You don’t do it maybe, but you should know about it and Steve Hullfish tells it well.
Category Archives: Post
Post Production is post and prior—a lot of work taking other people’s material from dozens of sources and fitting it all into some other group’s needs. Very technical.
Should Know About Color Correction
You don’t do it maybe, but you should know about it and Steve Hullfish tells it well.
Ouch~! If I can’t bankrupt a Post House…DD, 3D, In3, Disney
Can’t say for certain if a particular post site owner / producer actually said that he wasn’t trying hard enough if he couldn’t bankrupt a post house during one of his movie’s post. But like shuffling lounge chairs on the Titanic, Digital Domain and In-Three and Disney are all involved in the dustup coming from that mentality.
Disney Seeks to Protect Right to Create 3D Movies in Digital Domain Bankruptcy – Hollywood Reporter
Ouch~! If I can’t bankrupt a Post House…DD, 3D, In3, Disney
Can’t say for certain if a particular post site owner / producer actually said that he wasn’t trying hard enough if he couldn’t bankrupt a post house during one of his movie’s post. But like shuffling lounge chairs on the Titanic, Digital Domain and In-Three and Disney are all involved in the dustup coming from that mentality.
Disney Seeks to Protect Right to Create 3D Movies in Digital Domain Bankruptcy – Hollywood Reporter
Beginning To Color
Someday there will be a person needing to make a commercial for their local cinema, who used a nice camera and while editing everything realizes that the lights in the mall required some color tools…and knowledge.
Here’s a nice place to start:
Magic Bullet Colorista II Tutorials by Stu Maschwitz on Vimeo
with some free tools:
Prolost – Blog – Two Free Color Correction Plug-ins from Red Giant Software
Beginning To Color
Someday there will be a person needing to make a commercial for their local cinema, who used a nice camera and while editing everything realizes that the lights in the mall required some color tools…and knowledge.
Here’s a nice place to start:
Magic Bullet Colorista II Tutorials by Stu Maschwitz on Vimeo
with some free tools:
Prolost – Blog – Two Free Color Correction Plug-ins from Red Giant Software
Get Your HI Tracks On
After a decade of hopes and promises, several large theater chains, entire countries like Australia and major studios have broken the technology and chicken-and-egg barriers to implementing complete access for this part of society who have asserted their right to be included. That the digital caption and listening technology caught up in a flurry in the last year is no coincidence to these moves, but it has taken a lot of work and rigorous testing “plug fests” for years to get to this point.
Regal Cinemas has thrown the latest and greatest gauntlet – all screenings, in all their auditoriums, will be “Accessible” by the end of the year.
There are more than a few challenges ahead for them. They have chosen the Sony glasses and sound systems [See:Previous Story], which are just becoming available. They have the largest number of screens to accommodate, nearly 7,000, which means a lot of people to train and a lot of expectant customers.
But the hardest moment is when the customer puts on the glasses to see the closed captions or the headsets to hear the sound…and nothing happens. Everyone can identify with that sinking feeling. Why? Will they fix themselves? I was promised~!
Oops!!! It was only the trailers that didn’t have the tracks for the hearing impaired (HI). Whoa…I sure wish that wouldn’t happen.
The ISDCF, a association of technical staff from many exhibitor and distributor and manufacturing groups have put out a request from via their chair:
Open letter to Content Providers,
ISDCF has discussed problems in delivery of the HI track (hearing impaired) for digital releases, in particular trailers. In the “old” days the HI track was generated by the “B” chain through the cinema processor – and this worked pretty well.
Today the delivered DCP movies sometimes contain a studio-mixed HI track and this dedicated channel is used to feed the HI system in the theater. When a product does not have a HI track, in particular trailers, the theater HI system is silent. This is unacceptable.
The best solution is for every delivered DCP movie or trailer to include an HI track. This could be an HI track created in a studio mixing room or one using a formula like the one used by “B” chain cinema processor systems.
I would like to ask the help of ISDCF members to get the message out and help encourage release of HI tracks for all digital releases.
Best,
Jerry Pierce
Chairman ISDCF
Get Your HI Tracks On
After a decade of hopes and promises, several large theater chains, entire countries like Australia and major studios have broken the technology and chicken-and-egg barriers to implementing complete access for this part of society who have asserted their right to be included. That the digital caption and listening technology caught up in a flurry in the last year is no coincidence to these moves, but it has taken a lot of work and rigorous testing “plug fests” for years to get to this point.
Regal Cinemas has thrown the latest and greatest gauntlet – all screenings, in all their auditoriums, will be “Accessible” by the end of the year.
There are more than a few challenges ahead for them. They have chosen the Sony glasses and sound systems [See:Previous Story], which are just becoming available. They have the largest number of screens to accommodate, nearly 7,000, which means a lot of people to train and a lot of expectant customers.
But the hardest moment is when the customer puts on the glasses to see the closed captions or the headsets to hear the sound…and nothing happens. Everyone can identify with that sinking feeling. Why? Will they fix themselves? I was promised~!
Oops!!! It was only the trailers that didn’t have the tracks for the hearing impaired (HI). Whoa…I sure wish that wouldn’t happen.
The ISDCF, a association of technical staff from many exhibitor and distributor and manufacturing groups have put out a request from via their chair:
Open letter to Content Providers,
ISDCF has discussed problems in delivery of the HI track (hearing impaired) for digital releases, in particular trailers. In the “old” days the HI track was generated by the “B” chain through the cinema processor – and this worked pretty well.
Today the delivered DCP movies sometimes contain a studio-mixed HI track and this dedicated channel is used to feed the HI system in the theater. When a product does not have a HI track, in particular trailers, the theater HI system is silent. This is unacceptable.
The best solution is for every delivered DCP movie or trailer to include an HI track. This could be an HI track created in a studio mixing room or one using a formula like the one used by “B” chain cinema processor systems.
I would like to ask the help of ISDCF members to get the message out and help encourage release of HI tracks for all digital releases.
Best,
Jerry Pierce
Chairman ISDCF
File Festival Deliverables
Only a few years ago there were no festivals which offered to take DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) as a regular item, then the big ones made the effort by making the DCPs from digital masters. Two years ago it was confusing and still uncommon for a DCP to be accepted, but rules were being set out and tested. This year it would be uncommon for a festival not to have a procedure for accepting a DCP.
But it is still a complicated process, for a lot of obvious and a lot of obscure reasons. The first question always seems to be, “Can’t I just deliver a QuickTime file? DCPs are soooo expensive.” The answer is: Yes you can. You can deliver something on tape as well, or an 8 bit DVD or 10 bit Blu Ray. (Oops! There is no 10 bit Blu Ray!!! only 8 bit.) You can introduce yourself in a suit that has been in mothballs for 10 years as well and give away 5 day old pre-buttered popcorn with your festival submission. But you don’t want to. The difference in quality between those and a correctly made DCP will be too striking, doing an injustice to your great plot and characters.
This will be the first in a series of festival information articles, and we start with a good package of data from Cine Tech Geek in the form of YouTube videos.
One last note before CineTech Geek’s great videos: DCinemaTraining.com would like to accept any materials to make a Film Festival Course. If you have interest in contributing, please write the editor of dcinematraining
James at CineTech Geek has been working as an integrator for cinemas in Australia, and also as a manufacturer and software engineer. His various websites are:
Company Site: DigitAll: http://www.digitall.net.au
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/cinetechgeek
Personal Tech Blog – http://www.crafted.com.au/blog/
The clips begin with an ad for the digitAll dcpPlayer Version 2. If you are interested in DCPs, you should be interested in spending a mere $250 for a program that will allow you to play several formats of dcp. Previewing your work is a topic that will be fleshed out in a future article. Using a tool like this isn’t the same as trying out the DCP on the exact models of server and projector that is used in the festival, but it is an advisable start. In one of the videos, James shows a high frame rate 3D DCP playing through a portable computer.
This digitAll software is a Windows application, so it plays natively on a Windows PC, or on a speedy Mac with a virtual partition. (Either the free Apple Bootcamp, or VirtualBox from Sun (now Oracle), or systems from VMWare or Parallels (each about $79.)
One thing that James doesn’t bring up is the interface between bluray (and other consumer format) audio, which is different than most cinema theater set-ups, in many ways. Consider buying or renting the Gefen Inc EXT AVCINEMAAD A/V Cinema Scaler. You may think, “I don’t need a scaler.” In reality, if you are screening many different types of inputs, you probably will need a scaler. But the audio transitions between different consumer and professional deliverables are the real difficulty in interfacing. (James points out that those cinemas with a Dolby 750 Audio Processor will have the required audio interchange capability already. It should also be pointed out that Christie’s new SKA-3D is the latest iteration of Gefen’s everything to everything box. But we digress.)
On with the show(s):
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 1 Media
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 2 – On the Cheap
Fim Festival Devliverables: Part 3 – Film Producer
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 4 – Festival Producer
The presentation can also be found in PDF format at:
http://www.d-cine.net/cinetechgeek/FilmFestivalDeliverables.pdf
File Festival Deliverables
Only a few years ago there were no festivals which offered to take DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) as a regular item, then the big ones made the effort by making the DCPs from digital masters. Two years ago it was confusing and still uncommon for a DCP to be accepted, but rules were being set out and tested. This year it would be uncommon for a festival not to have a procedure for accepting a DCP.
But it is still a complicated process, for a lot of obvious and a lot of obscure reasons. The first question always seems to be, “Can’t I just deliver a QuickTime file? DCPs are soooo expensive.” The answer is: Yes you can. You can deliver something on tape as well, or an 8 bit DVD or 10 bit Blu Ray. (Oops! There is no 10 bit Blu Ray!!! only 8 bit.) You can introduce yourself in a suit that has been in mothballs for 10 years as well and give away 5 day old pre-buttered popcorn with your festival submission. But you don’t want to. The difference in quality between those and a correctly made DCP will be too striking, doing an injustice to your great plot and characters.
This will be the first in a series of festival information articles, and we start with a good package of data from Cine Tech Geek in the form of YouTube videos.
One last note before CineTech Geek’s great videos: DCinemaTraining.com would like to accept any materials to make a Film Festival Course. If you have interest in contributing, please write the editor of dcinematraining
James at CineTech Geek has been working as an integrator for cinemas in Australia, and also as a manufacturer and software engineer. His various websites are:
Company Site: DigitAll: http://www.digitall.net.au
YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/cinetechgeek
Personal Tech Blog – http://www.crafted.com.au/blog/
The clips begin with an ad for the digitAll dcpPlayer Version 2. If you are interested in DCPs, you should be interested in spending a mere $250 for a program that will allow you to play several formats of dcp. Previewing your work is a topic that will be fleshed out in a future article. Using a tool like this isn’t the same as trying out the DCP on the exact models of server and projector that is used in the festival, but it is an advisable start. In one of the videos, James shows a high frame rate 3D DCP playing through a portable computer.
This digitAll software is a Windows application, so it plays natively on a Windows PC, or on a speedy Mac with a virtual partition. (Either the free Apple Bootcamp, or VirtualBox from Sun (now Oracle), or systems from VMWare or Parallels (each about $79.)
One thing that James doesn’t bring up is the interface between bluray (and other consumer format) audio, which is different than most cinema theater set-ups, in many ways. Consider buying or renting the Gefen Inc EXT AVCINEMAAD A/V Cinema Scaler. You may think, “I don’t need a scaler.” In reality, if you are screening many different types of inputs, you probably will need a scaler. But the audio transitions between different consumer and professional deliverables are the real difficulty in interfacing. (James points out that those cinemas with a Dolby 750 Audio Processor will have the required audio interchange capability already. It should also be pointed out that Christie’s new SKA-3D is the latest iteration of Gefen’s everything to everything box. But we digress.)
On with the show(s):
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 1 Media
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 2 – On the Cheap
Fim Festival Devliverables: Part 3 – Film Producer
Film Festival Deliverables: Part 4 – Festival Producer
The presentation can also be found in PDF format at:
http://www.d-cine.net/cinetechgeek/FilmFestivalDeliverables.pdf
Tandberg HH FC LTO-5 Drive Connects to Mac Through Thunderbolt
Tandberg Data and PROMISE Technology, Inc. have tested and certified the solution to ensure compatibility to the user. SANLink provides a dual 4Gbps FC link that can be used to connect to external FC storage. Each adapter features full-duplex capable FC ports that automatically detect connection speed and can each independently operate at 1, 2 or 4Gbps.
Tandberg Data’s LTO-5 tape drives store up to 3TB (with 2.1 compression) per cartridge. Capable of data transfer rates of up to 280MB/sec, it dynamically and continuously adjusts the speed of the drive to keep drives streaming. This maximizes performance and reduces start/stops, which increases the reliability of drives and media. Tandberg Data also supports LTFS (Linear Tape File System), which allows the tape drive to operate like a hard disk with direct access without the need for tape backup software. The solution is also compatible with all major backup software packages.
Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC external tape drive features with PROMISE SANLink:
Availability
Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC external tape drives and LTO-5 media are available through established channel of distributor and reseller partners. MSRP pricing for the LTO-5 HH FC external tape drive is $3,395.00, and MSRP pricing for LTO-5 media is $69.00. All Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC tape drives come with a three-year warranty and Advanced Replacement Service.
The PROMISE SANlink is available through PROMISE’s network of distributor and reseller partners and from the Apple Store and Apple Authorized Resellers. SANlink is available for $799.
Tandberg HH FC LTO-5 Drive Connects to Mac Through Thunderbolt
Tandberg Data and PROMISE Technology, Inc. have tested and certified the solution to ensure compatibility to the user. SANLink provides a dual 4Gbps FC link that can be used to connect to external FC storage. Each adapter features full-duplex capable FC ports that automatically detect connection speed and can each independently operate at 1, 2 or 4Gbps.
Tandberg Data’s LTO-5 tape drives store up to 3TB (with 2.1 compression) per cartridge. Capable of data transfer rates of up to 280MB/sec, it dynamically and continuously adjusts the speed of the drive to keep drives streaming. This maximizes performance and reduces start/stops, which increases the reliability of drives and media. Tandberg Data also supports LTFS (Linear Tape File System), which allows the tape drive to operate like a hard disk with direct access without the need for tape backup software. The solution is also compatible with all major backup software packages.
Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC external tape drive features with PROMISE SANLink:
Availability
Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC external tape drives and LTO-5 media are available through established channel of distributor and reseller partners. MSRP pricing for the LTO-5 HH FC external tape drive is $3,395.00, and MSRP pricing for LTO-5 media is $69.00. All Tandberg Data LTO-5 HH FC tape drives come with a three-year warranty and Advanced Replacement Service.
The PROMISE SANlink is available through PROMISE’s network of distributor and reseller partners and from the Apple Store and Apple Authorized Resellers. SANlink is available for $799.
Interesting MIST – DCI Mastering at NAB
M I S T is the unique professional solution delivering an interactive DCP mastering process in a large number of configurations. Customers can choose between software only options and turn-key solutions with 2K or 4K hardware acceleration, according to their needs and budget.
Marquise Technologies announced today the new powerful DCI mastering features available for the DI deck M I S T.
The DCI mastering in M I S T is an option providing a tool-set of functionalities for mastering and encoding a DCP in real-time. The assembling of the elements needed for the package and their control are done naturally in the Time Line of M I S T, giving the ability to control the process at any time. Whatever the digital source master is made of, no need to pre-transcode, as M I S T works natively with all major formats, including DPX, TIFF, Apple ProRes, QuickTime, Sony XDCAM or H264 from DSLRs like Canon 5D, independently of resolution or frame rate.
M I S T is the unique professional solution delivering an interactive DCP mastering process in a large number of configurations. Customers can choose between software only options and turn-key solutions with 2K or 4K hardware acceleration, according to their needs and budget.
M I S T DCI Mastering option is not only encoding a compliant DCP in SMPTE or JPEG Interop, but also much more. It allows an immediate visualization of the master on a DCI projector, regardless of format or color space, permitting the color integrity control in theater mode.
The editing, afterthoughts or modifications of the master are always possible, through the management of all DCP assets (video, audio, subtitles) in a traditional timeline. The subtitles are fully supported, with the ability to read and edit them, leaving the choice of either export them in the DC package, or to burn them in the image.
The final encoding of the DCP is done with all precautions, for ensuring the integrity of the deliverables and their internationalization, through the aid of DCP’s name creation tool and the support of facility code tables. Encoding is real-time in 2K, and also available for 4K, accelerated by a JPEG2000 encoder board.
Flexibility remains with the manipulation of DCPs: the same hardware allows a real-time playback of the DCP. The versioning and repackaging of the files are managed like any other projects, including the MXF Interop (or MPEG Interop) support for new standard changes.
“M I S T allowing the export and output to any media and format, the DCP support was a natural step. M I S T is now the most comprehensive tool on the market, from the acquisition and processing of dailies, to the media conforming and finally the broadcast and DCI mastering.” says Laurence Stoll, CEO at Marquise Technologies.
The DCP encryption features and KDM management tools will be available in Quarter 3, 2012.
See M I S T DCI Mastering in action at NAB 2012
Marquise Technologies’ booth SL 9109 (South Hall – Post-Production)
Interesting MIST – DCI Mastering at NAB
M I S T is the unique professional solution delivering an interactive DCP mastering process in a large number of configurations. Customers can choose between software only options and turn-key solutions with 2K or 4K hardware acceleration, according to their needs and budget.
Marquise Technologies announced today the new powerful DCI mastering features available for the DI deck M I S T.
The DCI mastering in M I S T is an option providing a tool-set of functionalities for mastering and encoding a DCP in real-time. The assembling of the elements needed for the package and their control are done naturally in the Time Line of M I S T, giving the ability to control the process at any time. Whatever the digital source master is made of, no need to pre-transcode, as M I S T works natively with all major formats, including DPX, TIFF, Apple ProRes, QuickTime, Sony XDCAM or H264 from DSLRs like Canon 5D, independently of resolution or frame rate.
M I S T is the unique professional solution delivering an interactive DCP mastering process in a large number of configurations. Customers can choose between software only options and turn-key solutions with 2K or 4K hardware acceleration, according to their needs and budget.
M I S T DCI Mastering option is not only encoding a compliant DCP in SMPTE or JPEG Interop, but also much more. It allows an immediate visualization of the master on a DCI projector, regardless of format or color space, permitting the color integrity control in theater mode.
The editing, afterthoughts or modifications of the master are always possible, through the management of all DCP assets (video, audio, subtitles) in a traditional timeline. The subtitles are fully supported, with the ability to read and edit them, leaving the choice of either export them in the DC package, or to burn them in the image.
The final encoding of the DCP is done with all precautions, for ensuring the integrity of the deliverables and their internationalization, through the aid of DCP’s name creation tool and the support of facility code tables. Encoding is real-time in 2K, and also available for 4K, accelerated by a JPEG2000 encoder board.
Flexibility remains with the manipulation of DCPs: the same hardware allows a real-time playback of the DCP. The versioning and repackaging of the files are managed like any other projects, including the MXF Interop (or MPEG Interop) support for new standard changes.
“M I S T allowing the export and output to any media and format, the DCP support was a natural step. M I S T is now the most comprehensive tool on the market, from the acquisition and processing of dailies, to the media conforming and finally the broadcast and DCI mastering.” says Laurence Stoll, CEO at Marquise Technologies.
The DCP encryption features and KDM management tools will be available in Quarter 3, 2012.
See M I S T DCI Mastering in action at NAB 2012
Marquise Technologies’ booth SL 9109 (South Hall – Post-Production)
Film Festival Dates and Submission Details
the 3D company, the 3D specialist company in Central London, has released a nice grid of 26 world-wide film festivals and their requirements. Film Festival Dates and Submission Details | THE 3D COMPANY
[Sundance, Berlin Int., South by Southwest (SXSW), Hong Kong Intl., Atlanta, Tribeca, London Int. Doc. Festival, Festival de Cannes, Seattle Int., Nantucket, Edinburgh Int., Moscow Int., Montreal World, Venice Int., Telluride, Toronto, New York, Busan Int., Chicago Int., London, Jakarta Int., Hollywood, Austin, Film Festival of India, Yamagata Int. Doc, British Urban Film Festival]