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July 2015

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www.postmagazine.com 23 POST JULY 2015 done, we conform the show to the raw material sitting on ProStack. We point the Avid bin to ProStack and it retrieves all the elements necessary to make the upcut very quickly." Instead of making clip pulls for select- ed vendors, such as VFX studios, Digital Film Tree can grant them ProStack cloud access. "They go to folders and grab what they want; in some cases we've eliminated all clip pulls costs, which ups efficiency — it's a sea change compared to how we did it before," declares Katrib. Agent X also takes advantage of ProStack for remote color correction with Digital Film Tree colorist Patrick Woodard working on Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve. "We couldn't do it without Blackmagic," says Katrib. "They're very supportive of remote color and their inno- vation in this area is amazing." Digital Film Tree set up a remote color station for the producers in West LA; when Woodard makes a grade in Hollywood, Resolve's color metadata goes to the remote color station where the pro- ducers "see the color applied to the actual raw material," Katrib explains. "We usually have a realtime video chat going with the producers during the session. It makes for a very dynamic experience. "The Neese brothers also use Critique to input post production notes to share with us and other colleagues. They are able to communicate with all depart- ments in realtime from their phones; it's as easy as texting," Katrib reports. Digital Film Tree provides ProStack stor- age at no cost for shows on which it also provides other post production services. NICE SHOES At Nice Shoes (www.niceshoes.com) in New York City, color grading is the ser- vice most often offered via live remote sessions. The company links one of its colorists with a commercial client in another location via a network of remote partners, post studios or advertising agencies able to view the live session in New York and supply instant feedback. "There's usually a remote color session going on in one of our rooms every day," says Nice Shoes colorist Chris Ryan. "I might do four or five a month. We're constantly growing our list of remote partners." The roster of partner facilities currently includes Crawford in Atlanta, Foundation Edit in Austin, Engine Room Edit in Boston, Optimus in Chicago and Los Angeles, Republic Editorial in Dallas, Pluto in Detroit, Vapor Post in Miami, and Volt Studios in Minneapolis. A recent addition to companies with remote capabilities is Boston ad agency Hill Holliday. "We do a lot of work with them, and this was a very convenient solution," Ryan reports. "A creative director can pop in for half-an-hour then leave. Agencies are so busy juggling so many jobs that even agencies close to us in New York have talked to us about putting in a remote room." Hill Holliday's remote room was a godsend during Boston's incredibly-snowy winter. "They were really happy not to fly to New York but just go to an office downstairs," says Ryan. "We did more remote than live-in- New York work for them last winter." The components required to set up remote color installations with Nice Shoes are simple. "We send one of our engineers with a monitor package — the same Panasonic plasma monitor we use here — and a streaming box, which is a proprietary set-up featuring off-the-shelf items," says Ryan. "Our engineer will cal- ibrate the monitor and check the stream — you need to have a pretty robust Internet connection." Both parties use Google Chromecast and Google Hangouts to communicate back and forth as Ryan mans a FilmLight Baselight color system. Remote rooms feature Nice Shoes branding to reinforce the feel that clients are participating in a session with a Nice Shoes colorist. Nice Shoes and Optimus Chicago saw such a demand for color services that Nice Shoes colorist Ron Sudul is now based in the Windy City. "That doesn't preclude him from doing remote sessions," Ryan explains. "He can still do color grading for New York clients and for any other city in our remote network." On one such project, Sudul collaborat- ed with Reebok directly on a new spot highlighting Crossfit Nano 5.0 sneakers. The client came to Nice Shoes in New York to supervise, while Sudol graded in Chicago. While Reebok was a new client that came through a relationship with Optimus, Sudol also collaborated with a long-term client, Good Company, on Wrapped Up, a music video for Olly Murs, shortly after arriving in Chicago. Nice Shoes' remote broadcasts from Chicago are delivered at the same high quality as those from New York. Although Ryan still prefers the "vibe and energy" of being in the same room as the client, remote sessions are the next best thing. "It's as good as it gets" at a distance, he says. "The transmission is really clean. We transmit HD now; next will be UHD 4K. We saw some solutions at NAB that we've been testing but so far we haven't found anything to meet our requirements. Our pipeline is robust enough for higher resolutions, but our partners may have to bump up their pipelines to receive it." Nice Shoes NY colorist Chris Ryan (inset) says his studio landed this Reebok project as a result of its remote relationship with Optimus Chicago. US AT www.postmagazine.com FOR MORE WORKING REMOTELY, VISIT WORKING REMOTELY/COLLABORATIVELY

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