Tag Archives: post production

HPA Tech Retreat 2024: Networking and Tech in the Desert

By Randi Altman

Late last month, many of the smartest brains in production and post descended on the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Palm Springs for the annual HPA Tech Retreat. This conference is built for learning and networking; it’s what it does best, and it starts early. The days begin with over 30 breakfast roundtables, where hosts dig into topics — such as “Using AI/ML for Media Content Creation” and “Apprenticeship and the Future of Post” — while the people at their table dig in to eggs and coffee.

Corridor Digital’s Niko Pueringer

The day then kicks further into gear with sessions; coffee breaks inserted for more mingling; more sessions; networking lunches; a small exhibit floor; drinks while checking out the tools; dinners, including Fiesta Night and food trucks; and, of course, a bowling party… all designed to get you to talk to people you might not know and build relationships.

It’s hard to explain just how valuable this event is for those who attend, speak and exhibit. Along with Corridor Digital’s Niko Pueringer talking AI as well as the panel of creatives who worked on Postcard from Earth for the Las Vegas Sphere, one of my personal favorites was the yearly Women in Post lunch. Introduced by Fox’s Payton List, the panel was moderated by Rosanna Marino of IDC LA and featured Daphne Dentz from Warner Bros. Discovery Content Creative Services, Katie Hinsen from Marvel and Kylee Peña from Adobe. The group talked about the changing “landscape of workplace dynamics influenced by #metoo, the arrival of Gen Z into the workforce and the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic.” It was great. The panelists were open, honest and funny. A definite highlight of the conference.

We reached out to just a few folks to get their thoughts on the event:

Light Iron’s Liam Ford
My favorite session by far was the second half of the Tuesday Supersession. Getting an in-depth walk-through of how AI is currently being used to create content was truly eye-opening. Not only did we get exposed to a variety of tools that I’ve never even heard of before, but we were given insights on what the generative AI components were actually doing to create these images, and that shed a lot of light on where the potential growth and innovation in this process is likely to be concentrated.

I also want to give a shoutout to the great talk by Charles Poynton on what quantum dots actually are. I feel like we’ve been throwing this term around a lot over the last year or two, and few people, if any, knew how the technology was constructed at a base layer.

Charles Poynton

Finally, my general takeaway was that we’re heading into a bit of a Wild West over the next three years.  Not only is AI going to change a lot of workflows, and in ways we haven’t come close to predicting yet, but the basic business model of the film industry itself is on the ropes. Everyone’s going to have to start thinking outside the box very seriously to survive the coming disruption.

Imax’s Greg Ciaccio
Each year, the HPA Tech Retreat program features cutting-edge technology and related implementation. This year, the bench of immensely talented AI experts stole the show.  Year after year, I’m impressed with the practical use cases shown using these new technologies. AI benefits are far-reaching, but generative AI piqued my interest most, especially in the area of image enhancement. Instead of traditional pixel up-rezing, AI image enhancements can use learned images to embellish artists’ work, which can iteratively be sent back and forth to achieve the desired intent.

It’s all about networking at the Tech Retreat.

3 Ball Media Group’s Neil Coleman
While the concern about artificial intelligence was palpable in the room, it was the potential in the tools that was most exciting. We are already putting Topaz Labs Video AI into use in our post workflow, but the conversations are what spark the most discovery. Discussing needs and challenges with other attendees at lunch led to options that we hadn’t considered when trying to get footage from field back to post. It’s the people that make this conference so compelling.

IDC’s Rosanna Marino
It’s always a good idea to hear the invited professionals’ perspectives, knowledge and experience. However, I must say that the 2024 HPA Tech Retreat was outstanding. Every panel, every event was important and relevant. In addition to all the knowledge and information taken away, the networking and bonding was also exceptional.

Picture Shop colorist Tim Stipan talks about working on the Vegas Sphere.

I am grateful to have attended the entire event this year. I would have really missed out otherwise. The variation of topics and how they all came together was extraordinary. The number of attendees gave it a real community feel.

IDC’s Mike Tosti
The HPA Tech Retreat allows you to catch up on what your peers are doing in the industry and where the pitfalls may lie.

AI has come a long way in the last year, and it is time we start learning it and embracing it, as it is only going to get better and more prevalent. There were some really compelling demonstrations during the afternoon of Supersession.


Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 25 years. 

Foundry Intros Modo 17.0, Bundles With Otoy OctaneRender

Foundry has released Modo 17.0, an update to its 3D software that overhauls internal systems to provide performance increases. These enhancements help artists by providing the interactivity necessary for modern asset creation workflows, with an additional focus on quality-of-life features in multiple areas. Foundry has also bundled Otoy’s Prime version of OctaneRender, which gives artists a speed increase of up to 50x over traditional CPU renderers straight out of the box.

“With 3D asset creation becoming widely adopted, performance is paramount for the future of DCC apps,” says Greg Brown, product manager at Foundry. “Modo 17.0 sets a foundation for increased performance now plus further enhancements well into Modo’s future. Additionally, bundling the Prime version of the OctaneRender from Otoy with Modo 17.0 will speed up the entire experience, from modeling to final render, reducing performance barriers for artists.”

Artists working on Apple Silicon machines will see an additional speed increase of 50% on average, thanks to Modo’s new native macOS ARM build.

With overhauled core systems and granular performance updates to individual tools, Modo, says Foundry, is poised to re-envision 3D workflows. The Modo community can expect a return to more frequent releases for Modo in 2024, which will build on the foundation of 17.0 to further accelerate more aspects of Modo. This 3D application is tailored to enhance the capabilities of experts while also making those capabilities easier for novices to use.

Foundry has enhanced several capabilities of Modo’s powerful modeling tools, including:

  • Decal workflow — It’s now faster and easier to use decals and wrap flat images onto complex surfaces with minimal distortion and no UV creation.
  • Primitive Slice — Users can now clone multiple slices of the same shape at once, making it easier to produce complex patterns. A new Corner Radius feature rounds corners on rectangles and squares so artists can make quick adjustments without switching between presets.
  • Mesh Cleanup — With this tool, users can automatically fix broken geometry and gaps so they can stay productive and avoid interrupting the creative flow.
  • Radial Align — Radial Align turns a selection into a flat circle, but artists frequently need a partial radius and not a complete circle for things like arches. Modo 17.0 ships with the ability to create a partial radial alignment.
  • PolyHaul — PolyHaul combines many of the most used modeling tools into one streamlined tool. This means artists can spend less time jumping between separate tools, helping them to stay in the flow.

“We are thrilled to bundle OctaneRender with Modo 17.0, bringing instant access to the industry’s first and fastest unbiased GPU render engine. Our mission is to democratize high-end 3D content creation, enabling anyone with a modern GPU to create stunning motion graphics and visual effects at a fraction of the cost and time of CPU architectures. We are excited to see how Modo artists integrate OctaneRender’s GPU-accelerated rendering platform into their creative process, including the ability to scale large rendering jobs across near-unlimited decentralized GPU nodes on the Render Network,” says Otoy founder/CEO, Jules Urbach.

 

 

 

 

Masters of the Air: Directors and DP Talk Shoot, VFX and Grade

By Iain Blair

World War II drama Masters of the Air is a nine-episode Apple TV+ limited series that follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, the lack of oxygen and the sheer terror of combat at 25,000 feet in the air. Starring Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan, it’s the latest project from Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the producing team behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Ranging in locations from the fields and villages of southeast England to the harsh deprivations of a German POW camp, Masters of the Air is enormous in both scale and scope. It took many years and an army of creatives to bring it to life — such as directors including Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and DPs including Jac Fitzgerald.

Here, Boden and Fleck (Captain Marvel) talk about the challenges of shooting, editing and posting the ambitious show. In a sidebar, Fitzgerald (True Detective) talks about integrating the extensive VFX and the DI.

After doing Captain Marvel, I guess you guys could handle anything, but this was still a massive project. What were the main challenges?
Anna Boden: We did episodes 5 and 6. I’d say for us, Episode 5 was a big challenge in terms of wrapping our heads around it all. Some of the prep challenges were very big because it’s really a long air battle sequence that takes up almost the entire episode, and we had limited prep and not a ton of time to do previz and work everything out ahead of time. Also, simultaneously, we were prepping Episode 6, which was going to take us on location and to a whole bunch of new spaces that the show had never been to before. Finding those new locations and doing both of those things at once required so much planning, so it was challenging.

How did you handle the big air battle sequence and working with the volume stage?
Boden: You don’t want to show up on the day and wing it. As filmmakers, sometimes it’s really fun to get on-set and block the sequence based on what the actors want to do. But you can’t do that when you’re shooting on a volume stage, where you’re projecting a lot of imagery on the wall around you. You have to plan out so much of what’s going to be there. That was new for us. Even though we’d worked on Captain Marvel and used greenscreen, we’d never used those big-volume LED stages before. It was a really cool learning experience. We learned a lot on the fly and ultimately had fun crafting a pretty exciting sequence.

I assume director Cary Joji Fukunaga and his DP, Adam Arkapaw, set the template in the first four episodes for the look of the whole show, and then you had to carry that across your episodes.
Boden: Yeah. They’d obviously started shooting before us, and so we were studying their dailies and getting a sense of their camera movements and the color palettes and the vibe for the show. It was really helpful. And our DP, Jac Fitzgerald, knows Adam pretty well, so I think that they had a close working relationship. Also, we were able to visit the set while Cary was shooting to get a sense of the vibe. Once we incorporated that, then we were on our own to do our thing. It’s not like we suddenly changed the entire look of the show, but we had the freedom to put our personalities into it.

And one of the great things about the point where we took over is that Episode 5 is its own little capsule episode. We tried to shoot some of the stuff on the base in a similar tone to how they were shooting it. But then, once we got to that monster mission, it became its own thing, and we shot it in our own way. Then, with Episode 6, we were in completely different spaces. It’s a real break from the previous episodes because it’s the midpoint of the season, we’re away from the base, and there’s a big shift in terms of where the story is going. That gave us a little bit of freedom to very consciously shift how we were going to approach the visual language with Jac. It was an organic way to make that change without it feeling like a weird break in the season.

Give us some sense of how integrating all the post and visual effects worked.
Ryan Fleck: We were using the volume stage, so we did have images, and for the aerial battles, we had stuff for the actors to respond to, but they were not dialed in completely. A lot of that happened after the shooting. In fact, most of it did. (Jac can probably help elaborate on that because she’s still involved with the post process for the whole show.) It wasn’t like Mandalorian levels of dialed-in visual effects, where they were almost finished, and the actors could see. In this show, it was more like the actors were responding to previz, but I think that was hugely helpful.

On Captain Marvel, so often actors are just responding to tennis balls and an AD running around the set for eyelines. In this case, it was nice for the actors to see an actual airplane on fire outside their window for their performances to feel fresh.

Did you do a lot of previz?
Fleck: Yeah, we did a lot for those battle sequences in the air, and we worked closely with visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum, who was integral in pulling all that stuff together.

What did Jac bring to the mix? You hadn’t worked together before, right?
Fleck: No, and we like her energy. She has experience on big movies and small movies, which we appreciate, and so do we. We like those sensibilities. But I think she just has a nice, calm energy. She likes to have fun when she’s working, and so do we, but she’s also very focused on executing the plan. She’s an organized and creative brain that we really appreciated.

Boden: I think that we had a lot of the same reference points when we first started talking, like The Cold Blue, an amazing documentary with a lot of footage that was taken up in the planes during World War II. Filmmakers actually were shooting up there with the young men who were on missions in these bomber planes. That was a really important reference point for us in terms of determining where the cameras can be mounted inside one of these planes. We tried as much as possible to keep those very real camera positions on the missions so that it felt as reality-based and as visceral as possible and not like a Marvel movie. We used some of the color palette from that documentary as well.

It was also Jac’s working style to go to the set and think about how to block things in the shot list… not that we need to stick to that. Once we get in there and work it through with the actors, we all become very flexible, and she’s very flexible as well. Our work styles are very similar, and we got on really well. We like our sets to be very calm and happy instead of chaotic, and she has a very calm personality on-set. We immediately hired her to shoot our next feature after this show, so we’re big fans.

Was it a really tough shoot?
Boden: Yeah. We started shooting in July and finished in October. That’s pretty long for two episodes, but COVID slowed it all down.

Fleck: I’ve never shot in London or the UK before, but I loved it. I loved the crews; I loved the locations. We got to spend time in Oxford, and I fell in love with the place. I really loved exploring the locations. But yes, there were challenges. I think the most tedious stuff was the aerial sequences because we had mounted cameras, and it was just slow. We like to get momentum and move as quickly as we can when shooting.

Even though this is TV, you guys were involved in post to some degree, yes? 
Ryan Fleck: Yes, we did our director’s cuts, and then Gary kept us involved as the cuts progressed. We were able to get back into the edit room even after we delivered our cuts, and we continued to give our feedback to guide the cuts. Typically, TV directors give over their cuts, and then it’s “Adios.” But because we worked so long on it and we had a good relationship with Gary and the actors, we wanted to see this through to the end. So we stayed involved for much longer than I think is typical for episodic directing.

Typically, on our films, we’re involved in all the other post departments, visual effects and sound, every step of the way. But on this series, we were less involved, although we gave notes. Then Jac did all the grading and the rest of the show. She kind of took over and was very involved. She’ll have a lot of insights into the whole DI process. (See Sidebar)

Anna, I assume you love post, and especially editing, as you edited your first four features.
Boden: I love post because it feels like you’ve made all your compromises, and now all you can do is make it better. Now your only job is to make it the best version of itself. It’s like this puzzle, and you have all the time in the world to do the writing again. I absolutely love editing and the process of putting your writing/editing brain back on. You’re forgetting what happened as a director on-set and rethinking how to shape things.

Give us some idea of how the editing worked. Did you also cut your episodes?
Boden: No, we hired an editor named Spencer Averick, who worked on our director’s cut with us. Every director was able to work on their director’s cut with a specific editor, and then there was Mark Czyzewski, the producer’s editor, who worked on the whole series after that. We worked with him after our director’s cut period. We went back into the room, and he was really awesome. We edited in New York for a couple of weeks on the director’s cut, and then we were editing in LA after that in the Playtone offices in Santa Monica.

What were the big editing challenges for both episodes? Just walk us through it a bit.
Boden: I’d say that one of the biggest challenges, at least in terms of the director’s cut, was finding the rhythm of that Episode 5 mission. When you have a long action sequence like that, the challenge is finding the rhythm so that it has the right pace without feeling like it’s barraging you the whole time. It needs places to breathe and places for emotional and character moments, but it still has to keep moving.

Another challenge is making sure viewers know where they are in every plane and every battle throughout the series. That ends up being a big challenge in the edit. You don’t realize it as much when you’re reading a script, but you realize it a lot when you’re in the edit room.

Then, for Episode 6, it was about connecting the stories because in that episode, we have three main characters — Crosby, Rosenthal and Egan — and they’re in three different places on three very separate journeys, in a way. Egan is in a very dark place, and Rosenthal is in a dark place as well, but he finds himself in this kind of palatial place, trying to have a rest. And then Crosby’s having a much lighter kind of experience with a potential love interest. The intercutting between those stories was challenging, just making sure that the tones were connecting and not colliding with each other, or if they were colliding, colliding in a way that was interesting and intentional.

How hands on were Spielberg and Hanks, or did they let you do your own thing?
Fleck: We mostly interacted with Gary Goetzman, who is Tom Hanks’ partner at Playtone. I think those guys [Spielberg and Hanks] were involved with early days of prep and probably late days of post. But in terms of the day-to-day operations, Gary was really the one that we interacted with the most.

Boden: One of the most wonderful things about working with Gary as a producer — and he really is the producer who oversaw this series — is that he’s worked with so many directors in his career and really loves giving them the freedom and support to do what they do best. He gave us so much trust and support to really make the episodes what we wanted them to be.

Looking back now, how would you sum up the whole experience?
Fleck: All of it was challenging, but I think the biggest challenge for us was shooting during COVID. We kept losing crew members day by day, and it got down to the point where everybody had to test every day and wait for their results. We would have crew members waiting three to four hours before they could join us on-set, so that really cut the amount of shooting time we had every day from 11 hours down to six.

Boden: Some days we’d show up and suddenly find out an hour into the day that we weren’t going to get an actor that we were planning to shoot with, so we’d have to rearrange the day and try to shoot without that actor. That was a big challenge.

Fleck: The great thing for me was how much I learned. Back in history class, you get all the big plot points of World War II, but they don’t tell you about how big these B-17s were, how violent it was up in the air for these guys. You think of the D-Day invasion when you think of the great milestones of World War II, but these aerial battles were unbelievably intense, and they were up there in these tin cans; they were so tight and so cold. I just couldn’t believe that these kids were sent into these situations. It was mind-boggling.

Boden: I also learned a lot through the process of reading the material and the research about the history of these specific people in the stories. But I’d say that one of the things that really sticks with me from the experience was working with this group of actors. That felt very special.

DP Jac Fitzgerald on Shooting Masters of the Air

Jac, integrating all the VFX with visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum must have been crucial.
Yes. When I started the show, I imagined that the majority of the VFX work would be done on the volume stage. But then I realized that he had a whole World War II airfield to create on location. Obviously, we had the tower structure for the airfield, and we had two planes, one of which was being towed. And it was all so cobbled together from the outside.

Jac Fitzgerald

The planes looked like they were complete, but they weren’t moving by themselves. They didn’t have engines in them or anything. What was interesting to me was the extent of the visual effects that Stephen had to do on the exteriors. We only had two plane bodies, but at any one time when you see the airstrip, there are 12 planes there or more. So there was a huge amount of work for him to do in that exterior world, which was actually as important as the VFX in the volume.

What about the DI? Where did you do all the grading?
It was predominantly in LA at Picture Shop with colorist Steven Bodner, who did the whole show. And because of the enormous amount of VFX, it was obvious early on that things were going to need to be done out of order in the DI.

At first, they thought that my two episodes [5 and 6] would be the first ones to have the DI, as Adam Arkapaw was unavailable to do his episodes [1 through 4] because he was working on another film. At the time they thought they would go in and do my episodes and start prepping and setting the look for episodes 1 through 4 as well. Then it became clear that the DI schedule would have to adjust because of the enormity of the VFX.

Stephen Rosenbaum spent a lot of time making the footage we’d shot and all the VFX worlds collide. I think he had an extraordinary number of people from vendors around the world involved in the project, so there was certainly a lot of cleaning up to do. We all did a lot of work on the look in the DI, trying to make it as seamless as possible. And then again, because episodes 1 through 4 needed so much VFX work, we did my episodes and then we did 7, 8 and 9, and then we went back to 1 through 4. It was certainly a lot of jumping around. I wish that we could have mapped it all from beginning to end, but it wasn’t to be.


Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.

Life in Tandem: Making an Unexpected Documentary

Though poignant and beautiful, this wasn’t the documentary the filmmakers originally set out to make. Here we talk with one of the directors, Mia Grimes, about how the film unfolded and the process of making it.

L-R: Chris Multop, Joe Litzinger and Mia Grimes

How did you come up with the idea for the short?
My co-director Joe Litzinger discovered a viral YouTube video of Marc Ornstein performing a canoe dancing routine to “Lady in Red” as well as a video of Stephen Colbert poking fun at it. Intrigued by the sport and the individual in the video, we did some research and reached out to Elaine Mravetz, a pivotal figure within the community. We were immediately struck by her warm and inviting demeanor.

Tragically, just days after our initial conversation, Elaine was killed in a car accident. With the blessing of both the freestyle community and Elaine’s family, we pivoted the documentary to follow her husband, Bob (also a canoeist), on his journey of recovery and grief.

The original concept was to take a Best in Show approach to a unique sport, but it evolved into a heartfelt emotional story about a community rallying around a member facing a tragic and unimaginable life change.

Did you guys fund it on your own?
My co-director funded the short through his production company, Interesting Human Media, using personal funds. While we attempted to raise additional money, the unexpected nature of the life event we were documenting meant we had to adapt and tell the story with the resources available to us while it was happening.

And we received a great many contributions of time, resources and work at reduced rates from friends and co-workers, embodying the essence of this project as a true labor of love and a community coming together for a common purpose.

What was the process of just getting it off the ground?
In early February 2022, cinematographer Jeff Smee and I made our way to film at Bob’s house in Cleveland. This initial three-day filming session with Bob was just the first of many. Over the course of the following year, we were invited to document a series of significant events marking Bob’s journey of recovery. These events offered a lens into his resilience and his gradual return to the activities that once brought him joy.

It was during a trip to Florida in February 2023 that we witnessed Bob return back to the water in his canoe for the first time since his accident — a symbolic act of reclaiming his passion and a step forward in his healing process. This experience provided a natural and powerful conclusion to our film, capturing the essence of human perseverance and the support of a community rallying around one of its own.

Can you talk script?
Because we were following an event, we did not have a script or outline of any kind, as we were not sure how Bob’s recovery would progress. We truly had no idea how the documentary would end pretty much the entire time we were filming.

Was this your first time directing? How did you work with your co-director, Joe?
I started out in logistics and scheduling, but my role quickly expanded as I found myself involved in all aspects of the production process. This transition marked the beginning of a learning experience that extended far beyond my initial responsibilities. Joe, who served not only as my boss but also as my co-director, played a pivotal role in this evolution. In an industry where the hierarchical structure is often rigid, Joe’s decision to trust me with the direction of early scenes was indicative of his inclusive leadership style.

This opportunity allowed me to learn directly from Joe and the cinematographer, Chris Multop, about not only the technical aspects of filmmaking and camera operation but the storytelling.

As the project progressed, our partnership evolved into a collaborative co-directing effort. This collaboration was not limited to just Joe and me; Chris, our co-producer, was integral as well. Together, the three of us functioned as a cohesive unit, with each of us bringing our own perspectives, expertise and visions to the table.

How did you decide on the cameras you used?
To capture the sport’s beauty, we needed high-quality, versatile cameras that were also light, portable and affordable. Most of the documentary was shot using Z cameras in 4K, with a mix of ultrawide, stylistic lenses for interviews and 800mm lenses for paddling and cinematic shots. Other cameras we used during production were Sony FX3, multiple drones and a Blackmagic camera.

Was it shot with natural lighting?
While the canoeing scenes benefited from natural lighting, we used artificial lighting for the indoor interviews to enhance the visual quality.

You had multiple DPs?
Chris Multop, our co-producer, served as the director of photography, but it was a collaborative effort, with Joe, Jeff Smee, me and others on-set contributing to the cinematography alongside archival footage from the canoeists.

You edited on Adobe Premiere. What was that process like?
We have edited a variety of projects on a variety of platforms. We decided on Premiere because we liked the ease and capability of sending the project to multiple editors to play around with.

One of the things we did early on was hire an experienced AE, Ken Ren, who organized the drive and synced the footage, so our projects started in a way that gave us a leg up throughout the editing process. With about 8TB of footage, we relied on proxies to keep the editing process smooth.

Who did the actual editing? And what about the audio and color grading?
Editing was a collective effort led by Joe and me, with contributions from Emmy award-winning editors Matt Mercer and Eric Schrader and assistant editing by Jenny Hochberg. We set out to film a feature, so we were managing a large amount of footage, which presented a significant challenge in crafting a short, concise documentary.

You can watch the doc here:

Colorfront’s New SDR to-Dolby Vision HDR Conversion Process

At the 2024 HPA Tech Retreat at the end of last month, Colorfront demo’d the Colorfront Engine’s new Dolby Vision conversion capability. The conversion process not only transitions SDR to Dolby Vision HDR but also produces unique Dolby Vision metadata, guaranteeing that the Dolby-derived SDR output visually matches the original SDR content. This round-tripping method presents a unified, streamlined, single-source workflow for mastering and distribution.

The Colorfront Engine now allows users to seamlessly upgrade extensive SDR content libraries to the Dolby Vision HDR format, addressing the surge in HDR-ready displays and devices with a straightforward, time-efficient and cost-effective solution.

“This Dolby-specific version of the Colorfront Engine has been developed to facilitate a seamless conversion from SDR to Dolby Vision HDR with perfect round-tripping,” says Colorfront’s Mark Jaszberenyi. “It’s already shipping and has received feedback from content owners, studios, OTTs and streamers for its ability to maintain fidelity to the original SDR content while offering a premium HDR viewing experience.”

Mark Jaszberenyi

Why is this important for our industry? Jaszberenyi says, “The transition from SDR to HDR aims to enhance visual experiences with improved brightness, contrast and colors. Despite this shift, a significant volume of content and many viewing environments remain SDR-based. The Dolby Vision SDR round-trip solution is vital, as it enables the conversion of original SDR libraries to HDR, incorporating Dolby Vision metadata that aligns with the original content.” He says this process ensures that content is remastered for Dolby Vision HDR viewing while preserving the integrity of the SDR original, all within a single Dolby Vision master file. Importantly, this solution helps content owners and distributors maximize the value of their existing SDR libraries by making them accessible to a wider audience with HDR-capable devices.”

Content owners and distributors can use this solution to produce and deliver content across various devices and viewing conditions. “It facilitates the display of stunning HDR content on HDR-capable devices, ensuring an optimal viewing experience,” according to Jaszberenyi, adding that it also guarantees that the SDR version, derived from HDR content through the Dolby Vision round-tripping process, closely matches the original SDR master.

How does it work from a user perspective? The conversion process balances automation with the option for manual intervention, starting with the transformation of original SDR content into HDR. “This is followed by generating unique Dolby Vision metadata for a seamless SDR conversion,” says Jaszberenyi. “Mastering professionals have the flexibility to fine-tune the Dolby Vision conversion tool based on the specific attributes of the content, ensuring a workflow that not only respects but enhances the creative vision. Importantly, this process is designed to be scalable; it can automatically convert vast amounts of content with ease, whether on-premises or in the cloud, making it a versatile solution for content libraries of any size.”

 

 

 

 

Dalet and Veritone Team on MAM and Monetization Platform

Media technology and service provider Dalet and AI solution provider Veritone have agreed to integrate the Dalet Flex media workflow ecosystem with Veritone’s AI-powered Digital Media Hub (DMH), featuring commerce and monetization capabilities. The integration enables a seamless workflow from content creation through production, curation, packaging and distribution, helping media, sports and entertainment companies to monetize their digital media archives.

The Dalet and Veritone referral partnership enables media and entertainment companies to maximize the return on investment of their content assets to generate new revenue streams. The secure and scalable solution enables media-centric organizations to automatically deliver content to partners while remaining in control of their content catalog.

Key features include:

  • A cloud-native ecosystem to produce, manage, distribute, transact and monetize digital media content and archives.
  • Uniquely advanced rich metadata management to drive content catalog exposure and automated publishing based on business rules.
  • The ability to easily implement branded digital marketplaces with a familiar content shopping experience for B2B clients, partners and affiliates.
  • Customizable B2B portals, flexible monetization business models and granular searches based on extensive metadata, including timecodes.
  • A highly efficient, secure solution with a common vision, a long-term shared road map and outstanding customer service.

“Veritone’s AI-enabled technology has long been the tool of choice for some of the world’s most recognized brands because of its ability to more efficiently and effectively organize, manage and monetize content,” says Sean King, SVP, GM at Veritone. “Veritone and Dalet share a commitment to unlocking the true potential of digital content, and we’re pleased to offer the content monetization capabilities of DMH to complete Dalet’s end-to-end platform and provide endless revenue opportunities to their customer base.”

 

Post Production World Expands: New Conference Pass and AI Training

Future Media Conferences and NAB Show have expanded the Post Production World (PPW) conference slated for April 12-17. This year the organizers introduced a comprehensive pass that covers an expanded suite of tracks along with AI training and certifications, field workshops and more.

In a move to cater to the broad spectrum of roles in the creative industry, PPW has broadened its scope to include additional past FMC conferences under one ticket item. Attendees can now access a diverse array of tracks with a single ticket, exploring creative AI, cinematography and directors of photography, visual storytelling, remote production and more. This expansion reflects PPW’s dedication to keeping pace with the rapid advancements in technology and creative techniques.

In addition to a dedicated Creative AI track within the PPW conference program, FMC is offering an additional pass for an AI Training & Certifications track, an initiative designed to equip professionals with the skills necessary to navigate the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence in content creation. Pass add-ons include exam vouchers available for purchase with registration or a choice between two live and in-person AI training courses:

  • AI Broadcast TV Training Workshop: Revolutionizing Broadcasting
  • AI VFX & Motion Training Workshop: Crafting Visual Wonders

Besides these new additions, PPW continues to offer field workshops and other certifications that provide hands-on learning experiences and opportunities to gain recognized credentials in various aspects of production and post production.

“By expanding our tracks and introducing AI Training & Certifications, we’re not just responding to the industry’s current trends; we’re anticipating its future directions,” says Ben Kozuch, president and co-founder of Future Media Conferences. “Our goal is to empower content professionals with the knowledge, skills and insights they need to succeed in a rapidly evolving landscape.”

Information on the new pass options, AI Training & Certifications, field workshops and registration can be found here.

Red Digital Cinema to Be Acquired by Nikon Corporation

Camera maker Red Digital Cinema has announced it will be acquired by and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon. The agreement with Nikon was reached with Red’s founder Jim Jannard and president Jarred Land.

This strategic partnership brings together Nikon’s expertise in product development, image processing, as well as optical technology and user interface, with Red’s knowledge in cinema cameras, including its unique image compression technology and color science.

When first introduced, more than 17 years, Red hit the ground running with its NAB booth hidden behind a red curtain and industry folks handing them money for pre-orders of its very first Red One 4K camera. Since then, Red has providing digital cinema technology  spanning from that original Red One 4K to the new 8K V-Raptor X (more on that in a bit), all powered by Red’s proprietary Redcode RAW compression.

Red’s contributions to the film industry earned a Scientific and Technical Academy Award, and their cameras have been used on films, documentaries, commercials and video production.

This acquisition allows Nikon to combine its heritage in professional and consumer imaging with Red’s digitial cinema innovations in both hardware and software. Together, Nikon and Red hope to redefine the professional digital cinema camera market. They will be working together on future of product development that they say “will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in film and video production.”

Just this past January, Red introduced the new large-format V-Raptor X 8K VV and V-Raptor XL X 8K VV cameras featuring the low-light performance, dynamic range, resolutions, high frame rates and form factor of its V-Raptor predecessor. Additionally, the V-Raptor X introduced Red Global Vision, which includes a new 8K VV global shutter sensor that enables innovative functions, such as Extended Highlights and Phantom Track. Additionally, the V-Raptor X and V-Raptor XL X systems offer increased exposure times, a further optimized optical cavity and improved audio performance. More on that here.

With this acquisition, Nikon says it will look to expand the growing professional digital cinema camera market, building on both companies’ business foundations and networks. More updates are expected soon.

 

 

Scott Klein

The Saw Adds Senior Colorist Scott Klein

LA-based creative editorial, color and finishing studio The Saw has added senior colorist Scott Klein. Known for his work on Outer Banks, Empire, Unsolved Mysteries and Bosch, Klein will continue to tackle episodic and long-form narrative assignments while expanding into unscripted content, including awards shows, reality TV and music specials — genres where The Saw has roots. Upcoming projects include Season 2 of Outer Banks.

Klein has compiled more than 100 credits in episodic and long-form television over a career that includes tenures at Warner Bros, Technicolor and, most recently, Light Iron. Highlights include such classics as The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Vampire Diaries, JAG, Empire, The Following, Entourage and Nash Bridges. He won a Monitor Award for his work on the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and was nominated for an HPA Award for True Blood.

Klein, who uses Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, says that he is excited to join this new venture and for the opportunity to team up with The Saw founder Bill DeRonde and senior VP of sales Christina Ferreira, whom he has known for years. “I have the utmost respect for Bill and what he has accomplished as a facility owner and craftsman,” he states. “This opportunity came along at the perfect time. What Bill and Christina are building here is brilliant. It’s going to be wonderful for my clients.”

On his success, Klein says that he is always excited to collaborate with filmmakers and enhance their projects through color. “I love the story element. When I’m doing an unsupervised pass, I immerse myself in the story and try to sense its mood and emotions. It’s fun when the director arrives to see how close I’ve come. I enjoy seeing how color complements the editorial, music and visual effects. I love the team aspect of the process.”

 

Maxine Gervais

Senior Colorist Maxine Gervais Joins Harbor in Los Angeles

Harbor in Los Angeles has added senior colorist Maxine Gervais to its team. Gervais brings with her a wealth of experience working on more than 50 feature films over the course of her career.

She has been recognized for her work by the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), earning two nominations for Outstanding Color Grading – Feature Film: one for her work on the Hughes brothers’ The Book of Eli and the other for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim. In addition to the nominations, Gervais made Hollywood history as the first woman to receive an HPA award for Outstanding Color Grading for Albert Hughes’ Alpha.

Her credits include Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, Clint Eastwood’s Cry Macho, Peacock’s The Continental: From the World of John Wick, Netflix’s The Brothers Sun, Universal Pictures’ Strays and Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner, A Thousand and One directed by A.V. Rockwell.

With a background in classical arts, Gervais earned her bachelor’s in visual art from Laval University in Quebec, demonstrating her passion for creative expression through color and technology. She furthered her education by obtaining a post-graduate certificate in computer technology for cinema and television. Gervais is also an Associate Member of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Upon starting her new role, Gervais said, “Like John Alton’s book ‘Painting with Light’ describes, a colorist paints with colors, shadows and contrast to help define and spotlight the beauty of the captured images by the cinematographer. This is done to enhance the desired mood, feel and direction of the film. I’ve been fortunate to have collaborated with amazing filmmakers for a long time now and am excited to continue doing so at Harbor.”

 

 

Colorist Chat: Company 3 Colorist Yoomin Lee

Yoomin Lee is a colorist at Company 3 London, a global company providing post services across feature films, episodic television, commercials, gaming and more. “The freedom to work on all sorts of projects, big or small, is a major thing that attracts talent to work for them,” Lee says.

We reached out to Lee to find out more about how she works and what inspires her.

As a colorist, what would surprise people the most about what falls under that title?
Most people think I’m a hairdresser when I say I’m a colorist, so it surprises them that my job exists.

Are you sometimes asked to do more than just color on projects?
Alongside color, sometimes I’m asked to do some compositing. Beauty work, cleaning and giving some texture to images are also common in color grading. Our tools have become so powerful that they allow us to do so much with them.

Yoomin Lee

Louis Vuitton Speakers

What are some recent projects you’ve worked on?
The Louis Vuitton Speakers and Earphones films for Jacob Sutton, Anton Corbijn’s feature film Squaring the Circle, L’Occitane’s global campaign “Art of Gifting” and the 2023 Waitrose Christmas campaign directed by Autumn De Wilde.

How do you prefer to work with the DP/director?
Ideally, I like to work with them in person, as it allows us to build relationships and interact in real time. However, as times have changed, remote working has become more popular and is another tool in our arsenal to collaborate with filmmakers.

How do you prefer the DP or director to describe the look they want? Physical examples, film to emulate, etc.?
Rather than verbal recommendations, visual references help me understand the base of what the client is looking for. From there, we can work together to build out the piece of work.

After working together on several projects, it becomes easier over time as you understand their vision and become familiar with their taste.

Do you have any suggestions for getting the most out of a project from a color perspective?
It’s always helpful when clients are clear about what they want; however, I think leaving some room to explore in color-grading sessions is good. Sometimes, we get a shot-by-shot reference from clients, which could limit what you can achieve because it’s hard to judge if that is the best approach until you see something different or better.

Do you provide LUTs for on-set?
Sometimes, if requested, but we tend to be more generic rather than extreme so that it works for most shots.

How does your process change when working on a film versus episodics or commercials?
With long-form, I tend to spend more time creating the basic overall look rather than finessing shot by shot too much, whereas with commercials, we have more time to finesse the details.

What system do you work on?
I use both FilmLight Baselight and Blackmagic Resolve.

What’s your favorite part of color grading?
That would be creating beautiful images, taking an ordinary picture and bringing life to it. No two days are the same.

Why did you choose this profession?
One of the main reasons is that I love bringing life to images. However, I also like that it’s technical as well as creative. It’s such a satisfying thing to see the transformation of the projects after color grading.

I only found out the role of a colorist existed when I started working as a junior in a post company, and I have been fascinated since then.

What would you be doing if you didn‘t have this job?
I would likely have become an architect. Shapes and forms of buildings tell stories, and architecture can be visually pleasing. There are synergies with being a colorist.

U2 “Joshua Tree”

What is the project that you are most proud of?
“The Joshua Tree” 30th anniversary concert visuals for U2. It was a joy to participate in this project and to see the visuals live on the 200-foot-wide screen behind the legendary U2 in 39 cities worldwide.

Where do you find inspiration? Art? Photography? Instagram?
Everywhere! Anything visual has been my inspiration: photography, paintings and films. Over the years, since I became a colorist, I have observed more how light changes at different times of the day all over the world.

Is there a film or show that sticks out to you as an example of amazing color?
There are so many, but most recently, I saw Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and color-graded by my colleague at Company 3, Greg Fisher, and it looked amazing.

Can you name some technology you can’t live without?
Like many others, my phone allows me to take snapshots of inspiration and look through different social media channels to find inspiration. Still, I’m pretty good at spending only a little time on Instagram and social media.

What do you do to de-stress from it all?
I don’t have a television at home, mainly because I’m scared to see things I graded look differently on a domestic monitor. Still, I’m in front of a monitor all day long, so while I’m at home, I’m trying to avoid the environment that surrounds me at work. I’m trying to live an analog life as much as I can.

Hedge DropOff: New Web-Based File-Sharing App for Creatives

Hedge has launched DropOff, a new web-based app that takes the complexity out of sharing files with external creative collaborators.

Sending and receiving large files within creative workflows comes with challenges: storage, security and speed. Add the need for simplicity and seamless integration with secure storage solutions like LucidLink, and things get even trickier, according to Hedge. It can be a delicate balancing act to rapidly share files and media with external collaborators while also keeping them out of a secure Filespace. 

Whether sending files from a desktop, external drive, LucidLink Filespace or another S3 bucket, DropOff handles the heavy lifting seamlessly and securely, all via a simple, shareable download link. Files get delivered directly to the chosen location in a LucidLink Filespace or via a sharable DropOff link that anyone on the outside can access from any device without being able to get to the internal Filespace. This setup makes it easy for both sides of the equation to collaborate and share without complexity.

DropOff’s dashboard has the same design as all of Hedge’s products, providing an uncluttered overview of all relevant information. The dashboard shows all active DropOff links, with separate views for sending and receiving, the current number of gigabytes available to share and quick access to settings to ensure the bridge between DropOff and the Filespace is working as it should.

DropOff works on a pay-per-gigabyte-shared model. There are no standing monthly fees or hidden charges. Data doesn’t expire, so creatives can simply use it when they need to, and when it’s time to add more gigabyte credits, they can top off right from the home page. Hedge is currently offering a free trial that comes preloaded with 20GB of credits.

 

 

 

Ketama Collective Merges to Form Experiential Studio Bermuda

Ketama Collective, part of the team that won the Grand Prix for Creative Data at Cannes last year, is merging with its two sister companies, Bitgeyser and Pasto, to form one integrated digital creative, production and technology resource known as Bermuda.

The new entity, which has opened a US office in Miami, spans everything from content production for brands to experiential executions and activations, extended realities, metaverse executions, meta-human creations, AI infusions and prototyping, as well as CG animation and design. It is billed by its founders as a creative technology lab that’s focused on offering proficiencies and specializations that global brands are searching for in today’s social media and experience-based landscape.

According to Nico Ferrero, CEO of Bermuda (and formerly MD at Ketama), this move is a natural evolution: Ketama, Bitgeyser and Pasto have frequently collaborated on complex projects for a roster of global clients, he points out. Collectively, their work has been recognized by the industry’s leading awards shows, including a Grand Prix and Gold Lion at Cannes for Stella Artois and GUT, a Silver Lion for LATAM Airlines and McCann, and a Gold Clio for “The Tweeting Pothole” for Medcom and Ogilvy, to name a few.

As it seeks to expand its footprint in the US market after having a location in Buenos Aires, Bermuda has lined up a national sales operation. On the East Coast, Bermuda will be represented by Minerva, led by Mary Knox and Shauna Seresin. Bermuda has also signed with Marla Mossberg and N Cahoots for West Coast representation and Isabel Echeverry and Kontakto for the US Hispanic market,

Bermuda is led by a group of bilingual executives from the three merged companies whose backgrounds encompass everything from agency creative, production and software engineering to experience design and fabrication. In addition to Ferrero, the company’s leaders include chief creative director Santiago Maiz, head of production Agustín Mende, regional new business director Matias Berruezo and CFO Juan Riva.

“Bermuda has opened for business backed by a combined 30 years of experience creating digital content,” Ferrero explains. “We now have a unified team of 50 experts all under one roof: digital artists, AI engineers, animators, industrial designers, software and fabrication engineers and creative technologists who specialize in multimedia executions, as well as specialists in augmented, virtual, and mixed reality content; metaverse executions; and the use of block chain.”

The new company was born after a whirlwind 2023: In the US, experiential/digital and fabrication projects staged in New Orleans, Miami, San Diego and Chicago were created for such agencies as Area 23, David and McCann, and for clients such as Google, Mastercard and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. It also marked the debut of a 52-episode, five-minute show, Dino Pops, that was created in hyper-real 3D animation fully executed in Unreal Engine for NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.

As a multi-brand platform, Bermuda has developed unique experiences with personalized content for literally hundreds of products distributed in Tetra Pak packaging. To date the studio has created more than 1,000 digital experiences representing over 150 household brands marketed across 28 countries.

“Our goal is to go even bigger, with more work from the US market, as we flex our muscles across all of our disciplines,” Ferrero states. “Operating as Bermuda will allow us to produce projects on a larger scale while working in different countries at the same time and while handling more complex and challenging projects. And it allows our clients, both on the agency and brand sides, to consolidate the number of entities they have to deal with while making internal collaboration easier and more efficient.” Besides the newly opened base in Miami, Bermuda currently has its HQ in Buenos Aires and offices in L.A. and Colombia to oversee projects throughout the Americas.

As for how they came up with the name, “It’s the idea of the unknown, this mysterious world,” he says, referring obliquely to the legendary Bermuda Triangle. “When you arrive at an idea, it basically comes from a magical place. How well you execute that idea, and the process by which you do it, sums up what Bermuda means to all of us.”

 

New Remote Editing Updates for SNS Nomad

SNS has released a new version of Nomad, the remote editing component of the company’s EVO Suite. Nomad facilitates remote and offline editing workflows for post production teams.

The last major update to Nomad, Nomad v2.0, brought a whole new user experience to EVO’s remote workflow tool, and VPN Accelerator made its debut. Nomad v2.1 builds on that foundation, delivering additional features and new functionality for remote editors and system administrators.

What’s new in Nomad v2.1:
VPN Accelerator is enabled by default — VPN Accelerator is the key to unlocking faster remote access to EVO. With the latest version of Nomad, users don’t have to remember to turn it on because it’s already enabled by default. VPN Accelerator for SNS Cloud VPN is now the standard, so a remote connection to EVO is secure and accelerated from the moment of login.

Proxy type identification — Slingshot, EVO’s built-in transcoder, can transcode high-resolution footage into ShareBrowser preview proxies, Apple-certified ProRes edit proxies or both. Nomad makes it easy to retrieve these proxy files so users can work offline with the appropriate proxy type for their editing needs. The new version of Nomad provides clear distinctions between downloading a ShareBrowser preview or an edit proxy. This is helpful when multiple proxy types are available for source media.

User experience — Nomad v2.1 also offers a cleaner, more efficient user experience, with new status displays and a toggle switch for VPN-accelerated peers. To save extra time, Nomad now remembers a user’s last VPN status and will log them back in to SNS Cloud VPN when reopening Nomad if they were previously connected when the application was closed. The new release also removes Nomad’s requirement for administrator-level OS privileges, making the entire workflow more accessible. (OS admin is still required when SNS Cloud VPN is active.)

Part of the EVO Suite, Nomad is included free with EVO for unlimited users.

 

Getting the Right Look for Oscar-Nominated Anatomy of a Fall

Securing the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and clinching five Oscar nominations, Anatomy of a Fall is a gripping family saga unraveling the startling collapse of an ordinary household. Under the helm of Justine Triet, her fourth directorial venture paints a dizzying portrayal of a woman accused of her husband’s murder, set amidst a suffocating ambiance. Graded at M141, colorist Magali Léonard from Chroma Shapers shares her workflow on this film, discussing both the artistic and technical details.

“Justine and director of photography Simon Beaufils reached out to me early on, even before the filming commenced, during the camera trials. I had previously collaborated on the grade for Justine’s Sibyl, a project where Simon also served as the lensman. This marked my second project with Justine and sixth with Simon,” says Léonard.

The director and DP worked closely with Léonard, who worked on Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio, throughout the entire post process, making sure the film’s feel translated to the screen.

“Justine envisioned a raw, contrasting narrative embracing imperfections and flaws, aiming to create something visceral and sensual,” explains Léonard. “This vision particularly manifested in the trial sequences, characterized by flushed skin tones, sweat and tangible fatigue.

“I translated that vision alongside Simon’s directives into the visuals, meticulously attending to facial expressions and skin tones,” she continues. “We closely collaborated in crafting a visual identity, starting with extensive camera trials during preproduction involving hair, makeup and costumes.”

During the initial phases, Beaufils conducted tests on 2-perf 35mm film, allowing Léonard to emulate the film’s appearance when calibrating the digital camera tests. “This served as the cornerstone to unearth the film’s ambiance and visual identity,” she says.

Triet and Beaufils opted for a large-format camera paired with Hawk V lite anamorphic lenses, despite the film’s aspect ratio of 1.85. “The anamorphic lenses infused a richness of colors, flares and distinct blurs, softening the digital sharpness of the sensor. Simon was a pleasure to collaborate with, crafting exquisite imagery encapsulating intricate emotions,” she adds.

“My approach to the visuals was iterative, manipulating contrast through DaVinci Resolve’s custom curves, followed by adjustments in colors, saturation, and highlights. Subsequently, I introduced grain to impart a more pronounced aesthetic, a process initiated from the rushes onwards, laying the groundwork for the film’s overarching mood,” Léonard shares.

Refinement and Collaborative Efforts
In the later stages of the digital intermediate process, Léonard revisited the nodes used to establish the visual identity for fine-tuning. “I ventured into more daring suggestions, striving to refine highlights and specular lights while infusing subtle diffusion. For instance, we enhanced the saturation in the blues while preserving the rawness inherent in the set design and costumes,” she elaborates.

For the courtroom sequences, the grade underwent an evolution mirroring the unfolding of the trial toward a denser, golden atmosphere. “It was crucial to accentuate the actors’ facial expressions while retaining the initial appearance of a slightly rugged and textured visual, a tangible and vibrant material,” says Léonard. “I embraced the notion of allowing the visuals to unfold their utmost potential as the narrative progresses.

“Throughout the grading process, we frequented the Max Linder Cinema to screen the film under theatrical conditions, gaining insights into the visuals and enabling me to make finer adjustments to the final look. For instance, through these screenings, we discerned that certain scenes would benefit from heightened saturation or contrast,” she concludes.

Versatile Opens Seamless LED Volume in Vancouver

Film production technology provider Versatile Media has opened a new virtual production facility in South Burnaby, part of the Vancouver metro area. The 44,000-square-foot building features two large soundstages, one of which houses what Versatile says is North America’s first enclosed volume with a seamless ceiling. The building houses a main stage with a bespoke LED volume; a secondary, 13,000-square-foot soundstage for use as traditional filming space; and 10,000 square feet of production offices.

The volume itself stands 83 feet wide and 29 feet high and has an immersive, 270-degree curvature. The seamless structure is equipped with the latest LED panels and technology and was purpose-built for large-scale film projects. Running on Nvidia’s GPU technology and using RTX 6000 Ada Generation GPUs, the facility’s technology supports filming at 8K resolution and can shoot with multiple cameras on-set.

What sets the new Versatile volume apart is the seamless integration of the ceiling and the wall, allowing for uninterrupted shot lensing across the entire volume. This means the ceiling is not just for reflections and lighting but a part of the in-camera framing.

To merge traditional, live-action workflows into the volume setting, ensuring that virtual production adapts to live action as closely as possible, Versatile collaborated with Vancouver-based rigging expert Dave McIntosh. McIntosh crafted the bespoke ceiling structure complete with essential catwalk platforms that ensure easy access to the ceiling portion of the volume.

McIntosh and Versatile worked together to engineer the mechanics of the unique ceiling, allowing efficient removal of LED panels so productions can seamlessly integrate diverse filming equipment. This adaptable solution ensures easy access to sets, makes it possible to suspend sets within the volume and facilitates the integration of lighting equipment. It also creates a convenient way for special effects teams to achieve complex and expansive shots and stunts.

“This adaptability opens up new possibilities for filmmakers using virtual production, making it easier to work on the volume and achieve complex shots,” says McIntosh. “It’s a great example of how collaboration in the film industry drives innovation.”

Versatile collaborated with Sohonet to provide production-grade connectivity and networking infrastructure that links Versatile’s Vancouver previsualization studio with the newly built Burnaby stages.