digital studio - march 2010

An ITP Business Publication 1 Licensed by Dubai Media City Vol. 12 Issue 3 March 2010

TRAINING DAYSharjah Uni students gain

access to cutting-edge AV kit

THE SHOW GOES ONMajor migration project

post merger at OSN

CABSAT 2010

SPECIAL

Saudi Arabias Knowledge Economic City brought to life by Real Image Productions

REEL EFFECTS

www.digitalproductionme.com MARCH 2010 1

CONTENTS

MARCH 2010 VOLUME 12 ISSUE 03

18

42

72

82 90

61

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5 NEWSJordanians team up for Internal production / DMI renews Harris contract / Hitachi opens o ce in Saudi Arabia / Martin shines in Lebanon / VFX goes wild with RED ONE

COVER STORYSaudi Arabias Knowledge Economic City was brought to life in a massive undertaking that included more than 300 people on set and 30 experts in post.

ERTU TAKES CONTROLEgyptian broadcaster takes control of its news graphics and on-air branding.

POST PRODUCTIONIndustry pros share some of the secrets of 3D modelling.

30 REVIEWSIndustry experts give us the lowdown on the Sony PMW 350 XDCAM EX and the new Smoke on MAC.

CASE STUDY - SHARJAHThe University of Sharjah - Womens College invests in a multi-million dollar TV and radio facility for training purposes.

INDUSTRY FOCUS - RADIOWhen TV advertising revenues took a dip last year, radio upgrades increased much to the delight of the suppliers.

SPECIAL REPORTCreating graphics for a multi-format environment can be a challenge but it can be overcome, says James Gilbert.

42

48

54

82 THE SHOW IS ON AT OSNMike Whittaker shares the details of the technical changes undertaken at OSN since the merger.

90 TAJ TV GOES FUTURISTICDominic Baillie shares Taj TVs plans for HD and beyond.

94 CABSAT 2010The hottest products at the show

112 OPINIONEric Macinnes tells us that local content is the need of the hour.

72 KITTED OUTWe look at some of the key kit at Dubai-based Colonia Film.

77 TECH UPDATEChoosing the right codec is key to producing quality images.

MARCH 2010

MARCH 20102

COMMENT

As more broadcasters migrate to high de nition (HD) calling it the future of broadcasting, there is a pressing need for all stakeholders

to come together and decide on one HD stan-dard rather than pursuing di erent standards.

Should it be 720, 1080i, 1080p or something else? Manufacturers will continue to push for the newest technology claiming that it is the best. The question we need to ask ourselves is if the standard we choose within HD is solid and whether all parts of the chain are easily available and supported.

The Arab HDTV Group, headed by Saudi Ministry of Culture and Informations (MOCI) Assistant Deputy Minister for Engineering Dr. Riyadh Najm, has encouraged all broadcasters in the region to become members so that they can together discuss some of the common concerns in the Arab world with regards to the adoption of one common HD standard. An increasing number of broadcasters have seen the bene t of convening together for the Groups annual meetings to discuss a common path for moving forward.

It is a good thing that HD will continue to be the focus at CABSAT this year although most other international shows will have moved on to 3D. As a region that is still grap-pling with the fundamental issues of HD, it is ideal that we address these concerns rst. HD is, therefore, an appropriate choice for discus-sion at this CABSAT.

Having said that, we also need to question if HD should be looked at as a goal as most

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THE PATH TO HD MUST BE MORE WELL DEFINED

VIJAYA CHERIAN Editor

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To subscribe please visit: www.itp.com/subscriptions

ON THIS MONTHS COVERDigital Studio discovers how architectural concepts are brought to life on screen at Real Image Productions.Read the full story on page 18.

T b ib l

broadcasters are doing at the moment or if they should adopt an approach that allows them to always build on the technology they have invested in rather than pursuing new for-mats as they are introduced into the industry.

Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) is a ne example of a broadcaster that has under-stood the challenges of adopting HD before taking it on. We are delighted to see how it has stood at the forefront of the HD revolu-tion and brought high-quality images and Dolby sound to our screens. We are, however, equally impressed with the format-agnostic approach that Taj TV is pursuing.

Adopting HD is not without its challenges. CABSAT will be the ideal platform to discuss some of our concerns and learn from our peers. See you at the show!

*BPA Worldwide Audited Average Qualified Circulation 6,023 (Jan - June 2009)

REGIONAL UPDATE


NEWS

IN BRIEF

AL JAZEERA TO BROADCAST WORLD CUP 2010 IN 3DAl Jazeera Sport will broadcast the World Cup in South Africa in 3D from June 11 to July 11 in conjunction with FIFA.The network is in the process of building two 3G (3Gbps) studios that are designed to facilitate better transmission of HD 1080p and 3D signals.Subscribers will have to pay an extra charge on their existing sub-scriptions to view the channels in 3D, according to Khalif i Bin Nasser Al Ghanim, director general of Al Jazeera Sport.The 2010 World Cup will also be broadcast by Al Jazeera Sport in HD via satellite.Al Jazeera Sport has been one of the most profitable divisions of Al Jazeera Network and recently made several technical and business investments.It recently purchased the rights to several premium sports broadcasts from ART. It is also in the process of building a brand new studio facility in addition to a 3G facility.The f irst of the 3G studios is sched-uled to be completed by mid Febru-ary while the second is scheduled for completion at the end of March.

A group of up-and-coming Jordanian lmmakers teamed up to produce a lm titled Internal following a series of workshops run by the Royal Film Com-mission (RFC) to simulate actual studio collaboration between writers, directors and producers.

Internal traces the story of a 36-year-old Jordanian woman who struggles to come to terms with her homeland Jordan after a long stay in the US.

Produced with a small budget of US $17,000, the lm was scripted, directed and produced by Jorda-nians. A number of well-known Jordanian actors including Saba Moubarak, Sha qa Al Tal, Moham-med Al Qabbani and Ashraf Farah starred in the lm while several members of the Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts (RSICA) joined as crew for the lm.

George David, general manager of RFC, stated that the organisation spares no e ort to provide

maximum support for all productions in the coun-try. RFC provided equipment and helped secure permits and facilities for the lm.

RFC has reason to be proud. Some of the lms shot in the country are competing closely with James Camerons Avatar in this years Oscars race.

The Hurt Locker, an American lm directed by Camerons ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow and shot mainly in Jordan in 2007, has been nominated for nine Oscars at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

Bigelow endorsed Jordan as an excellent location stating that she would support anybodys decision to go there (Jordan).

Likewise, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was shot partly in Jordan in 2008, has also been nominated for one Oscar at the Academy Awards.

MOROCCAN STATE BROADCASTER DEPLOYS RIEDEL SYSTEMSMoroccan public broadcast network 2M has installed a Riedel Artist digital matrix inter-com solution to replace its previous system. The new system integrates 16 regional 2M broadcast studios via IP into the broadcasters communications infrastructure.

At the heart of the installation are two Riedel Artist 128 mainframes connected via a redun-dant dual bre ring o ering up to 1,024x1,024 non-blocking ports. The frames are equipped with redundant power supplies, AIO connec-tions and VoIP client cards.

67 Artist 2000 series and 23 Artist 3000 series control panels are used at the studio in Casa-blanca and the 16 regional studios. 2M uses 17 Riedel Connect IP interfaces to integrate the remote control panels of the regional studios.

The Connect IP units allow for matrix-to-matrix connections and matrix-to-control panel links as well as the distribution of audio lines over IP. The interface converts one AES3 stream into compressed IP data and vice versa, thus integrating the whole installation.

Sanae Benlhabib, chief technician at M2 said

that Connect IP adds a lot of exibility to our daily work ow.

The ability to directly integrate all our regional studios will be a large step forward in how we manage our broadcast operation. Artist is the perfect solution for our demands; plus the installation was very easy as well. The support we got from Riedels engineers was excellent, he stated. Riedel RiFaces are used to integrate mobile radios into the intercom system. Medium weight single and double ear PRO headsets completed the order.

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JORDANIANS TEAM UP FOR INTERNAL PRODUCTION

Left: Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak and right, the crew on the set of Internal, a local production undertaken by young filmmakers with the support of the Royal Film Commission.

REGIONAL UPDATE

MARCH 2010 www.digitalproductionme.com6

NEWS

The opening ceremony was held at the Japanese Embassy in Riyadh and was attended by several senior Saudi government representatives and heads of Japanese Corporations. The manufacturer operates through its local distributor First Gulf Company (FGC).

In the last couple of years, we have sold more than 100 HD camera chains to FGC and we will be celebrat-ing this success at CABSAT. In the last year, we also supplied several cameras to ERTU for three of their OB van and SD studio upgrades. In addition, 30 of our SK-900 cameras were used to provide the key broadcasts from the FIFA World Cup that were staged in Egypt in 2009, he added.

Hitachi will seal three more strategic partnerships in Oman, Bahrain and Qatar at CABSAT 2010.

IN BRIEF

QATARI CASH SET TO FLOW THROUGH TREASURE ISLANDAn unnamed Qatari film producer is in talks to finance a $150m movie trilogy based on the childrens classic Treasure Island.

The three-film project already has a script and a director attached. Film-ing is scheduled to begin in November this year and casting is underway, with Robert Downey Jr star of the blockbusters Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes - top of the filmmakers wish list to play villain Long John Silver.

We have somebody in Qatar at the moment who is a very experienced producer of multi-million dollar pictures and we are involved in set-ting up a franchise based on Treasure Island, which would be a key picture deal, said Douglas Rae, managing director and executive producer of Ecosse Films.

Ecosse, a UK-based independent film producer, is searching for a partner to finance the adaptation of Robert Louis Stevensons classic tale.

The company is behind a string of critical and commercial successes, including Mrs Brown, starring Judy Dench, Charlotte Gray, with Cate Blanchett, and Jane Austin biopic Becoming Jane, with Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy.

Rae said the Middle East was becoming well known as a lucrative source of film funding in interna-tional markets.

We are trying to establish a relationship with film funds which are increasingly being generated out of the Middle East, he added.

California-based William Morris Endeavor already has an independent division and currently represents a number of funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai, which are interested in financing film projects. WME also represents Ecosse.

HITACHI STRENGTHENS ARAB TIES WITH KSA OFFICEHitachi Kokusai Europe Limited launched an o ce in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month. The new o ce is cur-rently based at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh and manned by four sta .

The aim of launching this o ce is to continue our companys excellent relationships with the govern-ment and corporations in the Kingdom and to help further our contribution to the growth of Saudi infra-structure, commented Paddy Roache, director and general manager of Hitachi Kokusai Europe Ltd.

The o ce is also a sign of the commitment I made in the Kingdom three years ago. At that time, I com-mitted to increasing the support from Hitachi for all of our products, particularly broadcasting. This is just the beginning of our expansion in the Middle East.

SONY GETS AHEAD OF THE GAME WITH 3D

Left: Dr. Riyadh K. Najm, assistant deputy minister for engineering, MOCI, Saudi Arabia with H.E Mr. Endo, the ambassador of Japan to Saudi Arabia as Naim Saidi of FGC looks on.

Left: Paddy Roache, GM of Hitachi UK with Sawa,

VP of Global Sales, Hitachi Kokusai Japan Inc.

Andy Hotten.

Sony brought its 3D technology roadshow to Dubai last month showcasing its future strategy for inter-linked 3D presentation products ranging from televi-sions and notebook PCs to professional solutions.

Andy Hotten, chief engineer at Sony Professional Services, who was also at the launch commented that the manufacturer was releasing several devices to make the produc-tion of 3D easier.

One speci c development for 3D is a 3D processing product. This ts between the cameras and the Vision Mixer in the video chain. It takes the feeds from both the right and the left

cameras and corrects the images to ensure that the images are in alignment and the colours are cor-rectly matched. Essentially, it will correct the colour discrepancies and electronically compensate for any problems in these images.

Sony will have a big focus on 3D at NAB this year.

3D Cinematography. Hes got the vision, weve got the focus.James Camerons venture into 3D cinematography is nothing less than groundbreaking. Of course, major

endeavors require focus. In this case, Fujinon lenses did the trick. Our lenses accompanied him to the

oceans bottom for Aliens of the Deep, Ghosts of the Abyss and Expedition Bismarck. They are also with him

on the set of Avatar, his rst major feature since Titanic. Bottom line? Before you select a lens for the front

of your camera, consider who stands behind it. To learn more, visit www.fujinon.com

100013_JC_205x275_GB.indd 1100013_JC_205x275_GB.indd 1 26.01.2010 12:39:42 Uhr26.01.2010 12:39:42 Uhr

REGIONAL UPDATE


NEWS

IN BRIEF

SAUDI MOCI AWARDS FIRST PRIVATE FM RADIO LICENCEThe Saudi Ministry of Culture and Infor-mation (MOCI) has granted the countrys fi rst private FM radio broadcasting licence to Alf Alf, which paid US$20 mil-lion for the privilege.

The radio broadcaster beat 10 shortlisted rivals to secure the licence, including Prince Alwaleeds Rotana AV, pan-Arab network ART and Saudi Specialised Publishing Company (SSPC).

Under the terms of the deal, Alf Alfs new service must cover 30 regional centres across Saudi Arabia, with 15 mandated by the Saudi MOCI.

The ministry has said it will issue four more licenses in the next two months.

The short-listed companies and other qualifi ed companies can make their bids to win one of the remaining four licences, said Saudi Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja in an interview with Arab News.

Khoja added that the MOCIs mandatory licencing regime for satellite television service operators based in the Kingdom was also now operational.

From now on, no Saudi channel can appear without the license of the MOCI, he clarifi ed.

Lebanese production house Studiovision pur-chased several MAC 700s from Martin Profes-sional recently to light up the MTV Lebanon set.

Speaking about his reasons for purchasing the MAC 700s, Studiovisions chairman and CEO, Mi-chel El Murr said: The Studiovision complex is by far the most comprehensive television compound in Lebanon in terms of production capacity and equipment, and the most sophisticated in the Middle East in terms of quali ed personnel.

We like the MAC 700 fixtures because of its silent operation and compact and modular design. It is a powerful fixture with considerable light output and good optical precision.

MARTIN SHINES THROUGH ON THE MTV LEBANON SET

DUBAI MEDIA INC. RENEWS CONTRACT WITH HARRIS FOR NEXT FIVE YEARSDubai Media Incorporated (DMI) has renewed its Harris Broadcast Master sales and scheduling software licence for the next ve years. As part of the renewal, DMI will upgrade to version 8 of the Broadcast Master software, which o ers additional features to support the companys future growth and transition towards a le-based work ow.

We have been using Broadcast Master for ve years, and it provides the perfect sales and

scheduling solution with which to create a uni ed work ow, commented Hassan Chahine, chief technology o cer at DMI. Upgrading to the new version of the soft-ware future-proofs our investment in light of the major digital transforma-tion we are undertaking

at our facility. For example, Broadcast Master version 8 enables the transmission of BXF data amongst core components of our system.

DMI also uses other Harris broadcast solutions at its facility, including D-Series automation. Technical support and consul-tancy are being provided to DMI as part of the Broadcast Master contract renewal and software upgrade.

Richard Scott, vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa operations, Har-ris Broadcast Communications called the ve-year contract renewal a major win for Harris in the Middle East and stated that DMI is the fourth client in the Middle East to upgrade to version 8 of Broadcast Master in a short space of time.

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Studiovision occupies more than 30,000 m2 of space in three locations. At the heart of the mul-tiplex are 16 studios fitted with state-of-the-art equipment ranging from sophisticated lighting systems to high-tech audio solutions.

Hassan Chahine.

The MTV sets in Lebanon.

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REGIONAL UPDATE


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Argosy is a leading UK-based internationalsupplier of HD broadcast cables and studio

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Dubai-based production house VFX Films returned to lming wildlife documentaries last year in the UAE after a long stint producing TVCs for the real estate industry. The docos were shot in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah with the RED ONE and two Sony HD cameras.

We did a lot of underwater shoots with the RED ONE and also acquired underwater housing for the same, commented Yusuf Thakur, CEO of VFX Films.

Besides this, we also used a huge arsenal of equip-

ment such as a 19-foot Jib arm, curved and straight dolly, more than 10 di erent lenses from 8mm to 1000mm, long range sound equipment and so on, he added.

Lugging the RED kit and the jib arm along with camping equipment and food over several kilo-metres through a mountainous terrain was a huge challenge and the team had to make two trips to get the gear to each location, Thakur claims.

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IN BRIEF

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS WINS ERTU CONTRACTS IN EGYPTIntegrated Systems recently undertook a major upgrade at Egyptian Radio and Television Unions (ERTU) playout centre to enable the broadcast of two additional satellite channels from its facility. Two NEXIO AMP 3601 HDX video servers with external RAID storage and a Harris 6800+ audio and video processor were deployed at the facility as part of this project. Commissioning is in progress at the moment.

The SI will also execute a second project at ERTU to enhance its ingest, playout and storage capabilities.

Besides this, the SI, which represents Harris, Ikegami and Vinten in the country undertook six other contracts for ERTU last year to upgrade its national studios.

VFX GOES WILD WITH THE RED FOR DOCO FEATURES

Yusuf Thakur and a team member with the RED on a Microlight.

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REGIONAL UPDATE


NEWS

MOVERS & SHAKERSUBMSReza Mehdizadeh has resigned from United Broad-cast & Media Solutions. Mehdizadeh, who helped secure several major contracts during his tenure at UBMS, will be at CABSAT although he declined to comment on his plans for the future.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGNTim Siddons has joined Blackmagic Design Inc. as its EMEA sales manager from March 1. Siddons will be responsible for sales, business development, customer service and fi eld support for the company in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Working with distributors and resellers across 87 countries. Tim is a long-time post and broadcast industry veteran with wide sales experience.

HARRISP. Harris Morris has been named the new president of Harris Broadcast Communications busi-ness. Morris previously served as vice president and general man-ager at the companys Media and Workfl ow area of the Broadcast Communications business.

VOLICONVolicon has appointed Paul Dubery as the companys director of EMEA business development. Dubery brings more than a decade of experience in the EMEA market to his new role, in which he will lead the further develop-ment of Volicons EMEA strategic-chan-nel relationships and sales activities. Dubery is based at Volicons newest European offi ce in the U.K.

MIRANDA TECHNOLOGIESHany Bartella has been promoted to general manager at Miranda Technologies Dubai offi ce. Bartella joined Miranda in March 2007 as its Middle East sales manager and operated the Dubai offi ce alone. In his new role, Bartella will be expected to grow Mirandas operations further in the Middle East. Miranda is also looking to expand its staff in the region.

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DIFF 09


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After a challenging 2009, the Middle East market now looks forward to a positive year for

the broadcast and satellite industry. CABSAT is a vital show for me. All the prime vendors

that are important to us converge on this one venue. Besides this, several new companies

will also try di erent marketing strategies to gain more visibility at the event. CABSAT

gives us plenty of opportunities for productive networking and schmoozing with pro-

spective clients. Its literally a one-stop, non-stop conference. Personally I expect to

learn about the developments that are shaping the industry, interact with the latest

technology and do business in this professional and supportive environment.

This year, we look forward to seeing emerging technologies for IPTV & Mobile TV;

experiencing further developments on Stereo 3D and HDTV

1080P(3G); and solid-proo ng the creation, management and

delivery of content in a le based work ow.

Weve had a fairly successful year with projects undertaken

for Al Rayan, Al Dawri and Al Kass, Syrian TV, Dubai TV, AL Jazeera

Network, Etisalat and the American University of Dubai.

The Middle East continues to prove a very strong market for Argosy and our

infrastructure equipment has been implemented in various broadcast projects

around the region. Our presence at CABSAT is important as it allows us to sup-

port our Dubai o ce and have face-to-face contact with our customers and new

partners in the region to drive future business opportunities.

Argosy has one of the broadest portfolios of HD infra-

structure products on the market today and our aim is

to continue to support the ever-changing needs of our

customers as they move to digitise their facilities and

migrate towards HD while simultaneously striving to

achieve improved work ow e ciencies, connectivity

and return on investment.

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WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GAIN FROM CABSAT THIS YEAR?

FilmLight is exhibiting for the second year at CABSAT. This year, were exhibiting

in conjunction with our Egyptian reseller Media Wheels. Our expectations are

threefold: We hope to meet key decision makers from the regions main broad-

casters and post production companies; have them understand the signi cant

production value colour grading adds to commercials/drama/ lm and help them

appreciate why FilmLight has just been awarded four

technical Oscars covering scanning, colour grading and

colour management. FilmLight is a relative newcomer

to the Middle East region, so the main reason for

attending CABSAT is to educate attendees about who

we are, and why were di erent. We look forward to a

busy show!

Sami El Shafai executive director, Salam Media Cast

CABSAT is the key tradeshow for Riedel Communi-

cations in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia

region as these are some of the fastest growing

regions worldwide. Therefore, CABSAT is rst choice

for us to present our new bre-based signal distri-

bution network technology MediorNet in the Middle

East markets. We look forward to the developments

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Andreas Hilmer director of marketing & communications, Riedel Mike Grieve sales director, Filmlight

Leadersin Turnkey Projects

Broadcast Audio Video Lighting

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SAUDI KEC PROJECT

www.digitalproductionme.com18

COVER STORY

MARCH 2010

Most production houses would lug their crew and kit to Manhattan if they

wanted to show the city albeit brie y in a TVC and a clients budget would immedi-ately shoot through the roof. Dubai-based Real Image Productions, however, claims to do things di erently as it has done all too often in the past. Housed in a building in BurDubai, the Real Image Productions team is well known for creating whole cities at its desktop with the viewer not know-

Saudi Arabias Knowledge Economic City was brought to life in Dubai by Real Image Productions in a massive undertaking that included more than 300 people on set and 30 experts in post. Vijaya Cherian reports.

BRINGING CITIES TO LIFE ON SCREEN

SAUDI KEC PROJECT

19

COVER STORY


The city of KEC was brought to life at Real Image Productions.

The Real Image team successfully transforms the green backdrop to a dynamic environment.

ing the di erence. It is this unique ability that helped the company win an unusually high-budget project recently to design and create a ten-minute video for Saudi Arabias Knowledge Economic City (KEC).

KEC is a futuristic undertaking by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that will include a smart city unlike any in the Middle East. Designs are in place to build an entire eco-system that will include academic organisa-tions, residential and commercial centres, shopping malls as well as parks, roads and the infrastructure necessary to sustain a fu-turistic city. However, this vision needed to be translated onto the screen so that Saudi Arabia could share its concept with others and its Dubai-based agency Saracen chose Real Image Productions for the job.

Although the company has previously been associated strongly with post produc-tion, Real Image has worked hard in recent times with a re-branding exercise as well as several projects to shake o that perception by insisting that it also excels in production. However, it also concedes that the main rea-son for winning this job is the magic its team of architects, special e ects sta and Maya specialists often recreate at their tables in

Dubai. Interestingly, the entire footage was shot in the emirate of Dubai.

Aiham Ajib, creative director and managing partner of Real Image Pro-ductions justi es the choice of locale.

We didnt shoot in Saudi Arabia because we were trying to recreate a city that does not exist at the mo-ment. It would have been a logistical nightmare as the Kingdom does not have the right shopping centres or related infrastructure to match the concept. Dubai, by comparison, has it all whether its a modern-looking shopping mall, supermarkets, an ultra urban landscape you name it, Dubai has it, he explains.

Besides the main cast, handling 160 extras and the crew for eight days of the shoot also was much easier in Dubai, says Ajib.

The project itself made huge demands both from the production and post produc-tion teams, according to Ajib.

For one, as the project was for a client in Saudi Arabia, it was important that they found cast who had the right look.

Besides this, dressing up more than 160 extras for eight days of the shoot and secur-ing permissions to shoot in shopping malls,

MARCH 2010

When we are offered a post production job from a production

house, we spend half the time correcting their mistakes...

Knowing what works and what does not in post, we are easily

able to avoid these mistakes in production

Aiham Ajib, creative director, Real Image Productions

SAUDI KEC PROJECT


COVER STORY

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hypermarkets and hotels turned out to be both challenging and expensive.

Most shopping malls and hypermarkets seem to be increasingly uncomfortable about crew shooting inside their facilities. One hypermarket gave us only half an hour to shoot in their premise as they did not want their shoppers to be disturbed. In one case, a hotel charged an unbelievably huge fee for shooting at its locale. But we needed a place that people could not easily recognise and this hotel t the bill. We also shot in Zayed Univer-sity, in a school and a hospital besides other places. Its easier to do all of this in Dubai, explains Ajib.

Real Images specialty has often been lming people against a green screen and recreating the rest of it in post. This project again saw the company do this on a much larger scale.

On an average day, wed have around 300 people on set. We required a huge chroma studio to shoot. Proaction Media

Services has a studio in International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) that we used, explains Ajib.

Real Image has a smaller studio at its facil-ity in Dubai, where close-ups and smaller shots were lmed. While the company has its own in-house production crew including

This one shot of horses flying in a hologramic style through an interactive museum required the team to model the horses, animate them and make their movement look real.

one

a This one shot of horses flying in a hologramic style through an interactive museum required the team to model the horses, animate them and make their movement look real.

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SAUDI KEC PROJECT


COVER STORY

producers, assistant producers, cameramen and so on, this project also demanded other specialised skills. As a result, a DoP and direc-tor from Australia joined the project.

We have our own production crew. How-ever, the nature of the job demanded certain special skills and our director Kent Allen was someone who had also worked as a technical director on lms like Lord of the Rings and King Kong. He was perfect for the job, says Ajib.

Real Image also boasts its own Sony HD 900 and the Panasonic HD Varicam cameras although other specialised production equip-ment such as the Technocrane, Steadicam and so on were mainly rented from Proaction.

One hundred and ten rolls of 35 mm lm were used in the course of this project, and processed at the Kodak Cinelabs in Dubai.

Once the production was complete, Real Images team of architects, special e ects ex-perts, Maya specialists and compositors came together to bring the whole city to life.

We spent two months in post and our entire post production team, which is a 30-man army,

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On location with the team at the Proaction studio in International Media Production Zone.

worked on this project alone, explains Ajib. While the whole city is based on CAD draw-

ings and designs from KEC, the gaps were lled in by Real Images architects in close collaboration with the developer.

We had to create the whole city and two teams worked on this the architectural team and the special e ects team. Four of our architects handled the master plan and the camera overview of the city and the buildings. They did everything from designing to model-ling to texture lighting and creating the nal output. The special e ects team, on the other hand, worked closely with our Maya experts

to handle other parts of the project including the close-ups and the interior shots. There was one instance where horses were ying in a hologramic style through an interactive museum. Its only one shot but you have to model horses, animate them and make their movement look real. Likewise, there were sev-eral other shots of the cards and the museum that required equal attention to detail. Once each shot was complete, the compositors would then work on them. With only three months to do this job, it was clearly a race against time, explains Ajib.

SAUDI KEC PROJECT


COVER STORY

While this project was hugely demanding, it quickly elevated Real Images status in the industry as an even better post production house than before. More importantly, it also gave greater credibility to the company as a production house.

This project was literally 10 jobs in one but

Contact us:P.O. Box 93, Dubai, U.A.E. Tel: +971 4 2821337, Fax: +971 4 2822617P.O. Box 35807, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Tel: +971 2 6217043, Fax: +971 2 6217042E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.oasisppd.com

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it was very unique in that it pushed our own capabilities. Everyone who has seen the proj-ect so far has asked exactly the same question this was done in Dubai? That is a matter of pride not just for us but for the emirate as a whole, explains Ajib.

Although Real Image is specialised in post,

Ajib has several valid points on why a post house could also make good productions.

When we are o ered a post production job from a production house, we spend half the time correcting their mistakes, he explains.

However, knowing what works and what does not in post, we are easily able to avoid these mistakes in production. Sometimes, a director will say, Its not working, let them sort it out in post. But there are some things you just cannot do in post.

For instance, we had a job recently where we had to replace a blue man with a monster. We spent half the time erasing the blue person. In some cases, the blue man was interacting with other characters and it was impossible to erase him and we couldnt use that shot. It would have been better not to have the blue man in the rst place.

We could have just created the monster in post and let it interact with the other charac-ters. This knowledge and experience makes us a much better production company as we dont waste time making those mistakes. You More than 30 people from Real Image Productions including architects, Maya specialists and special effects experts worked on the KEC project exclusively for two months.

SAUDI KEC PROJECT


COVER STORY

need to know how to do each shot and what can be corrected in post, he says.

Another constant challenge is light matching, according to Ajib.

Of course, this is often resolved if the director is well versed with the post produc-tion side or has someone from post who can tell him what works or what does not, he adds.

Having said that Real Images tools of the trade are mainly Maya, 3ds Max, Fusion, After E ects and the Quantel EQ

We are often asked why we dont use Flame. But if you have only one Flame and one Flame artist and 80 shots to work on, I dont think its an e cient way to get the whole job done. We prefer to composite on Fusion and After E ects, and nalise everything on the EQ. Its more time e cient and on projects like this one, time was of essence, Ajib says.

According to the creative director, time management has been one key reason Real Image has always met its deadlines.

We break down the shots, and then further break it down to each frame. I assign each job to each person and decide which shot must be done on which software. I do this purely based on experience and know-ing each persons capacity, he explains.

Each job goes into the pipeline. We make sure that when one job is completed and goes to the next person, the latter is not stuck doing something else. Sometimes we err but by and large, we have an e ective mechanism in place. We are also careful to ensure that people invest their time well in the company and that they can also maintain their personal lives. This is often a concern in this job so we have tried to address this, adds Ajib.

With a team of more than 42 people, of which 30 work in post production, it would not be inaccurate to call Real Image Produc-tions one of the largest production and post facilities in Dubai. Although the company began work in animation several years ago, it has relegated it to the background because

of its inability to compete with Egypt, Syria or India on cost grounds.

We also dont have a market here that ap-preciates high-quality animation, explains Ajib.

In the meantime, the KEC project has al-ready won Real Image several accolades and jobs are pouring in from international clients.

Its not easy to sit at your desktop and cre-ate Manhattan, Ajib is quick to add.

The video looks right because it has been done right. The exibility we o er, the amount of working hours we can put on a job at a time because of the number of peo-ple we have and the know-how, knowledge and experience we have in post production gives us a huge advantage and that, has re ected in this production. Although this project itself had a remarkable budget, we were able to do this work to the budget only because it was executed in Dubai. If you had to outsource even a portion of this work to international companies or shoot outside, the clients budget would have tripled instantly, explains the creative director.

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ERTU, EGYPT


CASE STUDY

The Egyptian Radio and Television Union recently undertook an installation designed to provide complete control of its news graphics and on-air branding. Digital Studio reports.

Walking into the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) facility in Cairo is an experience most rst time visitors are not likely to forget in

a hurry. It is believed that the ERTU headquarters a mammoth circular building with 27 storeys houses around 25,000 employees. The legend-ary state broadcaster presently broadcasts close to 35 channels and has several operations across the whole of Egypt.

ERTU has invested in several projects of late including SD OB vans, installations to cover the World Cup, and also upgrading its playout and transmission facilities.

One project that was recently concluded is particularly signi cant as the Egyptian broadcast-er not only undertook a HD installation for one of its studios but also invested heavily to ensure that it would, henceforth, have full control of its news graphics.

The latter is especially important as until fairly recently, such control was not possible. At most broadcasters facilities, the design, creation and on-screen execution of news graphics has frequently involved extensive programming and scripting. Therefore, it has often been thought to be quicker and easier to outsource the work to a specialist third-party graphics supplier.

ERTU, like many large broadcasters, had also been outsourcing its news graphics for many years. However, early last year, the broadcaster became increasingly frustrated with this process, and sought to turn graphics around quicker in its news environment.

Recently, when ERTU completed the build of its news studio, Studio 11, it also decided to deploy a brand new on-air graphics system for its news department.

The broadcaster took full advantage

of multiple advanced technologies, including Mirandas MOS compliant Vertigo Xmedia Suite graphics automation, which easily interfaces with ENPS newsroom systems.

This new system enables ERTU operators and journalists to take complete control of their news graphics and on-air branding.

ERTU also introduced more e cient ad also

nt.

ERTU also introduced more e cient

ERTU TAKES CONTROL

ERTU, EGYPT

MARCH 2010 27

CASE STUDY


signal processing and monitoring system as part of this project. Its wonderful to now be completely independent with regards to our news graphics, a senior o cial at ERTU, who did not want to be named, told Digital Studio.

Weve cut our graphics out-sourcing completely, and our processes are now so much more e cient. Prior to the new system, it used to take a huge amount of man hours to get a new graphic on-screen - from order-ing, to designing, to uploading. Now, it just takes seconds. The system has simpli ed any last minute changes to the run-down by allowing our journalists and producers to quickly create graphics within the newsroom itself. The system has also improved the consistency of our graphics, and the quality of our branding, as a whole, he added.

At the heart of the new on-air graphics system are two Miranda Xmedia Servers - one main and one back up. These servers allow all of ERTUs branding assets to be ingested once for central archiving, and subse-quently moved under automation to Miranda X-3D 3D graphics engines.

Producers for each news bulletin use ENPS workstations, which tightly integrate with Mirandas news graphics plug-in, Xnews. As a result, journalists no longer need to move between applications while working on a story.

Currently, ERTUs news centre produces ve bulletins per day, and a

Above, the Studio 11 control room and right, the Central Apparatus Room at ERTU.

ERTU, EGYPT


CASE STUDY

main one-hour news programme at 9pm, cov-ering political, economic, sports and weather news. The template-based graphics system is ideal to produce consistency for ERTUs line-up.

Studio 11, by itself is impressively huge and is tted with a whopping 15 Sony HD cameras, a Lawo Audio mixer, Sony VTRs, and a Sony DVS-8000 4 M/E HD/SD switcher.

It also boasts a huge 17x3 cube Orion video wall that is driven by a Miranda X-3D 3D graph-

All signal processing is performed via Miran-das Densite modular interfaces. The system comprises over 20 fully loaded frames, which ad-dress all of ERTU News Departments core signal processing and distribution functions.

The Densit Series is handy in that it o ers an extraordinary level of signal process-ing functionality on single cards. This saves purchase and maintenance costs, and also simpli es video/audio integration, automa-tion and cabling. With this installation, ERTU has successfully streamlined its work ow and improved its e ciencies while also cutting costs dramatically.

main one-hour news programme at 9pm cov-

ics engine. The video wall displays live video input, and is divided into four sections, which are driven independently by X3D graphics processors, in combina-

tion with the Vertigo Xmedia Suite graphics automation. The sections can be fully synchro-nised to achieve one massive single display across the entire wall.

The studio control room also features a monitor wall that consists of eight 63 Pana-sonic plasma displays, driven by two Miranda Kaleido-X multi-viewers, con gured 96x6. This is where all of ERTUs news signals are monitored. The same multi-viewer system is also used to drive four additional displays within the facility.

All signal processing is performed via Miran-tions,

s engine. The video wallic Various news sets with the background video walls at ERTU.

SONY PMW 350 XDCAM EX

MARCH 201030

CAMERA REVIEW


Freelance DoP Paul Mongey gives us the low down on the Sony PMW 350 XDCAM EX

On several recent shoots, I have used the Sony PMW EX3 as most of my clients require a fast turn-around from shoot to edit. The EX3

shoots 1920x1080 @35mbps on the CMOS Exmor sensors.

From DVCAM to HDCAM, I have spent my career shooting on full size shoulder-mount cameras. Im not a big fan of the semi-shoul-der mount camera design or the lenses that come with the camera. I know that you can have the option to stick a digital SLR or a 2/3 HD lens via lens mount adaptors but this not only makes for a front heavy bit of kit but also a loss the angle of view.

I was, therefore, quite pleased to see Sony

release a full shoulder-mount camcorder ver-sion of the EX3 with a 2/3 block.

The PMW 350 XDCAM EX has Sonys rst full 2/3 CMOS block shooting 1920x1080 and re-cording on to SxS cards. As the camcorder has no moving parts, it uses far less power to oper-ate. Shooting at 18 Watts, this will allow longer shooting time on a single camera battery. The 350 has similar features to the EX3 from Cine Alta and over crank/under crank to shooting fast or slow motion. The PMW350 can shoot from 1 to 30 frames per second in 1080 or 1 to 60 frames per second in 720 mode.

The HD broadcast format battle continues to rage between the manufacturers be it on tape, disc or solid state. But it does look The PMW 350 XDCAM EX uses Sonys SxS cards, which are still relatively expensive.

ROLLING CAMERA!


MARCH 2010 31

CAMERA REVIEW


The Sony PMW350 XDCAM EX.

like a data rate @35Mbps may eventually become the standard. Together with the PDW f355, the EX1/3 and the EX1R (Revised), the 35mbps at either 1440x1080 or 1920x1080 looks like an industry-standard for low-to-medium end productions.

WHO WILL USE THIS CAMERA?As more TV stations move towards HD broad-casts, I can see the PMW 350 becoming a rival to the Panasonic P2 camcorder line.

The lighter weight and low-power con-sumption together with the fast download to edit ingest speed will make the EX PMW350 an ideal replacement to the PDW f355 XDCAM HD/PMW 3 Ex market.

The power consumption is much low-er compared to the XDCAM HD - PDW 800, which uses a whopping 44W in re-cord mode. This will allow cameramen to work with only two large V-LOK batteries a day in the eld and shoot over three hours of 1920x1080 @ 35Mbps on the two SxS slots housing 32Gb cards. This should exceed the daily requirements for most shoots.

An impressive feature is the Picture cache. Although not new to the manufacturers broadcast range, it was pleasing to see this feature on this camera as the picture cache mode allows up to 15 seconds of 1920x1080 video. This feature means you will never miss a special moment as the previous 15 is bu ered in the cameras memory. I see this camera being used in event videography, television programming and news markets as it includes a variety of resolutions from DV with the op-tional DVcam record/playback hardware key [CBK-DV01], HDV [1440x1080], HD 1920x1080 @18, @25 and @35mbps. Shooting HD in frame rates selectable from 50i/60i [59.94i], 25P/30P [29.97P] and native 23.98P is a big plus. Similar to the Panasonic Varicam, the PMW 350 also shoots at 50P or 59.94P in 1280x720 mode.

THE RECORDING MEDIAThe PMW 350 uses Sonys SxS cards, which are still relatively expensive. However, there are sev-eral other options you can consider such as the eLCR express 34 SxS card with interchangeable SD HC cards/slots from E- lms in Australia.

Sony has also introduced the new low-cost SxS-1 adaptor allowing the use of removable

high-speed memory sticks. A user can also get the full raster 1920x1080 via the HD-SDI or HDMI out to a Convergent Design NanoFlash CF card writer that can record in excess of 100Mbps. The nanoFlash is available from www.convergentdesign.com/nano ash.

CAMCORDER The Sony PMW 350 camcorder looks similar to a PDW 700/800 XDcam HD on the left hand side (the operators side).

Instead of the LCD colour video monitor, however, the manufacturer has placed an old

fashioned LCD with Time Code, Card Capacity and Audio levels. The PMW 350 has a colour view nder that has a ip-up monocular eye piece over a 3 high resolution colour LCD video screen which is similar to the EX3.

You can switch the view nder to black & white and operate the camera as normal or you can ip up the eye piece and view the thumbnail images on the display and review previously shot material.

Those familiar with the Panasonic P2, SONY SxS or XD professional disc formats will appre-ciate the thumbnail instant access in the eld to review shoots for the director without using the extra head hours as on a tape format.

The 350 has thumbnail/media control menu on the left hand side of the control panel to instantly access clips rather than powering down and switching to media mode on the EX3 thus saving time in the eld.

On the right side of the control panel, the end user has access to the audio settings. Select the inputs for the four audio chan-


MARCH 201032

CAMERA REVIEW


The Sony CMOS Exmor 2/3 chip block produces very clean images from -3dB to +6dB, producing excellent quality pictures in High Definition (HD).

PROSFull shoulder-mount light weight camcorder

CONS

Using the CMOS Exmor chip block with possible fl ash banding issues rather than a CCD Power HAD FX block.

For a 35mbps camera, US $25,000 is an expensive price tag for the Middle East compared to the cost of a PDW 700 that shoots 1920x1080 @50mbps. I believe $15,000 would have been a better price for this camcorder.

2/3 lens mount for your existing range of HD lenses

A very good high quality 3 LCD colour view fi nder

The PMW350 operates with lower power fully operat-ing/recording @ 18W

Using Sony SxS media, with faster transfer to edit speeds in full resolution thus saving valuable time and speeding up the workfl ow.

nels and new to the PMW 350, SONY has full audio level control access to all four channels.

AUDIOI can see a one-man band operator using stereo left and right front camera mic to audio channels 3 + 4 as back up or perhaps a sound operator working with all four channels in the eld, using the front XLR 5 pin input together with the 2 rear XLR to allow separate clip mics together with a boom increasing options in the edit. It is also great to see that this camera supports both the DWR-S01D digital radio mic and the older analogue WRR 855 in-camera radio mic receivers. This will work well for solo camera operators who use wireless mic sys-tems in Betacam SX or HDcam units, together with a 2/3 HD lens B4 mount and V-lok bat-tery system. This makes it easy to migrate your previous kit over to this new camera.

I was disappointed though with the use of a CMOS Exmor block rather than a CCD Power HAD FX block from a PDW 800. When I started in television, they were just nishing with tube video cameras via umbilical cable to a portable U-matic video tape deck.

When Sony introduced the CCD sensor block, it allowed for better shooting in low light and losing the ghost lagging e ect when shooting bright objects with a tube camera. But CCD too had its issues when it started being used in the broadcast indus-try a vertical smear when shooting bright

objects in frame. With time, however, camera manufacturers resolved these issues.

The Sony CMOS Exmor 2/3 chip block pro-duces very clean images from -3dB to +6dB, producing excellent quality pictures in HD. The camcorder has four hyper-gamma set-tings similar to the PDW-700 and HDW-F900R.

These hyper-gamma settings allow increased dynamic range while compressing the highlights and lifting the darker areas of the video. Using CMOS, however, means you have to grapple with ash banding. When you shoot at an event together with ash photography, a horizontal band appears in the top half of the image for a duration of a frame. The Clip Browser software supplied with the camcorder will allow automatic ash band reduction.

All in all, the PMW 350 is an excellent camcorder to replace the XDCAM HD PDW 700/800 market. If only Sony would intro-duce a payable rmware upgrade allowing full raster 1920x1080 @ 50 Mbps shooting! But then, this would probably kill the XD-CAM HD market.

To conclude, although there are many camera formats in the market, the PMW 350 has a good chance of becoming the new workhorse in the tapeless TV market. Paul Mongey is a freelance lighting camera-man/editor based in Dubai, who has worked extensively for several regional and interna-tional broadcasters.

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SMOKE ON MAC

MARCH 2010 35

TECH REVIEW


THE BIG SMOKEDubai-based post production expert Alistair Rankine shares the good, the bad and the ugly side of working with Smoke on MAC

For the past year, the rumour mill has been awash with stories about the release of Autodesk Smoke on MAC and late last year,

these stories all came true.Smoke on MAC nally arrived and just like its

Autodesk siblings, it is a powerful editorial and composting tool. For Autodesk, this is a step in a new direction as its products are usually only available as software/hardware con gurations at a much higher cost to the end user. Smoke will now be available as a software application for US $15,000 making it more attractive for smaller post production houses, broadcasters and individual users.

AT FIRST GLANCEAs a user and instructor of both Autodesk Smoke and Flame, I was excited but also scepti-cal about Smoke being released on the MAC. My thoughts were that it would be a lesser product with a great deal of the toolset missing. Questions about the keying, the tracker and the colour corrector were only a few of the doubts that rose in my mind and I wondered if it would live up-to the Autodesk name.

After spending a couple of hours on a demo version of Smoke on MAC though, I realised

that this version was every bit as able as the current version of Smoke 2010 that is available on the Linux platform. The entire toolset is intact and it works in exactly the same way as its Linux counterpart although it is a bit slower when rendering.

Why such a drop in price then? I imagine it is to help Autodesk compete in an ever chang-ing post production environment where many people are using FCP, Shake/Nuke and After E ects to complete there work.

Many companies have preferred the aforementioned applications in the past as they have been cheaper and just as capable of producing excellent results although they do take longer to get the job done. There is also the added headache of transferring les from one application to the other when jumping be-tween FCP and Nuke or FCP and After E ects.

All of this slows down ones work ow and compels one to run the same project on multiple platforms. Smoke may not deal with all of ones work needs and may not have the best tools for everything. However, it can complete around ninety to ninety ve percent of your online work without depen-dence on other applications depending on the type of work undertaken.

THE SMOKE USERSo who will be interested in Smoke on MAC? Besides Autodesk users who will be thrilled to see a tried and tested platform available at a substantially lower cost, I believe this will now become more a ordable to smaller companies. Post houses who previously looked at Smoke as too large an investment will be able to include this in their work ow. At the moment, most smaller facilities tend to go down the FCP or Avid Adrenaline route. I dont really see Smoke on MAC competing with either of these plat-forms. Rather, I see it more as nishing tool that will complement these products. O ine Edits will be done on either FCP or Avid and then brought to Smoke for the nishing touches such as colour grading, tracking, rotoscoping and keying amongst others. Its competitors will pretty much be the same in the past namely Quantel EQ and Avid DS Nitris.

OVERVIEWSmoke on MAC, like its siblings Smoke Ad-vanced and Flame (both currently available on Linux) is a high-end editorial and nishing tool consisting of a comprehensive creative toolset including Editorial/Timeline, Advanced Colour Correction, Paint, Clean Up, 3D compositing and Finishing all within a single application.

Smoke on MAC works in exactly the same way as on the Linux version with only the Batch module available on Smoke Advanced missing from the toolset. The majority of these tools are exactly the same as those you will nd on Flame such as The Master Keyer, Colour Correc-tor, Tracker, Stabilizer, Paint and Garbage Mask. Although it does not have all the capabilities of Smoke Advanced and Flame, Smoke on MAC is an attractive prospect and in terms of its capabilities beats its competitors because it o ers greater functionality in terms of keying, tracking, painting and rotoscoping.

With such a toolset available to the user, they

SMOKE ON MAC

MARCH 201036

TECH REVIEW


will be less inclined to jump from one applica-tion to another to nish the job. You will oc-casionally need to jump into other applications such as Photoshop or even Nuke or Shake but you wont need to do it as often as before now that you have many similar functions available right inside Smoke. This not only saves time but also means an end user does not have to learn to use as many di erent applications.

WORKFLOWAlthough Smoke has a fully functional timeline, with all of the insert/overwrite and Trim tools you would expect from a standard editing system, it is probably best seen as a Finishing

There has been a lot of debate about exactly what you need to run Smoke on your Mac. I know some people who have downloaded the trial version onto their MAC books and seemed to have almost full functionality, albeit very slow. In order for you to make full use of all of Smokes functions, its best to stick to Autodesks recommend guidelines, which state that the following are needed.

Smoke on Mac software 8 core Mac Pro 2008 or later Snow Leopard OSX 10.6.2 8GB RAM NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 or FX5600 Card For fast Interac-

tion, Open GL and RenderingAJA Kona 3 Card. For videotape input and output, and also to allow output to a broadacst monitor. Single monitor

display, capable of a resolution of at least 1920 x 1200 or 2560 x 1600

Wacom Intuos tablet Fast storage

Unfortunately, if you dont already have the right hardware to run this software, your budget will start to increase dramatically. The Smoke software alone will cost you $15000. But by the time you have acquired your hardware, installed Snow Leopard, had the correct cards fi tted to your Mac and bought yourself some seriously fast storage, your fi nal bill will amount to anything between $36,000-42,000 depending on which storage you go for. Although it may not be as cheap as one may have hoped for, this is still reasonable considering the results the system can off er the end user.

PRE-REQUISITES TO RUN SMOKE ON MAC

The Colour Warper works like a colour grading system and consists of on-screen tracker balls whose functionality is similar to those found on Spirit, Da Vinci and Lustre systems.

suite and that is how I see most companies incorporating it into their work ow. The nal magic touches that help the product stand out from everyone elses. If you have Smoke on your MAC alongside FCP, chances are you will never need your project to leave that MAChine.

This opens up endless possibilities for com-panies in terms of creativity but also in terms of costing and time management. It will dramati-cally cut the amount of time spent transferring les and footage from one platform to another and help prevent the headache that occurs when trying to gure out what format your foot-age should be in or which colour space it should occupy when transferring from one platform to

another. Now you can edit your o ine in FCP, create an XML le which includes all editorial information as well as any e ects used such as text e ect or resize and then import your XML into Smoke and quickly conform the sequence. This procedure is seamless as you already have the footage captured to the same shared drives. Smoke has the ability to understand most le formats and Apple Pro Rez imports straight in with no problem. Now you are set to make Smoke do what it does best. Finishing!

My rst impression of Smoke on MAC was that it had the smooth feel of a MAC although it is a little slower than the Linux version, but that is not surprising really given the power available to the Linux version.

How does this compare with its competi-tion? Throughout this article, you will regularly see me discussing Smokes toolset. This is what has helped Smoke stay at the top of its game for so long. Over the years, I have had the good fortune to work on Avid DS Nitris, Quantel EQ and also Autodesk Smoke.

Avid DS Nitris is a great online platform and integrates perfectly with Avid Adrenaline. It o ers the user excellent conforming and colour correction tools along with the option of work-ing either on the timeline or as a node based compositor which really adds power to the MAChine. It also brings in Red R3D les natively with no transcoding. However when it comes to areas such as Keying, Tracking, Painting, Rotoscoping and Graphical capabilities, Smoke has an upper hand.

Quantel EQ has always been a bit of a disappointment. Having worked on Quantel Editbox for many years which was an excellent platform, I always feel that EQ never really does what it is supposed to do. For me, it has always been an unstable platform. While it does have an excellent colour corrector and a reasonable Editorial timeline, I always nd myself having to jump in and out of other platforms to help me nish the job. I generally nd Motion Tracking on EQ to be a hit and miss a air and keying and rotoscoping is ok but could be vastly improved. In saying that many people are using the EQ/IQ as a Digital Intermediate/Grading platform so it does have its place in the market. When it comes to areas such as Keying, Tracking, Paint-ing, Rotoscoping and Graphical capabilities, Smoke emerges the winner.

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SMOKE ON MAC

MARCH 201038

TECH REVIEW


In areas such as Keying, Tracking, Painting, Rotoscoping and Graphical capabili-ties, Smoke emerges the sole winner, according to Rankine.

If someone said to me you are allowed two of the above products, I would pick Smoke and the Avid DS Nitris. If I was allowed to chose one of the above products and needed a platform that can deliver a high-end product quickly and e ciently, I would pick Smoke as I know I would have all the tools I need to deliver.

If I had to change anything on the Smoke 2010 on MAC I would add Batch to the toolset, which would give it the power of Smoke Advanced and Flame. Batch is the Node com-positing Module available on both Smoke and Flame which is similar to Shake and Nuke. It was originally only available on Flame but is now available on Smoke Advanced as well.

If all of your work involves layers upon layers of complex compositing then you would prob-ably spend most of your time in Batch and may want to consider buying a Smoke Advanced or a Flame. However, having said that, many Smoke/Flame artists have worked on these platforms for years without the need for Batch. Unless you have used it before, you probably wont miss it and if you know how to operate

on your drives as it is able to import Apple Pro res to its library.

TOOLSETTo go into all of Smokes tools best features I would probably need a weekly column for the next year. Ive be a fan of Smoke ever since I moved over from DS Nitris ve years ago.

For instance, the colour correction module on Smoke is second to none. It consists of not one but two colour correctors. The rst is the standard RGB colour corrector that consists of all the standard colour correction tools and allows the end user to bring a front and a back clip into the module allowing them to match from one clip to the other.

The second is the Colour Warper which works more like a standalone colour grading system and consists of a group of on-screen tracker balls whose functionality is similar to those found on Spirit, Da Vinci and Lustre systems.

The colour warper also incorporates selective colour correction using the Diamond Keyer, originally found on Combustion. This can also be

your Smoke properly you will undoubtedly nd a work around.

My only other wish would be that Red R3D les could be brought into the Smoke without any transcoding. This isnt such a problem as Smoke 2010 now has wiretap central which al-lows the les to be transcoded as a background task while you work with no loss of quality. Also, if you have already transcoded the les for FCP then Smoke can automatically access those les

Non-linear grading revolutionthe need to change

Worldwide, post-production techniques for film and video are converging, fuelled by technical advances from the feature film Digital Intermediate process, and the transition from shooting on film to acquiring media via digital cameras.

This has changed established practices in all marketsfilm, commercials and broadcastwhere images are now treated as file-based data, allowing for lower-cost, high-quality production and post-production. The handling of media and the integration of non-linear grading into the editorial process are both key in modern workflows.

As their clients demands changed, top facilities in London, New York and Los Angeles were among the first to realise that they needed to handle film and data with efficient workflows. The Mill (London & NY), Nice Shoes (NY) and New Hat (LA) re-equipped with Baselight systems two years ago to prepare for the revolution. They quickly achieved advances and efficiencies in the non-linear grading process, and ensured that they never turned work away.

One year ago, Medialab, the premier commercials house in Paris, found that their markets were changing rapidly so they integrated their Spirit telecines and existing commercials/dailies business into a modern infrastructure with file-based data workflows. They equipped with multiple Baselight systems to drive their Spirits and their existing film business, as well as handle RED camera and other digital formats.

Jean-Christophe Coin, Technical Director at Medialab, commented:

We saw what was happening in our markets and knew we had to change. We took the time to understand and integrate the new technology; now we can offer our clients everything they need. Our business has grown through this recessionsome of our competitors who didnt change havent made it.

The demand has already reached the Middle East, with 2K Post House and Timecodein Cairo realising the need to change and upgrading to Baselight.

The non-linear revolution in grading allows for: colour graded dailies, from either film or digital cameras; flexible integration with Avid Media Composer and Apple Final Cut Pro editing systems and storage; easy conform and matching of offline to online; and a superior grading toolset for matching shots in context, and providing high-quality looks to a project. This is just as important for HD productions as it is for film, allowing broadcast projects to be finished to the same exacting standards as feature films and commercials, where budgets would never previously allow for this.

Non-linear grading with Baselight gives you the confidence to know that whatever the project, you have the tools and flexibility to handle the job.

When you buy into Baselight, you are buying into the technical heritage of multiple award-winning company, FilmLightworld-renowned for its innovation, leadership and support.

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THE GOOD

Excellent editorial and composing tool in one box. Its like a mini Flame.

THE BAD

THE UGLY

PRICE: US $19,000 (includes subscription & local support)RESELLER: MediaSys

Having to remap your function keys on your keyboard to interact with Smoke. No Batch.

You will most likely need some training to get up to speed quickly on the functionality as the learning curve is steep.

keyboard to

used to output mattes for di cult green screen shots. Smoke also shares colour correction information with Lustre via set ups and LUTs (look up tables).

The most powerful module on the Smoke system is Action.

Unlike many of Smokes tools which work on the timeline, Action is accessed on the desktop and o ers a true 3D compositing environment, with access to all of Smokes Keyers, Motion Tracking, Stabilising, 3D text, Surface Displace-ment Nodes, Lighting, Camera, Garbage masks Animation Editor and also, the ability to import 3D models into your composite, where you can light and texture them in a true 3D workspace.

Action is what sets Smoke head and shoul-ders above its competitors, and is what makes Smoke more than just an editing tool..

Not only does it incorporate some of the best Keying and Motion tracking tools on the market but they are all incorporated into one module with the availability of Multiple View Ports.

For instance, you may want to set up multiple view ports. One which shows the result, one which shows an overhead view of your scene in 3D space with camera controls , another showing the Animation Editor and the last showing the Action Schematic, giving you total interaction with the scene and being able to view exactly what you are doing every step of the way. Action on Smoke is almost the same as Action on Flame, minus a few features. If you have a good operator at the helm, it is possible to achieve 90% of what you can achieve on a Flame right here on your MAC, if not more!

Smoke on MAC runs Smoke 2010 and incorporates all the new features. The addition of the Modular Keyer to the toolset gives the user the ability to combine multiple Keyers to a single shot using a Node based schematic not too dissimilar to the work ow used inside Batch. The power the Modular Keyer adds to Smoke as a compositing tool really takes the MAChine to another level where even the trickiest and badly-lit green screen shots can be overcome extremely quickly.

Other additions to 2010 are the support of 16-Bit oating-point Open EXR les. This is the le format developed by Industrial Light and Magic, which has a higher dynamic range and colour precision than existing 8- and 10-bit

image le formats. Better handling of the RED work ow, allowing high-quality transcoding of RED R3D media as a background task using WiretapCentral, allowing the direct import of R3D les and the batch import of R3D les ref-erenced in an FCP XML or an EDL are some of the other features. As more projects are being shot on RED, which in itself has an overcom-plicated and timely work ow, Smoke scores another brownie point for supporting RED.

If you want to try out Smoke on MAC and already have the appropriate hardware, a 30-day trial version can be downloaded from the Autodesk website. Smoke is an ammunition that any post house, broadcaster, or 3D anima-tion studio will nd useful.

Time will tell whether this version is as robust as the Linux version, but there is no real reason it shouldnt be. I have worked with MACs for a long time and have never had any issues with robustness or e ciency. I see Smoke having a long and happy future on the MAC.

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