DI - what it is and isn't
Digital
Intermediate is a way to use the huge advantages of digital post production
when you originate and finish on film.
Your
original camera negative is scanned at at least 2K; people are regularly
scanning at 4K now and then sub-sampling down to 2K for editing. This will
change as computers get faster and storage gets cheaper, in only a few years
we’ll all be working at 4K all the time for work that is going out to film.
They’re even talking about 6K.
That’s
all irrelevant all that matters is that you post produce, editing and effects,
digitally, commonly with an Inferno.
You
also, and this is my main interest, colour grade at this stage.
You
then burn out to 35mm negative film. If you have a large release run then you
can burn out a number of original negs. This means that you can eliminate the
interpos/interneg route that is commonly used to produce extra printing masters
and all your prints will be from original negs. This contributes hugely to a
better projected image.
Lets
jump back to my main interest now, grading, but if you’re a producer keep
reading far from costing you money this can save you a packet!
What
are the real driving factors of our business, show business.
Well, business seems fairly important in that 2 word description!
So
what are the business advantages of DI?
Well,
contrary to popular belief, DI isn’t more expensive than a conventional finish,
it’s OK! There are still people who believe that the world is flat J
So
what makes it cheaper?
We’ll
ignore the obvious ones like you get all your deliverables without extra cost
or 3 perf shooting, although this alone will make the DI/optical finish
question a dead heat even excluding the deliverables, ask me for details in the
Q&A J
No,
the main saving is in the amount of time you save in shooting.
At
this point I have to assume that you’re shooting on film because there isn’t
the bandwidth available on any digital format yet to take this approach.
The
huge saving is TIME
If
I’m going for a DI finish then I can ignore controlling extreme highlights, or
burned out windows, I can afford to ignore that hot area in the left of frame
or the hot sky. I don’t need an army of sparks setting flags if I can just
shade that area off in post.
I
can even to a fairly large degree ignore the weather!
I
can fix it all in DI!
An
average TV drama costs around $4,000 per hour to shoot in the UK, grading time costs way way less than that.
Make
the choice yourself, have a cast and crew hang around with the clock running or
fix it in DI?
It’s
a really simple equation J
It’s
not charter for people who can’t make up their minds, it’s not a charter for
the incompetent to “fix it in post” it’s a part of a decision making process
and decisions have to be made when you’re shooting.
So
OK I’ve dealt with the money but what’s the real reason I want to use DI?
It’s
easy, artistic control.
My
job is to make you see what the director wants you to see, to manipulate you so
that you respond in the way we want you to respond.
In
a short film, over a period of 8 minutes we went from a very warm saturated
picture to a very cold desaturated picture.
This
was for 2 reasons, one was to make her world appear bleaker and bleaker, and
the second was to set you up for the next shot.
You
haven’t seen red for at least 4 minutes when you suddenly see an awful lot of
it!
Then
at the end of the 10 minutes when she has disposed of her problems we bring all
the colour back into her life during the final crane up, going from 20%
saturation to 100% in the one shot.
Of
course we were also able to paint out the shadow of the camera crane and in an
earlier shot remove the sunshine that didn’t match that point in the story.
Nobody, nobody ever noticed the change in colour as they watched the film for
the first time.
The
director Brian Percival and I just did what we normally do in commercials, we
“fucked with their heads” his words not mine J
And
that’s the real reason that DI is so important to me.
It
helps me tell a better story