Broadcast
With the advancing technologies of file-based production, the role of kit-hire companies has developed into an all-round support package for producers. Adrian Pennington reports.
Time was when you went to a kit-hire company and did just that - hired kit. Now, many producers seek a more collaborative relationship to help solve the complexities of file-based production. Hire firms, or as some prefer to be termed ‘facilities providers’, have adapted their businesses to suit.
“Technology is changing on an almost weekly basis and it is up to us to keep up to date on it,” says Olly Wiggins, company director of S+O Media, which runs training courses for producers. “That means doing a lot of homework on firmware updates and codecs, and checking user blogs for notes on how footage has been ingested. We go into jobs now as a consultation process with the producer and the post company.”
More reputable hire firms don’t just let kit walk out of the door; they also provide advice on the most suitable camera or recording device for the project, perhaps throwing in basic training and trouble-shooting aftersales support.
The wider adoption of digital acquisition and file-based workflows, accelerated with the recent shortage of HDCam tape from Japan, has led some outfits to offer a more comprehensive service to help a production through the data minefield before, during and after production.
“Hire companies will increasingly play a part in planning,” says Mark Bos, production executive at Talkback Thames. “It’s about having an open conversation and finding the people in those companies with the relevant experience so that from the moment an AP gets a camera out of its box, they understand how they are going to wrangle the data.”
Talkback Thames was among the first producers to chart file-based production and it retains a significanttechnical resource in-house, making it less reliant on hire shops. “Some producers have more experience of tapeless production than others, but those that are less resourced do get benefit from hire companies over and above kit rental,” says Duncan Martin, managing director of Pro Motion Hire, which advised on RDF’s data plan for Sky’s Monster Munchies.
“We increasingly act in an advisory role and are much more closely involved since the back-end of a project has come to the forefront,” agrees Graham Hawkins, company director of 24-7 Drama (part of Visual Impact Group), which assisted Darlow Smithson in preparing an Arri Alexa workflow for documentary The Perfect Storm.
A producer will liaise over pre-production with a post house since it will be the delivery point for materials, but hire firms’ advice on camera choice is increasingly sought, as different codecs and workflows can cause havoc in post if not fully understood.
“Instead of four camera choices, there are now up to 20 different models and all sorts of possible format recording routes, making it arguably the biggest change to impact production in recent times,” suggests Martin.
“Hire companies have to see the bigger picture. We have one eye on what the broadcaster says is a recognisable HD format, one ear on the producer’s request for a certain creative look, and keep the budget at the back of our mind. Our task is to find the most workable solution. All of that has meant we’ve had to acquire new skills.”
The first step for any fi le-based production is to devise a full test of the workfl ow, something a hire company can help implement.
“Record test footage on drives and in folders - labelled as if for the actual production - send that back to the edit suite to make sure the whole process is going to work and publish it to everyone,” advises S+O Media’s Wiggins, who assisted Zeppotron on its EX3 shoot of ITV1’s The Marriage Ref. “If you do this two weeks before shooting, there is time to fix any problems.”
Nailing workfl ow does not just affect time and cost but is essential to convince insurers the rushes are not at risk. “We are effectively the laboratory of the production. Providing data security is a primary function,” says Hawkins.
The golden rule is to back up, back up and back up again. LTO and optical disc are popular choices. Each insurer has a slightly different take on how many drives the media needs to be transferred to. Typically, three will do the trick, but some insurance companies are reportedly less prescriptive.
The job of safeguarding rushes on set is a key production management decision. Generally, the higher the budget, the more data will be processed, and the more specialised the role. For drama, where raw data is more likely to be captured from digital cinema cameras, a digital imaging technician (DIT) is almost a pre-requisite.
“Every man and his dog with a MacBook can call themselves a DIT but their function is highly specialised,” says Hawkins. “A DIT works very closely with a DoP and post-production to advise, for example, on how colorimetry works with certain lighting styles ahead of a grade, as well as maintaining data integrity.”
24-7 Drama supplied a mobile workstation for on-set playback and dailies, plus a hire technician, for Red Productions’ BBC1 drama Exile.
“A producer should understand the critical role a DIT plays in the success of a shoot by ensuring the person has a voice on set if things go wrong,” says Hawkins.
Producers of multi-camera ob-docs, where ratios can be as high as 80:1, are more likely to employ a data wrangler, but allowing time and space to work is just as important.
“When we supply a data wrangler, we make it clear they are not pushed into a corner of a room to do it,” says Wiggins. “PMs can look at the savings made by not buying X amount of tape stock, plus the smaller digitising costs, and put that money towards an experienced wrangler. Most producers have first-hand experience of something going wrong, and problems can often be prevented if the person handling the data is given time and space to do it - and if they are qualified to do it.”
On tighter budgets, there is often no room for extra data-only crew so multi-skilling comes into play. Talkback Thames, for example, trained its own data wranglers for productions including Escape To The Country, combining the role with that of location sound operator. “We needed someone to take full responsibility fi ve days a week, handling 30-40 hours of footage per episode,” says Talkback Thames’ Bos. “That couldn’t be left to a PD or AP. In case someone falls ill, we also trained up location assistants.”
Will the vogue for greater hire company involvement dip as more producers acquire experience of building data workfl ows? Wiggins does not think so: “Because we have been involved at the start of the process, helping select kit that has a definitive bearing on the creative brief, look and style of a project, as well as its effi ciency, we would hope customers would be happy to phone us about any aspect of the process. We’re far more than box shifters and much more a creative partner.”
CASE STUDY: FREMANTLEMEDIA AND HOTCAM
Fremantle Media regularly asks HotCam to provide consultation for its Worldwide Entertainment producers before they embark on production of a format such as Got Talent or The X Factor.
“Fremantle will fly in up to 40 people, usually producers, from places as diverse as Thailand and Canada and we will explain to them, in detail, how they can produce a highly complex formatted, multi-camera show from a technical standpoint,” explains Trevor Hotz, managing director of HotCam.
This includes everything from the camera angles and lighting that work best for auditions, to the reasons for not having an OB truck and why Britain’s Got Talent needs so many galleries.
“It’s certainly a much more formal arrangement than some of the consultations we do on other shows such as Coach Trip or Freddie Flintoff Vs The World. But in essence, providing our expertise in this way is just partof the rental service,” says Hotz. “The most important piece of advice we give is to allow budget for a media manager. You can get a runner to do it but I’d strongly advise against it. If you do, you’re putting the success of a production squarely in the hands of someone who also has a million and one other things to do.
“An experienced media manager will be worth their weight in gold. They’ll do all the housekeeping for a producer and look after the media, so footage ends up in the right place at the right time and cards are not accidentally wiped or footage transferred to the wrong format.”
