FILE-BASED WORKFLOW
FILE-BASED PRODUCTIONS (FROM LEFT) THE APPRENTICE, DEAL OR NO DEAL AND ALUNA ALL OPTED FOR FILE-BASED WORKFLOWS USING AVID KIT
“With version 5 of Media Composer, most file formats are catered for and the workflow tracking is not a problem”
DAVID KLAFKOWSKI Technical director THE FARM GROUP
When the Aluna offline edit was complete, they generated an OMF file, which was sent to the dubbing theatre to start track laying using Pro Tools. At the same time they generated an Advanced Authoring file (AAF) to send to the grading theatre. Most effects for the film were done in the online in Avid Symphony Nitris using the Sapphire plug-in. “The key to the file-based tapeless workflow is the media management and Avid is very good at this,” says Patel. With The Apprentice, the media management of huge amounts of footage is critical. Evolutions recently worked on the sixth and most recent series – the first to be shot in HD and tapeless – which was recorded on Sony XDCAM HD to Professional Disc.
The XDCAM HD’s low and high resolution files (the proxy and native resolution footage) are ingested on to Evolutions’ Avid Unity ISIS storage and the low-res proxy files are simultaneously ingested onto Evolutions’ Cinergy server. “The native XDCAM footage imports in just over half real time, rather than the real time ingest with tape,” says Gary Bradbury, Evolutions’ workflow specialist. The conform and pre-grade online is done on Avid Symphony, then it’s graded on Pogle HD, with an audio dub using Avid Pro Tools. After that the post-grade online is then completed back on Avid Symphony, where titles and credits are added. The final pictures are played out to HDCAM SR tape for delivery. On other file-based productions, Evolutions uses Avid’s Avid Media Access feature, which enables Avid editors to link and view rushes from a range of tapeless formats without the need to import.
Where there is a large amount of media management and a quick turn around, they can take a portable
AVID MEDIA COMPOSER HANDLES A
Cinergy server as well as logging stations and capture the media live on location, then transcode the footage down on Avid Media Composer for the offline back at Evolutions’ base in Soho and finally a straightforward re-link for the Avid Symphony online. Even where a production’s workflow is fairly convoluted, the tapeless process can still be highly efficient. Rushes recently worked on T-Mobile’s Big Night In campaign (main picture, page 23), featuring 20 films of 60-seconds and 30-seconds. Rushes’ head of 2d, Paul Hannaford, describes how the campaign was captured on a Canon 5D, meaning extra effort was required in post, as 5D footage can’t be ingested directly into Flame for any visual effects work that may be required. The memory cards from the shoot were sent to Soho Film Labs who assigned timecode to the files, ready for the Avid offline at Cut & Run. At the end of the offline, Cut & Run generated the final EDL, from which Soho Film Labs assigned matching timecode to the supplied DPX sequences.
This enabled Rushes to load only the required number of frames for each film, which took minutes instead of hours to ingest into Flame. Having worked on the footage in Flame to enhance the “home-movie” look, these files were then exported to Resolve, where the files were graded and rendered. The files were then loaded back into Flame to add the titles, only going to tape for the master.
One advantage of having file-base media is clearly that it can speed up the whole workflow. And as the current editing systems become more and more efficient at handling the various tapeless formats, the workflow will only become more transparent.
BEWILDERING ARRAY OF FILE-BASED FORMATS • “There are so many different variations of tapeless cameras, but the Avid can handle all of them. It’s also capable of multiple different flows of tapeless media on the same timeline,” sums up Clear Cut’s Manesh Patel
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