‘Studs’ is the latest in a long line of features for theatrical release which have been posted through Screen Scene’s DI (digital intermediate) workflow. Screen Scene chief, Jim Duggan, reports on his teams work posting the film.
Over the last few years Screen Scene has post produced ‘Blind Flight’, ‘Adam and Paul’, ‘Boy Eats Girl’ and ‘Freeze Frame’ using DI. Effectively DI is the process of creating a digital master which will be transferred back to 35mm film for cinema release. The techniques and technology associated with DI offer greater flexibility and creativity in post production.
If somebody has shot on film (Blind Flight, Adam and Paul, Boy Eats Girl) then the DI process starts with that film negative. If somebody has shot on HD (Freeze Frame, Studs) then the DI process begins with those tapes.
“‘Studs’ was shot on HDcam at 25FPS,” says Jim Duggan. “Each night production sent us that days rushes and we transferred them to DVD for production / camera dept / and execs, we also took the opportunity to check the tapes to make sure they were ok technically.”
“Rushes were sent to Cúán in the cutting room, he loaded the rushes and started the assembly. This was the start of the editing process and it took the guts of 12-15 weeks.
The end of that process is called picture lock and it is at this stage that our role really kicks in.”
As soon as the picture was locked, Cúán sent Screen Scene an EDL (edit decision list) and an avid playout. Screen Scene conformed the piece using the location original HDcam tapes and Cúán’s EDL. “The conform effectively remakes the film exactly as Cúán cut it,” says Duggan. “However, it uses the original location tapes and is therefore at a much higher technical quality. We conformed into DS our HD finishing device and when the conform was finished, we moved to DI-One our grading environment.”
“Digital grading represents one of the great benefits of the DI route and the flexibility it offers the production is far greater than that available through traditional lab grading. It is a real time process where you see results quickly.”
Senior colourist Gary Curran worked closely with director Paul Mercier and DOP Ronan Fox,
to achieve the required look. “The trick at this stage is to grade for the big screen and for something that is going to be projected. Our DI room has a projector and large screen when grading and this is of huge benefit to this part of the process.”
“When the grade was finished we went back to the online finishing room and looked at any additional picture work. We put opening titles, end roller and logos on in this room. With the online edit finished we played the reels out to HDD5.”
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