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Bits & Pieces 8 Post • March 2014 www.postmagazine.com Bits & Pieces ABC's Mistresses to employ cloud-based workflow L OS ANGELES — DigitalFilm Tree provided consulting and post services for the first season of ABC's Mistresses, star- ring Alyssa Milano, Yunjin Kim, Jes Macallan and Rochelle Aytes. Produced by ABC for the network, the show is a provocative drama about the scandalous lives of a sexy and sassy group of girlfriends, each on her own path to self discovery. At press time, DigitalFilm Tree was helping the show gear up for production of the second season. Post caught up with CEO Ramy Katrib, who was very excited about the cloud-based workflow the show will be implementing for Season 2. DigitalFilm Tree has been specializing in creating workflows using desktop technologies and digital files since 1999. Early on, the business collaborated with the producers of the TV series Scrubs, as well as on the features Cold Mountain and Napoleon Dynamite. Today, file-based workflows are the norm, notes Katrib, who sees the cloud as the next step in the evolution of post workflows. For Season 1 of Mistresses, DigitalFilm Tree built three Avid-based edit stations and three assistant editor stations at ABC. The company also set up a color room with Blackmagic Design's Da Vinci Resolve, as well as an online room, facilities for titling, and a dailies room. All of the systems were con- nected to a 76TB SAN. The show's 13 episodes were shot with two Arri Alexas, mostly on a stage, though occasional location shoots also took place. DigitalFilm Tree, says Katrib, would create the DNxHD36 files for editorial. For Season 2, Mistresses will employ a cloud-based work- flow. "For us, it was an evolutionary process," he explains. "It's cool to have mini post house where you want it, and there are benefits for the DPs and for approving color and titles," he says of Season 1's workflow. "[But] cloud-based is more profound. How you connect people is a game changer." OpenStack — a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources — he feels, can greatly enhance workflows. "This season, all files — camera negatives, etc. — will be on one OpenStack cloud storage. A local SAN can never be OpenStack block storage. It's a self-healing storage, and is also replicated to use at any other locations." In addition to redundancy, OpenStack offers remote access to outside vendors, such as VFX facili- ties, as well as to ABC's own promotions department. For Season 1, assets were archived to LTFS. This included all camera negatives, online archives, and corrected masters. But the cost of cloud storage has come down, and no longer are studios compelled to free up storage space as they have in the past. "The brilliance is we can scale just like big boy cloud providers," he notes. "In addition to self healing [fea- tures], cost has come down. These are two factors why stu- dios are not compelled to delete [material] as quickly as possible. Cloud storage does not represent the cost chal- lenges it did just two years ago." By Marc Loftus Zoic helps Fox promote new 24 C ULVER CITY, CA — Visual effects house Zoic Studios helped boost anticipation for the return of the Fox series 24. The studio recently worked on the :45 Street Chaos promo for 24: Live Another Day, which aired during Super Bowl XLVIII. The trailer was directed by Three (One) O's Norry Niven and celebrates the triumphant return of 24 hero, Jack Bauer, who treks through London street wreckage, fearlessly carrying Chloe, to face the danger head-on. Zoic worked in partnership with Fox to craft the VFX for the trailer, including massive explosions and extensive building and car damage. 24: Live Another Day will debut on May 5, and will consist of a 12-episode season. Generator Films, Ltd., in London provided production services for the project. Zoic's Mark Stetson served as on-set VFX supervisor. Simon Scott was the lead Flame artist. Michael Kirylo acted as 3D supervisor and Andrew Bardusk was 2D/compositing supervi- sor. Kirylo and Scott Rosecrans created models for the promo. Caleb Pennypacker served as tracking lead and Fumi Mashimo handled compositing. Roto/paint artists included Todd Groves, Erik Carlson and Wes Heo. Hollywood's Light Iron, which specializes in workflows for con- tent originated with file-based motion picture cameras, has hired Marc Vanocur. A 20-year industry veteran, he will serve in the newly-created position of chief operating officer. The appointment comes after Light Iron experienced a 50 percent growth in personnel in 2013. Vanocur previously held executive roles at Technicolor, Todd-Soun- delux, and Weddington Produc- tions, overseeing business opera- tions and navigating technological change. 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