And the first TV series in 4Kp60 is…

[Michael Gissing]

I wonder why they output DPX and then converted to XAVC. That would have made big fat master files that were then crunched down. It would have made more sense to go 10 bit YUV uncompressed. Smaller files and no difference when converted to XAVC. Easier to deal with too.

Also the article says Resolve only takes TIFF with alpha but I was pretty sure png with alpha is also fine.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Michael Gissing] “I wonder why they output DPX and then converted to XAVC. “

I was wondering the same thing. Whole workflow seems like a lot of work to me.

[Erik Lindahl]

Impressive I guess but it does sound like a odd workflow.

– Offline in 1080p60 would make more sense (200% scale = final master raster)
– Online in UHDp60
– Avoid DPX for a network show, I’d opt for Cineform or ProRes of higher versions. If they require high bitrates, perhaps ProRes 4444 XQ from Resolve to FCPX.

The only benifit of DPX is it’s image-sequence based so re-doing frames here and there is efficient. However, managing that amount of data is def. not. UHDp24 DPX is like 800 MB/s. This show was “suffering” 2000 MB/s excluding audio. Madness.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Thanks for posting this, Andrew.

[Erik Lindahl] “- Offline in 1080p60 would make more sense (200% scale = final master raster)”

720p60 is a hell of a lot easier to monitor and you wouldn’t have to retool a facility to do it. You could pass 720p60 through an existing hardware infrastructure including any screeners that require a hardware pass through.

As inefficient as some of this workflow sounds, 720p60 is very efficient.

[Erik Lindahl]

Very true! Disregarded the issue of monitoring. Still a crazy workflow they’ve invented I’d say!

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Erik Lindahl] “Still a crazy workflow they’ve invented I’d say!”

It does seem a bit excessive, but we get to see very high quality kittens and puppies!

[Tim Wilson]

[Jeremy Garchow] “It does seem a bit excessive, but we get to see very high quality kittens and puppies!
“

An appeal which is not to be understated. I’d wager that the #1 subject filmed by Phantom cameras is kitties, certainly if YouTube is any indication.

I think in general, these kinds of workflows emerge because they can. Saying, “Hey, let’s try this. We’ll need to feel our way through but it won’t cost much more, we’ll be future proofed, and our work today will look better than anyone else” isn’t as big a mountain to climb for Too Cute as it would be for, I dunno, CSI.

It supports my belief that small projects and producers are the leaders for this. There were gazillions of weddings shot in HD before the first network HD series, and I’d bet that a lot more HD series aired on networks a lot further down the channel guide before they go to the Big 3 or 5 or whatever.

I’m also going to go way, way out on a limb and say that kitties and puppies will sell a lot more 4K TVs than, I dunno, CSI.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Tim Wilson] “It supports my belief that small projects and producers are the leaders for this.”

In part because there is a lot of crossover between commercials and feature film, many commercials are test beds for new workflows. For example, Bullet Time from the Matrix was first used in a GAP commercial and Kirk Baxter (editor of Gone Girl) said that some of the new workflow in Gone Girl was tested out on commercials first.