Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1357405
REMOTE WORKFLOWS www.postmagazine.com 27 POST MAR/APR 2021 with Apple MacOS or Microsoft Windows 10 operating systems, with upcoming support for Linux. Spectra supports up to 12-bit, 4:4:4 color with HDR, and up to 4K DCI resolution. Other capabilities include up to 16 audio channels, includ- ing 7.1, 5.1 AAC or PCM audio, and support for zero delay, 128-bit or optional AES 256 encryption. Frame.io debuts Camera to Cloud solution Frame.io, the maker of a cloud-based video review and approval platform, recently announced Frame.io Camera to Cloud (C2C), a secure camera-to- cloud workflow that lets customers instantly upload and stream images from on-set cameras to creative post production teams anywhere in the world. C2C provides two services. First, it enables instant proxy uploads the moment cameras stop rolling. In addition, Frame.io C2C can live stream footage to an authorized user's device on or off set, allowing customers to watch production as it's happening. This is beneficial to productions working during COVID, as it reduces the number of people needed on set. Getting footage from a camera into post production can be a time-consum- ing process that requires backing up files, transferring them to a hard drive, and shipping them to another facility. Frame.io C2C eliminates that, letting customers simultaneously view a live stream of footage as it is being shot, while automatically capturing and uploading proxies as soon as the camera stops rolling. The camera-to-cloud workflow requires a Frame.io C2C-certified device connected to compatible cameras from Arri, Red and Sony. Once authenticat- ed, certified devices such as the Teradek Cube 655 and Sound Devices 888 or Scorpio recorders will record, encode and send timecode-accurate H.264 proxy files with matching filename metadata directly to Frame.io via an encrypted and secure connection using LTE, 5G or WiFi. This allows for near realtime delivery of editable proxy files to a producer, dailies facility or editor anywhere in the world. In addition, Frame.io users with proper credentials can view a live stream of footage while it's being shot from the comfort of their computer, iPhone or iPad — whether they are on set or halfway around the world. "In today's socially-distanced world — where remote work has become the norm and the number of people on-set is limited— Frame.io C2C is a game changer," states Emery Wells, CEO of Frame.io. "Camera to Cloud gives film, television and commercial productions a seamless new way for creative teams to do their best work, no matter where they are." Manufacturers interested in building Frame.io C2C Certified software and hardware can find details at the company's Website (developer.frame.io). C2C features are included at no additional charge for customers with a paid Frame. io account. Flexible, new monthly enterprise plans let customers and studios purchase the service they need for the duration of their production. C2C is currently in beta and will roll out this spring. Nice Shoes' grading capabilities evolve Nice Shoes (www.niceshoes.com), based in New York City, has been offering remote color grading services for many years, allowing its agency clients to work with talent at any of its different locations, including New York, Toronto and Chicago, as well as through partner sites in Austin, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami and Minneapolis. Initially, the service involved connecting two of the locations together for remote sessions, but over time it evolved, and now clients can be almost anywhere when it comes to participating in a grading session. "That was the early days of 'remote'," explains Nice Shoes executive producer Katie Hinsen (pictured). "You had to be 'facility to facility'. A few years ago, Nice Shoes developed a system whereby you can do it via the internet, and have a smart TV or your iPad. A big part of that was demand from agencies." With no off-the-shelf products available to create a remote grading solution at the time, Hinsen says the Nice Shoes engineering team went to work, tweak- ing existing technology to get it to do what was needed. "In terms of our remote system now, it's either/or," she explains, noting that clients can be at their own location, at Nice Shoes, or at a partner facility. "We give them guidelines on how to set up the room and how to set up whatever monitor they are using. We have recommended monitors, including the iPad Pro, because it is very color accurate. And our stream is extremely color accu- rate. It goes directly from the back of the colorist's machine. It streams right to the client." When it comes to ultimately signing off on a project, the client can go into a facility to view the content in a DI theater or on an HDR monitor if necessary. "You are never going to get exactly the same way its appearing, but neither is the audience," says Hinsen of the remote sessions, when compared to at- tended sessions within a facility. "The audience also doesn't get the profession- al reference monitor experience, so if you are at home, watching it on your TV, you are getting the experience that the audience is getting anyway." Nice Shoes has long been home to FilmLight's Baselight system for grading, and more recently, Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve. The studio recently broadened its services beyond commercial grading to target long-form content, and Hinsen says Resolve will be an important part of those workflows going for- ward, as well as for maximizing the studio's resources across multiple locations. "Resolve's 'shared projects' and 'collaboration mode' has really helped us," Hinsen notes. "Everybody is logged into the same server, remotely, and we can follow the sun in a way." Senior colorist Maria Carretero recently remotely graded the feature film Waikiki using DaVinci Resolve Studio. The drama from Hawaiian filmmaker and Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow Christopher Kahunahana gives a look into the gritty realities of life in paradise. Carretero was based in New York, while Hinsen, as DI producer, was located in Los Angeles, and Kahunahana in Hawaii. The team collaborated over its secure, color accurate video link to view the output from DaVinci Resolve Studio. The film is an example of how the studio was able to take advantage of its talent in different locations and time zones. A similar example would be Carretero's work on Asaf Avidan's Lost Horse music video, which was shot and posted remotely during the quarantine, with director Adi Halfin based in Berlin.