Indie Intermediates
Feb 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Jon Silberg
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Postproduction supervisor David Cook is among those who have discovered that modestly budgeted features can take advantage of the digital intermediate option. To be sure, the DI route is still pricier than going through the traditional optical path, but as more facilities are gearing up to offer the service, costs are starting to come down.
 DMX vehicle Never Die Alone, directed by renowned cinematographer Ernest Dickerson and shot in 16mm by Matthew Libatique, was digitally timed in Cinesite's digital intermediate suite using a more budget-conscious version of the process used for studio films such as S.W.A.T. and Open Range. "I like the smaller more mobile Super 16 cameras like the Aaton A-Minima," Libatique says, "but I wouldn't have shot 16mm if I couldn't finish the film in the digital realm." |
While major Hollywood features can still walk out of a top DI facility with a bill exceeding $350,000, a smaller film can get out for closer to $125,000 or less, though it is difficult to get facilities to commit to cost estimates or comparisons. In theory, cost savings could be realized by sacrificing some of the original negative's resolution, color depth, and dynamic range, and a project can reap many of the benefits of a true DI by going through an HD stage (rather than being converted to 2K+ data files in 10-bit log color space) and then being filmed out after coloring. For shows originating on 16mm or in 2- or 3-perf formats, this option can be particularly tempting since getting such negatives to projectable 35mm form requires costly opticals anyway, which can diminish quality.
Cook's current concern is shepherding Undertow — an under $2 million feature directed by David Gordon Green and shot by Tim Orr — through the DI phase at Post Logic, Hollywood. Undertow was shot in 35mm, and picture was locked and negative conformed prior to starting coloring work. (The DI suite, Cook says, is no place to be fiddling with editorial decisions when money is scarce). Then the material was scanned as 2K, 10-bit log files and dust busted.
“We had dirty, nasty locations,” Cook says, “and so there was plenty of negative dirt, which we corrected using [Cintel's] Oliver digital restoration system.” The images will then be colored with a da Vinci 2K, and titles and effects will be composited using the Quantel iQ. Finally, the data will be recorded back out to a 35mm print master using a Celco Fury and then processed at FotoKem in Burbank.
Cook won't share the details of his deal with Post Logic, but confirms that the figure is less than $120,000. And for that price he will also walk out with his HD and Digital Beta masters, too. When it comes time to prepare Undertow for broadcast or DVD mastering, there will be no need for an additional telecine session.
“You really can make deals with labs,” Cook says. “People think digital intermediate is too expensive. Or they find facilities that aren't high-end facilities like Post Logic or EFilm because they think they're priced out of going to those places. Sometimes they wind up at lower-end houses that don't have quality control or the capability of scanning properly to get a good looking digital intermediate.” In such cases, Cook says, the product can actually end up looking worse than if they'd gone the optical route.
 For Motocross Kids, directed by Richard Gabai, iO Film transferred the Super16 negative to HDCAM format and input the information into Avid Nitris, which they used to conform and color correct the entire feature. |
Cook stresses the importance of having someone who knows the facilities, the equipment, and the talented colorists involved in a show's postproduction. “I've talked to people that started off intending to do a DI,” he says, “and they scrapped it and went with a [traditional optical finish] because what they were seeing in the room was not what was coming back on film.
“I think things would have turned out differently if they'd had someone working on the project that understood the entire process. If a vendor convinces you to go to D5 or HDCAM as an intermediate step, then you're going to less quality than what you should be. HD at 4:4:4 can be acceptable, but some people go to a place that goes from negative to HD at 4:2:2, and they're losing half their chroma before they even start. Then the colorist might try to compensate in the da Vinci and so the filmmakers ask why everything looks so contrasty. They asked why they weren't seeing the colors the way they really are and they were told, ‘That's what happens when you do digital intermediate.’ Well, that's just not correct.”
Why DI is Expensive
Getting into the DI business, or even expanding an existing one, can be more difficult than it may seem. David Hays, EFilm executive producer/co-founder admits that he'd hoped to see EFilm servicing smaller films in addition to its current top-tier shows already. “It's a market we hope to address soon,” he says. “We really want to add a 4th room in the second quarter to address lower budget films — films shot in 16mm and smaller 35mm shows.
“It doesn't seem that labor intensive, but it really is,” he says of the DI process. “You need a project manager, very talented colorists who understand the different worlds of film and video color space, and there's a whole I/O data management department. You've got scans, proxies, color correction data in multiple versions. There are a lot of underneath levels behind the scenes with skilled software engineers really making it happen.
 iO Film's Avid Nitris Suite with John Sterneman, director of HD postproduction. "We started as a film facility," he says, "but we're also very strong believers in HD, and we definitely see a future for it. We're embracing HD for origination or finish just as much as we embrace film for our clients who want to work with film." |
“To the client it looks like nothing more than a telecine session, but to make sure what you're looking at matches to film and all the different deliverables — HD, NTSC, PAL, DVD — a lot of engineering marvels are happening out of view.”
EFilm and other DI facilities must also retain a massive infrastructure to manage and manipulate the amount of data involved. “We have 90TB of storage,” Hays says, “and we're rapidly using that up in three rooms, so with a fourth coming along we'll need to deal with even more. An average movie can swallow up 3TB to 4TB immediately, and then you've got the color information, and there may be many various versions. It's very involved.”
Hays expects that DI service in the new room will run about $125,000, including negative scanning, digital assembly, color correction, dust busting, and back to film. “That's very ballpark,” he says, noting that some projects may run more if they take longer or require more specialized services. There may also be lower-end projects that spend less time in the color suite. “There will be different possibilities,” he says. “Maybe we don't have to dust bust and then the price comes down even more. But that gets tricky. If you're not going to take advantage of what a DI can do — if you scan at a lower resolution for a ‘pseudo DI’ — there may be less value in doing it at all.”
Cost Conscious DI
Cinesite, Hollywood, divvies work into three different categories: “The A plan is $350,000 plus. The B plan is $200,000 to $250,000, and then we have a C plan that's more like $100,000 to $150,000,” says Dan Lombardo, president and general manager. “We're doing that with some [indie] producers when they can guarantee us a flow of work.”
For example, the producers of Never Die Alone, a drama directed by Ernest Dickerson and shot in Super 16 by Matthew Libatique, got Plan C because they've committed to bring future projects to Cinesite. “Matthew is a big advocate of Super 16,” says Lombardo, who encourages those doing 16mm films to check out a DI finish. “If the project warrants it, we can really help the 16mm with the contrast and the color and really help it look more like 35mm. If I was an independent filmmaker I wouldn't hesitate to shoot Super 16 and take that through a digital intermediate.”
In Dickerson's case the negative was scanned using the Thomson Spirit DataCine 2 at a resolution just short of 2K — ”sort of a poor man's 2K,” says Lombardo — in10-bit log. Color correction uses the same equipment as for the big studio films, according to Lombardo. Results are scanned to 35mm negative using Cinesite's Lightning film recorders.
 For the thriller Patient 14, directed by Andrew Bakalar and shot by Geza Sinkovics, the original Super 16 negative was telecined at iO Film to HDCAM format, and then input into the Avid Nitris system for effects coloring, titling, etc. |
Libatique, who wanted to use the DI process to give sections of the film a very contrasty quality, is pleased with the results and credits colorist Jill Bogdanowicz with helping to realize the look. “She's really talented,” he says. “She gets it. Not everyone doing this work really does. Jill is great because she's not just a good [video colorist], she's familiar with [cinematography concepts] like points and density, and she's also savvy about trends in photography that are enhanced through digital technology.”
Libatique adds that it can be as important for filmmakers to be familiar with the digital process as it is for those handling the DI to get the film world. Before the DI work starts, he says, the DP and producers should do their homework and come to the facility prepared. “How do you want the scans to be done? Should they zero everything off and bias the color in post, or should they add some of the bias during scanning so it's easier to get to the look you want?” he says. “There are reasons to go either way, and it's important to know what it means to make these kinds of choices.”
It was partly this kind of preparation, Lombardo suggests, that helped move the project through Cinesite quickly, yielding a relatively small bill for the producers at the end. Lombardo also stresses the value of an editor who is both well informed about the process and extremely meticulous. A tiny mistake in an edit decision list (EDL) somewhere can result in very costly delays. “With Never Die Alone,” he says, “those people knew what they were doing, and the whole thing got done in just five days.”
Bill Schultz, general manager/senior VP, digital film services at FotoKem, agrees. FotoKem offers DI services to a wide range of projects and Schultz stresses the importance of planning, especially for the most cost-conscious clients. “It's great if you have a very good idea of what you want to see when you walk into a DI room,” he says. “There are a lot of knobs and dials and once people see what can be done to the image, it requires discipline to be able to stay on vision. It's like the old days of television when people walked into an online suite without really doing an offline. They'd spend the time just getting close to what they want instead of really polishing what was a completely realized project already.”
FotoKem recently completed work on Vincent Gallo's latest feature, The Brown Bunny, which Gallo wrote, directed, shot, edited, and starred in. Film was scanned using an Imagica CCD scanner at 2K, 10-bit log. “We use real scanners, not a telecine device,” says Schultz. “The biggest advantage is maintaining the full latitude of exposure that was on the film. Some of the scenes in the film had to be shot in quick setups on location. By retaining all the information on the negative, Vincent Gallo could completely color-time in post and get the images the way he liked them. If the negative had just gone through a telecine type process, a lot of the picture information might have gotten clipped, and when that happens you can wind up with noise when you try to change something.”
During scanning, the facility embeds the DPX files with timecode so that the entire show can then be auto-conformed inside a Quantel iQ. The company uses MTI dust busting equipment (“It's pricey,” says Schultz, “but it's very good.”) and Digital Restoration Services software to further clean up the negative.
FotoKem makes use of iQ's QColor program, along with other internal software, to actually color the film. By coloring in the iQ, Schultz notes, the data can remain in log color space from scanner through to recorder without having to be converted into linear information, as is the case with many coloring tools. The iQ was also used to repo a number of shots when Gallo decided he preferred different compositions during the post process. Finally, the results were filmed out using an Arrilaser recorder. Gallo was also able to leave FotoKem with his HD master, which, Schultz notes, can add up to significant savings on telecine costs down the road.
The HD DI
Thomson's Technicolor Creative Services is also looking to expand its DI work further than servicing major studio features. According to Marco Bario, VP sales, postproduction, indie filmmakers should definitely investigate the benefits of the DI, but he cautions that lower costs naturally mean fewer benefits. “If you're in the $4 million budget range, it's not going to look like Men in Black II. Nobody can expect that,” he says. “But between Technicolor Digital Intermediate in Burbank and TCS, Hollywood, we can get it done.”
Warner Bros.' new division, Warner Independent Pictures, is producing features in the $4 million range. Around the Bend, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Walken, is going through a DI process, but the negative will be telecined to HD rather than scanned to data. This will happen at TCS Hollywood, formerly known as Complete Post.
“With that budget,” says Bario, “it may not make sense to do a $250,000 DI. But they're talking about an HD DI in the Hollywood facility. We can use the Spirit 2 to go from negative to D5, auto conform, color on the same type of da Vinci we use for 2K data, and then go back to film. The sacrifice is color range, and D5 is still compressed a little and it's 10-bit linear, not log. They will have to make some choices during transfer because they will not be coloring with as much [original negative information] as they would with the full 2K scan, but they'll still be able to do a lot of great things with the picture.”
Bario estimates the cost of going the HD DI route at about $125,000. That's for an approximately 100-minute movie without a lot of special optical and titling work and one being overseen by decisive people. Costs on Around the Bend, he adds, will be spread out because the show also did HD dailies, so the telecine will already be done when it comes time to do the DI work, which will come in, as a result, closer to $85,000.
Bario points out that at his company HD dailies colorists, unless asked by the production to do otherwise, always make sure to preserve as much information as possible in the images. “Some places that do digital dailies shoot themselves in the foot,” he says. “They get enamored of the technology and say, ‘I can make this look like a music video.’ Great, but then they've corrupted the blacks, blown out the whites, and now you don't have something that you can go back and do a real finish on it.”
DI Lite
The relatively new facility iO Film in North Hollywood, also offers the full-blown DI and a “DI lite” done on HD. Managing partner Tim Krubsack outlines two paths: “We can transfer footage to HD with a C-Reality or a Spirit and then take it into an Avid Nitris where we conform it, and do the color correction for an HD [HDCam or D5] master, and we also shoot it off to film. Or we can go the full data mode using a 2K-area array CCD scanner we built inhouse. It has a custom lamp house and an Oxberry projector. It's built on an optical printer head. Then we use Piranha for the 2K color work.”
The HD route is maybe 30 to 40 percent less expensive, depending on a host of variables. “HD digital intermediate might run you $85K, 2K might be more like $150K,” says Krubsack. “There is definitely a premium for the 2K. The 2K processes will also take longer. You're dealing with data files that take up a lot of room and the whole thing is a little slower process. Also, when you work in the data file realm you have all the negative information there so when you're color correcting you're starting from point zero. When you're color correcting in the HD world you've already done part of the color correction during the telecine,” Krubsack says. The resulting images from either method are then filmed out using an Arrilaser recorder and custom-written look-up tables.
DI costs are definitely coming down from where they were when the process was brand new. For the small project, however, it can still eat up a sizeable percentage of the budget. A carefully planned DI path can significantly enhance the film that needs it, but some films don't need it.
Cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg was among the first people to do an HD DI at Sony Pictures' now-defunct High Definition Center. He'd taken the 16mm negative for the film Long Time Since in for digital blow-up and color correction. “They did it in HD, using all kinds of stuff that doesn't exist anymore. I loved the result,” he says. “But not every film will benefit from this kind of thing.”
More recently, Bokelberg shot the Sundance favorite The Station Agent in Super 16 and took it through a traditional photochemical finish and blow-up for theatrical release. “An optical can be very good if you have a good negative,” he says. “Digital [post] is a very good tool, but you need to use it at its finest. You have to test every step of the way. If you go to the right facility and time it on the big screen and you come straight off your negative, not some IP, it can be awesome.
“Usually, if you're working in 16, it's because you have budgetary constraints,” Bokelberg says. “If you shoot on a 20-day schedule like The Station Agent, you may have to take certain shortcuts when you're shooting, and with a good DI you can use windows to enhance certain shadows you didn't have time to light the way you wanted. If you really think it's important, you should fight to do it right. But if you're doing a pretty straightforward film with no effects, even in 16mm, the traditional optical finish is still a very good way to go.”
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.