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MillimeterBeta Sight: Avid and Red Digital Cinema
Nov 1, 2008 12:00 PM,
By Igor Ridanovic
Kappa Studios
An integrated Red workflow redefines postproduction at Kappa Studios.
For the feature film Heist, Kappa Studios digital-intermediate supervisor Igor Ridanovic (pictured, left, with president Paul Long) and team used a post-production workflow that integrates the Red Digital Cinema files with Avid Media Composer and DS v.10.
Brand allegiances play a major role in postproduction decision making, but clients are also increasingly looking past the logos and choosing equipment that can perform quickly and on budget.
These two factors worked to our client's advantage on a recent Red Digital Cinema Red One camera project when editor Drake Silliman, A.C.E., decided to sign on the project under the condition that he would work on Avid Media Composer.
At the time the feature film Heist was going into postproduction, it was unclear whether Media Composer was an appropriate tool for Red editing because of the company's exclusive agreement with another NLE manufacturer. However, we knew that Avid had been working on a workflow for Red/Avid, and we decided to put that to the test. By the time we completed the project, the answer was very clear. Media Composer, along with digital intermediate in Avid DS version 10, were not only appropriate but possibly the best tools for the job. Other NLEs simply cannot deliver the extensive media management, realtime capabilities, and flexibility offered by an end-to-end Avid workflow.
A new game
The Red One camera is a relative newcomer to the digital-cinematography scene. This remarkable camera captures images of outstanding dynamic range — comparable to the latitude of a film negative. While the Red One can reduce production costs, it also complicates the established postproduction processes because the file-based workflow requires considerable computer processing, storage, and networking resources.
At Kappa Studios in Burbank, Calif., we analyzed these challenges early in anticipation that our film clients would be asking for Red postproduction, and we spent a good deal of time designing and testing various Red workflows, including Avid DS v.10.
Avid workflow from start to finish
Kappa had previously completed several Red projects, some of which were filmed out to 35mm for theatrical distribution, but Heist was a unique case because it was the first Red film to go through an entirely Avid-based workflow. Offline editing was done in Media Composer 3.0; all the finishing, including visual effects and digital intermediate, was done in Avid DS v.10. Last but not least, Kappa's supervising mixer Humberto Zamores performed the final mix in our Dolby 5.1 surround-sound dub stage using Digidesign Pro Tools.
The Red workflow for Avid was not yet formalized when we started this project in June 2008. Some of the third-party applications used for Red postproduction have evolved or nearly disappeared from the scene since. Part of my duties as digital-intermediate supervisor was to identify, test, and develop tools and workflows that would ensure a smooth path from the Red's .raw files in Media Composer to the finish in Avid DS.
The challenge
All existing third-party Avid/Red solutions revolve around bridging Media Composer's inability to read timecode from QuickTime files. While it is possible to edit in Media Composer using the Red proxy QuickTime files, the difficulty lies in translating the final sequence into a timecode-accurate edit decision list (EDL) or another type of file that a grading workstation can understand.
You also have the option to work with Avid DN×HD media wrapped in native QuickTime files. The advantage of Avid's DN×HD format is that it delivers mastering-quality HD media at significantly reduced file sizes to increase realtime HD productivity.
Timecode and other metadata must always be tracked carefully through the process to ensure that the Avid DS system is properly linking to the master files. Media Composer's unsurpassed ability to track all kinds of metadata gives it a clear advantage when it comes to Red postproduction.
The Red One camera is particularly prone to filename duplicates and timecode issues created during the production. As with most things, the garbage-in, garbage-out principle applies to the postproduction workflow. Any inconstancies during production will ripple through third-party tools and will require manual attention.
Ultimately, Red .raw files need to be transcoded to standard .dpx files for finishing in Avid DS. There are standalone tools for this part of the process. If we employ the telecine analogy, this part of the workflow would be similar to telecine transfer of selects using a pull list.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.