A continued shift toward higher resolution and datacentric work environments will on the postproduction industry’s agenda at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention, April 16-21 in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, HD tools will continue to become more affordable. That will affect a long list of key product categories, including editing and compositing systems, color correction software, scanners, storage and servers.
Despite the high res momentum, the commercial post industry continues to lag far behind the shift taking place in feature and episodic television production. Most in advertising acknowledge that this is because advertisers are not demanding high definition production–or at least are unwilling to pay a premium for the format. And so ad agencies are reluctant to push for a change. As a result, certainly not all commercial post houses will need to jump on the HD and data bandwagons. Still, with shrinking budgets, commercialmakers are challenged to work more efficiently. So while there many not be an urgency to make changes, NAB goers will be exploring their options.
“While clients are not demanding it, the thing that’s being challenged at the commercial level is the imagination of the management of these companies,” said Larry Chernoff, co-founder of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based consulting firm Chernoff Touber Associates. (He also continues to hold the title of chairman of Santa Monica-based Ascent Media Creative Services.) “We are finding very few companies are emerging with enough imagination to employ datacentric workflows. And as clients start demanding multi-resolution finishes, it will become more apparent that they have been lagging in acquiring education–but it’s not too late.”
The companies that have already started to make transitions to HD, data and digital intermediate (DI)-style environments are primarily those that also service feature and television postproduction, such as the companies under the Santa Monica-headquartered Ascent Media Creative Services banner, which include Company 3 and R!OT.
“Eventually the world will move to resolution independent, file-based workflow,” said Robert Solomon, president of Ascent Media Creative Services. “But different markets will move at different times; commercials tend to lag behind features and TV adoption in terms of new technology. It’s our role to introduce new workflows when appropriate.”
When it comes to HD spot work, Solomon said, “I feel like we are long overdue. If I was an advertiser and I saw my standard definition spot surrounded by HD, I think I would be a quick adopter of HD.”
The industry needs to be examining the ability to deliver multiple formats such as HD, and including Quicktime, 2k data, and NTSC, added Fred Ruckel, creative director and Discreet Inferno artist at New York-based Stitch. But he agrees that, today, not all of these tiers will be required by everyone. “If my client wants NTSC, why am I gong to work in 2k?.” he questioned. “It’s like hunting for butterflies with an elephant gun.
“Storage is critical today; 2k files take up so much space,” he continued “Our industry has totally transitioned from what it used to be in terms of storage. A TB is not a lot anymore, and a TB used to be the Holy Grail.”
Joe Bottazzi, partner/director of engineering at New York-based Nice Shoes, said most post houses will probably need both a SAN and a NAS for storage. He explained that a NAS sits on a facility’s network that everyone has access to and file shares (sometimes called near line). He added that SANs are very fast, but the two main ones for commercials–from Autodesk Media and Entertainment (formerly Discreet) and Grass Valley–are not compatible. “So you can’t take [Autodesk] Shared Storage and use in a Grass Valley application,” he explained. “If you need a SAN now, you need both.”
“And what about backup?,” added Ruckel. “Where do you back up a TB–that a huge factor too. The data has to go somewhere. .. and clients expect it to be nearline. I’m curious who will have a backup solution at NAB.”
Most said they will also be evaluating software-based color correction systems. “It’s nonlinear, ultimately it’s resolution independent, and it is a new process that will ultimately change the way we color correct,” said Colin Ritchie, founder of Redondo Beach-based technology resource company Aarmadillo. “It probably opens up an option to do selective grading–maybe we will grade the picture at the end of commercial, instead of grading every frame before it is composited.”
Cinematographers are also watching this space. “I’ve seen the software for [Discreet] Lustre make leaps and bounds in the last couple of years,” reported commercial and feature DP Steven Poster, ASC. “We’ll probably see that in every system. We’re seeing digital intermediates become more ubiquitous all over the world. DI systems are becoming more important in commercials.
“But workflow needs to be completely transparent to the cinematography,” he added. “And an end-to-end color management system is the Holy Grail–We don’t have a true solution for a color management system. There’s been a lot of discussion; everyone understands this is absolutely necessary in the future.”
EDITING & COMPOSITING
The editing and compositing space should continue to move toward more affordable HD capabilities. Jeff Beckerman, president of New York-based The Cutting Vision, said that even though HD is not a hot feature for commercials, it will continue to become more cost effective and more prevalent. “I think it will be like storage [in terms of dropping costs]. I think Apple will help drive that with Final Cut Pro,” he said.
With Avid Technology and Apple staying silent about their announcements until the show opens, the rumor mill is turning. The loudest rumor is that Avid will unveil a Symphony HD finishing system, based on a Nitris engine.
“This is something that the Avid user base has been asking for,” said Alan Miller, partner in New York-based Moving Pictures. “I have no knowledge if this is true, but it’s a very strong rumor across the country. If true, it would be a huge win for Avid; I would think most of its installed base would upgrade.”
In Apple camps, the rumors point to a next version of Final Cut Pro, running on Apple’s Tiger operating system.
As for the desktop HD systems in general, “The toolsets are pretty good, costs have come down. The problem is the speed on those machines is not what clients are used to,” explained Jerry Steele, president/senior digital artist at Santa Monica-based Steele. “You can’t do real time, client-attended sessions, and that’s what we want to pursue.”
Ruckel expects to hear a lot about the Linux platform, with companies like Autodesk migrating its Discreet products such as Flame and Smoke in that direction. “I think Linux is going to take a front and center seat in what they do–It’s a cost effective, high quality, high end OS that is upgradable.”
“The lower end toolsets are going to create divergence of finishing,” summed up Ascent’s Solomon. “But at the end of the day, it’s about the talent operating the system.”