Cinedeck and axle Video have launched SetMeUp, a complete, pre-packaged, cost-effective HD and 4K/UHDTV on-set workflow solution enabling acquisition/playback, radically simple media management and ingest storage for live and episodic broadcast TV production.
A solution for the approaching TV pilot season, SetMeUp is built into a convenient, wheeled, rackmount enclosure, and includes everything needed to capture, playback, store and manage HD and 4K/UHDTV video content on-set. With these capabilities, SetMeUp delivers an ultra-fast and easily affordable gateway from production-to-editorial, and frees production teams from the traditional expense and lock-in of proprietary systems.
The main components of SetMeUp are:
• Cinedeck ZX – a modular, on-set 4K/UHDTV-1/HD/SD record/playback platform with four simultaneous record channels and native encoding to ProRes, DNx, XDCAM, AVC-I, or virtually any other codec and wrapper. Cinedeck’s ingest channels also automatically create H.264 proxy files that are used for instant browsing in axle Gear Pro.
• axle Gear Pro media management system – offers browser-based cataloging, search, review and approval via a simple user interface. Axle’s easy and intuitive user-interface and storage-first approach mean the on-set team will be instantly familiar with how media is stored and managed, and no training is required.
• Ingest storage – SetMeUp comes configured with 18TB of storage optimized for capturing incoming media. The Cinedeck ZX is configured with 2TB SSD storage (with an 8TB option) for immediate capture, regardless of any network connectivity, while the axle Gear Pro is configured with 16TB of usable RAID10 NAS storage for longer-term capture and management of media.
These SetMeUp components are mounted in an easily-transportable rack case to simplify on-set deployment, along with a wide variety of support gear. This includes a powerful Gigabit Ethernet network switch, with 12 open ports, for the attachment of workstations, additional storage, routers, audio and wireless equipment, and a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to handle intermittent loss of power.
The SetMeUp system makes media instantly available, while keeping native assets secure and easily searchable. It delivers seamlessly to non-linear editing systems from Apple (FCP7, FCPX), Adobe (Premiere Pro CC, Prelude CC, and Anywhere distributed editing solutions) and Avid (Media Composer).
The system also includes open rack space, Gigabit network interfaces and power connections to accommodate two types of optional integrated storage: editing and archival. Supported editing storage options include Facilis Terrablock, Avid ISIS 5500, SmallTree GraniteStor and DDP Dynamic Drive Pool disk arrays. Archival options include QNAP and SpectraLogic Verde NAS appliances, XenData SX-10 LTFS appliances and IBM LTFS tape libraries.
SetMeUp is available for purchase from resellers starting at $59,950, for rental at rates from $8,000 per month. There is also a range of lease-to-buy options and additional configurations include 10GB Ethernet connectivity. All configurations are available immediately. Axle Video and Cinedeck will demonstrate SetMeUp at a customer event to be held in February.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More