feature post production Feature sponsored by
There are a number of editing platforms available on the market today, from consumer products which meet at least some of the requirements of professionals, up to top-end packages which deliver serious power for both HD and 3D. Charlie Dunn, executive vice president, editing, servers, and storage at Grass Valley points out some of the considerations when choosing a system which best meets the needs of both HD and 3D finishing.
Considering an editing platform
a great way to achieve the required power affordably, but it does lead to the first consideration: interconnection. Unless all your raw content is
A
arriving as files (or from a tapeless camcorder), and you only ever deliver as files, you need some form of interface. The board you choose will depend upon the formats you work with. The Grass Valley Edius
A still from Powder, a new production from Red Union Films, created using Edius (See Page 18).
ll modern editors run on a standard computer platform, with the best of them using the GPU as well as multiple CPUs to deliver the power. This is
multiformat NLE platform includes a range of interface cards to match your requirements. The interface board should also offer
a monitoring output. Computer monitors are now sharp and clear, but they are designed for different signals and different colour spaces. The only way to see what a video signal really looks like is to view it on a video monitor, which probably means an HDMI output. Check that the interface card you choose provides this. Just because all edit platforms use
standard hardware does not mean that they all perform in the same way.
You need to check that the software algorithms and internal signal formats meet ‘real’ requirements, which include realtime rendering (with seamless background rendering of processor-intensive effects) and the ability to mix multiple formats on the timeline. Do not underestimate the
importance of being able to mix formats, even if you think you are unlikely to handle archive content. Projects today are regularly shot on multiple formats - for example a Red or Alexa for beauty shots or a DSLR for hard to reach angles - and having to transcode rushes before you can see how a sequence works creates unnecessary frustration. In general, performance is critical.
Directors like to be able to see how a programme is building up, and they do not want to wait while signals are being processed. You should choose a platform based
on open standards, to allow you to exchange content with other systems. As Red Union Films found (see boxed story), being able to swap files quickly and seamlessly between editing system and audio software meant that the day’s work could be shown complete with 5.1 sound, again helping producers and directors
16 l ibe l september/october 2011 l
www.ibeweb.com
Continued on Page 18.
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