Page 8 - Fujifilm Exposure_21 The Gathering Storm_ok

A SYSTEM’S iQ
A SYSTEM’S iQ
TTHE FUTURE THE FUTURE
“Without doubt a big step forward for the industry. It’s really doing for digital film what some of the non linear online systems were doing for video ten years ago.”
hose who view Fuji’s REALA HD or 2K data from the telecine, clean it “We considered out- 500D demonstration films up (de-spot), tweak the grading, add putting 2K data in RGB,
on video may not realise it ‘video-friendly’ credits, and then ‘spit which is a more ‘pure’ sig- but they are glimpsing into out’ HD-Cam (24P), Digi Beta PAL and nal, but the portability of the future. Marcus Digi Beta NTSC versions in their ‘native’ this quantity of data was a Dillistone of Glory Film Co, forms, without standards conversion or problem, particularly in who directed the demo film other unpleasant artefacts. our time-scale, so we com-
The Glow, used Quantel’s iQ system “Also it could deliver various pic- promised and settled for during the video-versioning stage of ture and soundtrack configurations, the HD-Cam (1920 x 1080
post-production.
“Fuji’s primary requirement was
for a 35mm projectable demo, but it also required 35mm and 16mm video versions in PAL and NTSC. Given the need for consistency of look between the film and video
versions, we decid- ed that a traditional 35mm interpositive should be the mas- ter grade – our benchmark.”
Historically, Fuji has now produced 35mm and 16mm cinema versions, and then produced standard definition (SD) video masters on Digi Beta (PAL), with the NTSC ver- sions being made via a regular stan- dards converter.
“But technology is changing some- what, and the workflows that people are using are changing too. With the widening interest in high-definition (HD) technology, I had the idea that we should master our video versions on HD rather than standard definition.”
Dillistone recognised the potential of Quantel’s new iQ technology.
“Quantel’s iQ is a very powerful non-linear HD and data editing system that also has heavyweight capabilities as a versioning tool. It could take in our
including 4:3 letterboxed versions for VHS dubbing, and 16:9 anamorphic versions for broadcast – all in PAL and NTSC!”
The 35mm cinema versions of The Glow are screened as show prints
(made from the original cut nega- tive), however, for the 35mm video versions an interpositive (IP) was used as the source for the telecine.
“The IP
is already graded, which saved time and helped main- tain the consis- tency with the cinema versions. An IP also deliv- ers a lower con- trast image,
which further helped in the transfer, as video tends to add contrast.
“Also, for a 35mm cinema project it is normal to telecine from a positive image, unlike the 16mm market where telecine of the over-length cut nega- tive is the norm.”
Once the 35mm video version grade was locked by Mick Vincent on the Spirit Datacine at VTR, he matched the 16mm neg to it using a split screen. Both 35mm and 16mm versions were played out to HD-Cam.
pixels) which is a conven- ient tape based format. HD-Cam is YUV, and has inherent compression,
Photos inset: The Glow Director Marcus Dillistone with the plasma bulb; main: Quantel’s iQ system
but it didn’t mat-
ter too much as there was
to be little further manipulation of the images.”
The next stage was to digitise the HD-Cam telecine material into iQ for spotting, the addition of new titles, synching of audio, and versioning. A further complication was the differing frame rates - the 35mm version was shot at 24fps for cinema, but the 16mm at 25fps for PAL video.
“Had we known during the shoot that we were going to be able to master both versions onto HD as opposed to SD PAL, then we would have shot the 16mm at 24fps too. But we didn’t, nonetheless iQ made pretty short work of the video speed conversion (although some work was necessary to re-gear and sync
EXPOSURE • 6 & 7