Critically lauded and a ratings hit, Psych recently wrapped its eighth season in Vancouver, adding to its record as USA Network’s longest-running series. And for the third straight year, the Universal Cable Productions series is making its way from the camera to the screen via an innovative file-based workflow designed and supported by camera and production equipment specialist SIM Digital and its post-production unit Bling Digital.
SIM/Bling helped Psych become the first Vancouver-based television production to go fully digital in 2010, after having successfully established file-based workflows for two other Universal Cable Productions programs, Suits and Covert Affairs, Three years down the line, the elements of that workflow remain largely unchanged. SIM provides the show with ARRI Alexa camera packages (as well as Sony and GoPro cameras for specialized use), on-set graphics and playback services. Bling handles near-set dailies processing and data services.
Camera media is processed in the near-set lab, which includes the production of media for review, editorial, post production and back-up. Editorial files and FCP ProRes proxy format are delivered via high speed Internet connection to the show’s editorial team, located 1300 miles away in Manhattan Beach, California. Editors can begin cutting new material in as little as a few hours after its shot.
It took confidence for Psych‘s producers to make the leap to digital in 2010. Other Vancouver productions were still shooting HD video or film and so there was no template. However, they were intrigued with the potential for improved efficiency and cost-savings, and impressed with SIM/Bling’s enthusiasm for the emerging digital paradigm. “There was some nervousness, because it was a whole new mode of production,” recalls Ken Anderson, General Manager of Sim Digital’s Vancouver operations. “But they saw how well it was working in Toronto and the time and headaches it was saving for those shows. They wanted the same thing.”
It didn’t take long for the benefits of SIM/Bling’s approach to become apparent. Gordon Mark, Psych‘s line producer, notes that shows that were early adopters of digital camera systems sometimes experienced problems in the hand-off between production and post. “You’d get a call from the lab saying ‘there’s a problem with the camera,’ but then the camera crew would say, ‘no, it’s something the lab technician did,'” he recalls.
Those sorts of problems never arose on Psych because SIM/Bling managed both sides of the transaction. “If a problem occurred, and that didn’t happen very often, their camera people and lab people would work together to resolve it,” Mark says. “It was in their interest as much as it was in ours to get it fixed quickly. That was refreshing.”
Psych‘s digital workflow also proved to be a significant upgrade in terms of reliability over the traditional film workflow. An error in processing at a film lab, observes Mark, could be devastating to a show’s budget and delivery schedule.
“In the worst case scenario, your film could be ruined and you’d have to go back and do something again. That’s very expensive,” he says. “You would have to schedule the actors back and that, inevitably would involve some highly-paid guest star with lots of other commitments. So, it becomes a scheduling issue. Production can’t shoot the footage, so the post people can’t edit it, and it can’t be delivered on time. It puts a wrinkle all the way through the system.” With digital near-set processing, camera or processing issues are spotted and resolved quickly. The specter of reshooting has virtually been extinguished.
Series DP Scott Williams witnessed the transition from film and video capture to digital firsthand and has become a convert to the new file-based mode of production. For Psyc
