Broadcast
Netflix
and Amazon are leading the charge into 4K/UHD, and producers are
preparing for the transition, but the added cost of post-production
is a concern.
The
look of TV drama changes in tandem with technology, and the next big
technical leap is on the radar of UK indies: 4K.
“Sky
Atlantic is beginning to ask for things in UHD,” reports Kudos
producer Chris Fry, whose recent credits include Channel 4’s
Humans. “They’re not saying it has to be 4K, but for
future-proofing, they would prefer if it was.”
Red
Planet Pictures head of production Alex Protherough is also gearing
up for change. “UHD is the future and will be the norm for high-end
drama,” he says. “For the next few years, though, the main demand
will be standard HD delivery.”
None
of the indies Broadcast contacted has received a UHD commission.
Netflix and Amazon are leading the charge, but 4K capture is declared
a ‘general preference’ by Netflix rather than a mandate. It
continues to license 2K material for its UHD channel; recent
purchases include Kudos’s River and Red Production Company’s
Paranoid, currently shooting for ITV.
“I
don’t think you can tell the difference between something shot in
4K and something that isn’t,” says Fry. “Netflix’s House Of
Cards [which is shot in 4K] doesn’t look any better than something
shot in HD if you don’t have a 4K TV.”
By
the end of 2018, 18% of TVs in UK homes – 9.6 million – will be
4K, predicts Futuresource Consulting; by 2020, this will almost
double to 17.8 million, or one in three.
“If
you’re pitching a major drama for delivery in 18 to 24 months, UHD
will be incredibly important,” says BBC HD and UHD head of
technology Andy Quested. “As we approach 2020, UHD will become
business as usual.”
However,
ITV Studios’ head of production innovation Martyn Suker says it
would be brave for anybody to commit budget on the basis of
‘future-proofing’ or possible future sales “if not specifically
commissioned and given the funding to do so”.
For
many, the transition to 4K recalls the switch to HD in around 2000,
when there were concerns that craft skills, from costume to
production design, would need a facelift to survive greater scrutiny.
“I
don’t expect as big an upheaval this time,” says Red executive
producer Tom Sherry. “HD was a more significant jump, particularly
if you were shooting on Super 16mm and had to move to shooting on
file.”
The
absence of 4K monitors for checking the picture on set is an issue
now, but Sherry says he judges by eye. “I’m looking at set
painting, building and costume, and if it’s good enough by my eye,
that’s as good as we’ll see on screen.”
While
these elements are “likely to increase timescales and therefore
cost”, says Suker, the bigger concern is the impact on
post-production workflow.
Sherry
anticipates data storage and wrangling will double costs. Taking HD
as the benchmark, producers expect budgets to be weighted
accordingly, and for costs to reduce in time.
“Managing
the budget and getting the raw material out of the camera and into
post will be the big killer for the next 18 months,” agrees
Quested. “By 2018, the cost of storage will have halved and the
speed of processing will probably have doubled, so we’ll be roughly
where we are today with HD.”
Visual
effects could prove a crunch point, as even Hollywood movies still
process them as a digital intermediate at 2K resolution.
Netflix
prefers a full 4K workflow, including plates, foreground elements and
renders. In some cases, when background material is intended to be
blurred to convey perspective, those elements can be 2K and scaled to
the 4K image, according to the OTT service.
Will
Cohen, chief executive of VFX shop Milk, anticipates a 10-20% upswing
in charge for 4K. “That’s no different to what the industry has
been through before,” he points out. “In five years, everyone
will be working in 4K as standard.”
He
disputes a perception that only post houses with an abundance of
resources can handle a 4K workload. “If I need to get 1,000
machines for a day of rendering, I can do it,” he says. “People
are naturally nervous of change and there will be talk about who pays
for the upgrade in infrastructure, but facilities are constantly
upgrading. The gap between 2K and 4K can be eradicated quickly.”
Thanks
to the influence of bluechip US cable series in particular, the look
of high-end drama has edged further towards the cinematic.
“Creatively,
shows look more like films than ever, since the market demands
beautiful-looking, high-end productions,” says Eve Gutierrez,
executive producer of New Blood indie Eleventh Hour Films.
In
part, this is attributed to the influence of US shows and “their
understanding of the necessity of making TV visually exciting”,
says Wolf Hall cinematographer Gavin Finney.
He
points to the increasing size of domestic TVs, which informs framing:
“Wider, more cinematic shots work well on 42-inch-plus screens.”
More over, he says, a more visually literate audience is “able to
process many different kinds of look within a sequence, emboldening
directors and DPs”. In the longer term, producers will be expected
to deliver a High Dynamic Range (HDR) grade as part of their UHD
deliverable. Series like Amazon’s The Man In The High Castle and
Netflix’s Jessica Jones are already being produced this way.
“For
the BBC, UHD and HDR are symbiotic,” says Quested. “We probably
won’t accept one without the other. It is important for high
standards of programming with a long shelf life that UHD be delivered
with HDR.”
Suker
agrees that HDR and Wide Colour Gamut, the Adobe-created process by
which UHD offers a broader spectrum of colours, will be “much more
significant” in changing the look of drama than higher resolution
or higher frame rate. “It’s something that ITV Studios will
certainly take up as soon as we can.”
Most
cameras already capture a dynamic range that can be used in HDR post
grading, so it should have little impact on the shoot. However, HDR
currently requires a second grading pass, attended by the DP, in
addition to the SDR version. “No one has indicated who will pay for
this,” says Finney. “I don’t know a single line producer who
has put this extra cost into their budget, and who can say where the
additional funding will come from.”
He
warns: “Badly graded HDR can look terrible, with massively
overbright highlights distracting the viewer from the important part
of the frame – like the actors. The system can work if it is
budgeted for and sensitively done, resulting in more highlight detail
and richer, more textured shadows.”
There’s
an outside chance that 35mm fi lm could make a comeback as an
acquisition choice for UHD drama (see box, page 20), but producers
need to be convinced of its cost.
Sid
Gentle Films managing director Lee Morris likens 35mm to the upsurge
of interest in vinyl music. “I wouldn’t be shocked if a DP said
they’d like to shoot fi lm. You do get a different visual quality,
but I don’t think it will used for any more than an occasional
project.”
Several
producers told Broadcast they feel that neg cutting and lab
processing expertise are either lost or non-existent in this country.
In fact, facilities like Cinelab London and i-Dailies are thriving on
the back of feature films including Spectre and Star Wars: Episode
VIII.
“Low
rental costs compared with high-end digital, along with stock and
processing deals, continue to make 35mm fi lm a viable option,”
says Finney.
“Producers
will listen to you if you make a case for 35mm, but you have to
budget carefully and, to be honest, a lot of production companies are
not familiar with how to go about the route,” says cinematographer
John Conroy (Fortitude, Penny Dreadful).
Ironically,
it is the aggressively sharp look of digital that has forced
directors and DPs to mimic the organic texture of film.
While
Panavision dusts down optics last used in the 1960s to lens new
features like Ben Affleck’s Live By Night, cinematographers are
also intent on dirtying the pristine (derogatorally called ‘video’)
look of digital by using anamorphic lenses and filters for TV.
Protherough
says: “As we move through HD to UHD and HDR, the image can start to
become too clean, too sharp and too bright. My concern is that drama
might look unreal. I love the grain and depth of field, but now we
have a choice of lenses to give digital a filmic look.”
The
terms 4K and UHD are often used interchangeably, but there are some
important differences between them.
4K
4K
is understood to refer solely to resolution and is a reference to the
number of horizontal pixels in an image (4096 × 2160). It is the
standard used by the cinema industry.
UHD
UHD
(Ultra High Definition) is a broadcast term that refers to an image
that contains 3840 x 2160 pixels, which is four times the resolution
of HD (1920 x 1080). The second phase of UHD, which is often referred
to as 8K UHD, has resolution of 7680 x 4320. UHD includes other image
quality parameters, notably greater contrast levels (or High Dynamic
Range) and a richer colour scheme.
THE
DPP’S UHD GUIDELINES
In
its UHD acquisition guidelines, the Digital Production Partnership
(DPP) relies on an EBU test published in March 2015 (R118 ‘Tiering
of High Definition Cameras’).
The
document benchmarks UHD TV cameras according to strict criteria,
principally around resolution. The only cameras that qualify in the
top of the range, Tier 1, are the Sony F65 and Arri Alexa 65 – both
specialist cine cameras – plus the Red Weapon 8K.
All
other cameras with a 4K rating, including the Blackmagic Design
Production Camera, used on BBC1’s War And Peace alongside the Arri
Alexa XT (pictured), would fall into Tier 2.
DPP
members will accept Tier 2 UHD, according to Andy Quested, speaking
on behalf of the DPP. “We recognise there are only a few cameras in
Tier 1, so Tier 2 is acceptable. The issue is around the lens, the
codecs and the route into post. A broadcaster would need to be clear
how the material is treated.”
The
DPP is advising producers not to use a camera like a GoPro 4K for
landmark UHD programming. “The tiering approach anticipates that as
we move forward, more cameras will become available that reach Tier
1, and that those cameras currently in Tier 2 will become less
acceptable.”
Meeting
the order
He
cites the original Panasonic Varicam, launched 15 years ago. “It is
still an incredible camera, but no longer suitable for HD work
because its image quality is too compressed.”
The
tiering system would rule out the use of cameras with a sub- 4K
sensor, such as the Arri Alexa, which is currently used on HBO’s
Game Of Thrones.
With
his BBC hat on, Quested says: “The BBC can’t defend a programme
that is branded UHD but was not shot in UHD. Discussions with a
producer are to ensure that the broadcaster and co-pro partner get
the product that was ordered.”
While
Super 16mm film “is out of the question” for UHD, 35mm remains a
possibility. “35mm is perfectly capable of delivering a UHD
resolution, but its processing is more critical,” says Quested.
“You can do a lot more damage to it in the transfer process so we’d
need to be clear how a production would handle it.”
Recommendations
for HDR will be introduced to the DPP spec shortly. “HDR is more
vital than resolution for the impact it delivers,” says Quested.
“If people are hedging their bets on introducing HDR, then in terms
of a massive drama budget, they should realise it is such an
incremental cost that it could be less than the catering.”
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