Deltatre and Elemental Target Multi-Screen Sports Delivery

Companies partner to offer a turnkey digital video solution for sports rights holders and broadcasters

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=88295

TV Globo uses 4K daily, hints at Ultra-HD World Cup

TVB Europe

http://legacy.tvbeurope.com/main-content/full/tv-globo-uses-4k-daily-hints-at-ultra-hd-world-cup/fc42#.VL10CqDpBG4

Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo has given the clearest indication yet that elements of the FIFA World Cup 2014 will be captured in Ultra-HD. It is also using 4K for visual effects in its soaps on a daily basis.

 

José Marino, journalism and sports engineering director, TV Globo, said: “High definition, which was the paradigm just a couple of years ago, has now been surpassed by UHDTV, and content production and distribution must keep up. It is important that we show our viewers what UHDTV is all about, that they experience it and want to have it in their homes. Brazilians love football, and so the World Cup is the perfect occasion with the perfect content to show this technology.”

 

The broadcaster has been investigating Ultra-HD for at least two years, producing 2x nine hours of the 2012 Rio Carnival in 4K (sequences shot in 4K RAW were shown at NAB2012) and following that up with more Carnival coverage using Sony F65s this year.

 

Latin America's biggest network has also just completed its first 4K drama and is regularly using 4K cameras for visual effects in its telenovellas.

 

The dramatic feature O Tempo e o Vento (The Time and The Wind), directed by Jayme Monjardim and lensed by Affonso Beato, ASC, ABC was shot using a pair of F65s, a set of Zeiss Master Primes and an Angenieux Optima Zoom, and followed the 16-bit 4K ACES workflow. Post production was shared between TV Globo and Sony Pictures' Colorworks in LA.

 

The period drama which charts the histories of two families in South Brazil over 200 years up to the 1940s, will receive a theatrical release in early 2014 before being re-edited into a mini-series for broadcast.

 

“We understand that the TV industry is evolving and that somehow and somewhere in the future Brazil will have a 4K distribution system,” explained Raymundo Barros, entertainment engineering director (pictured). 

 

“TV Globo produces around 2,500 hours of content a year across entertainment, drama, docs and music programmes and some are released into movie theatres first before airing on TV. For these, a 4K strategy makes a lot of sense.

 

“4K also makes huge sense for visual effects in our telenovellas,” Barros said. He explained how the department is shooting high-resolution sequences using three paired F65s as backplates onto which actors shot on blue screen are comped in post. “For example, it is very difficult logistically for actors and crew to set up discrete shots on Copa Cobana beach so what we do is take three F65s and shoot a large plate of 12k x 2K resolution [using a picture stitching application developed in house] and take this back to our post centre for compositing in Flame and Nuke.

 

He clarifies: “The final resolution of the plates are more like 9K x 2K but it provides very rich detail into which I can pan, zoom and tilt for final composite.”

 

It's likely that more special projects – such as the feature film – will also be acquired 4K although the production schedule for the telenovellas is too tight, he said, for these to be shot in 4K.

 

“We've just finished trialling the Canon C500 and think that because of its small form factor this camera would be a great option for backplate post production because several of them can be aligned much closer to each other” than using F65s.

 

“There are similar challenges with 4K to the ones we faced with HD – namely that with props, set construction, wardrobe and make up; we have to take a lot more care but the shoot itself doesn't need to alter that much.”

 

Adrian Pennington

SIS Live test shoot Premiership match in 4K

Sports Video Group

http://svgeurope.org/blog/top-stories/sis-live-test-shoot-premiership-match-in-4k/

SIS Live is the latest company to test Ultra-HD technology, capturing highlights of the Premiership league match between Newcastle and Chelsea in 4K on February 2.The outside broadcast company, which holds the BBC’s Match of the Day contract, has put together a working group to explore the technology and workflows required to deliver live, 4K, multi-camera event coverage.

It conducted proof-of-concept tests using a range of cameras coupled with its 3G-ready unit OB 14. This involved testing signal flows, the use of lenses suitable for 4K, as well as the integration of recording technology.

The Newcastle Vs Chelsea Premiership match was captured in 4K using a Sony F65 camera paired with a Fujinon 75mm-400mm lens, recording to the camera’s onboard 256Gb flash memory cards. Additionally, Psitech’s 4K Vortex system and a specialist engineer were flown over from the US to take part in the testing.

SIS Live Commercial Director Phil Aspden says the company gained experience in manipulating 4K pictures within an OB truck setting, and experimented with the capability of the Psitech device to understand its potential applications in the live sport genre.

Interestingly, camera operators found that using the F65 for 4K acquisition requires a different approach to camera operation; in effect, shooting wider, which then allows VT operatives and production staff to create multiple shots from the same camera position.

“4K technology is still at an early stage and there is a huge difference in the requirements of single camera capture compared to that needed to transmit live shows,” says Apsden. “Live sport, for example, requires very reliable equipment with very low failure rates. If a shot is missed due to failed equipment there is rarely an opportunity to restage the event.”

He adds that 4K becomes even more challenging when the technology has to be compact enough to be mobile and able to operate from a range of locations.

“OB vehicles provide finite space which limits the amount of equipment that can be installed,” he explains. “OB environments are often challenging which puts extra demands on the equipment so any 4K equipment needs to be as compact, portable and reliable as possible to be able to capture the range of shots we currently achieve in OB scenarios.”

David Meynell, MD, SIS Live adds that it is inarguable that 4K technology is going to be part of our future.

“If the popularity of 4K consumer technology continues to rise we will reach a point where broadcasters want to transmit live events in 4K, and this means that SIS Live needs to be ready to deliver,” he says. “As with all new technologies we are monitoring its development and potential demand closely, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of technological development.”

Although SIS Live also supplied matchday highlights from Newcastle for Match of the Day the BBC has said these tests were independent of any investigation it is making into Ultra-HD.

Dock 10 offers cloud editing

Broadcast

Dock 10 is to launch a private cloud-based craft editing platform.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/dock-10-offers-cloud-editing/5051555.article

The system has been in development for more than seven months and is pitched at producers wary of using public cloud tools for offline, but who are reluctant to invest in their own cloud infrastructure.

It will operate over MediaCityUK’s campus-wide fibre-optic network, use standard editing interfaces such as Media Composer, Final Cut Pro or Premiere, and incorporate asset-management ingest and logging tool Central ParQ, which was developed by Dutch post facility Park Post.

Producers will be offered the chance to ingest, log, browse and edit proxy rushes in HD stored on an Isis server and hosted over a private cloud.

Remote ingest and archive management will also be served.

“We are pushing the boundaries of cloud-based editing beyond anything currently in the market,” said Dock 10 commercial director Ian Munford.

“This is an enterprise solution offered as a shared infrastructure and sold on a payas- you-go basis.”

The system is initially for production teams based at Media- CityUK, but a second phase will see the system integrated into The Loop, a 50-mile fibre network around the Manchester area that was originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

“Our aim is to connect the platform to fibre networks across the UK and then globally,” said Munford.

“Our long-term aim is to move the editing capability away from proprietary hardware and onto software, with all the processing crunched in data centres.

“Several things need to be fixed before you can trust the ability to edit high-quality video in the cloud,” added Munford.

“You need reliability of bandwidth, resilience in the system and a pricing structure that fits with production cycles.”

Existing private cloud-based platforms such as Quantel QTube and Avid Sphere are aimed at production of news and sport and require hardware investment.

Adobe Anywhere, which launches later this year, will also offer real-time collaborative workflows.

Aframe, a private cloud-based production-management system, would seem to be Dock 10’s most immediate competitor, though it does not offer cloud craft editing.

Systems such as Forbidden Technologies’ Forscene, which use the public cloud, are widely used for logging, review and assembly.

Wealth and decadence: Simon Duggan ACS on The Great Gatsby

British Cinematographer 

Simon Duggan ACS details how stereoscopic 3D was used to craft a greater connection with the film's performance and storytelling for Baz Luhrmann's majestic The Great Gatsby.

https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/simon-duggan-acs-the-great-gatsby/

Filmed four times previously, notably in 1949 and 1974, F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 literary masterpiece The Great Gatsby is retold by Baz Luhrmann as a parable for our times. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan it charts the lives and loves of an elite and the impact on them of sudden wealth, staged with the director's characteristically flamboyant visual style.

Speaking from the set during filming in late 2011, Luhrmann said he approached the adaptation, not “as a much-loved museum piece” but in the spirit in which Fitzgerald may have written the original, “as a piece in an age full of new possibilities enabled by new ideas and new technologies.” Seen this way, he stressed, “shooting in 3D made perfect sense."

That sensibility also informed his choice of cinematographer. Simon Duggan, ACS (Australian Cinematographers Society) had previously lensed VFX-heavy action films such as Die Hard 4.0, I Robot and Knowing.

“Baz wanted Gatsby to have a sense of reality and modernity, of being present in the Jazz Age where everything felt new, technologically advanced and sophisticated,” reports Duggan, speaking to British Cinematographer from location and also this March in the final stages of the grade. “Visually, we created the opposite of an expected period treatment with scenically aged sets, static cameras, and classic lighting.”

Having convinced executive producer Barrie M Osborne and Warner Bros, that Gatsby should be a native 3D shoot, Luhrmann got the go-ahead in 2010. Red Epic cameras were chosen as they were at the time physically the smallest camera to fit the lightweight 3Ality TS5 rigs and of filming 120fps 2.35 5K.

“I'd used the Epics before and was very happy with the look and image quality,” says Duggan. “On set you can get very close to your desired look through colour temp, tint and exposure settings on the camera leaving your DIT to fine tune on Redcine and keep a general log of settings.”

By shooting 5K they got the maximum quality out of the sensor and then downsized to 2.5K for VFX. “Having the ability to go back to the 5K image meant Baz could do large blow-ups such as additional close ups from existing medium shots, or grab a tighter background plate for a keyed foreground when he required them.”

With no prior experience of stereoscopic filming, Duggan took an introductory course at the Sony 3D Technology Centre in Culver City to learn basic technical and creative aspects. “I then immersed myself into the world of 3D, so by the time I joined Baz for tests [at Bazmark's New York office] I had a pretty good understanding of the opportunities of the format,” he recalls.

Luhrmann's lab-style tests with a twin-lens camcorder conducted with key cast, in the autumn of 2010, helped him grasp a visual grammar that would capture a performance using stereo cameras.

Dial M For Murder, Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 3D suspense drama was screened as inspiration for Gatsby's creative quartet which included Duggan, stereographer Alonso Homs and production designer Catherine Martin.

“That film proved for me, how fundamentally different 3D is in terms of dramatic staging,” says Luhrmann, also an accomplished theatre director. “It has a force that is born quite simply from its ability to capture great actors playing against each other in a tight space and toward the camera, something like the theatre.”

According to Duggan: “Baz and I wanted the viewer to be in among the performances and to really feel an intimacy with the actors. Baz loved the similarities that 3D filming had to staging a theatrical performance where he could create depth by blocking actors and designing set pieces.”

That stereoscopy could be used to enhance performance and draw out the humanity of a character was the single biggest take away from the development stage. Broadly, the idea was to allow a character to feel excluded from the story world and by implication draw the audience closer (literally) to the emotion in the actor's performance by making subtle use of negative parallax.

Translating it into practice, when principal photography began at Fox Studios Australia and locations in and around Sydney, meant confronting key conventions of filmmaking notably, the over the shoulder shot for two-person dialogue and the close-up.

“In 3D there is nothing like being right in the face of the actor or close-up on a detail with a wide lens,” says Duggan. “A close-up with 3D volume and detail is incredible since it heightens the viewer’s access to the actor’s emotions. You can read the subtlest of expression and look straight into their eyes. It probably felt slightly invasive at the start but once the actors saw the results, they loved it.

“We really had little choice of what lenses to use with the more compact 3Ality rigs as we required a lens system with a smaller front diameter to enable us to use wide angles on the smaller mirror box such as the 16mm. We generally used from 16-21mm for our wide shots, 21-40mm for our medium shots and between 40-85mm for our tighter shots. Rarely did we go much longer as it starts to counter the effect of creating 3D depth as little stereo separation can be wound into the shot before positive parallax causes eyestrain.”

Although the mirror boxes on the rigs are already fairly small (412mm length x 350mm wide), lighting the actor’s faces in close-up to avoid shadows was a challenge. Solving this, Duggan created a special eye-light with an LED strip that lined the perimeter of the mirror box.

“For extreme close-ups, Baz was interested in using lighting to reflect the mood or situation of the actor, so while this was as unobtrusive as possible we would be in close to the actor, much like lighting a commercial pack shot,” explains Duggan. “The way the human brain processes and fuses stereo images together is the first part in convincing the viewer that the images are real. We wanted to maintain this sense of reality using lenses similar to the human field of view, and to use a natural depth of field to give a more immersive experience than possible in 2D,” he explains.

They soon found that the medium shot, capturing more volume of an actor’s body in a more realistic way, meant that they didn’t necessarily require coverage of a conventional close-up. In one scene, Tom Buchanan (played by Joel Edgerton) joins Jay Gatsby (Di Caprio) at his mansion for a party. They are sitting together when Gatsby’s butler comes in to tell him that someone is on the phone.

“As the butler comes close to Gatsby’s ear and gives him the message, there is a perfect layering of Tom and Jay and the butler so that you can easily read the emotion passing across their faces,” says Homs. “It feels like three close-ups in one. The physicality of the performance is much more readable. You don’t need to go as close to the face, and you don’t necessarily need to go to the eyes, but when you do close up on the eyes in 3D it makes that shot all the more powerful. You are then looking at a face that has volume, where there is more information to scan and more emotion to read.”

Extreme close-ups were selected for intense moments, while mid-shots with two or three characters in frame at varying distances from the lens conveyed “not only the interaction between the characters in frame but additional detail and volume, so that the viewer can find their own close-up on any character within the frame,” says Duggan. “An actor’s body language is amplified in 3D. The shot is easier to read because you are a lot more aware of detail.”

He continues: “There are common techniques in 2D filmmaking to direct the viewer to an actor or point of interest, or to create depth by using devices such as a shallow depth of field, soft focus foreground objects, long lenses, and backlighting that verges on silhouette. But these are often less effective in 3D as they go contrary to the effect of creating a convincing realistic world for the viewer.”

Duggan's approach to lighting was to accent the volume of the stereo image by maintaining a certain amount of roundness to the lighting and to show detail by adding layers from foreground to background.

“I found that a backlit foreground image against a dark background looks like a cardboard cutout,” he says. “In most cases Baz had freedom to move the camera anywhere he wanted. Many times we would start with a wide shot, such as a party scene, and end up on a close-up, often employing handheld lighting starting outside of the wider frame with the gaffer running in behind the camera and landing on the close-up. We also had all of our lighting running through dimmer boards so at any time we could cross-fade it as the camera moved around the scene.”

Lurhmann's style, from Strictly Ballroom to Moulin Rouge, is to keep the camera constantly on the move, placed on telescoping cranes, dollies, and Steadicam with Gatsby no exception.  Depth perception was increased within each scene by having the camera travel through architectural features such as arches and doorways or exterior foliage.

“The weather and seasonal changes play an important part of Gatsby's storytelling with snow, rain, blowing leaves, and smoke additionally used to enhance dimensionality,” says Duggan. “The camera even passes through tunnels of people to create a continuous reveal of characters and the spaces they inhabit.”

The latter is a part of a scene in which Nick Carraway (Maguire) enters Gatsby’s mansion for the first time. A party is in full swing and the excess of the period is on display, illustrated by a richness of texture and colour in set and costume. There’s a flurry of movement as Carraway enters the main hallway, tracked on Steadicam and from his point of view.

Since fast movement of objects across the camera in stereo can cause a disconcerting strobing effect (overcome by higher frame rates), yet wanting to maintain the sense of bustling activity with lots of foreground crosses, Luhrmann choreographed actors to move either on a diagonal line towards and past or away from the lens.

Dailies were created on set using Redcine for colouring and projected files on the studios 3D projector. DIT [Brook Willard] and Data Manager [Stephen Freebairn] worked out a LUT for the projector working from the MFX editorial files they were also providing.

The VFX department received a copy of the original 5kK Red files and downrezzed to 2.5K for post work, final grading and stereo geometric adjustments were done using Baselight 8 and Mistika software.

“We aimed to match the look of the US in the 20s, at it's height of wealth and decadence, when everything was almost brand new,” says Duggan. “Baz wanted to put the audience right there and then, rather than have the feeling of nostalgia. The look varied from exaggerated, colourful and glossy party scenes to monochromatic landfill dumps, all of which the Epics captured beautifully.”

Advertisers take control

Broadcast

File-based workflows underpinned by asset management systems are shaking up the supply and delivery of ads to UK broadcasters, reports Adrian Pennington.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/in-depth/advertisers-take-control/5050985.article

The transition to file-based work flows is near universal in the creation and supply of video advertising to broadcasters.

With it has come a significant shift in the management and delivery of ads on a global scale. Cloud-based asset management services and faster fi le-transfer technology are enabling major international brands from McDonalds to P&G to achieve greater control over their production and supply chain.

“Dealing with physical tape was cumbersome and only a few post houses and specialist ad-serving companies in each local market could do it,” says Thomas Bremond, international vice-president of US ad giant DG. “In a fi le-based world, moving assets around has become much more of a commodity, so the focus is on who can provide those services quicker and cheaper.”

DG claims to serve 80% of the ads that air in North America and to deliver half the country’s syndicated long-form programming. When it launched into the UK late last year, it shook up a market dominated for a decade by IMD and Adstream.

“The traditional ad-serving business, ours included, is at risk,” says Bremond. “With connected TVs, brands can go direct to the consumer, and with the introduction of broadcasters’ own targeted advertising [such as Sky Adsmart], there is no value any more for agencies that simply deliver an ad. You have to deliver a media plan, a campaign, the data surrounding it and relevant analytics.” DG’s response was to acquire online ad-serving outfit MediaMind for £260m in 2011.

The division has just unveiled a second-screen ad-synchronisation technology with Audible Magic. IMD, Adstream, DG, Beam and other media logistics specialists already perform a variety of tasks including quality control on master copies, issuing copy rotation instructions, adding identifying clock numbers via clearance system Clearcast – which is run by UK broadcasters – and transcoding into the appropriate technical specifications for linear playout, VoD and online publishing.

“The last-mile delivery company risks disintermediation unless it brings more value to the supply chain,” says Jon Folland, co-founder of Nativ, whose Mio asset management platform is used by car firm Audi, among others.

“Brands can now integrate asset management platforms to empower them to automate many previously laborious tasks, and to manage the delivery of copy themselves rather than using a third party. “If brands outsource to another company, they are often penalised for storing their assets in more than one system. The current inefficient supply chain lends itself to digital cloud platforms, where brands have more control over their content and can drop overall operating costs.”

Beam has responded by moving its services upstream. According to director of operations Noreen Connolly, brands should be adopting an asset management system that begins at the concept stage and follows through to the final clock assignment. “Brands are looking to have one system that does everything for them to maintain brand message consistency and to make significant cost savings by avoiding duplication of work.”

As a subsidiary of The Mill, Beam receives the bulk of its work via the facility, but will face an uphill task to expand against competition from the production marketing system of Hogarth Worldwide.

The WPP-owned group has been working on browser-based MAM platform Zonza for 18 months, initially to manage the global distribution of TV commercials for WPP clients. Now it plans to “aggressively commercialise” the platform, according to Mark Keller, chief technology officer and founder.

“One of the huge frustrations of global brands is that after paying for a TV ad, they find it extremely difficult later on to find the source material for repurposing or transcreation,” he says.

“The video could be stored at a post house or third-party agency located anywhere in the world, and when a brand manager needs to review or reuse the assets, they have to interrogate multiple archives just to pull out the footage. Although the assets are their property, they are often charged to have the asset located and sent to them. This results in massive wasted effort, and unnecessary fees.”

Keller says such problems can be solved by switching to Zonza, which will host all of a brand’s assets centrally in the cloud and under one metadata schema for straightforward search, retrieval and transparent billing.

“Zonza enables clients like Nike and Unilever to upload, download, search and view video at master broadcast quality, faster than any competitive system, and without losing control of any asset,” he says.

“We will work with whatever distribution channels are available but brands are concerned to find a cheaper alternative so it does mean that existing distribution companies have to add more value.”

However, IMD, whose network is predominantly European, doesn’t see its business as under threat. “The infrastructure that integrates with the different playout systems of each broadcaster shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Shelby Akosa, managing director, UK TV and radio.

“You also have to be trusted by client brands and broadcasters to deliver all of the time. We guarantee a campaign gets delivered on time. Our clients have never paid late copy because of us.”

Updating Clearcast

Hogarth scored a coup in November when it landed the contract to build Clearcast’s new copy clearance and ad management system, beating incumbent Adstream.

A Clearcast spokeswoman said the decision to replace Adway follows significant growth in the number of scripts and ads held on the system, particularly with online video formats advancing at a rapid rate.

“Over the years, we’ve upgraded Adway to match the pace of change, and last year 32,000 scripts and 64,000 video files were uploaded to the system,” the spokeswoman said. “However, we’ve reached the point at which it cannot be upgraded further.”

Both Hogarth and Clearcast have been at pains to defuse alarm, led by other media agencies, that WPP clients might gain a competitive advantage by being able to access confidential campaign data.

“We are contracted to write and host a new copy-clearance system based on Zonza and Fido [Hogarth’s production workflow platform]. Clearcast will administer it and have full authority over it,” says Keller.

HD advertising transmission delayed

Brands spend a lot of money shooting glorious-looking commercials on 35mm using HD or 4K cameras, and most commercials are mastered in high definition, but no spots or sponsorship bumpers are being aired in HD on UK TV.

IMD reports a “massive increase” in HD deliverables around the globe, notably in Germany, France and the US, where more than a third of ads are transmitted in HD. But UK broadcasters will only accept SD versions.

Typically, these files are then uprezzed at the broadcaster on TX, but the quality will never be the same as native HD.

There’s no technical reason why HD copy can’t be delivered tomorrow from the likes of IMD or Beam. But on the broadcast side, there’s an apparent reluctance to invest in the necessary HD playout equipment and additional storage costs, especially while there is still disagreement over the technical specification.

“While SD has been a trusted format for years, one that’s very easy to move around a facility, for HD there is no common agreement on what the default video format should be, or what metadata should be included,” says Nativ co-founder Jon Folland, suggesting that the DPP’s HD delivery specs for programming could act as a guide.

Specs for loudness measurement/ management and audio characteristics – such as whether surround sound is supported and, if so, by which mechanisms – also need to be agreed, says Red Bee Media chief technology officer Steve Plunkett.

“Once cross-industry agreement has been reached on these issues, the implementation timescales could be relatively short, but demand for HD ad support has not been prioritised so far.”

Sky and ITV are reportedly keen to overcome the issues, with suggestions of a breakthrough in the Red Bee Media: awaiting agreement on loudness specs third quarter of this year.

Colossus Productions to shoot 3D horror shorts

Broadcast

BSkyB and Atlantic Productions’ joint venture Colossus Productions is to shoot a series of pilot 3D horror films which could lead to a feature-length commission.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/colossus-productions-to-shoot-3d-horror-shorts/5051026.article

Technical tests have already begun on the 5-10 minute shorts, with principal photography due to start in the next month.

It marks the indie’s first foray into scripted drama, though any commission would not necessarily come from Sky, according to Colossus creative director Anthony Geffen.

Previously, Atlantic and Colossus have sourced funding for 3D productions with Sky and IMAX for large screen distribution.

“We will shoot two to three pilots to test techniques and learn how to make the story work successfully in 3D,” Geffen said.

“Our feeling is that 3D can be used to enhance the thriller and suspense aspects and to help create the sense of another world, rather than being about blood and guts.”

Colossus has assigned writing and directing talent to the project working alongside its core 3D production crew.

“We understand 3D and we have drama writers and directors coming across to the medium who have only ever worked in 2D,” he added.

“It’s silly to write off 3D. Penetration [of 3D TVs] may not be as advanced as we hoped but there is still not a sufficient flow of content that will encourage people to buy 3D TVs or subscribe to 3D channels.”