HD Cinema™ High Definition video editing and conforming

Key Benefits

HD Cinema™ offers post services utililizing Sony 1080/24p and 60i HDCAM vtrs, the HDW-F500 with 501A and 507D boards, and the Panasonic AJ-HD1200A DVCPro HD vtr with AJ-YAD 120G 1394 Board and AJ-YA 120G HD-SDI board and SD downconverter board . HDCAM SR format vtrs are planned for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2007.

 

Digital Dailies....we can capture your HDCAM tapes as Apple Pro Res 4:2:2 files and deliver them to you on your own firewire drives. Or if you only have have a Mac G5 so you can't utilize ProRes 422 we can capture both HDCAM and DVCPro HD using the DVCPro codec also on your hard drives so you can edit your project on your own edit system in HD. Special $ 150/hr rates

 

Downconversions from HD to regular video formats, allowing off-line decision making on Avid, Final Cut Pro, Media 100 or other standard resolution systems.

 

Apple Final Cut Pro 6.0 includes Cinema Tools™ software, allows you to convert your 30 frame (29.97) tapes to 24 frame (23.98) and import into Final Cut Pro for autoconforming in HD24p.

 

HD24p non-linear online editing and conforming using Final Cut Pro 6.0 on Intel Dual Core 2.66 GHz workstations with AJA Kona 3 HD cards for very affordable editing in high definition 24p and 60i digital video. Medea Ultra320 disk drive arrays.

 

HD COLOR CORRECTION changes viewed in REAL TIME, using FINAL CUT STUDIO 2 "Color" software using a Tangent controller with AJA Kona 3 card and the high speed of the Mac Pro Intel Dual Core 2.66 GHz workstations.

 

HDCAM to Quicktime, Tiff, Targa, etc. data file sequences onto your hard drive, and back to HDCAM. Use your own Mac and PC software such as Adobe After Effects, Commotion, etc, and your own workstations for HD projects.

OMF export of digital audio for Pro Tools™ allows thousands of dollars of savings in audio post.

 

see rates

HD Cinema provides editing services in High Definition video for $250/hr with HD vtrs, Color Correction for $150 /hr once your project is captured.

HD conforming is the process of taking your original HD field tapes and digitizing selected HD clips, as determined by the off-line edl, into our HD non-linear on-line systems. We are using cost effective Apple Mac Pro Intel Dual Core 2.66 GHz workstations Final Cut Pro 6.0 software for the video re-captured in High Definition. Our newest HD capture card is the AJA Kona 3 card. UltraSCSI 320 technology is used along with massive amounts of storage on disk arrays to handle the 1.5 GB gigabit per second uncompressed HD data.

The process of converting from HD and getting the material in a low res form for loading into an Avid, Final Cut, or other non-linear EDL is accomplished in a very straightforward process. Once the video is shot on HDCAM, initial conversions (called downconversions because the process takes the hi res images to a lower resolution) to create DVCAM (or BetaSP or Digibeta) copies are done so that producers may edit on their own or rented non-linear editing workstations.

It is only after the weeks of creative editorial decisions and extensive audio mixing are accomplished that the HD Cinema™ services are again required to create the HD24p Universal Master. This single HD master can be used to dupe almost all the different formats and deliverables that will be needed for standard def video, including widescreen, letterbox and 4:3 in both PAL and NTSC.

Using HD24p digital video as a superior production and post-production format has been totally validated. Distribution channels are rapidly changing as well. [see new HD Cable and Network Television channels] For theatrical distribution, new faster HD to 35mm Film transfers have brought that cost down to approximately the same cost as a Super16mm to 35mm blowup, and the final result looks better! Right now there is a slow transition to digital projection in existing theaters because of the current high price of the digital projectors and digital servers. Those price/performance ratios are changing as fast as all digital technologies, so that in the next few years there will come a point where the prices of the projectors and servers drop to where there will be one or more Digital Cinema systems in every multiplex nationwide.[see Regal Theaters CineMedia Network announcement].

The preferred format for all the broadcast networks, including PBS is an HD master, and soon it may be a mandate. Syndicated programmers understand the long-term value of a HD mastered show, as well as the immediate benefit of perfect PAL conversions that can meet the most demanding standards of overseas television broadcasters. PAL conversions from HD24p originated material look fantastic, much better than the usual NTSC to PAL conversions many producers have been forced to accept. In the past, if budget limitations did not allow a producer to shoot on film, better quality was achieved by shooting and editing in the hard-to-find analog PAL format if there was going to be worldwide television distribution. Now for the same price range as Digibeta PAL gear and post, full high def cmaeras and post are available.

Once the the HD video is processed, the conforming and output back to a HDTV master is accomplished relatively quickly, and at a cost no greater than traditional digital video online editing.

Independent feature filmmakers can now afford more elaborate titles, opticals and special effects that would be too costly had they originated in film. The cost of film scanning, and the $700+ per hour rates of SGI or Quantel based workstations are affordable to major studio releases but are not for less expensive productions. We can deliver hi-res digital files that will run in Adobe After Effectst and other software, copied to and from low cost Firewire drives. This allows an art director and graphic designer to work at home on their own system until they are ready to output back to HDTV tape and/or 35mm.

HD color correction Color correction in video, and timing and grading in film are terms that encompasses a number of image optimizations. This process is both an art and a science, and the skill, knowledge and experience of the colorist is paramount in the results achieved in the final product.

 

However, with HD digital video, the cinematographer and editor can collaborate and bring the desired looks and appropriate levels of the material much farther toward the goals of the look of the finished version than ever before. The fine tuning still is best done with a colorist with years of experience and tools such as a DaVinci 2K or Pogle, but 90% of the work can be done in the process of creating an HD sub-master using new non-linear HD technology on affordable Mac and PC workstations..

Apple Color link New software versions of Final Cut Studio 2 from Apple have very powerful primary and secondary color correction capability with the integration of the former Final Touch Software into Final Cut Studio re-named simply as "Color".

The convergence of film and digital video tools began with high end telecine transfers of film to videotape and to data via scanning. Once as data, even just a few years ago it was only high end SGI workstations running Discreet Logic software, or high end Quantel gear. Until recently, feauture films usually had levels of brightness and colors adjusted in the film lab in the process of making intermediate negatives and release prints.

 

First, at the production site, the primary color optimization is provided by the automatic white balance and black balance controls of the camera. The camera operator can use momentary auto iris as a starting point for his exposure, then he evaluates the 70% and 100% zebra indicators in the viewfinder, along with the picture monitor, in order to determine his lighting strategy and exposure. If the operator has sufficient experience, he may go further and adjust settings of the black levels, white clip and gamma levels. This degree of adjustment requires a waveform monitor, and usually a RMP-150 camera control unit.

 

One of the reasons film looks so good, and therefore DPs can look so good, is that color and level correction is used to optimize the look of the image before anyone sees it. This is usualy done in stages. First as the film is transferred to video for post-production there is usually a "best light" adjustment. later scene to scene correction for the video release, and also scene to scene color timing in the lab if there is to be the film release.

 

Transfers from HDCAM to a standard video format for screening and off-line editing, are usually done without any color or level adjustments, so the DP is at risk for being judged unfairly with the preliminary results coming back for dailies screening or logging to begin the edit process. Level setting and scene to scene correction happens later, both at the digitizing stage and at the HD mastering stage.

 

The world of color correction has been changing rapidly. All films that are heavy into special effects and compositing, and many other major motion pictures shot in 35mm now go through a DIGITAL INTERMEDIATE mastering process and then get output back to 35mm using film recorders. In additon to the compositing software which offers unlimited control over individual layers, DaVinci 2K and Pogle are still the major tools used for adjusting the images during this process.

For feature films and programs originated in HD24p digital video, typically a sub-master is created on a non-linear system that brings the levels and scene-to-scene matching most of the way towards the finished version. At that point, separate Final Masters are created that are destined for film out and then prints for theaters, and/or for video distribution for broadcast and cable and DVD release.

A third master can be created for digital cinema distribution that is optimized for digital projection. Hollywood studios do this for nationwide release. However with projection technology changing rapidly there are still no final standards for digital cinema although the SMPTE 28 Group is hard at work trying to create and define those standards. Until then, optimizing for either DLP, D-ILA or other projectors is a compromise unless a certain projector and digital server combination is selected.

For screenings, film festivals, premieres and small releases for digitally equipped art house cinemas the same HD master that is for television and video release is usually used for projection. Excellent quality can be obtained since these projectors can be set-up individually with many color and level adjustments, it just takes a technician who knows what he is doing to align the projector properly.

Last modified: April 22, 2008