Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1062194
www.postmagazine.com 38 POST DECEMBER 2018 WORKFLOW nstinctual is an LA-based post production company specializ- ing in visual effects and a full range of finishing services. The studio works on a variety of features and has developed a specialty in theatrical movie trailers. A key customer for Instinctual is Sony Pictures, located in Culver City. Instinctual finishes all Sony Pictures trailers with conforming, color and visual effects services. As with many post facilities, Instinctual is located in the Hollywood area, several miles away. For Sony Pictures, it is critical that its clients are able to conveniently stay on the Sony lot as projects are in progress Therefore, the challenge was how to supply these demanding clients the same visual experience as they would have if they were reviewing content at the Instinctual location. The first step was to set up the- aters at both facilities with the same high-quality digital projectors and matching color calibration. The next stage was being able to transport the media content from Instinctual to Sony so that clients and production pro- fessionals could collaborate in real- time. While a dedicated and managed network with dark fiber could make the implementation less difficult, this was not an option at the time. Even if such a choice had been possible, it rep- resents additional complexity and cost. Instinctual needed a solution that could work reliably and provide the required quality over a standard public Internet connection. With that goal in mind, Instinctual tested a well-known system, but despite intensive attempts over several hours, it was barely keeping up, even using a high rate of band- width. That's when Instinctual looked at the Streambox (www.streambox. com) solution. After a simple set up, Streambox, using the Chroma ad- vanced encoder/decoder systems, worked within minutes. According to Alan Latteri, partner and chief technol- ogist at Instinctual, Streambox worked reliably right away on Instinctual's mi- crowave wireless network connection and did so using only about a quarter of the bandwidth of the other system — all with minimal latency. Instinctual had other requirements as well, which Streambox was able to address quickly and has since contin- ued to develop more capabilities for Chroma that Instinctual has requested. "There was no other choice to make; Streambox was the right choice," says Latteri. Additionally, the Streambox support team worked directly with Instinctual to make product roadmap commitments for 12-bit, 4:4:4 RGB, 2K Stereo and 4K DCI functionality on the Chroma platform. Latteri points out that Streambox not only works for broadcast appli- cations, but has the extra processing and protocols needed for the studio's high-end post production needs. Sony Pictures has one Chroma system and Instinctual has two to cover their needs. While making reviews convenient and saving time was the initial impetus to put this type of solution in place, complete satisfaction has been truly re- alized by having clients be able to view content that is visually lossless and re- produces exact color. A major consider- ation for Sony, color fidelity testing has been done that confirms that clients are receiving the proper visual expe- rience, while everyone benefits as no color conversions are needed. For Instinctual and Sony, Streambox Chroma is enabling an entire produc- tion workflow. "The fact that Streambox performs reliably over the public Internet is pretty remarkable and a key differentiator," says Latteri. STREAMBOX ALLOWS FOR SUCCESSFUL FILE SHARING AT INSTINCTUAL NEW SOLUTION PROVIDES NECESSARY TOOLS POST HOUSE NEEDS TO COLLABORATE WITH CLIENTS I Streambox (below) helps Instinctual connect with clients like Sony Pictures. LA-based Instinctual Latteri