TECHNOLOGY
GREENER DATA
“PEOPLE ARE WANTING TO GET
EVER MORE COVERAGE FOR MORE
OPTIONS IN POST”
that’s 16K, HDR and all the bells and whistles - is much more energy heavy than a standard definition, simple image.” That’s first base. “Then you can begin talking about being efficient with fewer versions, or how you do your rendering, or how you store it.” Digital Orchard’s Margaritis
says: “We have seen first-hand the development of camera technology and with that the growth in size of data captured and processing power needed to service film-
makers through the post workflow.” At Mission Digital, technical director Tom
Mitchell says: “The drivers to shoot more data are higher resolution, higher bit depth, meaning that you can store more colours. And then - a controversial subject creatively - but high frame rate.” Then there’s the explosion in the quantity of
data captured. “People are wanting to get ever more coverage for more options in post. Trying to cover it with three or four more angles where they used to shoot one camera. And then you have all the vfx assets, almost all shows now have vfx of some kind. So, you’ve got all these other assets that have been gathered throughout the production process which also need to be stored.” With increasing amounts of data captured at
higher quality, codecs have gone some way to lessening the load. While Red patented its in-camera bayer compressed images, R3D codec, ARRI and Sony have also found more efficient ways to store their RAW data. For example, Sony’s X-OCN 16bit linear recording format is considerably smaller than most comparable recording codecs. As Mission’s Mitchell observes, “data costs are exponential” - not just storage at the point of capture but every time camera assets are moved, managed or processed throughout the production lifecycle and as archive. The technology is out there to keep data levels
down. “Best practice and collaboration between production companies and content owners could
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create common simplified workflows,” says workflow specialist Tomasz Witkowski. “But also drive less processing and less data to store through production to distribution content lifecycle by using a more universal colour pipeline, such as ACES and mezzanine formats for Distribution (IMF).” At IBC last year, AWS demonstrated how
streaming JPEG XS allowed picture finishing artists to work on 4K HDR images in real time without the need to download, store and upload the original native high-bandwidth files. This virtualised way of working involves the data (compute and application) remaining in the cloud with the artist working from a thin client on JPEG XS pixel streams offering visually lossless image quality at compression ratios of up to 10:1.
RENDERING DOWN Virtual production techniques can also impact positively on the carbon footprint from rendering animation and VFX. Using games engines changes the paradigm, by rendering in real time. Its use is creeping in, with scenes in Matrix: Resurrection using Unreal Engine and recently released animated film Rift, directed by Haz Dullul, entirely made in the games engine. Traditional rendering of animation and VFX is an
especially power-hungry process. Disney’s animation studio Pixar has a supercomputer, one of the largest in the world, comprising 2,000 machines with 24,000 cores. Each frame from its 2021 movie Luca took around 50 hours to render. Using cloud rendering services, such as
Conductor, Fox Renderfarm, GridMarkets, Pixel Plow and Renderro can offer a way of consolidating the task, as well as the investment in Cloud rendering technology. It also has the advantage of freeing up in- house machines and can offer a speedier service. But, as with any cloud service, it requires
vigilance when choosing a provider. The three biggest being Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. The European Broadcasting Union has published guidelines which include checking that the cloud data centres are using renewable energy
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