The commercial postproduction community was one of the earliest segments of the advertising business to explore the potential of HD, as post technology used in its facilities has been moving in that direction for more than a decade.
Some industry organizations have also been spreading the word. For instance, the members of the Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) showed a reel of 43 HD spots created by member companies at the recent Association of National Advertisers (ANA) national meeting in Florida. “The message is we do HD,” relates AICE executive director Burke Moody.
But what exactly is the current state of affairs in advertising? The answer still varies. “Generally speaking, we have about 35 percent of the commercials we finish [that are] finished in HD, unless there is a special event that is being specifically broadcast in HD such as the Super Bowl, the Olympics or the Oscars,” says Matthew McManus of Santa Monica-based Riot. (Riot also maintains facilities in Atlanta and New York.) “During those specific times more than half will be produced in HD. But for the rest of the year the rate is about 35 percent.
“We believe the demand will increase exponentially in the coming years as the demand for HD content increases,” he adds. “The demand will be driven by people buying HD sets and purchasing the HD services either on cable or satellite. [Currently] most of the demand for HD [post] is driven by cinema release. Even though most ads will run on both standard and HD broadcast, the advertisers seem to be okay with delivering a standard definition image to an HD set. Where they have made the leap is with cinema release. The days of ‘up-resing’ a standard definition spot to HD for cinema release are generally gone.”
“It’s become much more a part of everyone’s conversation,” agrees Tom Duff, president of Optimus in Chicago and Santa Monica, “even though probably only 15 percent are finishing in HD.”
“I think the biggest problem is getting it on the air, not finishing it,” says Duff. “The distribution and broadcasting are the biggest problems.
“NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox all have different requirements, 720p or 1080i. They give you specific requirements for D5 or HDCAM or HDCAM SR,” he adds. “If the broadcasters had a standard format, it would help everybody.”
In addressing the multiformat concerns, most agree additional client education would be a benefit. “Surprisingly, we get a lot of questions with regard to aspect ratio,” McManus says. “Given that there are two different formats that need a delivery and each format has a different aspect ratio, questions will rise about how to handle those issues. As with most things, there is more than one answer. Making sure the client understands what the implications are for each version, center extraction, letterbox, squeeze, et cetera, is important to the process so that there are no surprises when it comes to delivering the end product.”
Education Integral to fostering a smooth segue into hi-def is the educational aspect.
When asked about what he sees as the most important need in education, Chris Ryan, colorist and partner at New York-based Nice Shoes, relates, “It’s a toss-up between framing shots and what to use as your capture medium [film or video]. As far as framing, most people still don’t grasp the importance of correct framing during this transition to HD. We are talking squares [NTSC] versus rectangles [HD] and how to create images that can fit into both formats in an aesthetically pleasing way. The framing issue is one of the greatest sources of cost overages when dealing with HD. Framing issues require multiple versions to compensate for the different formats, which cost money.”
Shelf life is another issue. “We are encouraging every client we have to finish in HD and down convert if needed,” Duff says, explaining with the HD transition currently moving at a fast pace, an HD finish would be valuable if advertisers may want to use the spot in nine months or a year’s time.
“In the world of commercials, those campaigns that require international and multi-standard format distribution currently stand to gain the most from HD mastering,” adds Mark Tobin, managing director/executive producer of A52, Santa Monica. “At the same time, with more and more people coming to rely upon photoreal CG storytelling, the sophistication and power of the tools available to our artists are driving demand for the creation of high-impact HD spots where the quality of the imagery is an important part of the commercial message.
Another issue is cinematography. Nice Shoes’ Ryan explains that there is a perception that if a spot is to be finished in HD it has to be shot on HD tape. In truth, film is by definition a high definition medium, so advertisers actually have a choice of either film or digital HD.
“HD is a part of the discussion on just about every project we touch. The vast majority of the work we handle originates on film; we generally see very little HD-originated material,” he notes “If it is HD originated, it tends to come from the [Panvision] Genesis or [Grass Valley] Viper cameras.”
McManus reports, “A majority of the work is still film but recently we have begun receiving images from the HD format for both Standard Definition and HD delivery. We have been receiving file sequences as opposed to tape. As the files are HD we have the ability to create a pipeline of postproduction that is exclusively nonlinear. We are able to take the files and convert them to file formats that carry time code for the edit and eventual finish of the commercial. Where telecine occurred before the conform or any true visual effects were performed, we are able now to essentially complete the commercial visually and then color correct through our digital color corrector. … This allows the entire shot and not just a piece to be color corrected at once, in context. This process can be achieved through a film source by scanning the film first but with digital HD acquisition, the step and cost are skipped.”
Looking ahead, post execs identify areas that still need work. “Improvement needs to come in the finishing side–online, graphics and design–as far as speed is concerned,” Ryan suggests. “As processors get faster and software becomes more efficient, hopefully these areas will be able to do HD jobs in the same time frame as they can do standard def now.”
“We expect to see advances in technology in dealing with the larger file size,” adds McManus. “One of the problems in delivering HD is the cost. Time is money and the post process does take more time for HD imagery. However, we are currently making deals with some of our vendors to render HD images at the rate we process SD images now. That is an approximate 10-fold increase in render capacity for most applications. As the time decreases, so does the cost to produce HD. If the cost becomes relatively the same, then the decision to complete an HD spot is much easier.”
