post Production Universal Television, Universal Television Cable www.nbcuni.com Universal City, CA Universal Television has produced content for broadcast networks, including The Mindy Project, House, 30 Rock and The Office. Universal Cable productions include work for USA and SyFy. These shows include Royal Pains, Psych, Fairly Legal, Warehouse 13, Alphas, Suits and Covert Affairs. STRENGTHS: ���It gives the DP a certain level of comfort that he���s getting what he thinks he is getting. Overall, file-based is less expensive, which is one of the reasons we are moving toward it. It saves a lot of money to process this way as opposed to labs, telecines and transfers.��� WEAKNESSES: ���I think a weakness is trying to do too much in 32 Post���������December���2012��� www.postmagazine.com the hectic environment of the set; it���s not necessarily always the best thing for the material itself. It���s too rushed and too frenetic, and there are a lot opportunities for things to not get backed up or QC���d. If we were to be on-set, once the crew shuts down, you are still going to have people there trying to wrap up the dailies for another four, five, six hours. And you are still paying for set time. It���s not necessarily ideal. It has ripple effects, which is another good reason why we don���t do that. When you are on-location, the environment for electronic equipment isn���t necessarily the greatest. It���s really not the perfect environment to try to do that type of thing.��� OPPORTUNITIES: ���I don���t think [the challenge of working onset] is going to change. When you are shooting, you want to be focused on capturing the best images that you can, and not worrying so much about what happens later. I don���t think that is going to change. Some of the opportunities that we���ve seen are with some shows that choose to bring it into the cutting room, like in the old days when we used to cut film ��� where the assistants would sync the material. Sync is part of it. That is an opportunity. Whether the cutting room is the best place for that is debatable. On some shows it might be. On others, not so much. Are your assistants best trained for that? Maybe. So that is an opportunity to keep things more localized with less travel.��� THREATS: ���There is some threat to the facilities that didn���t make the transition fast enough. The brick and mortar-type places that might have been stuck in the way they are doing things. I think some weren���t making the changes as quick as the transition was happening. Now they are catching up a bit. The major players are all pretty much caught up now. It���s easier for a start-up company that is starting from scratch to create a workflow and is not dependent on maximizing the profit from existing infrastructure.��� OUTLOOK FOR 2013: ���I think there are some interesting new cameras coming out, and every time that happens there are more possibilities for workflows. It also gives us more creative choices. I know there is a new Sony camera that came out beyond F65, there���s the new Blackmagic camera, which is a game changer. They are getting smaller and more mobile, which is something that everyone likes. There���s more flexibility and no one wants to be tethered to cables and things like that. ���It might be more of a gradual evolution. Canon���s got a new C500, that will be a contender for B and C cameras, if not A cameras. Wait five minutes and the technology will change, and we have to keep rolling with that. It���s exciting. We can make better product. Prices are going down. Democratization presents different opportunities and challenges.���