June 2015 • V.30 | No.2
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
2.0
Hunger Games! District 13 gets lit up The Route 30 Trilogy Sinatra and Steve Jobs in Post
2015 Exhibits Seminars Demonstrations Film Series Competition New Product Introductions Technical Awards Networking Special Events
Cine Gear Expo 2015 Los Angeles
June 4 - 7, 2015 The Studios at Paramount Hollywood, CA
Cine Gear Expo 2015 New York City
September 24-25, 2015 The Metropolitan Pavilion New York, NY www.cinegearexpo.com info@cinegearexpo.com
Markee2.0
June 2015
volume 30 | Number 2
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
co n t e n t s w w w. m a r k e e m a g a z i n e . c o m
10 fea tu res
06
20
Lighting
Lighting Up The Hunger Games: Mockingjay A look at some of the tools used to capture the Rebellion Against the Capitol in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 Tom Inglesby
10
Audio
Getting Sound Right
Film and video have progressed rapidly into the digital age, but they still have a long way to go to catch up with the capabilities of audio. Tom Inglesby
16
Cinematography
Short Timer
When you put your mind to something and go all in, it’s amazing what you can achieve in a short amount of time. Ron Bronski
2 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Markee2.0
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
34 feature s
20
Spotlight: Route 30-Pennsylvania
Not the Road Trip you Expect
An award-winning filmmaker finds creative freedom in making micro-budget movies right down the road from his childhood home. Tom Inglesby
26
Markee 2.0 is a results-driven magazine that has been published since December 1985. A nationwide survey of film and video industry professionals revealed that Markee 2.0 is at the top of their must-read list. Editorially, Markee 2.0 offers a wide range of content tailored for its diverse readership. Features span film and video production and postproduction topics to include must-read interviews with leaders in the creative community, the latest equipment and technology news, perspectives on innovative independent filmmaking, and in-the-trenches reports on shooters, editors, animators and audio pros – plus regularlyscheduled specialty supplements. Markee 2.0’s seasoned writers know the industry inside-out. That’s what makes Markee 2.0 compelling, informative and timely reading.
www.markeemagazine.com
Business
What you need when you need it
Major studios have warehouses filled with equipment—often aged and some in the realm of antiques. Indie producers know they can get the latest gear by renting it. Ty Ford
30
NAB-Cinematography
Considerations for On-Camera Monitors
NAB 2015 saw many companies in one segment of filmmaking moving into other areas with innovative and evolutionary products. Paul Isaacs
34
Production
Versatility in Action
Post-production shops have to be versatile enough to handle any project, often multiple projects at the same time, each unique in its own way. T. Hunter Byrd w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[On The Cover]
We may be late to the Hunger Games’ party but our in-depth coverage of the lighting techniques used in Mockingjay-Part 1 should prove valuable. And who could resist having Jennifer Lawrence on the cover?
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 3
Markee2.0
from the editor
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
| By Tom Inglesby
www.markeemagazine.com LIONHEART PUBLISHING, INC. 506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060 Tel: 770.431.0867 Fax: 770.432.6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com www.markeemagazine.com
Location, Local, Location The real estate sales mantra, “Location, Location, Location!” can fit nicely with the independent filmmaker’s mantra, “Keep It Cheap.” The majors can send scouts to find just the right location for a film or TV show based on the script writer’s concepts. It often seems that the big budget productions send crews and actors around the world looking for the perfect spot to resemble another spot that didn’t quite look like what it was supposed to look like, even though it was the actual spot being portrayed. Case in point: shooting the latest Pirates of the Caribbean… in Australia. Or Portland, Ore., sited for Boston in the TV show Leverage. Okay, we recognize that several factors come into play when a studio looks for a site for a project that, according to the writer—or the author of the book that the project is based upon—is a particular city or area. For obvious reasons, Game of Thrones and The Hobbit are not going to be shot in Westeros and Middle Earth, respectively. The former travels to Northern Ireland, Spain, Morocco, Iceland, and Croatia while the multiple parts of the Lord of the Rings franchise have been shot in New Zealand and touched up in the UK. But why choose these locations over others? Often that come down to money, or to put it in the term many producers prefer, incentives. Where will they offer the best tax breaks, local crew rebates, quickest and easiest permitting, and so forth? States compete to land those blockbusters-in-the-making and some literally go broke doing so. Not the whole state, but the film commission office, where the budgets can fluctuate wildly yearto-year and success is measured in tourist influx. Few locations, outside of LA, Las Vegas and NYC, have achieved this better than Albuquerque. The six-year run of Breaking Bad has made “Duke City” a choice vacation destination for fans to come and explore the sites familiar to them from the show. Car wash, anyone? Scenery, of course, plays a role in the choices producers make. How exotic, how typical, how outlandish; the camera can catch it all in long shot and close up. Game of Thrones seems to pick shooting sites for the visuals, uncommon to most of the world, that convey an other-worldly—or at least other time—feeling. And once the fans find out where those scenes were shot, the tourist trade goes up. And find out they do with fan sites on the Internet hounding the production for inside information. But those are big studio productions. What about the indie producer? Not likely to have a budget big enough for the film and location scouts, many turn to another mantra, that of Fiction Writing 101: “Write what you know.” Or in paraphrase: “Go where you know.” That can help in many ways, not the least of which is cutting travel costs. Shoot in your home town and you can go home every night. Well, maybe not. Check out the philosophy of John Putch in this issue’s Spotlight feature. His low-budget shorts were shot in his hometown area, southern Pennsylvania, but still required cast and crew to stay in hotels and motels. And that brings up another cost savings, if you have the chutzpah to work on it: trade outs. “No promises, but we can make (fill in name of motel, restaurant, car wash) famous by showing it in our film. Oh, in return, we sure could use (fill in trade: sleeping rooms, meals, car washes) on the house.” Hey, it works for travel writers…
4 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Publisher John Llewellyn llewellyn@lionhrtpub.com Editor/Associate Publisher Tom Inglesby tom@markeemagazine.com Executive Editor Cory Sekine-Pettite cory@lionhrtpub.com Director of Sales and John Davis Marketing Companies L-Z jdavis@lionhrtpub.com 770.431.0867, ext. 226 Advertising Sales Aileen Kronke Companies A-K aileen@lionhrtpub.com 888.303.5639, ext.212 Art Director Alan Brubaker albrubaker@lionhrtpub.com Assistant Art Director Jim McDonald jim@lionhrtpub.com Online Projects Manager Patton McGinley patton@lionhrtpub.com
Assistant Online Leslie Proctor Projects Manager leslie@lionhrtpub.com
Marketing/Reprints Kelly Millwood kelly@lionhrtpub.com Subscriptions Amy Halvorsen amyh@lionhrtpub.com
Markee 2.0 (ISSN 1073-8924) is bi-monthly digital publication published by Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
Subscription Information – For a free subscription to Markee 2.0 and Markee 2.0 eNews, sign up at: www.markeemagazine.com Click on Subscriptions. Copyright © 2015 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. The copyright owner, however, does consent to a single copy of an article being made for personal use. Otherwise, except under circumstances within “fair use” as defined by copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced, displayed or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, Lionheart Publishing, Inc. Send e-mail permission requests to cory@lionhrtpub.com. Disclaimer – The statements and opinions in the articles of this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lionheart Publishing, Inc. or the editorial staff of Markee 2.0 or any sponsoring organization. The appearance of advertisements in this magazine is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised.
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
specialty advertising
F
Sarasota County Film Office
ILMMAKERS LOVE TO LEARN THAT SARASOTA COUNTY OFFERS A ONE-OF-A-KIND, UP-TO-100% CASH REBATE incentive program for projects of every budget. That’s helped to grow the number of productions served to over two thousand and the economic impact to more than $40 Million, since the Sarasota County Film & Entertainment Office (film commission) was created in 2007. Additionally, Sarasota County’s allure is its multiple “identities” of Paradise and The Cultural Coast of Florida, as productions often seek extraordinary locations and find those there. When it comes to “Paradise,” lots of places use the word without genuinely earning the title. What is Paradise? A place of beauty, extraordinary quality of life, enjoyment and delight, wonderful weather in a gracious environment, abundant amenities, stunning nature, stimulating arts and culture, plentiful pastimes and pursuits, recreation and relaxation, stunning visual elements…
In Sarasota County, Florida, on the west coast, they back up their “Paradise” claim with impressive reality, not just words. Repeatedly, geographic locations’ diversity surprises visitors. For example, Sarasota County’s #1 rated snowy white “sugar sand” beaches and miles of breathtaking sunsets into the pristine waters of the Gulf of Mexico along five barrier islands, draw devotees. A subtropical jungle with a winding river and a rope footbridge in the treetop canopy, surrounded by thousands of acres of hiking and biking, camping and exploring, as well as botanical gardens, fishing, boating, marinas, birding, kayaking and more, fill the hearts of outdoors/nature-lovers. Sports enthusiasts can find it all from more golf courses than they could ever likely play to tennis, cycling, swimming, baseball & softball, soccer, Bocce (even Pickleball!), to the more unusual pastimes of equestrianism, polo, cricket, skydiving, rowing, sculling, even the upcoming modern Pentathlon.
Architectural styles run the gamut from historic registry buildings to trapezoidal shapes, mid-century modern to 1920’s Venetian Gothic, Contemporary, Neoclassical, Georgian, Tudor and Mediterranean Revival, to pastel cottages and bungalows, bold ranches, mansions, and so much more. Sarasota County is also justifiably known as “The Cultural Coast.” Theaters and performing arts abound, feeding aficionados of circus, opera, ballet, Broadway, improv, contemporary and diverse live theater, orchestras and symphony, jazz, chorale, chamber music, classical, modern dance, concerts, and more. Festivals thrive, from film, food, wine, chalk street art, to multidisciplinary performance, Scottish Highlands games, and a parade of others. Embellish all of that with world-class Ringling Museum of Art, galleries, sculptures and statuary, and you have just a glimpse of Sarasota County.
A look at some of the tools used to capture the Rebellion Against the Capitol in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
6 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Lighting Up
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY By Tom Inglesby When Jo Willems SBC, director of photography, and his crew were shooting in Atlanta, Paris, and Berlin to create the “new world order” of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, they used an array of proven tools of the trade. Like most professionals, Willems and his crew had their preferences based on years of experience. To paraphrase the old cliché, they needed “Lights! Camera! Power!” Belgium-born Willems, DP for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay - Part 2 teamed up with Dave Thompson, SOC, on the three films with Thompson as A camera and Steadicam operator. Gaffer Walter Bithell is another [Above] key member of Willems’ crew for The Hunger Gaffer Walter Bithell (left) confers with DP Jo Willems on the set of Games franchise, as well as other features and TV Mockingjay. pilots. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 7
Lighting
[Above] Bithell used a variety of lighting formats for Mockingjay, including light panels and bricks.
[Above] DP Wilems found ways to balance lighting when sunlight and interior light had to work together.
8 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
A film like Mockingjay, shot in many locations, indoors and out, requires a variety of lighting. Bithell included two of his own Litepanels 1x1 LS Bi-Color panels as part of the main lighting package for the production, plus one each of the MiniPlus Daylight Spots and Floods, popularly known as “bricks.” A longtime Litepanels user, Bithell bought his fixtures nearly six years ago, and notes that they were well utilized on Mockingjay. “I had Litepanels or panel lights over 150 times in my notes for the film,” he says. “District 13 is all underground, and everyone uses light very sparingly. We used Litepanels in the Collective when President Coin addresses the residents of District 13, and in the bunker when District 13 is being bombed pretty heavily. They were used for close ups and for walk-and-talk lights. There were also a lot of elements on computer screens or wall monitors in sequences of the movie, and sometimes we’d use Litepanels to feel the light off the screens. We ran them using remote cables with individual mini-controllers so we could adjust the intensity on the fly to give the illusion of a screen with broadcast content.” There’s a close up of Katniss (played by Jennifer Lawrence) in the cafeteria watching a promo video showing that Peeta (played by Josh Hutcherson) is still alive. The camera moves in on her to get a close up, and a Litepanels 1x1 imitates the light coming off the monitor screen. “It’s very subtle, but very effective,” acknowledges Bithell. Litepanels MiniPlus bricks were used inside the hovercrafts where the tight spaces and extreme angles made it hard to accommodate any other type of fixture. “We also used bricks in the bunkers and the Command Center when they’re monitoring Katniss,” Bithell adds. “We used bricks and panels in the living quarters of District 13, including the Everdeen quarters, and the place where Effie Trinket lives. The lights are very fast, can be configured quickly and offer very specific and accurate control of intensity and color. We always had Litepanels ready to act as an extra light or an eye light. If we were ready to roll and found it was too dark and needed a quick solution, we just grabbed Litepanels.” Willems, who calls himself “a longtime tungsten kind of guy,” began using considerable amounts of LED lighting on his last few films. “Litepanels are always part of our kit now,” he reports. “They’re flexible, small and don’t use a lot of power. They’re very easy to bring in at a moment’s notice. And I like the bricks for eye lights and close ups.” Bithell had 12 Anton/Bauer DIONIC HCX batteries on hand to power the Litepanels 1x1s, which require six batteries each. “Light batteries have to run for a long time. I typically carry a dozen so I can instantly swap them out and keep the lights going,” he says. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 was shot with ARRI ALEXAs as A, B and C cameras, as well as for 2nd unit photography. Willems chose OConnor 2575 fluid heads for scenes requiring pedestals or dollies; the rest of the movie was captured either hand-held or with a Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
stabilization rig. Willems notes, “I started using the 2575 in the late 1990s, and it’s been my go-to fluid head ever since. In fact, I can’t remember using anything else.” Thompson, who has his own OConnor gear, adds, “The 2575 is a great head; it’s the only one you can do an absolute circle with.” He explains, “Frankly, I don’t even think about it. It’s the kind of equipment that, if well serviced, is going to perform flawlessly in any weather condition—and on Mockingjay we had the most extreme conditions: dust, dirt, rain, and freezing temperatures.” The ALEXA is noted for requiring a lot of power. Thompson says, “It’s a power-hungry camera, that’s for sure. But we adapted. Our focus puller, Trevor Loomis, makes battery belts that are Anton/Bauer-friendly. We just snapped in their DIONIC HC 90s. The batteries are lightweight and durable. We traveled the world for Mockingjay, experienced every weather scenario, and finished the show with the same batteries we had when we started.” When Thompson began working with camera stabilization systems, he originally deployed another brand of batteries to power his camera and sled. “I switched to Anton/Bauer because they were available around the world,” he explains. “I discovered that I didn’t have to think about my batteries; I’d just power up and go. There’s something about the battery—if it says it’s charged, it’s going to last.” “Ninety-five percent of the batteries I see on sets are Anton/ Bauer,” Bithell adds. “They’re the ‘Google of batteries.’ Everyone around the world knows them.” “The biggest compliment for a piece of equipment is that it’s reliable and that you aren’t aware of it on set,” concludes Willems. “It’s important that your arsenal of tools can let you focus on the image. There are plenty of variables on a set that you have no control over, so I trust my crew to get the best equipment.”
[Above] Left: Jennifer Lawrence stars as ‘Katniss Everdeen’ in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
(Photo Credit: Murray Close)
Right: Julianne Moore (“President Alma Coin”) stars in Lionsgate Home Entertainment’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.
(Photo Credit: Murray Close)
[Above] Dave Thompson, SOC, (center) did A camera and Steadicam work.
NEWS & NOTES
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay saga The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was in theaters November 2014 and on DVD/Blu-ray/On Demand in March 2015. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is due for theater release in November 2015. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 9
GETTING
SOUND RIGHT
10 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Film and video have progressed rapidly into the digital age, but they still have a long way to go to catch up with the capabilities of audio.
By Tom Inglesby
“I believe audio is the most important aspect for moving an audience.” Naturally, those are the words of an audio producer, director, and engineer. With more than 25 years of writing and producing musical scores, re-recording, mixing, developing sound design, editing, writing and directing, Mark Edward Lewis has a unique perspective on how to create high production value for independent productions. Lewis’ mastery of all aspects of audio production has numerous showcases. One of a new breed of directors who approaches storytelling from an “audio first” context, his projects have an emotional impact that few other directors exhibit. His mantra is simple: “Post-production begins in pre-production.” When not on the road, Lewis works in Los Angeles as a filmmaker and a post-production supervisor. This gives him a chance to oversee and develop creative audio content whether in sound design, mixing, music,
[Left] Seeing sound can be a revelation for visual-oriented filmmakers.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 11
Audio or sound editing. His most recent work includes episodes for Star Trek: New Voyages including “Kitumba, The Holiest Thing,” and “Mind-Sifter,” which he also directed. He is the post-production supervisor on Space Command, and will be directing Star Trek: Torment of Destiny in July, 2015. Lewis also has a passion for education. He has presented training sessions on sound production and is part of MZed’s Sound Advice Tour with his friend Frank Sarafine. In these day-long classes, the participants study the hows and whys of film/video sound, scouting locations, choosing mics and placing them, field and studio recording, stereo and surround sound, and minimizing problems during the recording to speed up post-production. When we spoke with Lewis, we asked why he was so involved with educating the next generation of audio producers. “People don’t understand much about audio,” he lamented. “In order to really create the kind of powerful media that most independent directors and producers want to create, it’s imperative that they investigate and develop skills around audio. On the
12 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Sound Advice tour, we go for eight hours into just about every intuitive and non-intuitive aspect of producing audio, editing it, recording it, mixing it, and fixing it, including music and Foley work. These are things that big-budget films use every day of the week, but independent films usually miss.” Audio has been a concern of filmmakers who have entered, usually very enthusiastically, into the digital age. “How will audio keep up with the 4K and 8K movies we are making?” is a common question. Lewis has an answer, not necessarily one those producers want to hear. “We talk about this in the tour, how your brain can be fooled into thinking that animation occurs at about thirteen frames a second. In audio, your brain won’t be fooled unless you get above 32,000 frames a second. For the last ten years or so,
1.888.615.8729 w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
NASHVILLE / NEW YORK / LONDON LOS ANGELES / PARIS / SALT LAKE CITY / HAMBURG
Audio
[Above] Whether on location, in the studio, or behind the camera during a green-screen shoot, the audio needs to be unobtrusive but in the right place.
14 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
we’ve been working at what is, in essence, equal to 8K for video. So it’s actually video that’s catching up with audio.” That decade Lewis refers to saw an explosion of new technology on both the video—and film—and audio side. Is the audio recording and mixing equipment keeping up? “There are always new manufacturers that are very happy for you to spend your money on their technology. On the tour, we’re sponsored by some of the most prestigious and well-respected manufactures of that gear in the world—Roland, Zoom, and Sony. In fact, we have giveaways for some of that stuff. We’re talking about the Roland R-88 field recorder, the Zoom H5 and H6, and all of the UWP and DWR Sony wireless equipment. It’s the cutting-edge stuff, and we’re taking it all around the country, demonstrating how to use it to best advantage.” The basic piece of audio equipment is and always has been the microphone. Like the saying goes, it’s right in the actor’s face. Lewis gets technical when asked about the evolution of microphones for digital. “If you’re going digital, not using film, not rolling tape, then we have to have some kind of digital transduction. With video, it’s gone to all kinds of digital devices that basically capture photons. In the audio world, we’ve really yet to get better than the simple diaphragm for transducing voltage—in other words, the microphone. Sound pressure, what sound really is, only does a few things and if you can capture the waves of sound pressure and do it very well, that’s all you need. The rest of it is all about how you’re processing those signals once they’re digitized. So we’re still using microphones.” He continues, “We don’t have any kind of weird technology to record audio. It’s still microphones, whereas cameras have gone in all kinds of different crazy ways to try to capture all of those photons, all the waves and particles of light. We really don’t need that. We are using shotgun mics; we’re using lavalier mics; we’re using big, large diaphragm studio mics; and we’re still using ribbon microphones, not necessarily on set, but certainly in the studio. And that’s about it.” The world of mixing and post-production audio has gone a long way from the analog days. Now everything seems to be done on computers. “Well, yes, that part has completely changed. The production side hasn’t really changed that much, but the processing of audio in post-production, that’s very different—every day is a new breakthrough. We’re demonstrating some of the most outrageous and magical, for lack of a better term, series of plug-ins from manufactures such as iZotope and Zynaptiq. Not only that, we’re doing three-dimensional audio and 3-D audio in headphones on our tour, as well as in production.” Lewis adds, “Audio has almost daily breakthroughs. Frank talks about when he was on Brainstorm, Natalie Wood’s last movie. They had a really, really noisy camera, and when Frank complained, ‘You’ve got this noisy camera. What are we going to do?’ the director said, ‘Oh, don’t worry. We’ll have her come in, and we’ll just replace all of her dialog in ADR (automated dialog replacement).’ Well, of course, Natalie was no longer available—she died! So what Frank and the team had to do was literally take cotton swabs with alcohol to the audio tape portion of the film to rub out the camera clicks.” How many hundreds if not thousands of hours that must have taken! “Well, it’s still a problem,” Lewis admits, “but we actually show how we can change that with today’s technology. We just open a plug-in in Adobe AudiFilm • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
tion or Pro Tools, and it pretty much takes care of it in a few clicks and in a few minutes, the problem is gone. It’s a wild new frontier for post-production in audio.” He is quick to acknowledge, “As far as I can tell for the foreseeable future, we’re going to continue using microphones and recorders much like what we have now, just with more bells and whistles. But in post-production, boy, it’s very, very exciting.” Lewis goes on to explain, “We’re seeing the advent of 3-D audio. Today, I am doing a 5.1 surround mix for a production and I will be doing it in headphones in my hotel room—and it will sound just fine because I have the ability, through 3-D audio, to mix in headphones anywhere I want. We’ll take the mix to a studio in the end and do a final check, but the idea that, if we have good headphones, we can mix anywhere—in a hotel room, in a car, in an airport, and, of course, in a nice studio. That really changes the workflow because now, as a director, I can be on set mixing and making sure that the audio is going to be what we want it to be, and that’s very exciting.” We’ve come a long way from the old “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it in the mix.” Or have we? “We always worry about it. On the tour, we spend three hours in the morning telling people, ‘Don’t say fix it in the mix, because if you don’t have to, you’ll save thousands of dollars.’ It still takes time. It’s not immediate. There’s no magic button that you click. We still haven’t developed a ‘sound-good button,’ especially when the original track is recorded badly.” We’ve come a long way since 1966 when Ray Dolby introduced his noise reduction processor, or 1971 when A Clockwork Orange was the first film to use Dolby’s invention. In fact, we have come farther faster. As Lewis says, “In the last five years, the world of post-production audio has completely changed.” w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Mark Lewis at the keyboard.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 15
Cinematography
Denny Wong
SHORT TIMER When you put your mind to something and go all in, it’s amazing what you can achieve in a short amount of time. By Ron Bronski 16 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Born in the San Francisco Bay area, Denny Wong is a director who works in a viscerally expressive vein of realism. A theme he explored, both in his film Sta y Awhile and du r ing the making of it, was achieving a lot in a short time. Stay Awhile is a short film about a man and a woman who, having only met recently, decide to take a chance and spend 31 days together. They consciously choose to enjoy and connect with each other as best they can despite the temporary nature of the arrangement. As Wong puts it, “it’s a short film about the things you can do in a short amount of time.” While there were a variety of reasons Wong wanted to make the film, the biggest one was because he thinks that letting go of things is hard. “I think we as a culture tend to gravitate toward an all or nothing attitude. It’s our very possessive nature that makes us want something 100 percent or not have it at all. To me, this short feels like a relevant example of an alternative to this for people to both identify and strive for.”
A short shoot demands efficiency Shot in just seven days, to maximize his workflow and create efficiencies, Wong and DP Ryan Hendrickson chose to shoot with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera MFT and used DaVinci Resolve for transcoding and grading the footage. “We ran a pretty light setup, using a lightly rigged Blackmagic Cinema Camera, which allowed us to be nimble and quick,” explains Wong. “The Blackmagic camera also was chosen because of the image quality, particularly its dynamic range and the way it works with color.” The light rig, or often just a cage, occasionally was hooked up to a V-mount battery, but more often than not, Hendrickson shot with just the Blackmagic and a SmallHD AC7 monitor on a tripod. “We’d hook the battery up in between takes and setup to keep things light. There were a couple of shots where we used the Cinema Camera on a Glidecam 4000 Pro as well,” says Wong. “As far as lenses go, we generally hopped between a Nikon 24mm f2.8 and a Rokinon 24mm f1.5, with a Nikon 50mm f1.4 and a Nikon 180mm f2.8 for a few w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Nobody said it was easy. DP Ryan Hendrickson knows framing a shot in cramped quarters can be a challenge.
[Below] Working inside a home instead of on a set means dealing with doorways and long shots into other rooms.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 17
Cinematography
Denny Wong select shots, all on a Metabones Nikon to MFT Speedbooster adapter. We were big fans of the Cinema Camera with a polarizer over the lens. There’s something about the way the polarizer shifts the color just slightly and softens the image that plays very nicely with the way the camera handles highlights.”
Natural lighting needs dynamic range “Given our streamlined workflow, we planned to use natural and practical light as much as possible, and we knew that the lighting conditions would often be pushing the limits on both ends. This made the camera’s dynamic range a huge asset,” Wong notes. “The white roll off on the camera has always been very pleasant to my eye. As far as we’re concerned, the Blackmagic is the ultimate in image quality in its price range.” Shot in 2.5K RAW, a composed, naturalistic look was settled on early in the process in an effort to emphasize the travel journal aesthetic of the narrative experience. “The camera’s white roll off and the way the colors mimic reality are better than some of the other options available and made getting the staid but natural feeling that much easier,” acknowledges Wong. “We shot a large portion of the short in an apartment with relatively large windows covered by venetian blinds. The camera’s dynamic range and the way it handled highlights were vital in allowing us to really use those blinds to control the light coming in from outside,” he adds.
Flexibility and speed for a free flowing shoot The choice to use natural light was one of the biggest challenges facing Wong and Hendrickson on the shoot, and it forced them to adapt to the environment. “The
18 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Blackmagic was an excellent tool for us to use in this fluid, reactive environment that we created on set. We had more than 15 locations and 80 scenes to shoot in just seven days, so this freedom was vital to the quality of the product,” Wong notes. He continues: “The fact that the Cinema Camera is closer in size to a DSLR, while providing images on the level of cameras several times its cost, really gave us the flexibility and speed that was vital to the free-flowing nature of the shoot. We were able to move very freely with the camera without much rigging and get images that would have been impossible with other, similarly sized cameras.” He recalls one situation, “We got a really great backlit shot in a car driving to the desert. That shot also is a great technical example of how the Cinema Camera’s image quality was huge for us, as it’s a shot that benefits massively from the white roll off and highlight management of the camera. With a larger camera, that shot is not exactly impossible, but certainly would require a much more intricate setup and involve more cost. The Cinema Camera’s smaller size allowed us to hop in handheld, frame up, and shoot it in the cramped car cabin with very little hassle while still maintaining an incredible image quality.” With Stay Awhile, Wong brings the viewer an arresting world that blends reality and sublime imagery together. Through a visual exploration of the often trivial occurrences of average situations, his work challenges viewers to look into their personal routines and to interrogate why they do what they do. The film embodies the thematically oriented and audience engaging core of his work. Wong is currently in the process of expanding Stay Awhile into a feature-length film.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Below] Atlee Feingold and Steven Cox are teamed as the couple who Stay Awhile.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 19
Spotlight
Route 30-Pennsylvania
NOT THE ROAD TRIP YOU EXPECT An award-winning filmmaker finds creative freedom in making micro-budget movies right down the road from his childhood home.
By Tom Inglesby 20 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
John Putch is an independent sort of independent filmmaker. An industry veteran, Putch is the son of Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Jean Stapleton, and producer/director William H. Putch. He began acting at the age of five and produced his first film at age 12 when his father shoved a super-8 camera into his hands and told him to go off and make a movie people could watch at his parents’ dinner parties. Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
He transitioned to directing films in his 40s, and after a list of TV mini-series, big screen movies, awards, and industry recognition, Putch was beginning to create an enviable directing career. But then he began feeling he was missing something and losing touch with his craft. That was in 2005 and the immediate result was the 2006-released Mojave Phone Booth, which John Putch won 13 awards including a Best Independent Feature Under $100,000 award at the Wine Country Film Festival. “Bigger and bigger budget projects rely heavily on big names, elaborate special effects, and an obscene marketing budget,” Putch recalls. “The creative talents of artists—producers, directors, writers, actors, and sound people—are drowned out, minimalized. With the tools we have today and the outlets at our disposal, Indie filmmakers are taking the power back.” This philosophy is reflected in Putch’s The Route 30 Trilogy, feature films which collectively have earned more than 30 film festival awards. The series has proven that micro-budget films, with the traditional values of filmmaking, can be rewarding for the artist and craftsman as well as the audience, especially with all of the new technology and distribution channels available today.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Although Putch prefers to buy, use and then sell his cameras after the production, on Route 30 Three he rented a Sony F3.
[Below] Cast and crew of Route 30 Three ham it up for the camera.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 21
Spotlight
Route 30-Pennsylvania
[Above] John Putch felt right at home while filming the Route 30 series. Not unlikely since it was shot near his hometown.
[Below] All packed up and ready to hit the road. One of Putch’s rules is that everything has to fit in one car or mini-van.
Route 30 is a dramedy; Route 30, Too! a sci-fi comedy; and Route 30 Three!, a romantic comedy. All three were shot near Putch’s hometown in the picturesque south central Pennsylvania countryside between Chambersburg and Gettysburg, along Route 30, The Lincoln Highway. Recalling where he grew up, Putch’s Route 30 Trilogy takes a humorous look at a slice of rural Americana that has almost been stuck in time. Unlike most trilogies, each chapter stands on its own—you don’t need to see one to understand another. In explaining his preference for micro-budget, anti-Hollywood movies, Putch says, “The big difference in most films today is that they’re less about the creative product and more about the commercial results. There’s the luxury of a good budget and a team of talented people, but very seldom do you actually get to touch every scene, every segment, every part of the total project.” What is a micro-budget film? Putch has a set of digital filmmaking rules that govern the making of his films: • The budget cannot exceed $100,000. • The crew should be limited to eight. • Actors must be responsible for their own wardrobe and appearance—no makeup or wardrobe staff. • The film must be shot in less than 18 days. • All the equipment has to fit in one car and one mini-van. “I looked at that list and thought it was impossible,” Putch admits. “The biggest challenge any Indie filmmaker has to overcome is fear—fear of coming up short, fear of looking bad in front of your peers, fear of your work not satisfying the entertainment public. It’s really BS because that’s when creativity really kicks in and you end up with something you’re really proud of; and I think The Route 30 Trilogy is some of my best work to date.” The first film was shot in 2007 and was released in 2008. It was shot entirely in south central Pennsylvania, in the towns of Gettysburg, Chambersburg, Fayetteville, St. Thomas, and Orrtanna (population: 173). “After a wildly fun reaction from the local town that it was shot in at a premiere, I blurted out that it would be a trilogy,” Putch says with a smile. “After all, it was fun to do and that was the whole point, to have fun. So to come back two more times to have more blissful experiences was a no brainer.” The work—and fun—began anew. Route 30 Too! was shot in the winter of 2010 and was released in 2012. “It’s a far more farcical film with more ghosts and some alien activity,” Putch comments. “I sent up the end of ET in the finale of this one.”
22 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Route 30 Three! was lensed in August of 2013 and premiered one year later in Gettysburg. It will finish its three-city release in July 2015. Over all, the three films were about eight solid years in the making, doing it the anti-Hollywood way. Keith Duggan was the DP of all three films. He also was cinematographer for Mojave Phone Booth. Each film was shot with an increasingly sophisticated camera. As Putch explains it, “For the first two films, Duggan and I owned the same camera. When we finish a film, we’d usually sell the cameras since we’d want to use newer technology on the next film. Route 30 used a Panasonic HVX200 P2; on Route 30 Too! we used Canon 5D and 7D with both Canon L series lenses and Nikon glass.” Putch continues, “On Route 30 Three! we rented a Sony F3 and a set of Zeiss Compact Prime Super-speeds from our friend Steve Borow at Production Gear Rentals. We acquired clips on a AJA Ki Pro mini ProRes HQ. Since I’m the editor and post guy, I wanted to bypass Sony’s mpeg codec and go straight to ProRes.” Why the rented Sony? “It was the first time I rented a camera in the trilogy,” Putch acknowledges. “We did it only because we were sick of the DSLR fad and did not want to buy an F3 as the F5 was on the horizon. Owning the equipment rather than renting saves a lot of money in insurance and rental costs. When you need all that gear for over a month it actually pays to buy it, shoot, then sell it rather than rent. When you own the equipment, you can knock down your premiums on the insurance.”
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] DP Keith Duggan with Putch in a camera truck riding down Route 30.
[Below] Even micro-budget films have group meetings to revise scripts and plan shooting days.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 23
Spotlight
Route 30-Pennsylvania
[Above] Background music and voice overs are handled in studio.
[Below] Top: Kevin M. Horton (Cletus) at pulpit. with crew member Devin DiLibero on far right. Bottom: Innovation at work. Mounting a camera for shots while driving on Route 30.
24 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Putch goes on, saying, “The next film we are doing in August 2015, The Father and the Bear, will be shot on the Blackmagic URSA mini as A-cam and the Blackmagic pocket cinema cam as B-cam. We’ll use a set of Zeiss super-speeds, which I now own.” Cameras need light; all three films used just four lights, two tripods and a slider—no dollies. “All the equipment is either owned by me or Keith,” Putch says. “We usually rent one small HMI (Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide) light, the K5600 Joker-Bug 800. I have put together one of the finest micro-budget sound packages ever seen. It includes a micro cart built on a Film Tools hand truck. I have four wireless mic packages, two boom poles, two Sennheiser 416 shotgun mics and one Sanken short shot gun.” In many cases, the crew engineered their own special equipment. That will continue, Putch says, in their next film. “We’ll be using a lot of LED lighting, which I own or Keith will build. He makes his own LED China balls that are strictly awesome, light weight, and put off no heat.” As DP, Duggan regularly clones the compact flash (CF) cards as disk images and makes an insurance copy of the day’s clips and sound files in folders numbered by rolls. As Putch says, “Since I am an Adobe CC guy, I only use the cloud to have another set of backups for my edit project files. When shooting these movies, you don’t have a DIT (digital image technician) or ‘file jockey’ on set to download clips. It’s like the film days. You have enough cards or hard drives to get you through a day’s shoot, then, when it’s over, you go back to the hotel or house you are crashing at and download clips.” He adds, “I usually add the sound files as well. We’ve used big external Firewire drives all the way to Thunderbolt external drives on the last film. I buy raw 3.5 drives from Other World Computing (OWC) and plop them into a Thunderbolt dock, what I call the ‘hard drive toaster,’ which is also from OWC. When one drive is full, we clone it. One set goes back with Keith and the other with me for editing. We keep them separate in case something ever happened to the set I am using. We box the raw drives in Hudzee HD cases until I get back to LA to edit. I usually edit right on the raw drive in the toaster, then pull it, clone and archive it. I’ve been using this form of archiving ever since Mojave Phone Booth. I make it a point to have an offsite backup of every project and I copy the projects to fresh drives every 4-5 years. And aside from having a set in my closet in my home office, I keep clones offsite in a climate controlled storage unit, which also is home to all my gear for making the movies.” Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
For the final chapter of the Trilogy, Putch used 4TB OWC-certified Thunderbolt hard drives in his “toaster.” The hard drive dock enables him to add and remove drives for maintaining multiple drive backups, cloning a hard drive, or providing extra storage. He emphasizes that he uses new OWC hard drives for every film project because reusing/overwriting a drive is a false savings and that isn’t a risk even the Indie film maverick wants to take. Putch’s rules state that the shoot should be only 18 days long. But how would that break down in total hours? “We shot all the freaking time, weekends included,” Putch exclaims. “Depending on the locations, we’d sometimes do three weeks of six days each with only a day off. On subsequent outings we sometimes had a five-day week and two days off, then a six and another five. There is always some SAG holiday you have to avoid. By the third film, I wanted the shoot to be very easy and pleasant. So I scheduled some fives and one six-day week. With a crew of eight and me doing all of the producing, I need days off to prepare for the upcoming week. At micro-budget prices, it’s all about hotel rooms and food. I got such great deals in Chambersburg from the Country Inn and Suites that I saw no reason not to have a more relaxing shoot.” Putch notes, “Most of the crew worked on all three films; they are an ensemble. The core is Keith Duggan, Mike Vartholomatos, and myself. We’ve had rotating sound guys for all three. All eight crew members are hyphenates. Sometimes you’ll be booming and other times you’ll be camera operator, or art, or props. It’s very communal and super-8 like—there is no department segregation. Keith dictates the lighting and together we decide the shots. I try to stage the scenes very simply to minimize the camera set-ups. But Keith is so fast and flexible and has a great skill with economy of light that I never have to worry about omitting shots in sequences.” In addition to writing, directing, editing, producing, and financing his micro-budget films, Putch also built the promotional websites, produced and posted behind-the-scenes podcasts (40 for Route 30). He also markets the films and fulfills online orders. “With a micro-budget and the broad reach of the Internet, I’m able to make entertaining films that really give the power back to the artist,” he states. “The entire concept of these movies for me is to be less professional and have more fun,” he points out. “And it’s no fun to work 12 hours a day on an indie movie. This filmmaker is not insane about his ‘art piece’ and doesn’t want to run his friends into the ground while shooting. The mantra I use on these movies is that I must be a host, not a boss.” And that is how you make a micro-budget award winner. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Lee Wilkof (Rotten Egg) shooting his opening title montage moment on green screen.
[Below] Putch at work with his laptop while, bottom, Duggan adjusts some of his LED China balls.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 25
WHAT
YOU NEED
WHEN
YOU NEED IT Major studios have warehouses filled with equipment— often aged and some in the realm of antiques. Indie producers know they can get the latest gear by renting it. By Ty Ford
26 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
The relative health of the film and video production industry in the United States can be measured by the profusion of location audio rental houses. Glen Trew, owner of Trew Audio, with stores in Nashville, Toronto, Vancouver, LA and their newest location in Atlanta is the perfect model for this growth pattern. Trew says, “LA is number one, of course. Atlanta is now considered our number two, New York is three. There are more feature films shot in Georgia now than LA, but a lot more TV series are shot in LA. New Orleans is a very close fourth.” Richard Topham of Professional Sound Services runs shops in NYC; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; and New Orleans. He notes widespread growth and the tendency for it to follow the money. “Yes, they’re building studios in Atlanta, but they’re building everywhere; The Dominican Republic, Columbia, New York, New Mexico, Michigan. Wherever the incentives are, the production goes. It changes depending on who’s lobbying the hardest and what else is happening.” It’s very clear that, at the moment, Georgia has one of the better incentive plans. These plans typically are adjusted annually. The hot state today may not be so hot tomorrow.
While the big hubs keep the large projects turning, everyone I spoke with agreed that there is widespread growth. According to Trew, “The affordability of the new digital video gear has had a noticeable impact on audio rentals. Film has all but fallen off the face of the earth, and for every film camera not being used there seems to be five more affordable digital cameras that don’t require film stock. Lower-cost camera equipment, and the lower cost and ease of editing has resulted in a lot more content, but at reduced budgets and, usually, dramatically reduced quality in the final product.” Jim Guzzi and Peter Schneider own Gotham Sound. They follow the path of the others with offices in NYC
[Below, Across Spread Left to Right] Glenn Trew surrounded by audio gear; Peter Schneider (left) and Jim Guzzi cut the tape at their new Atlanta shop; and Gotham Sound shows off some of its new digital gear.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 27
Business and also in Atlanta. Schneider’s take is that Gotham actually is in the glue business. “We’re gluing manufacturers together, gluing products together, and gluing customers together. We compete on the basis of knowledge and support, and applying the technology in creative ways for both sales and rentals.” On the high end, that direction has led Gotham outside the box to invent new systems to handle the complexities of today’s productions.
It’s in the matrix Rentals for reality television, for example, have grown increasingly complex. Schneider says sound supervisors often are requested to make a mix for each camera. “The competition shows have relentless schedules and the technology, as the manufacturers sell it, doesn’t exist to route all of that audio in real time as quickly as they want. The new Dante platform prompted us to create a custom 32” touch screen surface for the control room with a 250 crosspoint matrix, for all of the audio sources and all of the audio destinations. You have one operator routing audio. That person makes multiple mixes from wireless lavs and booms.” Schneider adds that the boom ops don’t wear bags. They use Sound Devices MixPres for headphone and level control and go wireless to the matrix. The sound supervisor controls levels for the record/overall mix chain and for the touchscreen.
[Below] Richard Topham on the teaching circuit.
Schneider wrote code around a program originally written for interactive multimedia dance performances. Guzzi says it got a lot of interest from sound supervisors. “Some are true visionaries. They understood it and also saw how it would help them. So, yes, a bigger upfront cost, but it would give them the control they wanted at the speed they wanted.” For less stratospheric work, Guzzi says Gotham’s rental business echoes Trew’s “more projects, lower budgets” business model. “Maybe it’s just a Zoom, a Rode and a G3,” he says. “In the middle are sound mixers that are augmenting their kit or renting additional pieces for a particular job. Then we have broadcasters and feature film rentals on the high end. Sometimes we have to put together 30 packages on a Friday afternoon, but that keeps us from being dependent on one or two large clients.”
Tool school All three companies practice educational outreach. Schneider says renters can come in and sit with the techs for as long as they need to understand the gear. “We had one customer who does a lot of hunting and outdoors shows where the producer does the sound. He really wanted to use a Sound Devices 633, but didn’t know if the crew could make it happen with two wireless mics and a shotgun. They brought in all of their producers and we had a free class for them for six to eight hours and now they’re all out in the field and doing pretty well.” Schneider says they typically don’t charge for education, because it usually results in more business. “We held a ‘Field 101’ class and charged $10 per person, just to get a handle on how many people would show up, but we gave it back as a $10 store credit.”
Spectrum squeeze With the 700 MHz band gone and the 600 MHz band on the way out, wireless manufacturers are going to have to work hard to meet the growing demand for wireless mics. According to Topham, “The Federal government only cares about the money they can get from telecom companies and Google and people like that. When you dangle a $27 billion dollar carrot in front of the government, who is not getting any income from current end-users, and you look at the sales differences between wireless mics and cell phones and iPads, consumer electronics win the day simply because of the numbers. The FCC is saying 28 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
they won’t sell off the 600 MHz band until 2016 or 2017. That’s not really that far away. That may drive some to rent now rather than to buy now and then find they can’t use that gear as early as next year.” He also points to the new, less expensive digital wireless systems from Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, and Rode operating at 2.4 GHz. “They work up to about 150 feet. Some people are trying them when range is not an issue. “If you need more distance than that, you need to buy or rent higher.” There’s another RF gotcha. “If a mixer who already owns block 24 gear gets on a show and production says, ‘No, we’re using block 22,’ then the mixer will come to me to rent block 22 because their 24 won’t match up,” says Topham. “Especially in reality shows, because the crews switch in and out, they all need to have receivers in the same blocks as the transmitters on the actors; one transmitter, but multiple receivers. They want the sound to transmit to the cameras. They want those wireless on certain blocks so if they move camera with sound, everything works together.” He explains that’s why wireless manufacturers are now putting out wireless mics that cover three blocks, or 12 UHF frequencies.
Time code Topham notes that time code slates and other boxes have become more important, especially with the newer cameras. “There just aren’t a lot of cameras out there with solid clocks. From an F300 to a Lexa to a RED, the time code is no good. The Ambient clocks inside the Sound Devices gear, Zaxcom, Denecke, and Mozegear clocks are all very reliable. That’s why you have Lockit boxes on the side of all these cameras. Zaxcom makes an IFB that carries audio and time code, so you can feed both into a camera from the same box. Camera operators like this because it’s one less box hanging off of their cameras.” Many of the new, less expensive digital cameras don’t even have time code connections, but Trew adds that while there used to be three types of time code connectors, “Now there are connectors that are sometimes unique to each camera. So we have to find out what devices are being used and what interface cables are needed, and then help people understand how to use them.” In addition to Topham’s time code gear list, Trew adds Betso and Timecode Buddy. “Betso had some consistency problems when they first came out, but they seem to have fixed them. Timecode Buddy is a very nice system that incorporates metadata, slates, and script supervision. Mozegear is the newest, but w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
seems spot on in quality and utility. Industry leaders Denecke and Ambient continue to be excellent.”
Popular rental audio gear When renting, it’s good to know that some shops price by three-day weeks and some by four-day weeks. For example, three day means, you pay for three days, but get the gear for five days. Some shops have monthly rates; others just stack weeks to make a month. And make sure the shop you use has the gear you want. The two major players for recorders and mixers are Sound Devices and Zaxcom. Sound Devices followed their 788 and 664 with the 633 and 688 compact mixer/ recorders, and Zaxcom recently introduced their own Nomad and Max compact mixer/recorders. The consensus is that people coming in for rental gear appreciate the Zaxcom with their “NeverClip” circuitry that lets you scream into a mic without overloading it. Wireless systems suggested by the rental houses include Lectrosonics, Zaxcom, Sennheiser, and Wisycom. Boom mic choices continue to be Schoeps CMC641 and CMIT, Sanken CS3e, and Sennheiser MKH 50. Lavs mentioned range from DPA 4061 to Sennheiser ME2 and MKE-2, Sanken COS-11, Tram 50, and Countryman B6. Ty Ford is the owner of Ty Ford Audio & Video. He has been involved with professional audio and video for over 25 years. For more information, visit www.tyford.com.
[Below] Audio is becoming colorful as well as clear in the digital age.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 29
Cinematography
NAB
CONSIDERATIONS FOR
ON-CAMERA MONITORS NAB 2015 saw many companies in one segment of filmmaking moving into other areas with innovative and evolutionary products.
By Paul Isaacs 30 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 31
Cinematography
NAB Accuracy in monitoring and capturing imagery is vital to all video productions, from online streaming to television broadcasts—and, of course, feature-length films. Years ago, the professional relied on capturing moving pictures to film, on tape, or more recently to expensive, proprietary, solid-state memory cards. The search was on for on-camera recorders that could capture edit-ready, file-based video in higher resolutions on readily available, mass-market media storage. As video technology has progressed, the market has become open to more accessible, more powerful cameras with smaller footprints, and the industry as a whole has moved from a linear world of film and tape-based capture to file-based, non-linear digital capture. With this evolution, the need for more compact devices with quicker, more efficient and cost-effective monitoring capabilities—that can capture higher resolutions, such as 4k acquisition—has become paramount.
Basic monitoring considerations Image resolution is fundamental to any video monitor and should be one of the foremost considerations to aid cinematographers and videographers in capturing sharp imagery. The size of the display and its pixel density are important, but other key elements to consider are the tools critical to monitoring video. These include tools that help with focus, exposure, color balance, and framing. At the core of any good monitor lie tools such as false colors, zebras, peaking, zooming, frame guides, Look Up Tables (known as LUTs), and various scopes—histogram, waveform, and vector scope. Just as cameras have evolved toward lighter, more portable models without sacrificing features, so too must monitors, especially those mounted on cameras and used in field productions. When choosing an on-camera monitor, it also is important to evaluate weight, robustness, battery consumption, angle of view, and sunlight readability. A great monitor must feature a responsive and simple-to-use interface to meet the rapid demands of fast-paced productions. With lighting variations and actors constantly moving between marks, a focus puller or camera operator must be able to react quickly to capture the shot effectively.
[Below] Video Devices monitor adds new capabilities to a Sony camera.
32 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Bringing it together At NAB 2015, Sound Devices, under the brand name Video Devices, introduced new monitors, including two with 1920x1080 five-inch LCDs (PIX-E5 and PIX-E5H) and one with a 1920x1200 seven-inch (PIX-E7) LCD. The PIX-E7 is suitable for larger camera rigs that require more detail and screen space, as well as for use as a handheld director’s monitor. The most compact 4K recording monitors available on the market today, the PIX-E5 and PIX-E5H are better suited to DSLR mirror-less camera rigs and smaller form factor cameras. Though smaller, the PIX-E5, like the E7, comes with both SDI and HDMI inputs and outputs, while the PIX-E5H is an HDMI-only model. Like all on-camera monitors, the PIX-E Series features all the must-haves, including a sunlight-readable LCD with a 179-degree angle of view and 441 pixels-per-inch density, the highest available (and necessary) on the market today. They also feature an interface that allows all functions to be accessed through the tactile buttons on the front panel or via a touchscreen. A unique feature of the PIX-E Series is the company’s proprietary TapZoom, which proFilm • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
vides focus operators with speed and ease-of-use and allows an operator to tap any point of interest on the screen to automatically center the focus point and magnify it by two or four times. It also offers the ability to track a subject, by simply dragging the image to the left or right, which is something that was once only possible by physically moving the center of the camera.
The next generation: 4K While 4K has become almost a generic term, it really encompasses two standards—the 4K-specific 4096x2160 pixels, which is more aimed at cinematic applications, but also the similarly-sized UHD/QFHD 3840x2160; the PIX-E Series supports both. To capture 4K, users must have the ability to store larger amounts of data, because 4K is literally four times the amount of data used by standard HD video. The main problems that arise from 4K recording are the speed and reliability needed for these high data rates, as well as accessibility and affordability. An accessory product for PIX-E is the company’s SpeedDrive that at first glance looks like a standard USB 3.0 thumb drive. It is that and it also can house an mSATA drive, which is available from many consumer outlets, such as Amazon or New Egg, and capable of storage up to 1 TB. When connected to the rear of the PIX-E, the SpeedDrive’s USB 3.0 interface automatically switches to a SATA interface, which is well-suited to record continuous, highdata-rate 4K video. The added advantage of SpeedDrive is that when a user is finished recording, no special card reader or docking station is needed. They just unplug it from the back of PIX-E and plug it into any USB computer port to quickly and easily transfer data at very fast USB 3.0 rates. As a company entrenched in the audio business, Sound Devices has created the PIX-LR, an audio accessory for the PIX-E line of monitors. With the ability to bolt onto the bottom of any of the three PIX-Es, the PIX-LR provides the highest quality XLR-balanced inputs and mic preamps for which Sound Devices is renowned. The mic preamps include phantom power and limiters to protect against loud signals, while high-pass filters protect against low-frequency rumble. LED audio metering and balanced line-level outputs also are incorporated. Recessable gain pots make fast adjustment of audio level a breeze. Because the PIX-E monitors are designed to be mounted on portable cameras, they were engineered with a robust, die-cast metal chassis and the virtually indestructible, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 2 protecting the high-quality screen. This device comes from the experts in reliability with a proven history of developing professional gear that keeps on working even in the most extreme production conditions. With a full-suite of monitoring functions, ProRes 4444 XQ recording, top-of-the-line audio recording and media transfer options, plus its unique TapZoom feature and its ‘best of both worlds’ tactile or touch screen interface, the PIX-E is ideal for today’s competitive industries of video and motion picture production. It’s the complete package.
[Below] Another view of the Video Devices monitor.
Paul Isaacs is director of product management and design for Sound Devices. http://www.sounddevices.com/
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 33
VERSATILITY IN ACTION
Post-production shops have to be versatile enough to handle any project, often multiple projects at the same time, each unique in its own way. By T. Hunter Byrd
When Academy Award-winning producer/director Alex Gibney had two intense projects—each with a short deadline—going almost at the same time, he knew the post processing would put a heavy burden on the studio that did the work. From experience, he also knew where he wanted the projects to be done. As a documentary producer with multiple projects completed, he took no chances and rang up his old friends at Technicolor PostWorks in New York City. A small team of artists and technicians led by Ben Murray, vice president of creative services, took on the final mastering on Gibney’s Sinatra: All or Nothing at All and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. Although the projects, which were completed virtually simultaneously, had tight delivery schedules, the process was familiar to Murray and his crew. That crew essentially was the same team that completed multiple documentaries for Gibney in recent years. Working in close collaboration with his production team and editors from Jigsaw, New York, the team had most recently done Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, whose post schedule overlapped Sinatra and Jobs. Murray notes that, over the course of these projects, the principals have developed a tight creative rapport and a unique workflow that facilitates the completion of complex productions with efficiency. “We have it down to a science,” he says. “We have an all-Avid workflow that we have honed with Jigsaw and the Gibney team, and it works very well. It’s been a great relationship.” Murray’s team included, for Sinatra, colorist Jack Lewars and finishing editor Allie Ames; and, for Jobs, Lewars and finishing editor Jeff Cornell. Let’s take a look at how each project was handled. Sinatra: All or Nothing at All, airing on HBO as a four-hour mini-series, is the first documentary about the late singer produced with the authorization of his estate. It tells the story of Sinatra’s life and career leading up to his 34 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
famous 1971 retirement concert in Los Angeles. The documentary is composed almost entirely from archival material—there are no new, on-camera interviews. Recordings of Sinatra himself provide the narrative thread with never-before-seen concert material used as a framing device. The project, produced for Jigsaw by Erin Edeiken, required a massive research effort. That part of the project was led by Executive Producer Blair Foster, who has fulfilled a similar role on a number of Gibney documentaries. She and her team combed through books, magazines, TV shows and news broadcasts, and also reached out to Sinatra’s surviving friends, family, and colleagues. “We wanted everything,” Foster says of her research methodology. “Not just photographs and video, but also the outtakes and contact sheets. We are persistent, but it’s all in the name of the greater good.” The material collected by Foster was passed on to editors Sam Pollard, Ben Sozanski, Anoosh Tertzakian and their assistants at Jigsaw who worked with Gibney in shaping it into a cohesive story. Along with the creative work of editing the documentary, technical processing was conducted at Jigsaw, including scanning photographs and converting video material. Jigsaw prepared a conformed version of the documentary in-house before passing it onto Technicolor PostWorks for final editorial adjustment and color grading. Murray suggested this unusual workflow based on past experience. Gibney and his team want the freedom to continue making editorial changes virtually to the point of delivery, so it is more efficient and economical if as many of those changes as possible can be handled at the editorial house. “It allows for more flexibility to make changes,” explains Jigsaw post-production supervisor Kelley Cribben. “Once the foundation is done, we turn it over to Ben’s team. They do the archival clean-up, formatting, titling, opticals, and some digital effects.” “There were a large number of stills that we did moves on,” adds Allie Ames. “We also received a significant amount of PAL and NTSC footage that we needed to make look as good as possible.” Despite the conforming that was done at Jigsaw, additional editorial changes were required after the hand-off to Technicolor PostWorks. Last-minute changes were predicated by legal or rights issues, or because better quality archival material had been found and scenes needed to be swapped out.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Below] Old Blue Eyes himself. Sinatra as he appeared circa 1954 during a Capitol Records session.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 35
Production
[Below] The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra in 1965.
36 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
“The legwork that was done on the production and editorial side was amazing,” notes Ames. “They kept finding better quality clips. If we had a clip that was a little soft focus or low-resolution, inevitably, they would find a better source that was crisp and clear, and we would integrate that.” Such editorial changes did not slow the finishing process. “Every project comes down to the wire,” notes Foster, “but you would never know that at Technicolor PostWorks. Ben and his team are so cool, calm, and collected.” A generation apart from Sinatra, another American icon is profiled in Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. The two-hour documentary, a portrait of the life and work of Steve Jobs that re-examines his legacy and our relationship with the computer, screened at the South by Southwest (SxSW) Film Festival in advance of its television premiere on CNN. The post-production workflow for Jobs was similar to the one used for the Sinatra documentary (Jobs was edited for Jigsaw by Michael J. Palmer and produced for Jigsaw by Viva Van Loock), but the particulars were distinctly different. As Jobs was born 40 years later than Sinatra, archival material documenting his life is of more recent vintage and derives from more modern types of sources. So fewer items needed significant post-production processing. Additionally, the Jobs documentary includes newly produced interviews with people who knew and worked with him. All that made for a different finishing process. One notable difference involved color grading. Whereas Sinatra, with its mix of black & white and color material, was given a naturalistic grade, Jobs has a more stylized look, particularly in its archival segments. “We colored it in a very electronic way,” recalls colorist Jack Lewars. “The colors are almost hyper-saturated, especially the blues. On computer screens, the blues are almost bleeding out of their boundaries.”
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Lewars says the unusual color treatment has a narrative purpose and is meant to subtly underscore Jobs’ personality and the digital revolution that he helped bring about. “It feels like a throwback,” Lewars says. “While we are describing someone who modernized the world, he’s presented in a very low-fi setting. The contrast works really well.” Lewars adds that one of the benefits of working with Gibney is the opportunity to delve deeply into recent history. Regarding Jobs, Lewars says he was fascinated by the Apple founder’s role in transforming the world “from a mechanical world into one that is non-linear.” “The movie makes an interesting point about Jobs’ legacy and what he’s left behind,” Lewars observes. “He created the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad… devices that, in ten years, you probably won’t be able to power on. So, he may not be remembered for a specific invention, but rather for setting in motion an evolutionary process that transformed modern life.” With the two documentaries finishing almost simultaneously, organizational issues were of paramount importance. Cribben notes that drives containing elements were exchanged between Jigsaw and Technicolor PostWorks, often several times a day, and required careful management. “We were constantly emailing instructions,” she recalls. “Every time we made a turnover, there was an email thread explaining every nuance of what needed to be done. Ben’s team responded immediately. I’ve been working with this group for eight years and it’s become a very efficient, tight ship.” With multiple projects going simultaneously, producers and post houses have to find that tight, efficient workflow and production approach, one that experience and trust reinforces.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Below] The intensity he was known for comes through in Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.
June 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 37
MARKETPLACE
advertisers’ index
For Marketplace advertising details... Contact John Davis at 888.303.5639 or email: jdavis@lionhrtpub.com
page# company phone & website
1 Cine Gear
www.cinegearexpo.com
38 Glidecam Industries 800.600.2011 781.585.7900 www.glidecam.com
38 Lights Action CO 818.881.5642 www.lightsactionco.com
38 Premier Studio Equipment 909.427.8591 www.premierstudioequipment.com
5 Sarasota County Film & Entertainment Office 800.765.5777 www.filmsarasota.com
13 Warner/Chappell Production Music 888.615.8729 www.warnerchappellpm.com
38 Willy’s Widgets www.willyswidgets.com
FOR MARKETPLACE ADVERTISING DETAILS...
C2 Techni-Lux 407.857.8770 www.Techni-Lux.com
Contact: John Davis at 888.303.5639, ext.226 or email: jdavis@lionhrtpub.com
STAY CONNECTED TO MARKEE 2.0!
You can visit our website, www.markeemagazine.com, for exclusive news and trade show coverage. You can also sign up for the Markee 2.0 eNews and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
38 | Markee 2 .0
|
June 2015
Follow us on:
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People