Developments in HD camera technologies have created a host of new and developing cinematography options–and on-set monitoring is one of the areas closely examined in these new workflows.
“One of the drawbacks to shooting with an HD camera is they have a 10-bit log output, but monitors were all based in 8-bit technology,” explained DP David Stump, ASC, who chairs the American Society of Cinematographers’ (ASC) Technology Committee’s camera subcommittee.
What this means, Stump related, is that “there has never been a great way to look at the [camera] output on set and critically judge it.”
But developments are on the way. Stump recently tested a new on-set monitoring process that essentially enables the production team to see, on set, what the dailies would look like if printed to film. The process is being developed at Burbank-headquartered Technicolor Content Services (TCS), and Stump told SHOOT that he is “very encouraged” by what he has seen.
Stump used the process earlier this month on a shoot for indie feature What Love Is from L.A. production company Big Sky, directed by Mars Callahan, lensed by Stump and starring Cuba Gooding Jr. SHOOT attended the shoot, which took place on stage at Glendale Studios in Glendale.
Here, Stump used four Thomson Grass Valley Vipers–digital cinematography cameras that were pioneered in the commercial world through use by director David Fincher of bicoastal Anonymous Content–supplied by Burbank-based rental house Plus 8 Digital.
The output of Viper went through Grass Valley’s LUTher box, in which a Look–Up Table (LUT), developed at Technicolor, was applied that enabled the production team to see the images in the on-set monitors, as they would look if printed on film. While Viper was the camera of choice for this production, the production team reports that the technique could be used with any HD camera technology.
In this instance, the technology allowed Stump to see the Viper material–lensed in 4:4:4 RGB “Filmstream” (unprocessed) mode, without the greenish tint typical of Viper material prior to color correction. “The Viper gets its flat, low contrast green look from the fact that out of the red, green and blue sensors, the green CCD [charge-coupled device] has the greatest amount of signal capture,” explained Mark Chiolis, Grass Valley’s senior marketing manager for the Viper.
The images were recorded to Sony’s HDCAM SRW-1 recording device. But it should be clarified that it is the full dynamic range of the image that is recorded and available for post (which in this instance will include a Digital Intermediate process), not the corrected image seen in the on-set monitor.
“[The LUTher-based on-set monitoring process] enabled me to get a good look at how [the images] can be color corrected in post, and to double check lighting,” said Stump. “It’s a great way to analyze everything for the final project while on set.”
“Technicolor realizes that creatives need on-set solutions which provide color balanced images for monitoring purposes,” explained Greg Ciaccio, VP of postproduction operations at TCS.
Stump also pushed the four-camera shoot in other ways. The dialogue-driven feature takes place largely in a single room, and Stump described the Viper as “actor friendly” in that it enabled the cameras to roll while allowing the director to focus on the performances.
Stump also described his four-camera cinematography approach as a hybrid of film and TV production work styles. He explained that he started with a multicamera shoot, typical of TV series production, but also took advantage of Steadicam shots, Technocrane shots, and handheld work.
Stump said that he plans to report his findings back to the ASC Technology Committee. “The future keeps looking better and better,” he concluded. “There are more tools in my toolbox.”
SHOOT senior editor, technology and postproduction, Carolyn Giardina can be reached at 310-822-0211 or at cgiardina@shootonline.com.
