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MillimeterTapeless on Steroids
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Cynthia Wisehart
What one P2/Avid/Final Cut/Color workflow says about modern filmmaking.
The steroid-use documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster* required processing more than 800 archival clips as well as original Panasonic P2 footage through a unique digital workflow at Mind Over Eye in Santa Monica, Calif. Photo Courtesy of BSF Film.
Shortly after the film had been in competition at Sundance, Mark Cuban bought Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (opening in theaters as we go to press). Although the film was remastered to HDCAM SR and filmed out, it had been one of the best-looking HDCAM prints at Sundance. That's noteworthy, considering it was both shot on P2 cards and packed out with 826 archival clips, including many dubious sources from multiple decades and locations — some 24 formats (“everything but SECAM”), from ancient 16mm to a clip that was pulled from YouTube and never sourced to better resolution.
So there was format conversion involved.
But before there was format conversion, there was also an on-set P2 workflow — an experience that gave veteran film DP and Oscar nominee Alex Buono insight into a new way to work.
Buono was also co-writer and producer (with Jim Czarnecki and Kurt Engfehr, producers of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11), and he says the project clarified something for him about modern filmmaking. While he characterized modern technology as “amazing,” he rejects the idea that expertise — especially post-production expertise — is no longer necessary in a world where anyone can buy and learn inexpensive software. He likewise rejects the idea of enshrining old film-based workflows. He says feels he was rewarded for taking a chance on his gear and the ingenuity of collaborators — such as producer Tasmin Rawady, who designed the asset-management protocol for both the newly acquired assets (P2 acquisition must be managed, just like any IT process) and the elaborate library of archival footage.
Buono's experience gave him a sense of the middle ground — a willingness to adopt the IT modernizations that will eventually transform all of filmmaking, but a reaffirmation of the craft and technical expertise it takes to optimize modern software and hardware for professional results. When we talked at Sundance a few days before his film debuted, he made the point that independent filmmakers can get distracted by trying to be too self-sufficient with the technology and end up becoming frustrated students of menu features and conversion processes, when they should be getting on with their film.
“I think it's creating a type of insecurity among filmmakers that get bogged down thinking they have to learn everything about the software before they can make their film,” he says. “Instead, I think you have to find partners who have the technical sensibility to professionalizing desktop tools.”
