3D - Here To Stay

by Jon Wright

3D is the buzzword around Soho at the moment (Soho being the nearest thing us Brits have to Hollywood). Directors are talking about shooting 3D, post-production companies are adapting their finishing suites to 3D, visual effects supervisors are attending 3D how-to seminars. Companies who can “dimensionalise” footage (i.e. convert from 2D to 3D) are “making a mint”, everybody keeps saying. It feels a little like a gold rush. 3D movies are outperforming their 2D counterparts, they can’t be easily pirated, they’re sending people back to the cinemas. In short; they’re making money.

The other thing you hear frequently is; “it might be a flash in the pan”, “let’s wait and see”, “it may be a fad”. People wondering nervously if their investments in 3D gear are going to pay off. Lots of uncertainty.

My personal belief is; 3D is here to stay. It’s not a fad. It might even take over from 2D in the way that colour has taken over from black and white, certainly in cinemas. There may well be a new generation coming up who don’t like watching films in 2D, who think of 2D as old fashioned.

At the heart of my argument is a single British movie; Streetdance 3D. Currently it’s number one at the UK box office having out performed Disney’s blockbuster Prince Of Persia. It’s taken a mighty 1.8 million UK pounds on the sunniest weekend of the year.

When producers and financiers discuss 3D they are generally talking about Avatar - a high concept, mega budget, effects heavy movie. But Streetdance is none of those things. It’s a simple, formulaic story with unknown young actors, lots of Diversity style streetdancing, and a cool, contemporary soundtrack. No special effects. On a budget of 4.5 million UK pounds.

And it looks fantastic. Shot, mostly, on two RED cameras by Sam McCurdy BSC, working hand in hand with expert stereographer Max Penner, from Paradise FX. Between them they’ve done an amazing job.

3D adds a lot of production value. It feels like a 20 million pound movie. Simple shots - a girl talking on the phone, say - become engrossing, fascinating. You get a vivid sense of what the actors really look like. Charlotte Rampling has a character role as the ballet school head and her typically fascinating face is doubly fascinating in 3D. An ordinary London street is suddenly full of depth and colour, rich and detailed.

I’m proud to say 4K London worked on Streetdance 3D - our DITs Dan Carling and Tom Mitchell did a sterling job keeping the footage safe and organised, running a “quality control” operation on set, instantly feeding back to Sam in between takes. Paradise FX have opened an office in London and we plan to continue our working relationship (we already have several new projects underway). Jim Spencer, who Line Produced my movie Tormented, is managing Paradise Europe and I can’t think of a safer pair of hands.

If you’re a film-maker - a director, a producer, a cameraman, an editor - I strongly recommend you get out to a cinema and see Streetdance on the biggest 3D screen you can find. The movie may or may not be your cup of tea - but you’ll be getting a bona fide glimpse into the future of film production.

Posted on Wednesday 26th May 2010.

The Eagle Has Landed!

by David Wyatt

Mysterium-X RED One lands at 4K London

Today we had a nice surprise at 4K London when the Fed Ex man dropped off our freshly upgraded RED One complete with its new Mysterium-X sensor. Red’s unrivaled customer service managed to deal with the upgrade in less than a week (that’s including flying it around volcanic dust clouds to the US and back to the UK in just under 7 days!!)

On the surface the camera looked completely unchanged apart from a rather cool new Mysterium-X logo embossed on the side… even the sensor looked remarkably similar. In reality (“under the hood”) Red have not just upgraded the sensor to a lower noise, more sensitive one, they have also replaced the OLPF (Optical Low Pass Filter) to a superior one which suffers even less infrared contamination, and helps bring about even less resolution loss than before (coupled with an improved de-Bayer process a 4K image will now yield as much as 3.5K of measured resolution as opposed to the original 3.2K… better still a 4.5K widescreen image will yield 4.1K of measured resolution, easily enough to optimally display on the increasing number of 4K digital projectors out there).

Although on the surface everything still looked remarkably similar it wasn’t until we fired up the camera & started doing some rough preliminary testing that it became clear what a change the new sensor had bought. Dynamic range definitely seems to have improved and the startling lack of noise at ratings as high as 2000 ASA seems to be achieved by nothing short of witchcraft. This is, essentially, a new camera.

Ultimately the ability of the new M-X sensor has to seen to be believed so hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll be shooting some ultra lowlight street scenes from our stomping ground in Soho… Watch this low-lit space!!

Posted on Tuesday 27th April 2010.

4K London Are Hiring

by Matt Platts-Mills

The Job - Sales and Bookings

4K is currently flourishing through word of mouth and web traffic.

We are now looking for someone outgoing, energetic and driven to join our team.

This is a great opportunity to become involved with a young and dynamic company approaching film making in a unique and challenging way.

Main Responsibilities

• Promote and publicize the company, generate new business, identify new areas of growth.
• Maximize the use of social network sites and mail-shots.
• Negotiate on behalf of our DITs.
• Liaise with our client base and oversee the bookings.

Requirements Of The Role

• Superb written and oral communication.
• Ability to work under own initiative.
• Understanding of the production and post production processes.
• Any web or desktop publishing useful.
• Previous experience working as a sales/marketing/bookings.
• At 4K London you will find a hard-working but informal, relaxed atmosphere - and excellent scope for advancement. Salary will be dependent on experience.

To apply, please email jobs@4klondon.com your CV and a covering letter explaining what you can bring to the role.

Posted on Tuesday 20th April 2010.

Panel Beating

by Matt Platts-Mills

For the second event I was accompanied by Jon Wright. We attended Broadcast’s 4K Digital Workflows day. We were there as the 4K “experts”. I, again, got the impression that people were worried that shooting digitally was complicated with regards the workflow and sheer volume of data. Those in the room coming from a factual background anticipated the advent of Scarlet as it was felt to be a potential camera of choice. But the idea of data and crews was still a concern. However, crews in factual are currently shooting on data formats like the EX3 and P2 cards. It’s new but crews are overcoming the initial challenge of data management. Storage medium are only going to become larger and faster so at some point you will be able to store an entire shoot on one 3.5” solid state drive, double that up for safety. A much more elegant solution than 40 tapes and much more accessible.

Posted on Saturday 10th April 2010.

Panel Games

by Matt Platts-Mills

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been out and about giving a few talks. The first was at BAFTA for the BSC camera test. It was a very interesting day, the bits I caught. Had to run out of my edit. It was great to see how people are approaching the new formats.

I was appearing on a panel to discuss Crewing for HD. I was in the illustrious company of Joe Dunton MBE BSC, Chair. Jonathan Smiles, Lester Dunton, Gavin Finney BSC and Bill Lovell, Head of Digital Development Arri Media. It was really interesting to hear the differing opinions put forward by the panel as to the necessity of the DIT and even the role that they should perform. The thing that struck me most was the level of confusion expressed by the audience. One producer asked, “what would happen if after a days shoot on the RED I found all the rushes were ruined? Who would pay for it?” I pointed out that the whole beauty of the RED with a DIT is that you can do quality control on set. You should never walk away from a day’s shoot without knowing exactly what you’ve got as the DIT will have checked that every frame works and is correctly stored. After a brief 30 minutes it was over. I hope it helped clear up some of the obfuscation surrounding RED crewing.

Posted on Saturday 10th April 2010.

Mysterium-X vs 35mm film

by David Wyatt

So how does the new Red Mysterium-X sensor compare to the latest offerings from Kodak & Fuji? The original Mysterium sensor, which is now around 3 years old, was pretty good in terms of resolution - its 4K sensor could generate around 3.2K of actual measured resolution once it had been debayered, considerably & noticeably more than most digital 1080p cameras. Incidentally even 35mm film scanned at 4K only yields 3.2K of measured resolution (that’s for 100 ASA film - 500 ASA film is even less at 2.8K) - however scanning 35mm film at 4K is still relatively rare due to the expense, 2K is much more common, so even less measured resolution. The new Mysterium-X sensor and its improved Optical Low Pass Filter now loses even less resolution after the debayer process - an image recorded at 4K 16:9 with Redcode 42 will now yield 3.5K of measured resolution rather than 3.2K (a 12% loss as opposed to a 20% loss). Better still it’s now possible to use almost the entire width of the sensor to record a 4.5K image for 2.35:1 widescreen projects - this level will produce 4.1K of measured resolution.

Why is all this important - is this like the rather silly megapixel race that went on with digital stills cameras? While it always looks good to oversample (one of the many reasons 35mm ads look better than 16mm ads on TV), it will also become increasingly important to future-proof your projects as much as possible as technology advances. Right now 2K digital projection is the norm in the exhibition world but there is a slow but inexorable movement towards 4K digital projection with projectors like Sony’s SXRD 4K projector. By being able to record as close as possible to true 4K your projects should be able to utilize the full potential of these 4K projectors.

So how does the new Mysterium-X sensor compare to 35mm film in terms of sensitivity? The latest stocks from Kodak include the Vision 3 range and its workhorse stock 5219, which is rated at 500 ASA. This stock can of course be pushed one or two stops to get the equivalent of 1000 or 2000 ASA, with the image getting progressively grainier the more you push it. The new Mysterium-X sensor can comfortably shoot at 2000 ASA with very little ugly noise. Tests have been carried out as high as 3200 ASA with usable results - all with no noise reduction performed, so even higher ASA ratings may be possible with a little noise reduction. The Mysterium-X also behaves much better under tungsten light than its predecessor. Coupled with Red’s New Colour Science (a revised update to its colour processing) the Mysterium-X can comfortably shoot in tungsten light with very little noise despite the fact that it has a daylight balanced sensor.

Finally we come to dynamic range and there’s been a massive improvement there too. In the real world the original Mysterium sensor would give you roughly 9 or 10 stops of useable dynamic range. The new Mysterium-X sensor has been measured to give 13.5 stops. But is this just marketing hype? That figure was reached by Red using Arri’s new DRTC (Dynamic Range Test Chart) which can comfortably display 15 stops. The 13.5 stop dynamic range has also been confirmed by other independent tests. The main key is that the noise floor with the Mysterium-X sensor is vastly superior to the original Mysterium sensor who’s dynamic range was slightly held back by how much noise one could accept in the shadows. How does this compare to 35mm film? Again the new Vision 3 range has up to 14 stops of dynamic range so it’s very close here (in fact the Mysterium-X arguably has more dynamic range than certain older, slow speed stocks like Kodak’s 5201 50 Daylight). The Mysterium-X also compares very favourably to the best DSLR sensors out there (remember Red is recording 25 frames a second rather than just taking stills!) - the popular Canon 5D MkII has a dynamic range of 11.9 stops and the Nikon D3X has 13.7.

With the impending release of Red’s Monstro sensor dynamic range may well increase even more and overtake film, but essentially 13.5 stops is more than enough to be able to control highlights and see into shadows in most filming situations, even more so in a studio environment. Anything more than that is going into HDR territory (High Dynamic Range) which will apparently be a feature of the new Epic camera.

Of course these are just a few of the many imaging specifications in comparing Red to 35mm…we won’t mention price because that would be unfair ;-)

Posted on Wednesday 17th March 2010.

Red Open Day - the unveiling of the new Mysterium-X sensor

by David Wyatt

On the 10th February 4K London attended the Red Open Day at the Soho Hotel where the new Mysterium-X sensor was unveiled. Red are currently offering the Mysterium-X as a sensor upgrade to the original Mysterium sensor that shipped with the Red One camera. The Mysterium-X will also be the powerhouse of the upcoming Epic-X camera, the successor to the Red One, which is expected to debut in the Summer of 2010. We were shown a very impressive digital screening of Red’s new show-reel, shot on a number of Red Ones upgraded with the new Mysterium-X sensor, which mostly showed off the low noise characteristics of the new sensor - even when rated as high as 2000 ASA!! Another nice surprise was the guest appearance of the upcoming Epic camera, which was much smaller & lighter than expected.

Like many of the new ultra-sensitive DSLR sensors coming to market recently, the Mysterium-X sensor is able to shoot in low light conditions with virtually no noise in a way that is practically unknown on film - in fact low light sensitivity appears to be the latest DSLR battleground after the Megapixel wars! However the difference with the Mysterium-X is that it is shooting motion rather than just taking stills, and it is doing this in the RAW format just like the DSLRs use for their stills. The latest DSLRs can of course do video as well, but crucially they only currently offer inferior codecs like H.264, and are limited to 720 or 1080p resolutions, whereas the Mysterium-X can offer similar low-light, noise-free performance but with RAW motion images with up to 4.5K of resolution. Due to the lower noise floor of the new Mysterium-X sensor the dynamic range has also increased (in lab tests to as much as 13.5 stops!)

One shot from the Mysterium-X show-reel which particularly stuck in the mind was a test scene shot by David Fincher and his DP Jeff Cronenweth, who are currently using 2 Mysterium-X upgraded Red Ones on their latest feature “Social Network”. The test scene takes place in a dark unlit room where Leonardo Di Caprio sparks up a match and lights a cigar. The match is the only light source in the room apart from a little light spilling from the door and window which helps silhouette Di Caprio. The surprising thing is there is practically no noise in the entire scene and this was achieved at 2000 ASA with no noise reduction at all. Really impressive stuff!!

Having seen the proof of the pudding 4K London have decided to go ahead with the upgrading of their Red One camera to the new Mysterium-X sensor and are currently very much looking forward to low noise, low light-level film-making in the near future.

As for the arrival of the Epic this summer, 4K London will have one of the first ones in the country and we’re almost speechless with excitement! On top of the low-light, low noise capability of the Mysterium-X sensor, Epic will offer even higher resolution (5K) and will be able to achieve up to 100 fps at its full 5K resolution (as well as even higher frame rates at lower resolutions).

With the arrival of Mysterium-X upgraded Red Ones and the release of the Epic camera, 2010 is shaping up to be the most exciting year since the first release of the Red One… Watch this space!

Posted on Wednesday 3rd March 2010.

Dinosaur Land Sound

by Matt Platts-Mills

Even before the animation truly got under way it was clear that sound was going to be a hugely important aspect of the film. To really sell the imagery we need to bed it in an impressive and encompassing soundscape. To achieve this the production has enlisted Adrian Roads. Adrian has worked on a number of fully animated films. Quickly, Adrian found himself recording animals at the zoo; from the glee that bounds across his face when he tells you about it you get the impression that he doesn’t find this part of his job a chore.

A short segment of the film had been taken to previs (the animals are given basic movement cycles and the backgrounds are loosely sketched) as an experiment and Adrian got swiftly to work with the soundscape. We took our seats in Goldcrest Theater 1 and 4 minutes later we couldn’t wipe the grins off our faces. Dinosaurs. What’s not to enjoy.

Since then Adrian has been building a selection of soundscapes and environments coupled with a palette of creature noises. These armaments have been incredibly useful in the edit, allowing us to bring even dinos on skates to life. Timing a shot becomes infinitely easier when you can punctuate it with a few choice grunts or roars.

Posted on Tuesday 23rd February 2010.

Dinosaur Land

by Matt Platts-Mills

In a departure from what 4K is usually engaged with I’ve just started cutting a CGI Dinosaur film. That’s right, 30 foot tall monsters eating each other.

The film is to be entirely CGI, no back plates, all the landscapes will be computer generated as will the characters (beasts). The story is based on the factual journey of one species, the Edmontosaurus, from what were - at that time - warm Arctic forests to the southern planes in Canada. It follows the plight of one young member of this herd, Scar, as he battles his way south. To make it even more challenging the animals don’t speak and we are trying to keep the VO to a minimum. This means that the narrative drive is all done through the picture cut with the sound and score working extra hard to back this up. It’s very ambitious.

So far it has been an interesting experience, very different from ‘usual’ editing as we are doing it backwards. The director, Matthew Thompson, and I started by cutting a story reel together. From that point we began going through the scenes and working out the best way to tell the story. To keep it engaging it has to be very precise in terms of story points per shot. A very lean cut. We choose camera angles, character movement, etc.

So far it has proven to be much more challenging than cutting conventional live action drama because we are tasked with imagining the shots, shots with unlimited scope. Nailing down just what is necessary for the story, keeping the shots concise, has been hard but great fun.

Posted on Thursday 18th February 2010.