Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/987068
33 At release, ProRes RAW comes in two distinct flavors. The first, simply called "ProRes RAW," is comparable in file size to the original ProRes 422 HQ with a variable bitrate that averages approximately 220mbps at a resolution 1080p with a frame rate of thirty frames per second. The second, entitled "ProRes RAW HQ," is similar in size to the existing ProRes 4444 XQ at an average bitrate of 500mbps at 1080p30. By patterning these new formats on the two most popular variants of the original ProRes family, it appears that Apple plans to integrate this new technology in a manner that is as un-invasive as possible so as not to disturb users during rollout. As companies adopt ProRes RAW into their platforms, the original line of ProRes products will likely be phased out as obsolete and unnecessary. In practical terms, this could result in major cost saving and increased time efficiency across the industry. With regards to Local 695 specifically, the various responsibilities of a video engineer or technician include media playback, on-set chroma keying, off-camera recording, copying files from camera media to external storage devices, backup and redundancy creation, transcoding with or without previously created LUTs, quality control, and syncing and recording copies for the purpose of dailies creation. This often requires both high- end workstation computers with large amounts of both processing power and graphics memory, as well as large storage solutions with high-speed media. These tools are expensive, with an introductory iMac Pro (Apple's current professional level workstation) costing $4,999. A fully upgraded machine can cost a user upward of $13,000. While this may seem excessive, that sort of computational power is often a necessity as feature films standardize 4K productions and push beyond to 6K and 8K workflows— especially for live chroma keying or compositing. Storage costs are not cheap either, with a single use 4tb shuttle drive costing productions around $170 on the low end. But if widely adopted, ProRes RAW could make the inevitable days of higher resolution productions more manageable for engineers at a fraction of the cost. By allowing productions to maintain levels of quality with smaller and less demanding files, ProRes RAW could reduce these costs all around. It also has the power to simplify and streamline our workflows. A common complaint from producers and engineers alike over the last few years has been the non- standardization of ingest formats in cinema-grade cameras. At present, a video engineer is required to be familiar with just about every file format and codec out there. On feature productions, commercials and high-budget television series, it is not uncommon to juggle REDCODE RAW, ArriRAW and CinemaDNG files in a given day. Each of these require their own unique workflow in order to process clips for editorial so that they will be ready for use and offline to online editing at the end of post production and to create dailies for producers. We are required to be intimately familiar with each workflow and seamlessly move from one to the next during the course of a single day. The widespread adoption of ProRes RAW could be the standardization of RAW video that we have been waiting for, allowing engineers to work via a single workflow in any given day rather than bouncing back-and-forth between two or three separate ones. Currently, ProRes RAW can only be captured through external recorders manufactured by Atomos. Officially, the Atomos Ninja V external HDMI monitor/recorder was the first system to allow ingest of ProRes RAW files in cameras manufactured by Canon, Sony and Panasonic but a firmware update was released the following day that granted these same capabilities to the Shogun Inferno and Sumo19 recorders as well. These recorders are capable of ingesting the new format at a resolution of DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at sixty frames per second. DJI then announced that their Zenmuse x7 camera would receive a firmware update allowing it to capture ProRes RAW at a resolution of 6016 x 3200 at 23.976 frames per second. On the post-production end, the new codecs are currently only supported for use in Apple's Final Cut Pro X platform, version 10.4.1 or higher. That didn't stop the whole of NAB from asking about the future of this new codec. Representatives from BlackMagic Design, Adobe Systems, AJA, EVS and Canon Inc. were all flooded with inquiries as to when users could expect ProRes RAW support in their systems. However, Adobe Systems' Senior Product Manager Patrick Palmer quickly put out a simple statement on the company's forum: "We're looking into adding support for ProRes RAW as we speak." Excitement spread like wildfire throughout the week as everyone from feature filmmakers to video enthusiasts and YouTubers clamored to find out more. There seemed to be an unspoken consensus in the air throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center. The next big thing might have just arrived. In ProRes RAW, Apple seemingly hopes to introduce a new standard that blends the ease of use of the original ProRes family with the post-production flexibility of a RAW file format. In short, this will give ProRes users the capability of accessing information directly from a camera's sensor during the intermediate and editorial processes.