Monitor Calibration for Film and Broadcast

[RayFrisby]

III

 

[donatello b]

a film that i had shot had 2k scans of the 35mm IP ... we went to a post house to view the 2k scans projected.
i asked them about CC for film out, HD , NTSC ... they said they could CC for HD ( 709 specs) and then that could be translated into NTSC & filmout spec's at a later time ...
checking with another post house that works with FILM .. they said to 1st do a CC for a Film out and take those CC files & work down from there ...
they said they could do a CC for HD 1st but one should CC for the highest format 1st then workdown from there ..

we looked into monitors to do CC ourselves and it was far less $$ to CC at a post house then to buy a hi end production monitor ... there are deals out there ...

 

[Bruce Allen]

we looked into monitors to do CC ourselves and it was far less $$ to CC at a post house then to buy a hi end production monitor ... there are deals out there ...

Yes, people don't seem to think about the value of doing final CC out of house much. They want to do everything themselves but forget that a filmout is a team effort anyway. It is perfectly valid to not use ultra high-end monitors - just spend your time on making the work look great while making sure you don't clip out all of the detail in the whites or blacks. Let the people doing the final finishing worry about correcting the overall tonality & color space. Just talk to them, read about the process, pay attention, and you will be fine.

This is an accepted method for movie main title and trailer film-outs for big studio pictures. The design department worries about the design, the finishing folks worry about printing that color to film. The company I work at now (mOcean) has that kind of philosophy - the focus is on good client communication, good design and good creative above technical (although we know how to do it). Their priority is to exceed client expectations on the creative side, on time and on budget, because after all, that's what they're being paid for. Titles for Crash, Borat, Pursuit of Happyness, trailers for movies such as Fracture, etc were successfully done that way.

For coloring an entire movie or VFX work on a studio film you'd obviously want to pay some more attention. But if you're an indie, I think you could get away with doing your CC on cheaper equipment, as long as you maintain detail in the image. By the way, how cheap were you talking about?

Of course it would be better if we have a perfect preview every step of the way, but we're not there yet price / performance wise, IMHO.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[GlennChan]

For film, the displays characteristics are determined by the film printer + film stock used. (It looks different depending on what printer + film stock you use.) You try to use a color management system so that your projector or monitor is WYSIWYG. On the desktop side there are solutions like Rising Sun Research and Truelight (i.e. I remember Truelight working in Shake)... but that is more for VFX people to get a rough sense of how it will look like in the film-out. If you're doing a film out, you're likely much better doing it out of house.
*Though I think you could grade towards a Rec. 709 display and try to get the filmout to look like that.

2- For TV broadcast, there are some standards that define standard monitoring (SMPTE RP 166 is one; ITU also has their own, which is slightly different). But in practice, I don't believe that there is too much consistency in viewing conditions.

In practice, the 32" Sony BVM CRTs are commonly used for high-end monitoring. But they don't hit the standard luminance of 35fL without losing focus, and don't show 1920x1080 resolution perfectly.

But it will become difficult to buy them and most HD will be viewed on LCD, plasma, DLP, etc. So ideally the standards should change to reflect that and ideally people would follow it.

 

[Bruce Allen]

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We will be editing in FCPS and I reckon we will take your advice about going to a post house for CC.

Yes. Unless you have someone who is a total color-correction whiz. Desktop color correction is not quite there yet.

Our project is a straight drama so we will not be doing any VFX.

As I said I am not an editor so I'm trying to get a grip on our workflow. Any suggestions what the best way of presenting the final cut to the post house and what their requirment might be.

Find a post house whose style you like. They will help you get it to them - I think either DPX files or a HDCAM SR or D-5 tape?

At a previous company (not mOcean - they're a bit more high end than this and tend to do 16-bit SGIs or log DPXes) we did a lot of color corrects from straight HDCAM or D-5 because the people with the DaVinci gave us a low "tape-to-tape color correction" rate. Then we gave the color-corrected HDCAM tape that the colorist made to the folks printing the trailer to film.

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Our editior uses a Pro Mac 2.66 with a Decklink 4:4:4 PCI e card any suggestions on what the delievery standard for the finishing house for film and Broadcast should be. (Pal)

Talk to your post house. HDCAM SR / D-5 / HDCAM should be fine. It's not a big expense - get everything ready to output, triple check, then rent the deck for a day ($700 - $900 is a ballpark day rental rate). You might want to look at renting it for three days - one to get the non-color-corrected footage out. Another day to re-ingest the color-corrected footage. Then a final day to output again once you've slapped titles, dissolves, etc on top. Depends on your way of working. Talk to the post house and your editor.

We were using Avid, which was easier than Final Cut software-wise. However, beware that no matter what, operating one of those decks is kinda like flying a 747 - it's more complex than a Digibeta because of all of the different frame rates / settings / tri-level sync, etc it can do. There are weird menus and settings you have to dive into. So get your deck rental company to help your editor. A lot.

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Like I said I'm on a learning curve when it comes to editing so any suggestions are appreciated.

Get a good editor! Trust him / her!

Good luck!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Bruce Allen]

Oh yes, and if you have any further questions (which hopefully you do), I highly recommend you pay my web blog buddy Mike Curtis (www.hdforindies.com) for a couple of hours of his consulting time. He is the HD / FCP / Red workflow guru and knows about all of the little FCP gotchas (like the Media Manager bugs) that could totally screw you up even if you follow Apple's directions / marketing to the letter. He has also been working with Final Touch (before it was Apple Color) and can tell you more stories about its problems and what you need to watch out for. Tell him I sent you

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Bruce Allen]

Thanks Bruce ! The amount of variable to deal with when it comes to editing can be daunting.
Like you said we intend hiring a good editor with experience in film output.
From what I've read about the RedCine it looks like a great option for post.
(Red One may still be an option depending on cost and availability)
Either way I think the HDCAM SR/D-5 route may be the best value for money one for us for both film transfer and tv broadcast.
Thanks again for your help

Yep, and talk to Mike. You'll need more than just an experienced editor, especially if you're doing FCP! Also, often the best storytelling editors aren't the most tech savvy.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Two mints in one?

Two mints in one?

Yep, and talk to Mike. You'll need more than just an experienced editor, especially if you're doing FCP! Also, often the best storytelling editors aren't the most tech savvy.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

True that. If you find someone who really "gets" the story let their fresh take on your piece give it life - leave the heavy tech to a different breed of cat. I also suggest Mike Curtis as a resource. Considering your budget you should at least ask Mike about file based (QT, Cineform) versus frame based (DPX, Cineon) approaches to cc, mastering and filmout.

 

[Rudi Herbert]

We should try and do away with tape

We should try and do away with tape

Well,

I agree with everything said, but if the advent of RED should really make us think of something, it is to try and keep a true digital workflow all the way. I mean, this "tape to tape" method from Da Vinci facilities is a bit preposterous when you think of how much effort you go to in trying to preserve every little pixel and every drop of resolution for a filmout and then how you'll eventually lose plenty of it when mastering to tape, regardless of whether it is SR, D-5 or the like. Those formats do a decent job at preserving fidelity for HD originated programs, but they don't really do justice to 4 K material, or even good 2 K. Post facilities should be able to receive your material on hard drives from you and keep it all disc based until the actual filmout...

Just my thoughts,

Rudi Herbert

 

[Bruce Allen]

They can do disk-based, 4K, etc. It's just that usually it's the most modern systems that do that, so your chance of getting an indie discount is lower.

The most important thing is getting a good colorist and budgeting for sufficient hours of their and their assistants' time. If the only way you can afford that is via tape-to-tape, that is a necessary compromise.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com