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MillimeterMTI Control Dailies
Feb 1, 2006 2:00 PM, By Jim Hardy HTV
Streamlining the Dailies Process
High Technology Video (HTV) specializes in feature film mastering, high-end standards conversions, duplication for the domestic and international markets, HD dailies, and editing. Our clients come from the Hollywood film and television community, and include many of the major studios as well as numerous independent production and distribution companies.
MTI Control Dailies streamlines telecine operations for HD and SD dailies, allowing faster-than-realtime film transfer, at 30fps.
We're in a competitive industry, so we are constantly looking for ways to increase our efficiency and better serve our clients' needs. But being a top contender is tougher today. Change in our industry used to occur in leaps of five years or so, such as the gradual move from analog to digital, and from 1in. to D2. Today, changes occur every 12 months or sooner, and they are more radical.
About three years ago, we realized that, to stay ahead of the curve, we needed to shift our focus from long-form film mastering, where we had been very successful, to the dailies market. We knew that one of our major markets — mastering film libraries in high-def — was drying up. We needed to broaden our services. That's when MTI brought a new product and process to our attention — Control Dailies.
Our relationship with MTI originally goes back to the late ‘90s. Back then, HTV was one of the first facilities to use the company's Correct DRS (Digital Restoration System) and IntelliDeck Systems. The IntelliDeck System was one of the first virtual tapeless systems to incorporate multi-user access via high-speed arrays. The Correct DRS process is a brilliant system that removes film anomalies such as negative and positive dirt, chemical stains, and scratches digitally in HD, SD, and data formats.
Using Correct DRS, we could begin with something that looked bad and end up delivering a clean, pristine image to the client. By providing a higher-quality image to the consumer, studios, independent producers, and distributors know they add enormous value to their product.
We have used the Correct DRS process on features such as Morgan Creek's Two for the Money as well as on classic films such as 20th Century Fox's The Sound of Music.
We think you just can't beat Correct DRS for DI and classic film restoration, but we knew we wanted to become more of full-service facility. That meant entering the world of telecine dailies as well as jumping into the editorial market. Editing was going to be a real challenge; it's a very competitive market that has been around forever, built around traditional systems that can be cumbersome and complex.
Up to that point, we had done dailies only for niche markets like 65mm and VistaVision. We also occasionally serviced the 35mm standard-definition dailies market. We decided to broaden our base and get into HD dailies. But we also realized that to succeed in dailies you have to be extremely efficient.
Having used both the Correct DRS and IntelliDeck Systems, we were interested when MTI stepped up to the plate again and showed us Control Dailies. Control Dailies is a PC-based workflow environment for dailies in HD and SD that streamlines telecine operations during the dailies process, allowing film to be transferred faster than realtime, at 30fps.
We looked at the system and immediately realized that it could make the entire dailies process more efficient. In today's market, with the margins so thin, if you're not efficient, you're not profitable.
Instead of wasting time on setup work, such as collecting metadata, synchronizing the telecine with an audio deck, and laying off to multiple videotape formats, MTI Control Dailies automates most of that, freeing the colorist to focus his energies on making the dailies look the way the DP intended.
Control Dailies allows the colorist and the telecine assistant to work independently but concurrently. The colorist works only with the film, and the assistant works separately with the audio and tape layoff. They no longer have to sit side-by-side, and they don't lose time waiting for each other. Working separately, but in parallel, makes the process that much quicker.
With the Control Dailies system, you transfer the film directly from a telecine to a SAN, and you transfer the audio to the same SAN. However, the transfers can be done at different times. The audio can even be ingested after the film is transferred.
When the transfers are completed, Control Dailies automatically synchs the film and the audio, and provides editorial tools to adjust any errors just like an NLE system would, faster than realtime.
Everything is random access. The operator can get from point A to point B with a click of the mouse. With tape, the operator has to shuttle back and forth. In addition, with the press of a button, everything is recorded to up to three different tapes with different layoff attributes. It's all extremely efficient.
HTV installed Control Dailies early last year. The system has proved to be stable. It has helped us deliver high-quality product quickly and meet the demands of production companies that like to see their material right away. We can easily transfer to and deliver on whatever format our client requires, including Digital Betacam, DVCAM, HDCAM SR, and D5.
Looking to the future, we would like to be able to do dailies as realtime data transfers in resolutions higher than we're able to do today. That means doing them in 2K and possibly even 4K.
Soon, theaters will be installing the first generation of 2K or even 4K projectors. If you do data dailies at the same resolution, you'll capture in resolutions that will immediately be available for various forms of distribution.
As for film, I don't think it will disappear. But the fact remains that film is cumbersome. No doubt there are those who will stick with film, and so our industry will evolve to the point where we are working with film in either video or data formats every day.
A typical day at HTV is very hectic, filled with many pressures and deadlines. Our goal is to work as efficiently as possible to reduce the craziness. The Control Dailies system has helped us work toward that goal by allowing us to be more efficient. Further, our increase in productivity has led to an increase in our revenue. Our business is highly competitive. There is enormous value in being able to do something faster than we were able to do it in the past, with no additional cost to the customer.
High Technology Video founder and CEO Jim Hardy began his Hollywood, Calif.-based facility more than 10 years ago with the goal of offering the best available high-definition telecine mastering, color correction, restoring, standards conversion, and duplication. HTV is unique in its capability for transferring 70mm and 65/70mm in realtime, in both SD and HD formats. For more information, please visit www.htvinc.net.
