SWEET DREAMS OR NIGHTMARES
A post-production event

The post-production path is never easy. But with more communication in the decision stages between pre-production and post, it’s more likely to be a dream run. Such was the key message of a recent industry event, as Rachael Turk reports.

The decision to shoot Kriv Stenders’ 1902-period thriller/Western Lucky Country on Super-16 was the result of a carefully calculated process of elimination. That decision was followed through creatively and technically throughout the post-production process, as Rising Sun Pictures Co-founder and Chairman Tony Clark explained in just one of many presentations at the seminar ‘Sweet Dreams or Nightmares’.
The ‘Sweet Dreams or Nightmares’ industry event brought together post houses Rising Sun, Cutting Edge, Frame, Set & Match, and Efilm with other pivotal industry partners. With over one hundred delegates in attendance, it showed how critical it is to consider post-production workflows at the same time as acquisition format.
The fact that the majority of the $2m-budgeted Lucky Country would be shot handheld, for example, with minimal crew and a challenging schedule, made the S16 SR3 camera, combined with 35mm Panavision Primos, the right choice for DOP Jules O’Loughlin in terms of mobility and sharpness.
Clark said Rising Sun then worked hard in the grading pipeline to up the level of detail; in particular, the low-light interior scenes, the bulk of which were shot on 50 ASA stock. And despite the tenet that 16mm can be problematic for VFX work, he said, “We did flame bars, composites and split screens without a problem. You can stabilize S16 to a fine level of detail using modern software. Apart from green screen, there’s no reason why you can’t play 16mm into visual effects.”
“Now we just need to have dirt/scratch concealment and removal systems to be more accessible for Australian films.”

As if on cue, Stefan Sedlmeier, General Manager of ARRI Australia introduced Relativity, the software based client suite system introduced in June for grain management and texture control. A modular suite operating on Windows XP, Relativity is useful for intercutting between 16mm and 35mm or between film stocks to make a smoother looking image.

“This software is allowing filmmakers to reconsider film for shooting,” said Sedlmeier as he showed a series of S16 “befores” and “afters” scanned on the Arriscan. “Without interframe interpolation, we can maintain the sharpness of the image.”

Having said that, he noted that grain management must look authentic and that what constitutes authentic is subjective. “The perception of grain is always down to the personal preference of the director.”

The job of aiding that particular preference falls upon the colourist, as Stuart Monksfield, General Manager of Cutting Edge Sydney pointed out.

Giving the colourist’s perspective on image capture preferences, complete with diagrams, Monksfield talked about the importance of colour separation and colour purity. Colour separation is what gives the colourist the ability to isolate subtle tonal differences in an image, allowing them to stretch and manipulate very specific regions and make perfect in-scene matches. Colour purity is the resemblance of the captured image’s hue to that of the real world. Some digital cameras can skew the colours from reality, leaving the colourist with a lot of work to do.

“We’ve also done a lot of work to add granularity, which can increase the perceived resolution,” Monksfield noted about one of his experiences with digital capture.

John Bowring ACS, Managing Director of Lemac, agreed that – with the new techniques available – film can fit almost any budget given control and a sensible shooting ratio. Film in many cases has an on set advantage of being operationally faster than many digital formats – and it's that on set time where the greatest expense can occur.

"Doing S16 properly is not hard. Similarly, the old ‘Spaghetti Western’ Techniscope 2 perf format has been reborn as SUPER 35 2 perf. With new, ultrasharp, compact spherical lenses, combined with the digital intermediate, faster film stocks and finer grains of Kodak's new emulsion, 2 perf makes it a whole new ball-game,” Bowring said.

In comparing 2 and 3 perf images, Bowring showed that even on an evening exterior shoot, shot on high-speed 500T, 5219, the 2 perf image performed well with good sharpness and without crawling in the mid-tones. Furthermore, he pointed out that at any given shooting ratio, 2P uses 50 percent less stock than traditional 4P, requires less magazine changes, with less short ends and less archival concerns later.

Aatoncode – the Metadata time stamping of film as it rolls through the camera gate – further adds to the functionality of the process, saving the film stock commonly wasted on slates and roll up time, automating the syncing process and permanently documenting the film for post and archive.

Whilst conceding that there are few 2 perf cameras around, Bowring said that the ARRI's AATONs and some PANAVISION cameras can do 2 and 3 perf. AATON's new Penelope is the first film camera built for switchable 2 and 3 perf from the ground up (the capability can be changed in 20 minutes.)

To summarise, "It's an exciting old format that, because of new techniques and technology, has been made new again,” he said.

A panel session moderated by Tim Waygood after the presentations echoed the fact that no one path is right; that it’s more about what’s right for each project. Industry leaders shared their insights from different parts of the production spectrum.

“I love all cameras! But you have to look at the film grammar you want to put on the screen. Then you look at the budget,” said Rosemary Blight, Producer, Goalpost Pictures (Closed For Winter, Clubland, In The Winter Dark) in discussing the choice of acquisition format.

DOP Mark Wareham, who worked with her on Clubland, agreed. “The starting point for how you shoot has always got to be the script. Then you ask whether it’s a single camera or multiple, handheld or locked off, a clean look or not. Then you talk to a production designer,” he said, noting that the look has to carry all the way through to the editing, which is firmly entrenched in the post-production process.

Colleen Clarke, a Post-production Supervisor with her independent service company Ppost and Deliver pointed out that the story was not over until all contractual deliverables had been made.

“Although the decision is usually made before us, the end game is the delivery, meeting the expectations set up in contracts pre pre-production,” she said.

According to Anthos Simon, General Manager Creative Services at digital post-production powerhouse EFILM Australia, film origination gives a lot of filmmakers and post houses a certain "comfort" level; It has a proven track record. At the same time, “This should not stop filmmakers from using new and at times exciting technologies that offer something different to the visual senses. As long as you have tested the digital capture right through the post path and understood the detail involved in the workflow and its implication then you should be fine with little surprises along the way."

The key, of course, is foresight and communication. As Steve Dunn, a Managing Director of Frame, Set & Match summarises for In Camera, “Get the producer, director, DOP and post house together before you budget and discuss the project and what is needed. There will always be a wish list but early involvement will produce a direction that gets the project shot and finished to a high level with minimal hassle.”