Films @ 59 Links Film Master And Avid Unity ISIS 2.0 Systems For Enhanced RED Workflow

Digital Vision, a leading supplier of picture enhancement systems for film and television post-production, has revealed that Bristol, UK-based post house Films @ 59 has implemented an uncompressed tapeless mastering workflow that combines Digital Vision's Film Master grading solution and Avid Unity ISIS 2.0, the latest release of Avid's mission-critical enterprise-class real-time media network solution.
The end-to-end file-based RED workflow provides Films @ 59 with a flexible and collaborative work environment that ultimately saves hours during post production, delivering shared access of uncompromised RED media files for full creative freedom.
As a beta site for Avid Unity ISIS 2.0, Films @ 59 implemented the new workflow to complete post production for 'In Love With Barbara', a drama inspired by the life of one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century, Dame Barbara Cartland.
The project was produced by Quickfire Media (Director, Tim Whitby) for BBC4 and TXed at the start of November.
Ian Burling, Workflow Design and Technical Services, explained: "'In Love With Barbara' was shot on the RED ONE camera. The producers wanted to take full advantage of the dynamic range present in the raw RED files, so, from the outset we had to come up with a workflow that would enable us to get the full resolution flat log files into Digital Vision's Film Master system for the grade."
After the .R3D raw rushes were delivered on drives and backed up to the Avid Unity ISIS system, Metacheater software was used to extract the metadata from the RED QuickTime reference files and create ALE files (for low res capture during the offline edit). Then, the RedCine software was then used to convert the corresponding offline cut's R3D raw files into full resolution log DPX files for Film Master conform.
Burling explained: "These DPX file sequences were exported straight to the Avid Unity ISIS 2.0 system, and using an EDL from the offline, we pointed the Film Master to the ISIS 2.0 workspaces. The sequences came into the Film Master and everything linked back to the exported DPX log files on the ISIS 2.0 system. The grade was then achieved using the full log space DPX files and rendered to the Film Master local storage. The finished product was played out and delivered on HDCAM SR."
He continued: "The workflow allowed us to contain all the RED ONE media as well as the DPX files in a single server. As a result, we could take full advantage of the RED ONE's dynamic range and could playback high bandwidth uncompressed files.
"Additionally, the shared nature of the storage enabled us to drastically cut the turnaround time by allowing us to perform the 'data wrangling' and prep the data behind the scenes whilst the grade was happening in the Film Master."
Films @ 59 has also undertaken further testing that has proved the Avid Unity ISIS 2.0 system can be used for capturing uncompressed video and storing render caches for use with Film Master.
Having tested the workflow thoroughly, Films @ 59 is now planning to use the same Film Master/Avid Unity ISIS 2.0 combination on future projects for a number of clients.
Further information is available at: www.digitalvision.se.
(KMcA/BMcC)