IBC REVIEW What we saw, what you missed definitionmagazine.com
£4.99
November 2017
SPECIAL RENTAL REPORT HOW THE
Reviews BMD FUSION 9 CORE SWX POWER G-TECH DRIVES SIGMA 50mm T1.5 HS PRIME LENS SAMSUNG T5 SSD
BUSINESS IS DEALING WITH CHANGE
Kingsman comes back
UN-BEARABLE
The tragedy behind Pooh sample cover.indd 1
SMART SCREENS
The latest monitor tech unveiled
WE WANT CREATORS Enter our short-film challenge
AUDIO MATTERS
More on-set processing please 02/10/2017 09:47
definition_november.indd 2
29/09/2017 09:56
03 RENTAL SPECIAL: Confessions from a rental company – what rents and why.
Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ UK
EDITORIAL EDITOR Julian Mitchell
01223 492246 julianmitchell@bright-publishing.com
CONTRIBUTORS Adam Garstone, Kyle Harper, Andrew Moore SENIOR SUB EDITOR Lisa Clatworthy SUB EDITORS Siobhan Godwood, Felicity Evans
ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Matt Snow
01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com
SALES MANAGER Krishan Parmar
01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com
ACCOUNT MANAGER Harriet Abbs
01223 499460 harrietabbs@bright-publishing.com
KEY ACCOUNTS Nicki Mills
43
01223 499457 nickimills@bright-publishing.com
DESIGN DESIGN DIRECTOR Andy Jennings DESIGN MANAGER Alan Gray DESIGNER Lucy Woolcomb
PUBLISHING MANAGING DIRECTORS Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck
MEDIA PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS OF
Definition is published monthly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Definition is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Definition that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted in sterling, euros and US dollars are street prices, without tax, where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.
@DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-003 (welcome)sg.indd 3
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
Welcome
We talk about the golden age of production in these pages and yes, it is happening; but spare a thought for the rental companies. In this issue we have asked a selection some searching questions about how they run their businesses and thanks to them for coming back with some very honest answers. The speed of innovation creates a new and quicker cycle of fresh equipment which rental houses have to assess and act on. Do they invest immediately or wait for the next round of equipment? Do they take a chance on a new manufacturer or a new line of equipment? The wrong decision can come back to bite you. Having said that, all the rental owners we talked to see the business as a ‘people’ one. The relationships they have with their clients are so important to both sides. It’s only then that you know what people need and which products are performing. Manufacturers in turn have to make products that are simple to understand, easy to see what market they fit into and are designed to last and not be in the workshop too much. Being a successful rental company means having your finger on the pulse of the industry and watching out for those risky new markets.
JULIAN MITCHELL EDITOR @DEFINITIONMAGS
NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:06
08
NEWS INTERVIEW
THE PANA VISION
We spoke with Kim Snyder, president of Panavision, about the growth of the famous rental company on multiple fronts
ABOVE Panavision’s only digital camera the Millennium DXL.
Definition: All aspects of production and delivery are changing, how is your business model changing to suit? Are your existing business models needing to change? Kim Snyder: Panavision is always evolving to better serve our customers. Our business model is designed to effectively and efficiently support filmmakers, and that’s the only constant. Today, our company – including Panavision, Light Iron, Panalux, Lee Filters and Digital Direct – offers unmatched end-to-end
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-008-010 (news interview) V2_FE.indd 8
products, service and speciality gear under one roof, making Panavision the ultimate one-stop shop. The depth and breadth of our global support is unrivalled. As filmmakers’ requirements change, we’re uniquely positioned to support them with the latest technology – or with legacy gear that can be adapted to work with today’s equipment and tailored to the artist’s vision. Definition: Since Panavision’s recapitalization in 2015, the DXL
camera has appeared. Are there any more investment areas you are looking at? Snyder: Clearly optics are extremely important in today’s market. Digital cameras and the growth of large-format cinematography have reignited interest in lenses, both old and new, and Panavision will continue to be at the forefront of lens development and innovation, as it has been for more than 50 years. Lenses are part of our heritage as a company, including large formats
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 10:11
09
INTERVIEW NEWS
and anamorphic cinematography. Millennium DXL has been successfully deployed around the world and the camera and its accessories are continuously being fine-tuned based on feedback from the field. We recently announced the world’s first HDR OLED Primo Viewfinder; a new colour spectrum filter, PX-Pro; and DXL Control, an iPhone app for remote camera control. In addition, we revealed a prototype for a fast, wirelessly controlled set of Primo Artiste lenses that covers the full 8K HDR image. Our priority is innovation with a focus on the tools filmmakers are asking for. Definition: What are the most important digital camera markets for Panavision – is it Super 35mm 4K or a higher resolution? Where does DXL fit in? Snyder: Of course, Panavision supports all markets. In keeping with our filmmaker-focused mindset, we strive to provide each customer with the right tool for the job. Cinematographers choose a given resolution, format or lens based on intuition and experience as much as technical specs. We’ll continue to offer as many options as they need.
@DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-008-010 (news interview) V2_FE.indd 9
That said, large format is the future, and no company has the track record that Panavision brings, from Lawrence of Arabia to Dunkirk. The Millennium DXL 8K camera offers tremendous creative flexibility, unique colour science and a proven workflow, and combined with our wide array of glass, delivers best-in-class imagery. Additionally, filmmakers are finding it well-suited for commercials and television productions as well as for features. Oscar-winner Linus
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
@DEFINITIONMAGS
Sandgren (FSF) and nominee Mihai Malaimare are among those who have recently used the DXL on high-end commercials. Given the high bar in today’s episodic imagery, as well as the need to protect some content for future delivery formats, we expect that trend to accelerate. Definition: Panavision’s lens hire is legendary – what is the key to a successful lens hire service? Snyder: Well, it starts with the lenses, and our inventory is unrivaled in quality and variety. When Robert Richardson, ASC, walks in and asks for something different, we’re going to have it on the shelf or design it. Equally important, our people are highly skilled, and they’re dedicated to making every shoot run smoothly, regardless of budget. We’ve been doing this a long time – you might say we helped invent it. Also, Panavision pioneered the trend toward customisation for a particular look or project. Dan Sasaki is known
WE STRIVE TO PROVIDE EACH CUSTOMER WITH THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB
ABOVE Panavision president Kim Snyder sees a bright future for the company. LEFT Panavision’s
large format lens range.
NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:11
18
SHOOT STORY KINGSMAN 2
The King Makers Matthew Vaughn’s answer to the spy comedy genre just got bigger and better. We talk to the team behind Kingsman: The Golden Circle to learn more WORDS JULIAN MITCHELL PICTURES TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-018-024 (kingsman 2).indd 18
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 10:13
KINGSMAN 2 SHOOT STORY
t’s fitting that the origins of the Kingsman films can be traced back to a scenario lifted straight from the first line of a joke: two men walk into a bar. The two men were director Matthew Vaughn and writer Mark Millar, and together, they agreed that the spy genre had become too serious, and that it needed a new offering that was a bit more fun. The result was 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service – a feature directed by Vaughn, based on a comic book co-written by Millar – filled with enough comedy, violence, and satirical nods to classic spy movies to keep an audience entertained the whole way through. Despite its relatively modest budget, The Secret Service won Best British Film at the Empire Awards that year. This year marks the return of London’s gentleman spy agency through its sequel – Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Along with stars like Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, returning to the Kingsman world is much of the crew that made the first film such a success behind the scenes. There’s Vaughn, who returned to direct and co-write the script, along with DOP George Richmond, DIT Joshua Callis-Smith and Goldcrest Post colourist, Rob Pizzey. With everything from a large number of VFX set pieces to multiple HDR deliverables to consider, Rob used DaVinci Resolve Studio to maintain the same slick, rich overall aesthetic as the first film, while also ensuring they gave the sequel its own unique look. As initial planning got underway for Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Matthew Vaughn and cinematographer George Richmond wanted to echo the memorably rectilinear visual style the duo crafted for 2014’s The Secret Service, while adding a sense of magnitude called for in the story. The Golden Circle takes the quintessentially British protagonists to America to team with US counterparts endowed with similarly exaggerated traits. Action is precisely choreographed,
ABOVE The main
camera was an ARRI ALEXA Studio with internal CODEX recorder capturing in ARRIRAW format to CODEX media.
THE GOLDEN CIRCLE TAKES THE QUINTESSENTIALLY BRITISH PROTAGONISTS TO AMERICA TO TEAM WITH US COUNTERPARTS @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-018-024 (kingsman 2).indd 19
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
and stylish in the extreme, which somehow modulates the violence. “It was very much in Matthew’s mind, even before we had the script, that the American side of this story was going to be bigger and better, at least in the minds of the American characters,” says George. “Bigger planes, bigger sets, bigger infrastructure. We scaled up, beginning with the art department, where production designer Darren Gilford brought that American flavour.” Matthew’s predilection for vanishing lines converging at the centre of the frame, especially in wide shots, factored in the design and the photography. This time around, the images have greater contrast and more saturated colours, in tune with the “more of everything” aesthetic. THE MAKERS “It was great to be working with the same team again, especially since The Golden Circle was a much larger proposition, and with a much bigger budget than The Secret Service,” says colourist Rob Pizzey. “The film stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron
@DEFINITIONMAGS
19
Egerton, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges and even Elton John. It’s also shot in multiple locations, as the plot involves the agents of Kingsman heading to the US to join forces with Statesman, Kingsman’s American counterpart. The villain of The Golden Circle, Poppy Adams, also lives in an amazing undiscovered ruin on the side of a mountain in Cambodia. “Ultimately, the fact that we we’re all already really good friends definitely allowed us to better handle the stresses involved with post on such a big film,” he continues. “Another major help was our stateof- the-art colour pipeline, which, as with The Secret Service, went from dailies through to delivery.” George surrounds himself with some of the industry’s best crew, including Mitch Dubin as camera operator, John ‘Biggles’ Higgins as gaffer and David Appleby as key grip. He also depends on DIT Josh Callis-Smith and Rob Pizzey to help achieve his vision. The DI was done at Goldcrest. “Rob has an incredibly keen eye for colour matching,” says George. “And Josh has been with me for six major projects, including the first Kingsman.” Josh Callis-Smith says that George’s approach is very colouroriented. “He likes his dailies to look as close as possible to how he wants the final outcome,” says the DIT. “So after we’ve worked from a live image, we generally bring them into Resolve and work with the raw negative on set. He calls that his mini-DI.” NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:14
26
SHOOT STORY GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN
Bear Necessities
Ninety years after the world first read about the characters from the Hundred Acre Wood, a British film is hitting cinemas revealing the back story WORDS JULIAN MITCHELL PICTURES FOX SEARCHLIGHT
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-026-030 (goodbye christopher robin) V2_FE.indd 26
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 10:16
GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN SHOOT STORY
elebrity culture is an interest to us all, however we might deny it, but in the 1920s outside of Hollywood there was no such thing. When A.A. Milne wrote about his son’s adventures in the woodland next to their home, he saw it only as a mild sedative for the deep hurt that the First World War had wrought on the country. Goodbye Christopher Robin turns the camera’s eye to the impact that this new phenomenon of celebrity had on the Milne family, especially Christopher himself. Although the stories of Winniethe-Pooh and his friends are globally loved, there is less known about the originators. This was the interest for DOP Ben Smithard, who saw the film’s narrative as no more or less than an historic biopic and devised the look accordingly. “It’s a story about this little boy and his family. It’s a family dynamic and the nanny, Olive, comes into it. This little boy was the most famous little boy in the world, when there were no famous little boys in the world. He was eight years old and at that age, back then, boys were never famous. He would never have known what was going on at that age. This is what fascinated me about the story – as you learn more about it and read the script the images pop into your head. “That little boy found a life beyond his family in the forest, in the woodland around the country house that they moved to from London. Historically, it’s a great story, very sad at the end, but it resonates in the modern world. This boy is shoved into this stardom and he has no idea what it is – all he wanted was his mum and dad.” Ben is no stranger to period pieces. He has recently shot two movies on 35mm, Viceroy’s House (about the transition of power from Britain to India) and The Man Who Invented Christmas (about Charles Dickens writing and self-publishing A Christmas Carol). But Ben decided to shoot digitally for this movie: “I didn’t think about film for this movie because the previous film that I shot was on 35mm. I’ve shot millions and millions of feet of film, so I don’t feel the necessity to shoot on film. I thought that digital was the right thing to do for this project.” LOOKING FOR A LOOK Having decided on a digital capture, Ben chose the ARRI Alexa Mini camera with Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
def-nov17-026-030 (goodbye christopher robin) V2_FE.indd 27
@DEFINITIONMAGS
to shoot it, but with the look always in his mind. “It’s a long process deciding how something should look: you speak to the director and most of the references you get are from photographs – that’s never changed throughout my career shooting features, it’s always photographs. I tried to find as many photographic references as I possibly could – sounds a bit dull really, but it’s not! “I guess the only movie reference that I used was The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick. It’s great, and so visual because there are literally only 20 lines of dialogue in the entire movie so your eye is always being pulled in by the visuals, and the visuals tell the story. I didn’t really have that luxury because there’s a lot of dialogue and a lot of story to get through. But there are moments that have the same type of gravity that The Tree of Life has. “It was easy for me to imagine this boy running around a forest, really easy. It’s a big part of the story because that’s where he created this world. I tried to make that forest pretty amazing by trying to imagine myself as an eight-year-old and how big the forest would be. If you look at a forest from an adult perspective, it’s different from what it would be if you were six, seven or eight years old. I hope I wasn’t trying to be too clever and I hope it works – I was trying to portray this forest as he saw it, on a much bigger scale than for an adult. So you’ll see that in the movie it’s a heightened realism – there was a reference from the studio about magical realism and it’s a tricky thing to define, you can take it in different ways and there are different methods of showing magical realism. But
27
I THOUGHT THAT DIGITAL WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR THIS PROJECT
LEFT Domhnall
Gleeson and Margot Robbie star as Alan Alexander and Daphne Milne.
NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:16
32
RECORDING MEDIA IN ASSOCIATION WITH SAMSUNG
TRAINING DAY
Soho Editors runs a freelance talent and training agency in London but a desire to take post work out of an office environment led them to the Samsung Portable SSD T3 drive oho Editors’ boss Rory Cantwell had a slight time problem. Someone in another country needed to do a presentation of the content of the 17-minute short film he was working on. Somehow he had to get 1TB of media – the raw rushes and optimised media from RED cameras, which was 5K, and GoPros – very quickly to someone in a hurry. Just as he was working through the problem and trying to find a solution, a Samsung Portable SSD T3 2TB drive arrived at his office. To say Rory was relieved would be an understatement. “It came in very handy in preparation for FCPX World. I was collaborating with another presenter and it was an ideal way to get the FCPX project to them. I expect that they will probably work directly off the drive
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-032-033 (samsung adv)_FE V2 ljc.indd 32
as the library is about 1TB and it is easily fast enough.” As we have found in this series of hands-on case studies with Samsung’s great portable SSD drives, once creatives have them in their hands, the ideas start to flow. “I was a little taken aback at how cute it was, how powerful it was and how fast it was,” says Rory. “I actually love it. Physically small but big in capacity. Light, fast, fantastically functional and fit for purpose. What more can you ask for? All in all, a great product: it feels like another quantum leap in storage. It’s very cool because it is fast enough to not have to move projects or media onto faster storage if you don’t need to and big enough to store fairly large projects which was always a problem for us with other drives.” DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 10:20
33
IN ASSOCIATION WITH SAMSUNG RECORDING MEDIA
TRAINING BENEFITS When you’re dealing with capacities above a single terabyte, professional video creatives start taking notice as with that amount of storage you can handle all the different video media for a single project on one drive. At Soho Editors they have traditional training rooms with a classic student/ teacher scenario. Usually mixed media will be loaded up to a student’s computer; with the Samsung Portable SSD T3 drive Rory has begun to see that potentially changing. “We populate the media usually from the large RAID storage in the corner onto a Thunderbolt drive then to the individual computers,” he explains. “But if we had a few of these Samsung drives we could easily hook one onto each of the workstations and the students would work from them. Life would be a little bit easier this way. “Because you don’t have to worry about powering the drive and you know it has the transfer speed and capacity you could then use the big storage just for backups. It would be much neater and a lot quicker to organise.” Rory also thinks that for times when they are training remotely the Samsung Portable SSD T3 @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
drives would be perfect. “You want something you can plug in and go and not watch something transferring for 20 minutes.” OUT OF OFFICE REPLY However, selfishly, Rory is looking to use the Samsung Portable SSD drive in other ways, too. “Having worked in post for around 30 years, mainly in studio environments, this drive is setting me free,” he says. “It allows me to work with my laptop anywhere, usually in the coffee shop over the road. This device is so small and cute that when you’re working outside the office you’re totally discreet. The USB-C interface is easy to deal with and you just blend in with all the other laptop workers drinking coffee. No one would know you are maybe editing part of a major movie. You don’t have to media manage but have everything you need on one drive and edit off it. It would be your ‘live’ drive so you are always live on each particular job, using your physically big drive as a backup. “Its size is critical, both the capacity and indeed the physical size. With these Samsung Portable SSD T3 drives and their 1TB and 2TB capacities you know it’s possible
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
def-nov17-032-033 (samsung adv)_FE V2 ljc.indd 33
@DEFINITIONMAGS
HAVING WORKED IN POST FOR AROUND 30 YEARS, THIS DRIVE IS SETTING ME FREE ABOVE & BELOW RIGHT Soho Editors
are finding that the Samsung Portable SSD T3 drive is the solution to many of their problems. BELOW LEFT Rory
Cantwell of Soho Editors.
even if you have more media to come, which is usually the case. “The evolution of the studio or office space is changing and I much prefer editing in say a coffee shop now. You can get distracted but not by someone you know so you’re not answering questions for ten minutes. You’re also not looking like you’re setting up for work, it’s very discreet.”
MORE INFORMATION: www.samsung.com/ uk/portable-ssd/allportable-ssd/ NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:21
34
GEAR GROUP VIDEO MONITORS
MONITOR MIGHT You could argue that video monitors have advanced more than any professional video kit in recent years. The influence of smartphones is obvious but not just because of ‘touch to operate’. Most panels now are sourced from consumer markets as that’s where the innovation is
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-034-038 (gear group) sbandljc.indd 34
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 12:49
VIDEO MONITORS GEAR GROUP
35
APUTURE ATOMOS V-SCREEN VS-5X SUMO19M
BLACKMAGIC VIDEO ASSIST 4K
Aputure is hard to nail down as a company. Its lights are finding homes in the biggest productions and the microphones are valuable alternatives to the market leaders; and then there’s the company’s range of monitors. We’ve picked the VS-5X, which is a seven-inch field monitor with both HD-SDI and HDMI inputs and outputs, 1920x1200 resolution, and a 160° viewing angle that makes it easy to monitor built-in functions such as waveform, vectorscope, RGB histogram, false colour, zebras and timecodes. This is a powerful device, enclosed in durable housing and at only $599 from the website the value is there. Similar to the rest of the Aputure FineHD line of monitors, the VS-5X offers a 1920x1200 resolution display. RGB waveform is the newest addition to the V-Screen’s list of visual optimisation functions, including two methods of displaying the data of your image: RGB parade and RGB overlay. Whatever method you choose, waveforms can help you accurately find the pixel-to-pixel colour values of your image. This makes it easier to calibrate your image’s white-balance, ensuring the highest quality control possible. Besides monitoring colour, the VS-5X also has the ability to display Zebras, False Colour, Peaking, a Volume Bar, and SDI timecode functions that can be used to better monitor your production workflow. Similar to the VS-5, the VS-5X has adopted a new dual battery system that can eject or mount batteries with the press of a button. Though it includes two slots, the VS-5X can be powered by a single battery as well. A separate optional DC 2.5mm adapter or V/A mount batteries with an included D-tap cable can also power the VS-5X. The monitor comes with a completely sealed sun hood with helpful light-absorbing fabric and similar to the VS-5, the VS-5X comes with its own mesh fabric mobile bag.
Some things seem to be astonishing value for money. Chips, Hyundais, the BBC and Blackmagic’s Video Assist 4k. The Video Assist 4k is a seven-inch LCD, battery-powered field monitor that also records up to 4k ProRes or DNxHD/ HR. It has HDMI 2.0a and 6G-SDI inputs and outputs, and records to SDXC or SDHC cards. It also has two balanced mini XLRs for audio input with reasonably high-quality mic-pres and phantom power. Whilst we’re talking about I/O, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a LANC connector as well. All this, in an attractive, sturdy, metal and plastic package, costs around £700, which is just over half the price of its nearest competitor – the Atomos Ninja Flame. The seven-inch, 1920x1080 touchscreen LCD is great but has a few issues. Although colour and tone rendition are lovely, the screen isn’t as bright as its competitors, and the finish is very reflective, both of which can cause problems on the sunniest of days. The touchscreen, however, is extremely positive and responsive. There is currently no facility to calibrate the display, unlike the Atomos; however this is not a grading monitor and I’m not convinced that the tiny colour shift that the unit will undergo over its lifetime would be worth tweaking out – certainly if it added to the purchase price. The Video Assist 2.5 Update adds support for professional vector scope, waveform monitoring, RGB parade and histogram. These new professional scopes can be viewed full screen for accurately evaluating video signals passing through Blackmagic Video Assist 4K, making it good for live production monitoring, as portable test scope for broadcasters, and even for balancing colour when colour grading using the RGB parade scope.
@DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-034-038 (gear group) sbandljc.indd 35
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
Perhaps it was Atomos more than any other company that gave the monitor a new lease of life by adding a recording element to it (Convergent Design too). But for those who have their recording managed comes their 19in Sumo19M HDR 1200 nit highbrightness production and studio monitor. The Sumo recorder/monitor was launched at this year’s NAB Show but the Sumo19M is being marketed as an affordable high-brightness production monitor with HDR capabilities, 3D LUTs and touch control. Sumo19M is a monitor-only variant of the Sumo19. Being optimised for monitoring, it has a reconfigured user interface and dual SDI inputs for A/B comparison. It shares the same screen, ergonomics and industrial design as its sister model, but without recording. As a result, the Sumo19M is set at a lower price point at around US$2k. The Sumo19M has a daylight-viewable 1920x1080 IPS screen capable with 1200 nits of brightness, combined with the ability to display a wide range of 4K and HD sources. The Sumo19M features ten-bit processing coupled with Atomos’ AtomHDR engine for HDR monitoring. You can set optimal exposure when exposing for Rec.709 or HDR material. There is a set of manufacturer-specific Log gamma settings pre-installed and custom LUTs for creative looks can be stored and displayed. These LUTs are loaded via a standard 2.5-inch drive placed in an Atomos Master Caddy. Their HDR slider allows users to examine Log images when shooting for either HDR or SDR. In SDR the slider can be used to set exposure to prevent excessive noise in shadow areas, or blown-out highlights. In addition, the Sumo19M has the full range of exposure and composition tools found on other Atomos 4K monitors. Waveform monitoring, zebras, 1:1 and 1:2 magnification, peaking and false colour. @DEFINITIONMAGS
NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 12:49
definition_november.indd 42
29/09/2017 10:00
RENTAL SPECIAL FEATURE
43
With a golden age of production upon us you’d think this was the best time to be running a rental company. We ask some rental experts to explain the challenges QUESTIONS JULIAN MITCHELL
Definition: How do you choose a new product as a rental item? Danny Howarth, Head of Sales & Technical Operations, ProVision: Brand loyalty plays an important part in both production’s choice of rental house and product. The market over the last seven years has been stable at the top end with the ARRI ALEXA family dominating the majority of our drama output. However, the push towards 4k acquisition has brought cameras like the F55 and Varicam35 into the mix. At the other end of the scale the Sony FS7 has certainly nudged the old faithful Canon C300 out of the way, due to its flexible codecs and recording options. Timing seems to be key; when manufacturers release the right spec camera at the right time it can take the market by storm. Barry Bassett, MD VMI: As a rental company we have a choice of whether @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
to lead the market and buy something upon its release or to wait and then buy once our customers start asking for it. Generally, this is quite easy with the likes of the ARRI ALEXA Mini and the Canon C300 Mark II but sometimes this is much harder when the new cameras don’t really improve very much on the existing product offerings, like with the Sony FS7 Mark II which is 99% the same camera as the Mark I or the Canon C200 which is a bit confused.
THE RIGHT SPEC CAMERA AT THE RIGHT TIME CAN TAKE THE MARKET BY STORM
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
def-nov17-043-049 (what's going on in rental?) V3sg.indd 43
@DEFINITIONMAGS
If we can’t understand the product line-up and roadmap, then how can we expect our clients to? Generally, the market has a few firm favourites and we tool up accordingly, preferring to have six or 10 of a given model than one or two. New technology like 3D, 4K and VR provides an avenue to incorporate a completely new strategy to the rental business but unknown markets brings new risk, so we have to be careful not to become distracted from the main business and subsequently overextend with ‘The Big Project’, as has happened to many companies before. Jeff Allen, Panavision UK: Technology and reliable companies come first, above all it must offer something new or save time. Darren Smith, Pinewood MBS Lighting: Lighting technology is evolving and every NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:23
54
ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE G-TECHNOLOGY
HOT NEWS FROM G-TECHNOLOGY! The latest IBC Show in Amsterdam has seen G-Technology make a number of landmark announcements that have the potential to improve storage beyond recognition s always the IBC Show was one of the highlights of the year for filmmakers, packed to the gills with new products, exciting announcements and tantalising pointers towards what’s to come. While landmark cameras might grab the headlines, much of the interest lies in the products that have a greater impact on the day-to-day lives of the working professional, and storage is one of those areas no one can ignore. One of the companies that has undeniably risen impressively to the challenge as imaging devices have become increasingly data hungry is G-Technology, and its innovative line-up of new products at IBC very much reflected its keen understanding of the market it serves and the real-life requirements of its filmmaking audience. RACKING IT UP One particularly eye-catching new announcement concerned the established G-Rack 12, a stylish media server with the capacity to provide a turnkey, fully-operational storage solution. This 12-bay NAS solution for content creation professionals managing libraries of video and audio has now made the step up to become a fullyfledged media appliance, thanks to
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-054-055 (g-tech adv)TH_FE.indd 54
the availability of a new Software Development Kit (SDK). Utilising the SDK, third-party partners can develop apps for the G-NAS operating system that can run natively on the G-RACK 12 and its dual 6-core Xeon processors. This effectively streamlines workflow and offloads media asset management tasks from local machines, removing the need to constantly move data back and forth. Already a handful of key strategic G-Technology partners have developed workflow solutions specifically for the G-RACK 12, and this is just the start of things to come. For example, Archiware, an expert in data management software, has integrated its P5 Software Suite to facilitate disaster recovery, data migration and archival options for media and entertainment workflows. “Only an automatic backup really protects your data,” points out Dr Marc Batschkus, Archiware’s business development manager. “Our P5 Backup solves this challenge and offers maximum flexibility with disk, tape and cloud storage as target. Long-term protection of assets needs an archive to centralise, reference, reuse and monetise media. With customisable metadata fields, thumbnails and proxies, P5 Archive gives you insight and access at any time from your browser.”
IMAGES Combining
performance and portability, the new R-Series SSDs.
Meanwhile Avalanche.io has announced that it will soon be possible to embed its innovative file management application into the G-RACK 12, making it one of the first storage solutions to fully implement the new SMPTE standard for asset identification, the Cinema Content Creation Cloud Identification System (C4 ID). Just as key codes or edge codes were formally used in film production to link edits and other data back to an exact frame on the original negatives, C4 IDs are unique fingerprints that provide a way to track digital files and the relationships between them. “Media production workflows are extremely demanding in their use of storage,” says Avalanche.io founder Joshua Kolden. “We created C4 ID and a file manager application for filmmakers to address the complexity of interacting with files that move between portable offline drives, high performance NAS, cloud and object storage systems. The G-Technology brand has a reputation for delivering great storage solutions that are perfect for content creators, so we are very excited for our collaboration to bring a completely integrated production tool that’s easy to use – and powerful.” DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 10:27
55
G-TECHNOLOGY ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
A third app comes from axle Video, a pioneer of affordable, ‘radically simple’ media management, which is enabling a version of its axle 2017 flagship media management software to run directly on the G-RACK 12, eliminating the need for an extra server appliance and simplifying facility management, space and logistics. “We’ve seen the tremendous strides made by G-Technology in the creative shared storage market with G-RACK,” said Sam Bogoch, CEO of axle Video. “Now their customers can easily gain even more value and further accelerate production speed by making all media instantly retrievable and usable by teams and clients located anywhere.” Alongside all this, the addition of new 12TB drives delivers 144TB G-RACK servers that, when combined with up to four G-RACK Expanders, is capable of delivering
a whopping 720TB of Raw capacity. It’s quite a package and one that has the potential to utterly transform the workflow of a small- to medium-size post-production studio. USB-C AND THUNDERBOLT 3 USB-C is the physical port that can support either USB or Thunderbolt 3 protocols at varying speeds, depending on the on-board controller (the latest MacBook Pros support full speed 40 Gbps). While Thunderbolt 3 ports support USB-C devices directly or at the end of a daisy chain, USB-C ports will not detect Thunderbolt. AN SSD FUTURE In recent years the development of SSDs has pointed the way to the future of storage on the go. These devices are not just compact and capable of remarkably high capacities but, crucially, they’re also highly robust, able to withstand the issues
THE POTENTIAL TO UTTERLY TRANSFORM THE WORKFLOW OF A SMALL TO MEDIUM-SIZE POST-PRODUCTION HOUSE @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-054-055 (g-tech adv)TH_FE.indd 55
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
@DEFINITIONMAGS
that can arise when you’re working in demanding environments. G-Technology’s new R-Series of SSDs combines high performance of up to 560MB/s for 4K and Raw storage and editing with rugged features that include IP67 dust- and water-resistance, 3m drop resistance on carpeted concrete flooring and 1000lb of crush resistance. Capacities of up to 2TB ensure that even if you might be restricted by your laptop’s drive size, you’ll still have plenty of capacity to work with. Design and performance go hand in hand with the robust aluminium enclosure, ensuring cool and consistent performance. The latest generation USB-C interface (USB 3.1Gen2) covers all bases as both USB-C and regular USB-A cables are included. To top it all off, it’s incredibly compact: just 9.5cm high, 5cm wide and 1.46cm deep, ideal for tucking away in a camera or laptop bag for mobile shoots. Emphasising the complete faith that G-Technology has in its new product, the R-Series SSDs come with a five-year limited warranty, which is two years longer than many rival products in this area, ensuring long-term peace of mind for the products’ end users.
IMAGES The SDK
makes the G-RACK 12 even more attractive, as third parties develop native apps and software to expand its potential.
MORE INFORMATION: www.g-technology.com NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 10:27
60
REVIEW FUSION 9
FUSION 9
Blackmagic Design continues its disruptive Fusion journey with its own camera tracker and a new price WORDS ADAM GARSTONE
have always found node-based composition software more intuitive than layer-based (such as After Effects), especially when it comes to 3D work. Blackmagic’s Fusion has gradually supplanted AE for me, not least because the (slightly) limited version is free, and Blackmagic has recently reduced the price of the full version to just $299. Fusion Version 9 brings a host of new stuff – amongst other things, the free version gets VR tools and new ProRes and H.264 file support, as well as OpenCL acceleration and some new keying tools. The paid-for Studio version adds multi-user, collaborative tools (including version control) and Camera and Planar tracking. There is so much stuff it’s impossible to cover it all here, but the new tracking tools are definite highlights. The new Camera Tracker addresses Fusion’s one major weakness. 3D camera tracking is such a major part of modern VFX workflows, its absence from Fusion was, at the least, an inconvenience for DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-060-062 (fusion 9 review)_FE.indd 60
ONCE THE TRACK IS COMPLETE YOU CAN VIEW AND DELETE ANY SPURIOUS TRACKS
its users. You had to do the track and solve in a third-party product, and then import the data into Fusion to do your compositing. You might imagine that Blackmagic would start by implementing a fairly simple tracker and then improve with future releases. However, the new node is already a surprisingly complete tracker, impressive given that – unlike many other Blackmagic products which came through corporate acquisitions – the Camera Tracker was developed entirely in-house. CAMERA TRACKER TEST I have a movie clip that breaks trackers. The clip has a camera move consisting of a simultaneous pull back, lift, pan right to left and a track left to right. Just to confuse the tracker even more, people walk in and out of frame. Only very highend camera trackers cope with it, so I didn’t expect Fusion 9 to manage much. However, within an hour I had a rock-solid track.
Much of this success comes from the Camera Tracker’s flexibility – and that flexibility is surprisingly easy to use. The first job is to add the Camera Tracker node and feed it the video from a Loader node. Like most Fusion nodes, you can hook up masks to exclude areas of the image from the tracking – useful to get rid of some of those people entering frame. The Camera Tracker node has five main tabs: • Tracking, where the basic tracking operations are carried out. • Camera, where you set up everything you know about your camera – film gate/sensor details, lens focal length and distortions, and so on. • Solve, which takes the tracking data and uses it to compute the camera move in three dimensions. • Export, which uses the camera solution to produce the relevant nodes for your composition. • Options – mostly viewing options to help you see the tracking details more clearly. DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 12:51
FUSION 9 REVIEW
So, once your video clip is connected to the Camera Tracker, you go to the Camera tab and set up everything you know about the camera and lens. The gate size and focal length are most useful here, though the more details you can supply the tracker, the better. Now head over to the Track tab. There is a handy Preview AutoTrack Locations tick box, which allows you to see in the viewer where the Camera Tracker will place track points. The view updates automatically as you change the Detection Threshold and Minimum Feature Separation parameters in the Track tab. The default values of these parameters seem to do a pretty good job with most source material, but getting a good track is an interactive process – you may need to come back and tweak them later. In particular, it’s useful to make sure you have plenty of tracking points on the floor of your image, as you’ll want to use them to align the final camera solution geometry to your footage. @DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-060-062 (fusion 9 review)_FE.indd 61
Clicking the Auto Track button kicks off the tracking – sadly this is pretty quick, so there’s no excuse for a tea break yet. Once the track is complete you can view and delete any spurious tracks – for instance those caused by reflections or things moving independently of the environment, like those pesky actors walking around. One useful option (in the Options tab) is Darken Image, which helps the tracks show up against your footage. Dodgy tracks can be colour coded to help with removing them. Now head over to the Solve tab. You can set filter parameters to select tracks and perform various actions, such as deleting them or setting their solve weight (a value of zero removes the track from the solve calculation but leaves it in the Point Cloud – useful if you want to peg something to the point later). Now run the solver. This can take a while – you might want to get the kettle on. There is a lengthy ‘pre-flight’ computation in which nothing appears to be
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
@DEFINITIONMAGS
ABOVE Version 9 of Blackmagic’s nodebased composition software, Fusion brings a host of new features - in both the free and paid-for editions.
61
happening – it’s likely that this is one area where Blackmagic can improve speed. The code appears to be singlethreaded – or, at least, it wouldn’t use more than one of my computer’s CPU cores. Hopefully there will be a point release that speeds this up. Once again, Fusion gives you some useful feedback on how successful your track is, with an Average Solve Error value (try to get it under a pixel) allowing you to clean up more spurious tracks and run the Solver again, should you need to. When you are reasonably happy with the solution, the Export tab is used to produce a node tree in your composition. The tracker can produce a 3D Camera node, a Point Cloud node and a Ground Plane node, all joined together with a 3D Merge node and a Renderer. It’s usually easiest if the tracker animates the Camera, but it’s possible to animate the Point Cloud instead. Before exporting these nodes, it’s best to set the Ground Plane to match the floor of your camera NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 12:52
74
4K CAMERA LISTINGS
DEFINITION’S 4K CAMERA LIST
As the professional video world moves towards 4K production and UHD broadcast we have the camera reference listing you need
ARRI ALEXA CLASSIC EV 120FPS
14 STOPS
PL MOUNT
2880x1620
ARRI ALEXA MINI
SxS
Even with the new SXT models coming on-stream this year, you can still buy or rent this original ALEXA model with the original great performing sensor. There are signs that the classic won’t be available for long, so be quick.
SPECIFICATION
200FPS
14 STOPS
PL MOUNT
2880x1620
SxS
New features include the EXT Sync function, which allows sensors and operational parameters of up to 15 ALEXA Minis to be synchronised to a master ALEXA Mini. Slaves can assume parameters like frame rate, shutter angle or ND setup of the master.
SPECIFICATION
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
Single CMOS, 16:9 (1.78:1), 23.8x13.4mm – S35
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
Single CMOS, 16:9 (1.78:1), 23.8x13.4mm – S35
FRAME RATES
0.75–120fps (120fps with paid-for update)
FRAME RATES
Up to 200fps in ProRes
LATITUDE (STOPS)
14
LATITUDE (STOPS)
14
LENS MOUNT
PL
LENS MOUNT
PL, EF, B4 w/ Hirose connector
DIGITAL SAMPLING
2880x1620, uncompressed ARRIRAW/1920x1080
DIGITAL SAMPLING
2880x1620, uncompressed ARRIRAW/1920x1080
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
3.2K: 3200x1800; 4K UHD: 3840x2160 (up-sampled from 3.2K); 4:3 2.8K: 2880x2160 (up to 2944x2160)
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
3.2K: 3200x1800; 4K UHD: 3840x2160 (up-sampled from 3.2K); 4:3 2.8K: 2880x2160 (up to 2944x2160)
WEIGHT (KG)
6.3 with PL mount
WEIGHT (KG)
2.3 with Titanium PL mount
DEFINITION NOVEMBER 2017
def-nov17-074-081 (camera listings)_FE.indd 74
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
29/09/2017 12:57
75
4K CAMERA LISTINGS
ARRI ALEXA SXT EV 120FPS
14 STOPS
PL MOUNT
2880x2160
ARRI ALEXA SXT W
SxS/SXR
SXT ALEXAs get the sensor from ALEXA, the electronics from the A65 and the colour management from AMIRA. In-camera rec is ProRes 4K UHD/CINE. A direct response to requests for cutting-edge digital capture with traditional elements of the film cameras.
SPECIFICATION
120FPS
> 14 STOPS
PL MOUNT
2880x1620
SxS
Based on the ALEXA SXT Plus, the SXT W has replaced the SXT Plus and Studio models with an industrial version of the Amimon chipset for wireless transmission. ARRI has ruggedised the W mainly for feature work.
SPECIFICATION
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
16:9 or 4:3 sensor mode. 4:3 output only for ARRIRAW and ProRes 2K recording
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
16:9 or 4:3 sensor mode. 4:3 output only available for ARRIRAW and ProRes 2K recording
FRAME RATES
At 16:9 – 0.75-120fps/60fps max when recording 2K ProRes/speeds adjustable with 1/1000fps precision
FRAME RATES
At 16:9 – 0.75–120fps/60fps max when recording 2K ProRes/speeds
LATITUDE (STOPS)
14+
LATITUDE (STOPS)
+14
LENS MOUNT
54 mm stainless steel LDS PL mount
LENS MOUNT
PL
DIGITAL SAMPLING
2880x2160 uncompressed ARRIRAW
DIGITAL SAMPLING
2880x1620, Uncompressed ARRIRAW/1920x1080
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
SxS PRO 64GB; SxS PRO+ 64GB; SxS PRO+ 128GB; LEXAR 3600x CFast 2.0 cards 256GB; XR Capture Drives 512GB; SXR Capture Drives 1TB & 2TB
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
16-bit linear internal image processing in full ALEXA Wide Gamut/Log C colour space. Target output colour spaces: Log C, Rec. 709 or Rec. 2020
WEIGHT (KG)
6.9 with PL mount
ARRI ALEXA 65 60FPS
> 14 STOPS
XPL MOUNT
5120x2880
ARRI AMIRA SXR/XR
With a sensor larger than a 5-perf 65mm film frame, ALEXA 65 heralds the start of Digital IMAX. Now shooting as a main production camera for Netflix, Amazon and the rest. Only available exclusively through their global network of rental facilities.
SPECIFICATION
200FPS
14 STOPS
PL MOUNT
2880x1620
CFAST
Amira is now split up into standard, advanced and premium. Features include in-camera grading with preloaded 3D LUTs, as well as 200fps slow motion. From reportage and corporate films to TV drama and low-budget movies. Multicam mode too.
SPECIFICATION
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
ARRI A3X CMOS sensor, 54.12x25.58mm active image area. Open Gate aspect ratio of 2.11:1 (6560x3100)
SENSOR – FORMAT AND SIZE
Single CMOS, 16:9 (1.78:1), 28.17x18.3mm – 35 format
FRAME RATES
Capable of recording 20-60fps (open gate) using new SXR media. XR drives allow 27fps
FRAME RATES
Up to 200fps in ProRes
LATITUDE (STOPS)
14+
LATITUDE (STOPS)
14
LENS MOUNT
ARRI XPL mount with Lens Data System (LDS)
LENS MOUNT
PL, B4 mount w/ Hirose connector
DIGITAL SAMPLING
1.78 crop mode (5-perf 65mm): 5120x2880 and 1.50:1 crop mode – 4320x2880
DIGITAL SAMPLING
2880x1620, uncompressed ARRIRAW/1920x1080
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
Codex SXR Capture Drive 2000 GByte capacity Max. frame rate capability: 60 fps (Open Gate) Recording time: 43 minutes at 24 fps
RECORDED BIT DEPTH FORMAT AND TIME
HD 1920x1080, 2K 2048x1152, 3.2K ProRes 3200x1800 4K UHD 3840x2160
WEIGHT (KG)
10.5 kg | 23.2 lb
WEIGHT (KG)
4.1 with PL mount
@DEFINITIONMAGAZINE |
def-nov17-074-081 (camera listings)_FE.indd 75
@DEFINITIONMAGS |
@DEFINITIONMAGS
NOVEMBER 2017 DEFINITION
29/09/2017 12:57