Archive
28-12-2002, 10:11 PM
by Steven J Smith
Now that the Pig has been released in the city and countries around the world, I thought I would take this opportunity to detail the picture post production process.
The post production of “Babe, Pig in the City” was technically the largest and most complex of any film done in Australia to date. And, as we understand, even surpassed the current Star Wars, particularly in regards to digital storage requirements. The storage of over 1.5 million feet of film required 7 x 63gb towers plus added local storage on individual systems. Four film composers were networked using Media Share.
After initial consultation with the editing department, (Post Supervisor: Marcus D’Arcy. Editors: Margaret Sixel and Jay Friedkin (Dany Cooper came onboard later to provide additional cutting). Avid Assistant: Jason Ballantine. Visual Effects coordinator: Matt Villa, also in charge of print conforming), the following process was established:
Starting with rushes screening, a screening room was set up at the Fox Studios for nightly rushes. With the help of Sammys who modified a projector, we created a system which allowed us to screen rushes with sound coming from a jazz drive.
This saved Jason an enormous amount of time, rather than a real time playout of sync sound from the Avid to mag or DAT, the sound was consolidated directly to a jazz drive taking only about 5 minutes. This was the first time this process for rushes screening had been done and it proved to be highly successful.
It was determined that an assembly of work print would take place almost simultaneously with the Avid cut. In order to facilitate this, we used a process, which Frameworks developed some 3 years ago, and has been used on numerous films since. It employs the old Acmade rubber numbering machine. After telecine, the workprint is rubber numbered with the 0 frame starting at a common point, say Pic Start. The rubber number for each telecine roll is logged in the data file on Avid of each master clip after digitized. One telecine roll is one master clip on the Avid. Unlike key code numbers which, to be accurate, must be input on each autosync subclip after rushes breakdown, the rubber number is input once which Avid than tracks throughout the cut. Pull lists, and cut lists can easily be output from the Avid along with change lists as the cut progresses. Assembly of the work print is very fast and efficient as the rubber numbers are easier to read than key code numbers and they are always in ascending order. The first 4 digits of the rubber number identify the telecine roll, ie. 0001 = telecine roll number 1. As well, roll information is also included in all lists.
For the networking, we chose Media Share rather than Fibre Channel. At the time, fibre channel had not officially been released and, like most new software and hardware, early versions had a few bugs. We had already had great success with Media Share with several previous films including “Dark City” and “Thin Red Line”. Even though we pushed the technology beyond its normal use on Babe, we were very pleased with the performance. Four Film Composers were networked with 7 towers, the assistant’s Avid was also networked to an SGI which was receiving frames via an ISDN line from LA and London.
Kennedy Miller had two of their own Film Composers, Frameworks provided 2 Film composers, an Audio/Vision for the sound department, 5 x 63gb towers, Media Share plus consulting and all technical support (additional storage was provided by Digistore).•
Stephen F. Smith
Managing Director Frameworks Film
Now that the Pig has been released in the city and countries around the world, I thought I would take this opportunity to detail the picture post production process.
The post production of “Babe, Pig in the City” was technically the largest and most complex of any film done in Australia to date. And, as we understand, even surpassed the current Star Wars, particularly in regards to digital storage requirements. The storage of over 1.5 million feet of film required 7 x 63gb towers plus added local storage on individual systems. Four film composers were networked using Media Share.
After initial consultation with the editing department, (Post Supervisor: Marcus D’Arcy. Editors: Margaret Sixel and Jay Friedkin (Dany Cooper came onboard later to provide additional cutting). Avid Assistant: Jason Ballantine. Visual Effects coordinator: Matt Villa, also in charge of print conforming), the following process was established:
Starting with rushes screening, a screening room was set up at the Fox Studios for nightly rushes. With the help of Sammys who modified a projector, we created a system which allowed us to screen rushes with sound coming from a jazz drive.
This saved Jason an enormous amount of time, rather than a real time playout of sync sound from the Avid to mag or DAT, the sound was consolidated directly to a jazz drive taking only about 5 minutes. This was the first time this process for rushes screening had been done and it proved to be highly successful.
It was determined that an assembly of work print would take place almost simultaneously with the Avid cut. In order to facilitate this, we used a process, which Frameworks developed some 3 years ago, and has been used on numerous films since. It employs the old Acmade rubber numbering machine. After telecine, the workprint is rubber numbered with the 0 frame starting at a common point, say Pic Start. The rubber number for each telecine roll is logged in the data file on Avid of each master clip after digitized. One telecine roll is one master clip on the Avid. Unlike key code numbers which, to be accurate, must be input on each autosync subclip after rushes breakdown, the rubber number is input once which Avid than tracks throughout the cut. Pull lists, and cut lists can easily be output from the Avid along with change lists as the cut progresses. Assembly of the work print is very fast and efficient as the rubber numbers are easier to read than key code numbers and they are always in ascending order. The first 4 digits of the rubber number identify the telecine roll, ie. 0001 = telecine roll number 1. As well, roll information is also included in all lists.
For the networking, we chose Media Share rather than Fibre Channel. At the time, fibre channel had not officially been released and, like most new software and hardware, early versions had a few bugs. We had already had great success with Media Share with several previous films including “Dark City” and “Thin Red Line”. Even though we pushed the technology beyond its normal use on Babe, we were very pleased with the performance. Four Film Composers were networked with 7 towers, the assistant’s Avid was also networked to an SGI which was receiving frames via an ISDN line from LA and London.
Kennedy Miller had two of their own Film Composers, Frameworks provided 2 Film composers, an Audio/Vision for the sound department, 5 x 63gb towers, Media Share plus consulting and all technical support (additional storage was provided by Digistore).•
Stephen F. Smith
Managing Director Frameworks Film