4K Go 3D!

STREETDANCE, the UK's first 3D feature film, is shooting this August in and around London. It stars the dance group Diversity, this year's winner of the Britain's Got Talent competition, and the runners up, Flawless. The film is being directed by the duo Max and Dania, award-winning helmers of commercials and music videos.

James Richardson, co-founder of production company Vertigo, signed both dance troupes to the film after seeing them perform at the UK Street Dance Championships in July 2008.

He said: “When I saw Flawless and Diversity last summer I immediately started talking to them... Street dance is a global phenomenon and we want this film to showcase to the world the extraordinary talents of British street dancers.

Dan Carling is the Senior DIT on the STREETDANCE shoot, seconded by Tom Mitchell. Dan brings a wealth of experience to the table having returned from spending four months in sweltering Thai jungles and two months in chilly St Petersburg, on the $50 million dollar action movie 5TH EXECUTION, a three camera RED shoot.

Jim Spencer, STREETDANCE's Line Producer, approached 4K to provide the DITs after a happy experience shooting RED on the feature film TORMENTED. He felt 4K could deliver the expertise and reliability demanded by a technically testing shoot like STREETDANCE.

The California based company, Paradise FX, are supplying the 3D camera rigs and we hope this marks the beginning of 4K's adventure into 3D digital cinema... Watch this space!

If We Told You... We'd Have To Kill You!

4K are currently working on a top secret project that's looking very interesting... A feature length documentary with an Oscar winning director, no less! Sorry to keep you in suspense but that's all we're allowed to say right now.

More news in November when the project is officially announced.

4K & The Bard

4K London have recently completed work on the upcoming filmed version of HAMLET due to be televised on the BBC, in High Definition. A co-production between the Royal Shakespeare Company, Illuminations and the BBC, it stars David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. 4K have been responsible for data management and overseeing the post workflow.

Chris Seager BSC, Director Of Photography, was a recent convert to the RED way of working: "I like the idea of the Red, of trying something new. The bottom line is it makes good pictures."

Seb Grant, Producer of HAMLET, explained: “Initially I didn't want to go RED - that really came from Chris. I was worried about all the horror stories I'd heard. The thought of losing data is too scary. There's always a sharp intake of breath when you tell other people that you are going go RED!"

"Above all 4K demystified the experience," continued Seb. "They speak 'producer' and they also speak 'idiot', which I found very comforting! They did a great job of making us feel at ease with the idea of 'data management'. It's reassuring to have a Digital Imaging Technician on set, watching everything that's been shot, knowing that the data will be checked and safe." Chris was supported on set by Nye Jones, one of 4K London's most experienced DITs.

"The DIT is your on-set lab, in effect, showing concern for and taking care of the rushes," explained Chris. "Nye and Laura, who were provided by 4K, became integral members of the crew."

Once the rushes had been backed up on set they were handed over to editorial to be cut by Tony Cranstoun, using Final Cut Pro IV. At the same time a copy of the data was transported to 4K for safe storage.

4K London advised on and supported the set-up of a Final Cut Pro suite that could handle the Red One data. Assistant Editor Laura Kettle received rushes on a daily basis, ingested them into the system, syncing and setting up the project ready for Tony to cut the following morning.

"The big plus for me," added Tony, "was that I was able to start cutting first thing in the morning after they were shooting. I've done a couple of Red jobs and it hasn't always been the case."

The final step in the process for 4K was the conversion of the original Red footage to a format suitable for colour grading, in this case DPX files. The grade was undertaken by Jet Omoshebi at Ascent 142.

We've since seen the finished product and it looks fantastic! Congratulations to everybody involved with the project.

And The BAFTA Goes To...

The 4K crew took to the stage at BAFTA to discuss "The Future Of Film Production", a seminar held as part of the Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival.

Nye Jones, our DIT-in-chief, introduced the audience to the fundamentals of a RED One camera and walked them through the 4K system of data management and backup, fielding lots of questions along the way.

Matt Platts-Mills followed with an in-depth dissection of how to edit RED on Final Cut Pro 7, giving away lots of hard won tips and tricks. This included a live demo of editing RED material on Final Cut, illustrating the simplicity and speed of the current system.

Finally Jon Wright introduced a 10 minute segment from his feature film TORMENTED, which looked fantastic on the 35mm projector in the Princess Anne Theatre, and answered questions from fellow directors contemplating making the switch to RED.

Paul Collard from Ascent masterminded proceedings, giving an overview of the RED workflow in comparison to film and HDCAM, and showing how Ascent 142 are well placed to give RED material the ultimate finish.

The feedback we've had since has been excellent (thanks to all the people who collared us afterwards!) and we're hoping to repeat the event soon.

Thanks to Paul for inviting us along, and thanks to Trisha Tuttle at BAFTA and Joe Bateman from the Festival for organising and hosting the event.