Post Magazine

June 2016

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/691665

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 26 of 51

www.postmagazine.com 25 POST JUNE 2016 HDR production and post production seem to have shot from zero to 60 overnight. The speedy ramp up means post facilities are investing in HDR monitors and HDR projection sys- tems to ensure proper color grading and finishing of content required to meet growing consumer demand. Here's what a few of the industry's leading studios have to say about how they are monitor- ing their display needs. TECHNICOLOR "The HDR migration has happened rap- idly," reports Josh Limor, vice president, technology and ecosystem development at Technicolor (www.technicolor.com). "One reason is that the perceptible impact of 4K on the marketplace has not been as strong as several ecosystem players want it to be. But consumers easily perceive the benefit of HDR; it falls right in line with what they want today." Technicolor has been delivering HDR content for more than a year, Limor says; the company has been instrumental in helping Amazon launch HDR content on its Instant Video streaming service. Technicolor facilities worldwide are equipped with Sony BVM-X300 OLED HDR 4K professional reference monitors to handle the new workload. Technicolor chose Sony X300 monitors for their ability "to cover 100 percent of the P3 gamut consistently, their off-axis fidelity and OLED's high impact from local contrast," says Limor. "The X300 goes up to 1,000 nits and, most importantly, gives a lot of detail in the low-end and mid- tones due to its greater than 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. If we grade at this high dynamic range, we can make sure the content will look appropriate and demon- strate key advantages on both HDR LCDs and OLEDs in consumers' homes." While Technicolor selected the Sony X300 "to ensure color accuracy," a consumer monitor may be included in the suite for client presentations. "We may pair the X300s with a larger 65-inch HDR consumer display from one of our consumer partners like LG, Panasonic, Samsung or Sony in the color suites," Limor explains. "Often, our customers would like to see how the final product will look in the home, but critical grading decisions are made on the X300." The Sony X300 is deployed outside Technicolor's grading suites, too. Both Technicolor's in-house VFX group and MPC, a Technicolor company, use the monitors for HDR VFX work, and compa- ny-wide, the X300 is used to QC 4K, SDR and HDR content. "We're even using them in the live space," says Limor, "as reference monitors for realtime HDR content for live sports broadcasting." Advanced HDR by Technicolor has been launched to help drive the HDR con- tent ecosystem. It includes key award-win- ning technologies like Technicolor's Intelligent Tone Management (ITM), which up-converts SDR content to HDR so ex- isting programming can feed HDR outlets with a consistent HDR experience. It also includes a distribution solution co-devel- oped by Technicolor and Phillips, which enables broadcasters/distributors to take in all HDR content and distribute it as one signal that can present accurately on both HDR and SDR displays. Technicolor also maintains about a doz- en color-timing theaters in the LA area, which are equipped with Christie digital cinema projectors. Some of the theaters are now HDR-capable. "You don't need to be an expert to understand and discern the value of HDR," says Steve Scott, Technicolor's senior vice president, theatrical imaging, and a supervising finishing artist. "People who see an HDR demo don't need any explanation: The incredibly deep blacks you get without crunching information, the extraordinary highlights — images are crisp and vivid. It's like looking through a window to reality." To meet the needs of custom- ers already requesting HDR grading, Technicolor has begun to deliver HDR versions tuned for IMAX theaters, Dolby Vision theaters (using custom Christie 4K projectors), Cinemark theaters and other theatrical venues. "Each HDR outlet has slightly different characteristics so the content has to be tuned to ensure the creative intent is maintained across the venues," notes Limor. Scott already has a number of HDR feature credits: He performed the initial HDR tests and final versions for The Revenant and, along with his team, grad- ed HDR deliverables and theatrical trailers for The Jungle Book, and timed the SDR and HDR versions of Captain America: Civil War. "Before HDR, I timed movies with HDR in mind," says Scott. "I found as much detail as I could in the low-end and archived those files." While HDR requires a separate timing pass, he can still follow his practice of preparing for HDR during the SDR pass. "You can exploit the blacks fully and work out LUTs to tame highlights — you can make a lot of HDR decisions that will carry over seamlessly to the HDR pass," he explains. "Then you can do an HDR trim-pass in a few days or so." Even though few commercial theaters nationwide are showing films in HDR, Technicolor expects to see their HDR workload grow. "All the directors and DPs Technicolor employs Sony's BVM-X300 throughout its facilities worldwide.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Post Magazine - June 2016