IMG Tackles Non-live Rugby World Cup Production

IBC

Japan 2019 was the first World Cup to have an independent host broadcast operation. Previously responsibility had rested with the leading domestic broadcaster (as ITV did in 2015, for example).

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World Rugby engaged HBS and IMG as joint partners to host the broadcast from Japan and handed HBS the sole contract for France, in part because HBS is a French-based outfit and at the time the decision was taken in 2020, Covid was still a major concern.

Proximity to venues, including the planned site of the IBC at Roland Garros, was one factor in HBS’ favour, as was its intimate knowledge of World Cup venues from its ongoing production of French soccer premier league La Liga.

Remote production was an essential design requirement. IMG won the tender from HBS to provide all non-live production facilities.

This includes providing ten ENG crews to cover training venues, team hotels and press conferences and to feed that back to the IBC in Paris. The tender included the option of taking the entire production remote back to IMG’s HQ at Stockley Park.

“In Japan we had six ENG crew and that wasn’t quite enough to cover the distance between training grounds and match venues,” explained David Sheild, SVP Global Director of Engineering & Technology at IMG.

At the IBC, IMG provide HBS with staff to create all the preview material and digital highlight shows. This produced content is then sent via satellite to Stockley Park where it is held on a media server, along with all the live feeds and select archive where it can be accessed by rights holders.

The Media Server is based around 3 x EVS XT Via 12 channel servers and 528TB of dedicated X-store back-up. This allows approximately 2,500 hours of content to be stored and viewed by up to 200 users who can clip and request content. Content can be transcoded into four formats but is run in 1080p. In addition, IMG are providing a total 19 additional edit suites and produced the official radio world feed.

IMG performed a similar role for HBS at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. It built a dedicated area at Stockley Park to service the non-live production of the football with a specification that needed little moderation to facilitate the rugby. It also remotely produced the non-live content for the Uefa Euros in 2021.

IMG has also taken care of green shoots of all the players – the head and shoulders shots which are used to introduce each member of the squad.

“Most teams have their own green screen set up so these can be captured locally. In this case though there was a requirement not just for the players to take two steps to camera and fold their arms, but to get them to tell a joke or do something fun in order to feed social.”

The World Is a Vampire: “El Conde” and Pablo Larraín’s Monochrome Madness

NAB

Satire was probably the only way to face up to a dictator like Augusto Pinochet.

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The Chilean general who took power in a U.S-backed coup in 1973 died in 2006, still with the blood of thousands on his hands. In new film ‟El Conde,” Chilean director Pablo Larraín turns the story into a stomach-turning tragicomic melodrama-horror movie.

“The chain of thought involved the fact that Pinochet died in complete freedom — and with the most vile and absurd impunity,” Larraín told The Hollywood Reporter’s Patrick Brzeski. And that impunity made him eternal in a way — we still feel broken by his figure, because he’s not really dead in our culture. 

Veteran Chilean actor Jaime Vadell stars as Pinochet, who is reimagined here as a 250-year-old vampire who faked his own death and absconded to a dilapidated estate in the Patagonian countryside. 

Argentina suffered a similar fate when a military junta took power, but civil society was able to bring justice to bear on some of its members in a story filmed by director Santiago Mitre as “Argentina, 1985” last year. 

“We never had that in Chile, so his figure remained very vivid and alive,” Larraín says. “So, that idea took us to the figure of the vampire, and that satire was the only way to approach him.”

Larraín describes his film’s Pinochet as “an absurd superhero of evil” and says he knew early on that he wanted the film to be shot in black-and-white.

A precedent for using dark humor and black and white was set for Larrain by Stanely Kubrick’s 1964 classic ‟Dr. Strangelove” as he explained to THR: “One of the smartest things Kubrick does in that film is how the satire and farce can help you face those characters without creating empathy.

“When you have a protagonist who is played by such a sensitive, interesting human being like Jaime, the big danger is that you could end up feeling empathy for him. It would be completely immoral and dangerous to do something like that. So, the satire, absurdism and filming in black and white allowed us to have the right distance from these people.”

He expounds on the decision to shoot black and white in conversation with Bilge Ebiri at Vulture: “Black and white is not only beautiful and poetic and artistic, but also creates a parallel reality. It’s a fable that you could observe from afar, and that allows you to be dark, be funny, talk about this difficult and painful subject in a way where if you are able to smile a little bit, maybe there’s a strange and awkward form of healing.

In conceiving the look of the film, Larraín turned to cinematographer Ed Lachman ASC, who has been Oscar nominated twice on two period films with Todd Haynes, “Far From Heaven” and “Carol.”

They talked about landmark silent horror films like F.W. Murnau’s 1922 “Nosferatu” and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 “Vamypr,” as well as work by photographers from different eras including Sergio Larraín, Fan Ho and Maura Sullivan.

Larraín fought not only for the movie to be in black and white but to actually shoot it in black and white, a rarity in the digital age in which studios insist on color cinematography that can later be desaturated in post-production.

“The reason producers do it that way is because then they can always fall back on the color if they have markets that they can’t show it in black and white,” explained Lachman to IndieWire’s Chris O’Falt. “The contrast and the saturation, the subtlety of mid-range in the blacks and whites, aren’t the same [and] that’s why I think [‘El Conde’] really has a different look than a number of black and white films over the last few years.

“When you can actually shoot in monochromatic, you can reach back to black and white filters to modify the contrast and the mid-tones.”

A Time-Sensitive Custom Sensor

Knowing that Larraín also wanted to have the mobility of a light camera that could be used on a technocrane (to facilitate the film’s flying scenes), Lachman needed ARRI to develop a black and white sensor for its smaller (but still large format) camera, the ALEXA Mini LF.

ARRI’s large format Alexa 65 has such a monochrome sensor but the camera body would be too large to use while the Alexa XT also with new b/w sensors didn’t meet Netflix’s 4K mandate. Lachman could have chosen to shoot with a RED camera and its black and white Helium sensor (used to shoot Netflix Oscar winner “Mank” in 2020), but it seems that Lachman preferred to push ARRI to develop a new version of its cameras.

Per IndieWire, the problem was less ARRI’s willingness to build a new camera — in theory, its color scientists were confident it could work — and more that Lachman’s request came two months before the start of production, which is less time than it had taken to develop previous prototypes.

Luckily, according to ARRI’s Marko Massigner and Manfred Jahn, creating the new chip came together quicker than anticipated, and they were able to deliver three working cameras in time for “El Conde.”

Building on his vision, Lachman used lenses retrofitted with vintage glass from the 1930s and modified to work on the ARRI camera. This unique combination of equipment was then used with Lachman’s own patented EL Zone System, which employs concepts utilized by photographer Ansel Adams to control different exposure values throughout an image.

Cined has more details on the development of the new Alexa which also notes that the re-housed Baltar lenses were the same glass that was used to shoot classics “Citizen Kane” and “Touch of Evil.”

Lachman and Larraín have known each other for several years, but this is the first feature they‘ve worked on together.

“Ed can create a very particular visual poetry, but he never loses the focus on the narrative,” Larraín told Mark Olsen at Variety. “That is very important because sometimes you see beautifully photographed films that don’t have a strong and powerful narrative. It was often very moving to see the images he was creating.”

Unusually, the director himself operated the camera for the entire shoot.

“It helps me to be closer to the actors,” says Larraín. “I’m too anxious to be seated at a monitor. Even when I’m not operating, I’m standing and working and walking. I can’t just see the world created in front of me. I have to be right there. You’re part of the process.”

Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri, judged the film “an unrepentantly gore-filled horror flick… a piece of agitprop provocation [that] might be the most perverse project Netflix has ever signed off on.”

Nick Vivarelli for Variety says, “The film is somehow sparse and flamboyant at the same time; viewers may feel conflicting impulses of being charmed and repulsed.”

“El Conde” is streaming on Netflix now.

 

The tech response to global water scarcity

IEC

From water desalination to atmospheric harvesting and floating solar panels, the IEC provides the standards which help water preservation and extraction techniques meet the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.

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With one thousand children under the age of five dying each day in Africa because of the lack of safe water and with populations living in urban areas facing water shortages, the risk of a global water crisis is imminent. While the poorest nations bear the brunt of the suffering, the gap between global water supply and demand is projected to reach 40% by 2030 if current practices continue, warned the World Economic Forum, which called water scarcity one of the greatest challenges of our time.

The UN has urged members to speed up implementation of the UN-Water SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework warning that “business as usual will not achieve that goal”.  The SDG 6 framework states that water-related challenges require the rapid development and deployment of innovative and transformative ideas. These approaches include water extraction and preservation techniques and the extensive use of IT and AI to help communities optimize water resources and minimize the environmental impact of water use. 

Seawater desalination plants switch to renewables

Desalination is an established technique that pumps water at high pressure through membranes to remove salt and other chemicals from the sea or brackish river water but is increasingly controversial, mostly for environmental reasons. There are environmental concerns about the impact of desalination on ocean life when sea water is sucked into the process and there are also worries about the hypersaline brine discharged at the end. Equally concerning for the health of the planet is that the reverse osmosis process used in most industrial desalination efforts is energy intensive.

However, green energy is increasingly powering such systems. In California, a state prone to drought, the Doheny Ocean Desalination Project will provide 5 million gallons of drinking water for 40 000 people a day by 2028. It aims to power around 15% of its output with solar panels and will integrate an energy recovery process resulting in what it claims is “45% to 55% less energy usage” than a system without that feature.

A desalination plant in Oman aims to be among the first facilities in the Middle East to be powered by renewable electricity. It will switch part of its energy generation to a solar photovoltaic (PV) farm this autumn. Installed in partnership with a French energy firm, the PV modules will power a third of its daily energy consumption.

Tech breakthroughs

Making membranes uniform in density could vastly improve the efficiency of desalinisation, researchers have found. Membranes with “uniform density at the nanoscale” boosted efficiency in tests by 40%, meaning they can clean more water while using significantly less energy.

Another breakthrough has been made by researchers at MIT. Their prototype for a portable desalination device uses an ion concentration polarization (ICP) electrical field generated by a small solar panel to purify water. Rather than filtering water, the ICP process applies an electrical field to membranes placed above and below a channel of water. The membranes repel positively or negatively charged particles – including salt molecules, bacteria and viruses – as they flow past. The charged particles are funnelled into a second stream of water that is eventually discharged (read more about this research in: From seawater to drinking water, with the push of a button  MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The suitcase-sized device, which requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger, is intended for deployment in remote and severely resource-limited areas, such as communities on small islands.

The key role of IEC Standards and certification

Traditional desalination plants require pumps, electric motors, valves and scrapers to function. As they are critical assets, they also need supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems which incorporate cyber security control features.

IEC International Standards provide key safety and performance benchmarks in many of these areas. For example, all fresh and wastewater electric pumps are driven by electric motors most of which comply with the IEC 60034 series of international standards.

The IEC also runs four conformity assessment systems, one of which has direct relevance to the energy efficiency of motors. IECEE, the IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components runs the IECEE Global Motor Energy Efficiency Programme (GMEEP). The programme tests motors in relation to the IEC 60034-2-1 Standard.

The IEC 60534 series of standards, which is developed by IEC Subcommittee 65B, provides the technical foundation for pneumatic actuating control valves with electronic positioners. It is considered the bible for the water purification and wastewater treatment industry.

Most pumping stations are automated, and many electronic devices are used for their control and supervision. Programmable logic controllers and remote terminal units are used and integrated in centralized control rooms with SCADA systems. IEC TC 57 publishes the SCADA standards, for example IEC 62361-2. IEC TC 65 develops the IEC 62443 series, which include the relevant cyber security standards.

Harvesting atmospheric water

Atmospheric water, which is present regardless of geographical and hydrologic conditions, is emerging as an alternative water resource. The earth’s atmosphere holds water in the form of droplets or vapour, accounting for up to 10% of freshwater sources and providing around 50 000 km3 water according to researchers. Additionally, the natural hydrologic cycle enables a sustainable water supply. If water can be harvested in arid and remote areas, the challenges of long-distance transport or delivery of potable water could be addressed.

However, there are other issues, particularly in regions where humidity is less than 70%, requiring a substantial amount of energy to condense the vapour. A recent trial in the Death Valley desert used a metal-organic framework powered solely using ambient sunlight to absorb atmospheric water vapour. What’s significant is that the research team’s harvester extracted water without generating any carbon footprint even in extremely hot and dry weather conditions, with an average night humidity of 14%. This process has emerged as a most promising method of water extraction.

Floating PV panels

Increased demand for solar-generated electricity to replace fossil fuels could also help save water. Less than one per cent of the world’s solar installations are currently floating on inland sites like reservoirs. If more floating photovoltaics (FPV) were installed, they could prevent water loss from evaporation.

According to a study published in the journal Nature, 6 256 communities and/or cities in 124 countries, including 154 metropolises, could be self-sufficient with local FPV plants. Doing so would save enough water to supply 300 million people per year. A 2021 study found that floating solar panels on a reservoir in Jordan, one of the world's most water-scarce countries, reduced evaporation by 42%, while producing 425 MWh of electricity annually.

IEC TC 82 prepares international standards for solar PV systems, for example IEC 61701 which specifies testing for salt mist corrosion, which concerns PV modules situated in a marine environment. One of its working groups is preparing a technical report, which is to provide guidelines for safe, reliable and well-performing floating solar systems.

Smart water management

The water industry is beginning to accelerate digital transformation to improve water management practices. Increasingly referred to as ‘smart water management’ or just ‘digital water’, such systems rely on sensors to control water flow, pressure, temperature and liquid levels.

An Indian-based company produces a smart metering and automated leakage prevention system, which has been used on apartment buildings in the country. The device is claimed to have helped reduce overall water consumption by up to 35%, saving precious groundwater and providing affordable electricity associated with the supply of water.

On a larger scale, water utility operators are using virtual replicas of water infrastructure networks to model and respond to issues in real time. These digital twins collect data from underground SCADA systems, sensors and meters, as well as information about when a pipe was installed and the material it's made from, to quickly identify a leak or failure. Digital twins also facilitate continuous monitoring of water systems, detecting weak areas and resolving problems before they become catastrophic failures. 

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41, the IEC and ISO subcommittee standardizing the Internet of Things and Digital Twin, is working on several standards which are expected to facilitate the use of digital twins in many different areas. A priority is to publish a standard on the reference architecture for digital twins. 

In Jackson, Mississippi, where leaks plagued the system for years, engineers have digitally mapped the city’s 100 square miles of water infrastructure and created a virtual model with live data to monitor flow and pressure, providing an uninterrupted water service, and improving water quality for the city’s 150 000 residents. The IEC Smart Cities Systems Committee (SyC Smart Cities) is working on a standard for water management which focuses on the collection and analysis of use cases to identify standard requirements.

The SyC experts recognize that “water is undoubtedly one of the most critical resources for urban development and is therefore a crucial ingredient for the overall common city goals characterized by sustainable development, efficiency, resilience and safety”.

 

5G Broadcast: The future of DTT grows in Europe

CSI

IBC 2023: The media and telecoms industry is exploring whether 5G is the future of DTT in France, Germany and other European markets.

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“We are convinced of the benefits of 5G Broadcast for end users,” declared Baptiste Dumond, Director TV activities, TowerCast. “For us, 5G is the future of DTT in France.

TowerCast is the second largest operator in France with 600 broadcast sites. It’s also major player in FM, DTT, has a 36% market share in DAB+ and is expert in wireless. TowerCast’s turnover last year was Euros 90m turnover. Dumont was giving a presentation at IBC on the stand of technical partner Rohde & Schwarz.

It launched mobile TV with DVB-H in 2000 and began its adventures in 5G Broadcast in 2016 by exploring partnerships. In 2018 the French regulator granted experimental authorisation in the UHF C39/40 band which led to the creation of a complete end to end 5G Broadcast platform.

By 2019 the country’s first 5GB site went to air, in Paris, and last year TowerCast took a big step forward with Qualcomm prototypes of 5G smartphones available for public test at Eurovision and Roland Garros.

“Since the very beginning the regulator has been very convinced in the technology for the future of DTT in France,” said Dumond.

A key motivator for the regulatory support and TowerCast’s interest is the constant progression of smart devices and the hand in hand exponential growth of video consumption. In fact, data consumption on a mobile phones is increasing by 30% as year and already 82% of teens aged 11+ own a smartphone.

“There’s a substantial threat on data delivery in the future. As a broadcast solution it’s the promise of a constant quality for an unlimited number of viewers for linear content that means, in France, the population you can address with 5GB is very large.”

Explaining TowerCast’s threefold vision for linear TV Dumond said, “The final users need perfect quality any time, anywhere. As a user I don’t care which network I am using just want best quality every time.

Secondly, TV broadcasters can address a larger audience with 5G DTT with no intermediary between their content and the end users. They can directly address users they do not directly address now.”

While OTT data consumption generates significant CDN costs, by using 5GB, TV channel operators can control their linear consumption costs, he said.

Most of the infrastructure in France is already used for traditional DTT. “We already know the upgrade cost is scalable.

All this is against the backdrop of France’s migration to DVB-T2. By early 2024 more than 70 sites will be broadcasting UHD content using DVB T2 followed by a “massive deployment” using a multi-city plan ahead of the Olympics in Paris next summer.

Frequencies could be available to launch 5GB by 2026 across the country.

“It’s very important that 3GPP release 17 allows for 6-8 Mhz bandwidth since we will use that in France to launch 5GB.”

Adoption will be very fast. Since most people change their phone every two years, by 2025 there will be a large population with devices with 5GB chipsets. “5GB could penetrate the market very quickly.”

TowerCast not just focused on the near term but also addressing TV sets and automotive spaces.

“For us, 5G is the future of DTT in France,” Dumond reiterated.

In Germany, 5GB is less advanced but still moving steadily forward.
Network service provider Media Broadcast believes it could be a game changer for broadcasters, advertisers and consumers alike.

Research suggests that 4 million people in Germany currently consume DTT on mobile – but this could rise 15x to 53 million with the introduction of 5G Broadcast, which is part of the global 5G standard.

“There is huge potential to bring linear TV to mobile phones,” said Markus Schneider, product manager at Media Broadcast. “This is the biggest argument to bringing 5G Broadcast to Germany.”

One business model would be the ability to offer targeted ads in the linear TV stream to smartphones – something which is not possible now.

Broadcasters would appreciate the cheaper CDN cost of running a DTT service. “There are costs but these costs are fixed,” Schneider said.

Another driver for 5G user potential is the projected growth in Europe of live video to mobile handsets. Because devices have a feedback channel it means links to VOD platforms easily embedded.

He also pointed to the green energy saving benefits of 5G Broadcast which is 90% less than that of streaming.

Trials in Munich and in Stuttgart – testing 5G delivery of in-car infotainment with Mercedes and Porsche - have successfully completed with a third in Hamburg still ongoing.

In Hamburg and in tandem with Norddeutscher Rundfunk and R&S, Media Broadcast is investigating 5GB propagation and reception conditions to optimize frequency and transmitter network planning.

“We know there is a possibility to build a 5G network based on technology that works.”

However, there are hurdles. “Device producers need to be persuaded to embed 5G Broadcast chips in their devices. Regulators need to believe in the big advantage of terrestrial TV for German society and secure the necessary frequencies. Public broadcasters have to be convinced that terrestrial TV is still a needed and cheap way to reach the German population and commercial broadcasters have to believe in the growth potential of linear TV and in the new monetisation models.”

While broadcasters would appreciate the cheaper cost of running a DTT service “we have to find a balance between the best coverage and best data rate,” he said.

Investment is also required in new masts to densify the network and development of a 5G broadcast player for mobile devices.

Media Broadcast stressed it would support the development of 5G Broadcast “as we see great potential for terrestrial distribution of TV content on mobile devices. With 5GB, consumers can be offered a low cost sustainable and very robust product that will be an essential component for the future development of broadcasting technology.”

Docs enter the Golden Cinematic Age

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Documentary makers have been enjoying a Golden Age since major streaming services began ordering them to bulk up their libraries. Now the genre is entering what can be described as a Golden Cinematic Age as the tools and craft techniques used to make high end drama are being trained on real life stories.

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“We’re creating a new genre of high-end cine-style docs shooting full frame using cinematographic techniques and equipment similar to those used in scripted work,” says Bafta-winning director of photography Tim Cragg.

Examples include The Deepest Breath, a thrilling exploration of free-diving, produced by Oscar winner A24 Films (Everything Everywhere All at Once) which was sold to Netflix after screening at Sundance earlier this year.  Another is Disney+ If These Walls Could Sing, the story of Abbey Road Studios directed by Mary McCartney (Sir Paul’s daughter) for Disney+. Now Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Television has made Encounters, a four-part series recounting experiences with extraterrestrials, landing now on Netflix.

All were shot by Cragg on ARRI Alexa Large Format with Full Frame Cooke SF anamorphics. In fact, these are just three among nine projects that Cragg has shot in the past two years using the same camera package.

“Major studios and feature filmmakers are opening their eyes to the realisation that docs need not look rough and ready but can be just as cinematic and beautiful as drama using the same tools,” he says. “The lenses make a big difference by transporting the viewer into a world resonant of the movies.”

Encounters pays homage to Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind in more ways than its title alone would suggest.

“It’s made for Amblin and Spielberg is in the shadows so for a DP that’s a massive incentive,” says Cragg of the project’s appeal. “When discussing the project with director Yon Motskin and Amblin executive producers Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey we very much wanted to shoot it in Cinemascope and anamorphic and to be able to capture flare.”

The landmark four-part series travels the globe to explore four extraordinary true stories of encounters with otherworldly phenomena. Each episode tells a single story from the firsthand the perspective of experiencers: strange lights in the sky over small-town Texas; submersible space crafts haunting a coastal Welsh village; an alien encounter with schoolchildren in Zimbabwe; non-human intelligence reportedly interfering with a nuclear power plant in Japan.

“We took each of our various characters back to the sites where they witnessed the event and used flare as a device with them as they recalled the event or we reconstructed the experience. We chose to shoot these scenes at twilight to attempt to capture a sense of the blue line flare, filming them from behind toward lights using a Steadicam and Cooke SF, in homage to Close Encounters but also to achieve a more abstract visual for what we’re seeing.”

Another aspect of the doc’s storytelling which will resonate with Spielberg’s cinematic sensibility is treating the subject’s experience at face value.

“A lot of the films feature children and that sense of awe of storytelling that children love. We have shots tracking into their little faces or on their glasses as they see reflections in the sky. It is very much the wonderment of youth.

Cragg adds, “The series is not about whether aliens or UFOs are real or not. It’s about human belief systems. Rather than criticise people we should allow them their story.”

The cinematographer took two Alexa LF on each location assignment, an unusual enough luxury for a documentary, and a set of Cooke anamorphics which he hired from regular partner Big Eye Rentals in Hastings.

“I try lots of different lenses and Cookes have a grandeur to them,” he says. “They make everything feel a lot bigger than really it is, more weighted, which we used to great effect on Encounters with shots that position people in a landscape. The wides are very, very straight so there’s no bending of perspective which is ideal for landscape photography.”

For Encounters he leaned on the 40mm for strong close ups of the characters enhanced with natural distortion that “felt like I was breaking into their internal space and yet with a softness that felt very emotional.”

On these recent documentary projects Cragg will also have at his disposal a decent lighting package and a lighting person plus one, as part of a perhaps a thirty strong crew. It’s a far cry from the days when documentary shoots meant the DP and director travelled alone with a sound recordist and maybe a cameras assistant filming subjects in situ and often on the hoof.

“The scale has changed. You can now be part of a sizeable crew in a location that’s been scouted for tech reccies.  I can have a real input into the locations and plan the lighting and staging as we would for a narrative feature, controlling the cinematic look. The budgets are not massive but they are certainly a lot bigger and with that the storytelling opens up.”

Describing the documentary’s subjects as characters is a case in point. “They are not acting,” he says, “but they are often placed in environments that we feel are more suitable for the character. The camera and lighting is used to create performance.”

In another era the budgets for docs were low which in part forced a run and gun approach to filmmaking. Now, if the story demands a vérité style, the production will design and plan for it.

“We’re finding that staging real people tends to not work so well in a straight dialogue scene but tends to work best in a retrospective part of the story, where we restage elements. We can present our character becoming more reflective, tonal, moody. If our character is in an empty restaurant we start the shot from a ceiling fan and crane down to that person looking reflective, as one idea. It is very stylized in that way as opposed to ‘run and gun’. The effect can actually be more real than a drama.”

Cine-style docs are proving hugely popular with audiences. Several of the shows that Cragg has shot make the top ten of Netflix global charts.

“There are a lot of these projects bubbling away. I get offered 2-3 a week, as do other DoPs. It’s a golden age.”

Feedback on Encounters has also been positive from Spielberg himself. He reportedly watched all four episodes and loved the Zimbabwe story in particular. Amblin Television creatives tell Cragg that they are astounded about how the team has managed to achieve such a cinematic look on a budget.

“This genre is only just opening up for exploration,” he says.

 

UK visual effects sector reels from job losses, but predicts strong post-strike bounce back

Screen Daily

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UK visual effects facilities are predicting a strong bounce back in VFX business when production resumes after the strikes but it will still take many months for the industry to return to capacity and to rehire the jobs it has hemorrhaged during the stoppages.

The VFX sector – which is home to world leading facilities such as Framestore (Barbie, Wonka), MPC (Napoleon, DogMan), Dneg (Oppenheimer), Cinesite (Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom) through to boutiques like Milk, Union and BlueBolt - has been one of the hardest hit parts of the UK industry during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

A survey in August by industry organisation UK Screen Alliance found that four out of every five projects on which facilities were working were in hiatus.

The same survey estimated the UK VFX industry had lost around 40% of jobs - or 4,000 of the 10,000 employed in the sector - since the start of the strikes. Most of these job losses are freelance artists on fixed term contracts.

“Some facilities have managed to carry on with minimal impact while others have had virtually all their work affected and the impact has been devastating,” says Neil Hatton, CEO of UK Screen Alliance. “Everybody in one way or other is making cut backs in their workforce.”

Unlike Covid when the whole of the industry was affected and many companies and individuals were provided with government support, there has been no support this time.

Not surprisingly, UK VFX workers and facilities have been cheered by news that the WGA dispute was resolved this week and that SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are returning to the negotiating table on Monday (October 2).

Reliant on inward investment

All UK VFX facilities operate on a mix of Hollywood and domestic broadcaster work. Some have continued working on European projects and advertising work during the strikes, but this diversity is insufficient to sustain a business which relies so heavily on inward investment.

Major features to halt include Wicked and Speak No Evil for Universal, Disney’s Deadpool 3 and Andor series, Warner Bros and Netflix series The Sandman and Apple TV+’s Silo S2.

“Lay-offs are unavoidable and some are locked in,” Hatton adds. “Because work is not being shot it won’t be in post for the next few months even if the strike is resolved tomorrow.”

“The bigger risk is that freelance crew are largely unsupported and they will bail out of the industry for good,” warns Adrian Bull, CEO at dailies lab Cinelab Film & Digital which worked on Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice winner Poor Things. “We’re in real danger of not having the crew to support the facilities when the strikes are lifted.”

One VFX facility chief operating officer speaking to Screen off the record said there was no immediate cessation of work when the WGA downed tools in May because streamers and studios had stockpiled scripts in case of a strike But when SAG-AFTRA joined the cause in July, productions ground to a halt.

With nothing being shot there was no turnover to feed editorial let alone VFX. Bids for work were pulled. Facilities were left with the inventory they had in hand.

Tough conversations

“It is a rough time for freelancers and those on short term contracts and permanent staff in some cases,” a managing director of a UK-based VFX facility told Screen. “It is a volatile industry but those who just came through Covid are now hitting this back-to-back and the industry is shaking. The conversations with freelancers [about non-renewal of contracts] are the hardest to have right now.”

London-headquartered Dneg, which won an Academy Award last year for its VFX work on Dune, has let go 70 of its 900 UK workers, and offered the remainder either a 25% pay cut or joining a loan scheme to lower costs.

In a statement supplied to Screen, Dneg said: “Our proposal is designed to allow us to keep more employees on payroll than we could otherwise support. We’re proposing solutions that are designed to sustain jobs and keep as much money as possible in our employees’ pockets during this difficult period, while positioning the company to meet the current economic challenges. [We want to] be ready to get straight back to work on new projects for our clients once this disruption passes.”

The situation looks challenging for the next few months too. The facility managing director told Screen that their company has recently been on full-on delivery mode on shows that shot up to the end of June. “But projects will fall off a cliff in November when there is nothing scheduled that has a substantial VFX budget.”

This vendor expects to have to cut numbers by a third between now and Christmas, mainly by not renewing fixed term contracts. “Every month the strike has gone on adds to the time it will take until things kick back into post. We probably won’t be at full capacity again until June [2024],” they said.

End of the supply chain

Compounding matters, VFX is at the end of the supply chain and at the whim of likely scheduling conflicts. Projects that may have been destined to shoot in the UK before the strike may have to be recast as talent are pulled in a different direction. Some projects are weather dependent so may be put on hold; the UK winter months are historically the least busy period for principal photography.

It will also take time for projects to restart. A delay of 4-6 weeks is expected for preproduction planning, booking lots and locations, and assembling the production team before cameras roll, and a further delay of many weeks before that material filters through to VFX vendors.

When the VFX sector bounce back begins, it will do so very quickly. The facility managing director says: “Every single studio exec has told me that once the dam breaks it will come like a tidal wave. The work is going to start to come fast and furious. As long as you can ride it out there will be ample work for everybody. I know that is not what freelancers want to hear but the message we want to communicate is that we absolutely want you back and we will hire you because we know will be working.”

Cinelab’s Bull agrees with this assessment: “Anyone close to the production cycle like us knows that the moment the strikes are over there’s a good chance we’ll see our revenues pick up again. It will take a while for all productions to get underway but the floodgates will open. But it won’t be until April or May next year when everything is back to normal so we have to carefully manage cashflow in the meantime.”

Anticipation for targeted VFX credit

A timely boost to the sector could arrive later this year in the form of a targeted VFX tax credit which it is hoped will prevent VFX spend on HETV and feature productions being syphoned off-shore.

UK Screen figures suggest that of shows shot in the UK and claiming tax credit here between 2017-2019, £1 billion on VFX was spent overseas.

“VFX doesn’t get the best deal out of the tax incentives that it should,” says Hatton. “There is a built-in anomaly in the tax credits where, if you spend most of your budget on shooting in the UK, it caps out the tax credit for VFX.”

Currently, tax relief is capped once a production has spent 80% of its budget in the UK. Any UK spending beyond 80% receives zero relief. Often this impacts the VFX spending in the UK, a part of the production process which is easily transferred to another territory, where further tax incentives can be claimed.

UK Screen has been pressing the government to make the UK tax credit for VFX more competitive in comparison to other territories, notably Canada and France. Says Hatton: “When the brakes come off after the strike we don’t want to be stuck in a position of second choice. We need to be competitive with those other territories. We must not let them fill up first. Now is the moment to give us an enhanced VFX tax relief.”

The government has acknowledged that the cap has a negative effect on VFX, and said in the March budget that it will consider the case for targeted support for VFX later this year.

Facilities spoken to by Screen agree with the significance and urgency of change. “It would be game-changing for VFX vendors, postproduction facilities and the wider UK filmmaking industry,” says the VFX facility COO.

The facility managing director adds: “Every show has a certain level of VFX but the big budget stuff is what keeps us all going. The big shows chase the tax breaks. This means that while productions shoot in the UK - attracted by the best crews in the world - they get the rebate for VFX in Canada first. That happens time and time again.

“The situation we risk being in is not only a delay while production ramps up but a delay while Canada fills up before the UK can get back to its thriving capacity. It is now more important than ever for the government to lift the cap and let the work stay here.”

Hatton believes there is a “strong possibility” of this happening in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. “The clock is ticking. We’ve made our proposals to the Treasury and we know they have been considered but we don’t know their response. It would give the VFX industry the real adrenalin boost it needs to power out of the post-strike period.”

All leading VFX shops in the UK were contacted to comment for this piece.

Mathematic Multiplies VFX Service Worldwide with Sohonet

article copywritten for Sohonet

Paris-based creative VFX, animation and motion design studio Mathematic has grown from boutique roots into an international powerhouse using an array of Sohonet connectivity services. Recent work has included promos for Ed Sheeran and Lil Nas X, commercials for Apple, Sprite, Adidas and Tag Heuer, Disney+ episodic science-fiction Parallels and feature films such as Vesper (for which Mathematic won a GENIE Award for the Best VFX at the Paris Image Digital Summit 2023) and contributing to Darren Aronofky’s Oscar-winning The Whale and Wes Anderson's Asteroid City. Mathematic’s scope of work includes live venues and concerts including Drake and The Blaze as well as being awarded recently with a Molière award for best visual creation.

article here 

“We don’t focus on one type of VFX, we explore, produce and execute everything from traditional painted animation to photoreal VFX and motion graphics,” says Mathematic Flame Artist / VFX Supervisor Clément Germain. “Every job is unique and to which we bring bespoke creativity.”

Launched in 2006 by Guillaume Marien, the company quickly established a reputation for artistic design and finishing of commercials and music promos. In 2016, it established its creative hub in Montréal, Canada, and began to take on more high-end TV and feature film work. Late last year, Mathematic opened a new office in Los Angeles, Culver City, which acts as an interface for North American projects, and as a creative and finishing studio. With 200 full time staff, Mathematic is a major vendor, providing services including conception, design, content production and creative consulting.  In 2022 alone Mathematic collectively produced up to 200 projects including 70 commercials, five feature films, 45 video game cinematic trailers and 20 music videos. ‍

According to Clément, 85 percent of the company’s work is for projects in the US and the UK, a growth only possible with fast and seamless connectivity based around Sohonet. 

ClearView Flex joins the equation

The studio started to work with Sohonet ClearView Flex for remote review and approval sessions during the Pandemic. “Agencies and clients used to come and see us for in room collaboration to deliver the final product but we had to find other tools to work with as Covid-19 spread,” says Clément. “Sohonet was extremely quick to deliver us a ClearView Flex unit. We asked for one on a Monday and got it two days later which was just ahead of lockdown.”

Tapping into Multiport‍

Mathematic’s Paris and Montreal offices were already connected by fibre but to facilitate more efficient remote file sharing between them and to triangulate with its studio in LA, the company turned to Sohonet and the reconfigurable network access service Multiport.

“Point-to-point connections are fine between two offices but with three or more you have to think differently,” he says. “We not only wanted to connect our hubs but also connect with clients and DOPs wherever they are in the world.”  Multiport services are delivered over the Sohonet Media Network and optimized for media production workflows and security needs. Sohonet’s premier 24×7 support service is included, with access to engineers who understand media and entertainment and the technical requirements involved.

Clément Germain

Clément explains that Multiport offered the ability for Mathematic to reconfigure and scale as needed. Its artists in Montpellier will work remotely on media stored in the cloud and from workstations hosted in Paris.  “We think of Paris and Montpellier as one hub. Similarly, we wanted to build a global network for artists and clients to access media wherever they were and to be able to work on projects with an identically fast and elegant performance as if they were in the office.”

Multiple other services are now open to Mathematic enabling it to access ever larger-scale projects and work directly with a host of prestigious partners. 

“First, you can adjust your bandwidth capacity from one month to another. So, if we have 3G in Paris we can upgrade to 10G when working on a large feature and we anticipate more traffic, after which we can scale back down again. Other providers don’t enable such flexible bandwidth configuration.

“Secondly, we have access to Sohonet’s Media Network allowing us to directly connect into other clients also using the network including Disney and Netflix. Several A list directors also have Sohonet high-speed, uncontended internet into their homes.”

In fact, more than a thousand companies and over 100,000 storytellers worldwide are connected to the world’s largest private fiber network for film, TV and advertising. “This really widens the market for us since we can now tell clients that they can access Mathematic from everywhere."

Delivering on security

Mathematic is also making use of Sohonet FileRunner as a fast secure file transfer service between its hubs over the Sohonet Media Network. 

“We essentially are one hub between France, Montreal and LA from which all projects are shared,” Clément says. “We needed strong SLAs so that if there was any problem, we are guaranteed a rapid and expert response. We also needed to have redundancy on the line. This is why we went to Sohonet."

Continued Growth

Mathematic is also continuing to add locations and talent to its award-winning service and will add a new hub in Montpellier, south of France to offer even more accessibility to creative partners and to source a growing and diverse team of talents worldwide, Last month, Mathematic was selected for France 2030. This project initiated by the French government will allow Mathematic to expand Montpellier hub by 2030. It is an opportunity to leverage the latest technologies, to bring more visual effects work to France, as well as build strong relationships with schools by working with students at an earlier education point. 

“Sohonet’s network will help up to reduce our carbon footprint on this project, connecting all the facilities to one main data center in France,” notes Clement, “where we will reuse the heat from the servers to deliver it to public infrastructures or apartments. “We’ll continue to rely on Sohonet’s technologies to keep communications secure and consistent as we expand over the next several years,” adds Clement. “It’s an exciting time of growth for us.

 

Sensational skin tones

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Tommy Maddox-Upshaw ASC achieves skin tone accuracy from prep to set with Rosco DMG Lights. 

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Cinematographer Tommy Maddox-Upshaw ASC was introduced to Rosco’s DMG Lighting fixtures by gaffer Wayne Shields on the 10-part Paramount+ drama The Man Who Fell To Earth, which was largely shot in the UK. Since then, he has used these unique LED soft lights on every production. 

“They are a staple of my creative process, from conception – to testing – to the final shot,” he said. “I use the entire range to manipulate lighting even when I’m on a stage because of their sheer speed and power.” The DMG Lighting range of soft lights includes the DMG DASH Pocket Light, the DMG MINI and SL1, and the powerful DMG MAXI. 

“Working on episodic shows always requires a faster turnaround in setups than on features, and with the DMG lights I was able to set and change in double-quick time.” 

Maddox, who previously photographed the apartheid drama Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu, the third and fourth seasons of FX’s 1980s saga Snowfall (winning an ASC Award for his work), and the second season of Netflix’s On My Block, is drawn to projects that celebrate and explore diverse characters and stories. Naturally, that means working with actors of diverse skin tones, and for Maddox – that demands authentic and accurate skin tone rendition.  

He extends this sensibility universally. “People in the UK have different skin pigmentation from Caucasians in South Africa or the Mediterranean. All digital cameras interpret skin tones a certain way, but my take is that I should be the one in control of manipulating skin tone if I want to.”  

The unique, phosphor-converted MIX LEDs inside Rosco’s DMG lights produce more of the wavelengths found in human skin tones. 

“I want a camera and a lighting system that gives me a great foundational base in order to have great colour separation,” Maddox explained. “I want a neutral point before I start to colour mix and under or overexpose. The colour rendition of the Rosco DMG lights is exceptional, and their neutral is pretty darn accurate in daylight or tungsten.” 

Maddox begins his creative process using the DMG DASH and the DMG MIXBOOK, which he controls using Rosco’s free myMIX app. “I like to start testing colour on my own skin tone just as a reference, using myself as the first guinea pig, if you like. So, I make use of those two products hooked to my phone to figure out colour by bouncing the light off certain materials. Both units are small, so they are easy to set up at home.” 

“Then I bring my findings onto the camera test. Using the larger DMG fixtures, you can see the evolution from testing to execution on set,” Maddox observed. “Each DMG product retains the same colour spectrum. This is something Rosco has done that no one else has been able to do.” 

“With the myMIX App, I can simply note down the colours or colour temperatures I want, and then the dimmer board op punches them in when I get to set, and all of a sudden – bam! The vision I began to bring to life in my office is now something we can use for real. That process is something I really enjoy.” 

Rosco also recently revealed its latest DMG Lighting range product, the DMG LION. This powerful, weatherproof, 13” Fresnel will feature two easy-to-swap LED engines – a powerful bi-colour engine and a MIX LED engine that will match the output of their DMG soft lights.  

A light touch

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Gaffer Wayne Shields reveals how he uses Astera Tubes on Back in Action, Deadpool 3 and Apple TV+ series Disclaimer. 

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“I can generally suss out how the DP likes to work after a couple of weeks shooting,” says gaffer Wayne Shields. “Most of the work is done in prep but their style of shooting, the type of lighting they prefer, which angles they like to use, and how they like to soften lights will be clear when you get to set.” 

Shields is one of the most experienced lighting technicians in the business, having spent over a decade in his native South Africa learning the ropes on commercials before international film and TV production took off there.  

In the last five years he gaffed on The Witcher (seasons 1 and 2), Paramount+ series The Man Who Fell to Earth (2021) and The Covenant (2023) with DP Ed Wild BSC for director Guy Ritchie on location in Spain. His collaboration with Richmond continued on Argylle for director Matthew Vaughn (2024) and currently on Deadpool 3. 

“I’ll often go through the concept art with the DP and set designer to try to recreate the creative vision as closely as possible. With George on Deadpool, we put in all the bones upfront so that on the floor we’re using minimal lighting to give the actors as much space as possible. Some DPs tend to fill up the floor with lights which can inhibit the actor’s movement.” 

Shields first started working with Astera Titan Tubes on The Witcher in 2018. “The latest versions have a built-in battery so you can run up them wirelessly for up to 20 hours which makes it so much easier to use on set. When you need to add a quick light under a table or behind a curtain you just reach for a Titan. They are very versatile and the colour range is also fantastic.” 

What Shields particularly appreciates is that Astera use the same core engine across its range. He says, “Titan, Helios and Hyperion all have the same LED technology inside so you know what you’re going to get every time you pull it out. Shooting is a lot easier and quicker when you don’t have to run a cable in every time you need to add a light. Astera Tubes are a game changer with speed and control.” 

For Back in Action, a forthcoming Netflix action-comedy directed by Seth Gordon, DP Ken Seng wanted to recreate the specific colours of a petrol station set from some stills photos. 

“Ken and I spoke about putting Titan Tubes along the top because he wanted to be able to change the colour. We did quite a bit of testing to match the colour he wanted for the street lights and the top and bottom of the station canopy. Astera just gave us the control of being able change whatever we wanted and to switch off certain areas to minimise the VFX.” 

Also on Back in Action, they shot car work in a volume using Titan and Hyperion tubes for interactive light outside the vehicle. “Inside the car we used HydraPanels and Helios tubes which we covered in Depron to make the light nice and soft.” 

Creative input 

Working with Emmanuel ‘Chivo’ Lubezki AMC ASC (and Bruno Delbonnel ASC AFC) on Apple TV+ series Disclaimer, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Shields mixed ARRI SkyPanels with Astera products. 

“We used a lot of Asteras on that job because Chivo liked the dimming curve colour rendering and mixing capabilities. We had a lot of cues with lights going on inside a house set so we needed to pair Astera Tubes with a light switch and practicals, so that everything came on in synchronicity.” 

He adds of the three-time Academy Award winner, “Chivo is so involved in every aspect. He knows every detail of every light. That made it challenging, but I’ve got so much respect for him. 

“Other DPs will tell you how to do everything and won’t encourage your own creative input. In those cases, it’s less of a collaboration and you’re more of a technician. As you get older and accumulate more experience, you’re able to walk onto a set and know how to light before the DP asks for it.” 

Shields’ experience as cinematographer on Death Race 3: Inferno (2013) gave him newfound respect for DPs. He recalls, “Lighting is one thing the gaffer can concentrate on, but the DP has to be on top of every department all the time. You are almost constantly prepping for the next day. After I’d finished that job, I was like, ‘That’s it, I’m more than happy to be a gaffer!’” 

As a board member of the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS), Shields is able to exchange information on lighting designs with peers and give feedback to manufacturers. 

One of the most significant gaps in the market has been the lack of effective LED-based Fresnel lighting. “Every manufacturer is trying hard to come up with LED Fresnels,” he says. “You get a certain quality of light from a tungsten lamp so it’s about recreating that with an LED and avoiding it feeling electronic. Also, when you put an incandescent bulb behind a glass Fresnel it creates a certain look because of the way a bulb shines through glass. The trick is trying to create that with LED.” 

Astera has just launched its new Fresnel series: the compact PlutoFresnel and the larger LeoFresnel. By developing LED lights specifically for integration with a Fresnel lens, Astera aims to provide all the benefits of LED – including lower power draw, higher output strength, precise colour control, lightweight profile and full installation/application flexibility. All while still providing gaffers with the specific creative qualities associated with Fresnels, particularly in relation to portrait work and the replication of daylight settings. 

Shields tends to work with the same lighting crew on every job. “It’s very important,” he says, “you can be the best gaffer in the world but you will always suck without a good team.” 

In Shields’ corner is charge hand Ben Caldwell. “He and I will run the floor when we’re shooting, and the rest of the boys will be outside bringing in the gear we request. It speeds things up with just the two of us. I know I can step away from the set at any time and he can run the floor. It will be a sad day for me when he goes off to gaff on his own.”  

Best Boy Raz Khamehseifi is another key member. “Behind the scenes he is worth his weight in gold.” Other valued teammates include Scott Parker, Devan Green, Aaron Bartlett, Dean Coffey, Mark Robinson, and Ross O’Brien. 

Concerned about bringing through next generation talent, Shields endeavours to get a couple of trainees onto each job. Alfie Green is his current trainee and Ben Saunders is junior spark. 

“Technical lighting teams are getting bigger as lighting becomes more sophisticated,” he says. “What’s great is that my desk op Ed Kirby (or DMX tech Katie Spencer) can sit inside the set with an iPad next to the DP and adjust any of a hundred lights with full control over parameters like colour and intensity.   

“We try to create a really good working relationship. They are the best team in the business.”