At SHOOT, January marks events such as Super Bowl commercial season and the DGA Awards. More quietly, it’s also the start of the pre-NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Convention season, which is the period during which the exhibitors make their pre-show new product announcements.
As well, technology industry leaders are gearing up for next month’s Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Technology Retreat in Palm Springs, which promises to introduce new tools and processes.
The approach of events such as NAB and HPA provides a window into what’s on the horizon. One thing that is certain is that in the coming months, the production and post industries will be hearing a lot about “tapeless workflows.”
This is essentially the concept of shifting workflow from videotape to data–in other words, an IT environment where frames are now files that will be stored and managed.
The workflow in this sort of setting would be more similar to the nonlinear postproduction environment found in editorial, which brings with it the promise of increased speed, flexibility, and creative options.
SHOOT will begin to introduce the latest developments in this area and their potential impact on commercialmaking in February, so it seems like a good time to review the basics of data.
There are three main qualities of an image: the number of horizontal lines of resolution, which is measured by “pixels” in the data world; vertical lines of resolution (also “pixels”); and bit depth (the number of bits representing the value of each pixel).
In today’s world of standard definition video, NTSC video is displayed at 640 X 480 lines of resolution; in high definition, the most commonly used format is 1920 X 1080 lines.
Some industry leaders believe that when data production gets off the ground, commercials will be produced at a higher resolution in “2k” data, or 2,048 X 1,556 lines. This is the resolution commonly used today on features for digital intermediate work–which is the process of transferring film to data to accomplish tasks such as color correction to create a digital master, before returning to film for distribution.
The most commonly used 2k data has a 10-bit depth; this combination amounts to storage requirements of 12 megabytes per frame. That is a staggering number, keeping in mind that a 12 megabyte text file equates to the size of a document with more than 600 pages.
Some believe the standard could go higher than 2k. In the feature world, some facilities are beginning to reach for 4k–4,096 X 3,112 lineSáor four times the picture information in a 2k file.
With a data master, a company can create a variety of distribution formats, whether they be film, HD video, or today’s common standard definition video formats. This is therefore viewed by many industry watchers as a plus, since delivery requirements are becoming increasingly complex.
Other issues that will surely emerge in discussion of tapeless work environments include the need for a carefully designed digital asset management (DAM) system, which would manage the material, track changes, save “metadata” (information about a clip including project name, director, and shoot day), and store material. Archiving will also require analysis.
SHOOT senior editor, technology and postproduction, Carolyn Giardina can be reached at 310-822-0211 or at cgiardina@shootonline.com.