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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Continuum - The World After

Phil Holland

Phil Holland

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Hello all. I'm very happy to announce that The World After is now up on The Continuum. This was the piece I put together in 9 days for NAB Reduser Party 2012. This project was a fascinating journey due to the extreme deadline crunch. I'm really happy that it's getting out there for others to see.


I've also uploaded a few select stills from the piece in 720p which I flagged during the edit. There are also a couple in there that didn't make the final cut that I liked as well.
http://www.artbyphil.com/cgi-bin/phfx_cbslider.cgi?images=cinematography/2012_TheWorldAfter_SelectStills

I'm currently in pre-production on my second project for The Continuum and can't wait to get rolling. Just a bit more pre-pro left then casting. Should have it done before NAB. It's going to be EPIC.
 
Nice
 
Phil,

Looking forward to what you've got next. The World After was a pretty amazing piece for someone doing it solo. I love the write up/BTS you did on that short.
 
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Thanks gentlemen. I'm going to document the whole process for the next short as well.

Also, just found out this is a finalist in the SHOT ON RED Film Festival. It's going to be nice to see this projected in 4K.

I had another project that I couldn't get clearance on to submit (won't be out until October 2013), but I'll have a lot more "weird" stuff in the next two months to show. More more more.
 
Phil, I know the actress in your short. She was an acting student of mine at Playhouse West, in Los Angeles for a long time. She's great and great work on the short!
 
Great film Phil. The Continuum is proving to be a great platform for indie filmmakers. We have another film in pre production and it's going to be an epic one too. Looking forward to see what you crank out next.
 
Cool stuff, Phil! :-)
 
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Jagger Christian said:
Phil, I know the actress in your short. She was an acting student of mine at Playhouse West, in Los Angeles for a long time. She's great and great work on the short!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I've met and worked with a few actors that have come through Playhouse West. Good things are going on there.


Al Lougher said:
Great film Phil. The Continuum is proving to be a great platform for indie filmmakers. We have another film in pre production and it's going to be an epic one too. Looking forward to see what you crank out next.
Click to expand...

Yep. I love their vision and concept. I think it's going to continue to grow too. It's certainly made me reexamine short form storytelling. Good luck on the next one Al! I know I'll need a little bit too :)

sidbarnhoorn said:
Cool stuff, Phil! :-)
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
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PatrickFaith said:
Phil ... i see some 4k vfx in your film . What's your perception on 4k in the vfx shops in LA, anyone doing that in any significant way ? I know most of the stuff is still 2k even though the footage is 5k. Any lessons learned on 4k vfx for your short?
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It's an interesting topic. Most larger studios at one point or another have done 4K VFX work to some degree. Either for one off shots, ride films, IMAX, or "other". However, when we get into conversation of 300-1000+ shots on a regular basis and on multiple projects that's where they are really concerned. Or even scarier, the concept of a full 4K CG movie. Most of that comes from the additional render times, memory requirements, employee labor hours, and disk space needed for a 4K pipeline. There is a bit of reluctance due to those costs. Not to mention, upgrading screening rooms with 4K playback for those that haven't already. This is actually a world where I think the Red Projector is going to really help out. Playing back 2K 16bit DPX frames in real time was expensive to achieve a few years ago. 4K is going to be a similar, yet more daunting task to undertake.

Post houses bid on projects and whatever project is going to desire 4K VFX work will need to pay for those additional costs in some way. It's difficult for many of the studios to just absorb the cost to upgrade their hardware and pipelines on their own. So you need to budget it out across shows or land a huge show that allows you some flexibility. These days, even in large budget VFX films, all of that money is keenly watched and most of it goes to labor costs. On the postive, at least 5 studios I've worked with have opened the conversation up about outfitting their studios and gearing up for 4K. Some have made the transition or are in transition already.

I'm a proponent of 4K so in my mind it's always been a goal when it comes to digital acquisition and finishing. That's directly due to having a motion picture film background. Here's an example: Generally speaking, for a full screen hero CG character you would be looking at a texture map in the 4,000-16,000 pixel level depending on complexity for 2K level work. With 4K, that might be looking more like 16,000-64,000 pixels. Which is scary for texture painters and labor hours. The additional work from compositors is required. The impact on rendering full 3D scenes or characters at that level of detail is very real. All of this can effect how quickly you can turn around shots and in Post VFX deadlines are your maker.

All of that said. Don't be scared. If you test and prepare for any situation you can find a way to map it out and plan how you're going to attack your project. Also, we have tools and computers that are more powerful than ever. I haven't worked on anything less than 4K this year. I'm currently rendering out two 16K CG scenes on two separate computers. That 16K render won't be done this year, but I don't have a render farm or a render queue where I can tile and distribute tasks.

The top VFX studios are run by good people. Smart people. It's going to be productions that will push them more and more into 4K.

One of the things that attracted me to motion picture work, especially after I got some experience under my belt, was the new challenges that you had to face on every new project. We develop pipelines to prepare ourselves for the regular procedures, but you will always need to adapt or recreate those pipelines because you obviously won't be working on the same exact project every time. Some foresight, an open mind, creative problem solving, and experienced workers are what's needed to make that switch from 2K to 4K.
 
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Heh. That was a bit longer than I expected. I should have said. Get more RAM, disk space, build (or rent) larger render farms, begin to researching/investing in some 4K projection hardware, prepare your deadlines to reflect additional time concerns on a shot by shot basis due to the resolution increase.

That and make sure that the level of quality control remains high. Very high.

The final image is what's important at the end of the day.
 
Phil Holland said:
Heh. That was a bit longer than I expected. I should have said. Get more RAM, disk space, build (or rent) larger render farms, begin to researching/investing in some 4K projection hardware, prepare your deadlines to reflect additional time concerns on a shot by shot basis due to the resolution increase.
That and make sure that the level of quality control remains high. Very high. The final image is what's important at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the long explanation ... it is helping me for my film which is a musical with a lot of realflow simulations. So i don't blow the budget/timeline on vfx ... what i'm is doing most of the renders and DI at 2048x930. But with your comments, I think I'll do the main music segments at 4096x1860, to ease myself into 4k vfx. This also has the added benefit of allowing the music numbers (which will be frequently viewed in separate distribution channels then the feature) to be distribute at 4k.
 
Nice work Phil!
Congrats on the Continuum exposure. I'm in the script phase for a Continuum short at the moment.

And thanks for the post on 4k VFX. The short I'm developing will entail some VFX and I've been going back and forth on if my current system can handle 4k compositing. Your posts are always very inspiring and well said.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
 
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