Digital Intermediary Questions

[Bob Hayes]

My experience with DI is limited to 10 minutes or so per 35mm movie to include fades dissolves and simple special effects. I have yet to do a whole movie that goes through the DI process.

 

When you go through the DI for a whole film does one pre-scan selected negative for complicated effect shots so the digital effect guys can work ahead of time?

 

Once the film is edited is an edit list used to pull selects from the negative ? Is this automated or done by hand?

 

Once it is scanned how is it transported from where it is scanned to where it is on-lined?

 

Once it is scanned is it then on-lined in a computer. I assume this is done at pretty high end on-line facilities. Is this a different facility from where it is scanned? Does it look like a normal on-line suite?

 

Once it is on-lined is it then color corrected in a computer? Like a tape to tape correction? Is it a different system then the one it was on-lined in.

 

Is each step performed by a different specialist?

 

Thanks for you patience

 

Bob Hayes

[John Pytlak RIP]

Usually best to talk to the DI facility you plan to use. Has anyone from Kodak Laser Pacific contacted you yet with regard to your off-line request last week?

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I'll second Mr. Pytlak's response that it's very dependent on the facility you use, but I can give you an idea from systems I have experience with (mainly Filmlight's Northlight scanner and Baselight conform/grade system)

 

> Once the film is edited is an edit list used to pull selects from the negative ? Is

> this automated or done by hand?

 

The neg scan is done based on the EDL created at edit, yes. The scanner or telecine reads keykodes and scans each shot with handles. Most facilities will then have some centralised storage setup which will store the frames.

 

> Once it is scanned how is it transported from where it is scanned to where it is

> on-lined?

 

Normally that would happen inside one facility, so the worst you'd be looking at would be an network transfer from one station to another. In situations like the W1 area in London which is full of post facilities, your two facilities could also be on SohoNet and have high speed network access. However on the occasion you need to take stuff out of the bulding, say an effects shot, normally it's just a case of putting all the frames onto a portable, often firewire hard disk drive and walking out the door with it.

 

You do then tend to end up with extra copies of the data after things like dustbusting and scratch removal as necessary.

 

> Once it is scanned is it then on-lined in a computer.

 

The computer just looks at the EDL and pulls the right material from hard disks - you don't particularly end up with a different set of data for the online plus the raw scans, you just have the scans and the EDL which is used to assemble the thing when you need it.

 

> Is this a different facility from where it is scanned?

 

Depends, but probably not - it's likely to be a package deal, although anything's possible.

 

> Does it look like a normal on-line suite?

 

Again it depends, but usually you're just loading up the EDL into whatever piece of software you want to use on it - grading, effects, whatever, and it goes to find the right frames for your edit. It's not like a tape situation where you have a pile of unconformed tapes and your online master - since the hard disk storage is random-access, it's just assembled as needed.

 

> Once it is on-lined is it then color corrected in a computer?

 

Either or. Many things can do it - a Da Vinci or Pogle hardware device or something like Baselight, which is software, but the user interface and funcationality will be familiar in all cases. This is where you get fuss over low budget productions saving money, because once it's a digital file anything from After Effects up is capable of working on it.

 

> Like a tape to tape correction?

 

Yes, basically. Just think of it as a very high end tape format with random access - although the amount of range you have for manipulation is vast.

 

> Is it a different system then the one it was on-lined in.

 

Probably not; there is not really an explicit online step. You scan the frames and load the ones you want using the EDL. This is good because you can tweak your edit and go back, and systems like Baselight will then reconform the thing and warn you where you haven't defined grading for new or extended shots. Of course this does mean that you can never insist they lock the edit...

 

> Is each step performed by a different specialist?

 

There will be a scanner operator and a colourist, possibly a colourist's assistant who will actually deal with loading data - not that it should take any longer than loading your average Word document.

 

If you are ever in London at a time I'm working for Filmlight, give me a shout and I can probably organise a demo.

 

Phil