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Digital Day Events
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Main Theater Events
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Theater 3 Events
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Boardroom Events
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Emerging tech is transforming both the business and the art of filmmaking. New digital tools present filmmakers with a wide array of creative possibilities and distribution alternatives and create challenges in the realm of intellectual property protection.
Hundreds of Guild members gathered to network, debate and learn more about the impact of tech on Hollywood during "Digital Day," an all-day series of seminars, workshops and panel discussions held Saturday, May 17, at the DGA in Los Angeles.
Much of the experiences were hands-on: demo stations allowed attending filmmakers to explore the feel of digital editing bays from Avid Technology and Final Tech Pro; Cohen Communications hosted a Digital Dailies pipeline demo; American Hi Definition exhibited its latest DLP Cinema; a digital camera "show and tell" zone featured the latest in HD and DV devices from manufacturers such as Canon, Panasonic and Panavision; and a DVD station demonstrated the basics of do-it-yourself authoring. Attending directors were escorted into the "blogosphere" by way of a live demo station displaying film-related weblogs (websites that present brief bits of narrative, audio, photos or digital video in a diary-like format for global audiences).
While the gathering focused on new technologies, its aim was squarely present-tense, according to DGA Special Projects Executive Gina Blumenfeld, who led the event's organizing team.
"Plenty of events cover only future possibilities," she explained, "We want to provide members with pragmatic information they can use right now."
Judging by enthusiastic reactions at the closing networking mixer later that evening, "Digital Day" accomplished just that.
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"Up the Line"
Digital Day Keynote with Author William Gibson
Pattern Recognition is the name of the latest book from William Gibson, award-winning science fiction author (Neuromancer, Virtual Light, All Tomorrow's Parties) and screenwriter (Johnny Mnemonic). It is also the primal human need responsible for the genesis of filmmaking, the "father of cyberpunk" told Guild members during his "Digital Day" keynote address.
"The story of film begins around a fire, in darkness. Gathered around this fire are primates of a certain species, our ancestors — animals distinguished by a peculiar ability to recognize patterns. There is movement in the fire; embers glow and crawl on charcoal. Fire looks like nothing else. It generates light in darkness... It is alive."
And in telling tales through luminous patterns, the origins of film were sparked. The futurist credited with foreshadowing virtual reality and coining the term "cyberspace" traced the evolution of media from written word to still-emerging forms of digital communication — new, hybrid tools allowing audience members to react, hack, and retell stories at whim in nonlinear, sometimes comically anarchic ways.
Gibson's question then becomes: When end-users have access to digital tools that are more intelligent and capable than those used to create original works, and when stories can be hacked in a spontaneous digital cut-and-paste frenzy by just about anyone, how will the role of directors change? Gibson seems to think blurring is inevitable.
"This spreading, melting, flowing together of what once were distinct and separate media, that's where I imagine we're headed," says Gibson.
"Any linear narrative film ... can serve as the armature for what we would think of as a virtual reality, but which Johnny X, 8-year-old end-point consumer, thinks of as how he looks at stuff. If he discovers, say, Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, he might idly pause to allow his avatar a freestyle Hong Kong kick-fest with the German guards in the prison camp. Just because he can."
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Digital Bootcamp
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Bootcamps are all about learning the basics. But digital technology, with its myriad formats (24P, 30FPS, NTSC, Mini-DV, DigiBeta, High-Definition, etc.) and post-production options (degrees of image compression, 2K and 4K scanning to a digital intermediate, laser recording back to film) is complex and dense with many technical and creative pathways. That's why Visionbox Media (Producer/CEO John Manulis, President of Post-Production Chris Miller and COO/Managing Producer Lulu Zezza) framed their bootcamp in terms relative to celluloid, which is, as Manulis accurately described, "modular, efficient and beta-tested over 80 years."
Conventional-wisdom balloons punctured included cost savings (stock and processing dollars saved in rolling hours of digital imagery are offset by the high costs of scanning and rendering in post) and the "grab a camera and go make a movie" ethos.
According to the experts at Visionbox Media, what you see is not what you get in the digital world, and the need for high-quality lighting and camerawork is imperative. They urged DGA members to build in a QC process, like in film where camera and lab report, and screening of dailies with principals are a given.
A high watermark for the bootcamp was the company's reel of "film-outs" from different DV formats, which gave directors clear visual markers as to what might best suit their creative aesthetics (Hint: consider Panasonic's startling crisp new 24P Mini-DV). Digital bootcamp also highlighted a trend impacting episodic television: the proliferation of 24P to shoot faster and cheaper shows. But DGA TV directors have questioned 24P's advances on film, concerned the new technology may compromise quality.
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Making Documentaries in the Digital Age
The sub-heading for this stellar panel of documentarians — Charles Burnett (Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property), George Hickenlooper (Mayor of Sunset Strip), Jon Reiss (Better Living Through Circuitry), Michael Apted (Married in America) and moderator Penelope Spheeris (We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n' Roll) — was "freedom, flexibility and infinite footage." This proved ironic, as the biggest challenge revealed by the panel was sifting through hundreds of hours of digital production footage (especially on a broadcast deadline). The overriding question put forward? Is the personal intimacy and seamless recording of reality (allowing for skeleton crews and multiple cameras) DV affords worth it, weighed against the sheer volume of footage the technology inspires?
The numbers were daunting: 280 hours of raw footage by Spheeris, 150 hours digitized by Hickenlooper and Reiss, 200 hours of digitized material for Michael Apted's A&E film. Apted was concerned that digital let him shoot everything that moved, and inspired creative laziness. "Is it old-fashioned," the director of the follow-ups in the series to 7UP asked, "to believe that documentaries need a central idea and structure? Shooting digitally puts off those thought processes until post-production, where there's not enough time to see all the footage, let alone ponder what the film is about."
Valuable tips were offered for making the digital post process more manageable: refer to transcripts (particularly in an interview-driven doc) to pre-cut material on paper; make VHS viewing cassettes (or DVDs) so the director can weed out nonessential footage; take meticulous production notes to refer back to in post. Spheeris' assessment that "we've all made mistakes with this technology, and we're here to share that knowledge with DGA members" was refreshingly candid. Careful attention to lighting, consulting a tape-to-film conversion house before production begins, and knowing your film's theme before diving in with a digital camera are all worthy checkpoints before starting a digital documentary.
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DVD Authoring
Given the rise of the home video market for independents, this was potentially the most important panel of the day. Michael Cioni and Ian Vertovec (PlasterCITY Productions), Jess Bowers (LaserPacific Media) and moderator Mara Schwartz (BUG Publishing) outlined how authoring films onto DVD, or authoring work reels onto DVD, is affordably achieved via simple home computer systems like a Mac G4 with Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro, or a Windows system equipped with Adobe Encore.
The heart of DVD authoring is in the organization of audio, video and graphic elements to guide the viewer's interactive experience. To achieve this end, the author borrows from web publishing, editing, computer programming and multi-media CD-ROM presentations.
Panelists noted that DVD authoring is "perfect for directors' reels" given the format's nonlinear approach to sampling material and flow control of elements. Whether to go DIY (do-it-yourself) or pay a service bureau is a tough call. Home authoring software costs less ($500) than the most inexpensive service bureau. Yet directors aiming for major distribution can't self-author to the level that Jess Bowers, who sits atop the industry (thanks to his work on The Lord of the Rings) can create at LaserPacific. In choosing among service bureaus, directors should request encoding tests to measure video quality, or hire an outside QC company to rate the vendor's technical processes.
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Sony's Lab24P
Conceived as an experiment for ASC cinematographers (and later DGA directors) to test out 24P via a series of short (1-3 minute) films, Sony's test lab results were shared by directors Randal Kleiser, Jon Scheide and moderator Gary Walkow. Kleiser's DP/collaborator Peter Collister and Scheide's DP/collaborator Mark Woods were also on the panel to offer practical lighting and camera insights.
Phil Squyres (Senior VP of Technical Operations, Sony Pictures Television) outlined Lab24P's guidelines. Each team worked under strict parameters — one eight-hour day on three pre-dressed sets, a skeleton crew with no production sound and no opportunity to post (these rules were relaxed later in Lab24P's evolution). Each film utilized the digital intermediate (color correction) process, before filming out to 35mm. Squyres explained that the 24P High-Definition format emerged from the world of broadcast television and was pushed forward by George Lucas to accommodate his digitally intensive workflow. 24P is progressively scanned at 24 frames per second to more closely emulate the look of film.
The results of Lab24P revealed a fascinating trend: although the DPs on the panel successfully explored 24P's depth of field (a common concern), they still found the format lacking in daytime exteriors. The directors on the panel called 24P "liberating," rolling camera continuously to keep the actors' energies up during key emotional scenes. Strong use of candlelight, deep focus, and color extremes via production design were all successfully explored.
What were the bottom-line lessons from Lab24P? Maintain neutral settings on the camera during production to allow more flexibility at the digital intermediate stage; emphasize care in lighting, particularly for daytime exteriors; make more decisions in prep regarding set, costume and makeup vis-à-vis actor's skin tones and overall color design; be aware of 24P's limitations with dynamic motion, i.e. explosions and continuous action pieces; consider a one-light pass on 24P dailies to "brighten them up" for network and studio executives, as the ideal capture image (for optimal digital intermediate sessions) is slightly bland and flat.
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Creative Collaborators
Digital Day began with a bootcamp and ended in the main theater with stories from the battlefield. Indie directors Miguel Arteta, Marc Forster, Paul Quinn and Jacques Thelemaque, and their respective creative team members, Post-Production Supervisor Alberto Garcia, DP Roberto Schaefer, Editor Terilyn Shropshire and DP Marco Fargnoli, explained their digital experiences in terms of the medium's pre-production versatility and post-production complexity.
Digital video's speed and ease of use to pre-visualize staging, create digtal storyboards, location scout, and in actor's rehearsals, is a clear advantage for cash-strapped indies. However, the mass of production footage, and a non-standardized, sometimes frustrating, post-production process, can test a director's patience and pocketbook. The common thread these creative teams all advised? Start at Z and work backward to A: figure out your ultimate release format in pre-production and design a post-production process to match.
According to panelists like Marc Forster and Miguel Arteta, the intimacy digital video affords with actors is the medium's greatest strength. Forster recalled a party scene from Everything Put Together where the filmmakers blended so seamlessly into the action, they became "virtually invisible," allowing Forster's actors to merely behave in a realistic setting, rather than adhere to the traditional, and artificial, stop-and-start mechanics of moviemaking. Moderator Stephen Gyllenhaal closed out the final panel with a stirring affirmation of digital technology's promise to shed the "isolation vacuum" so many DGA members work under, and "unite this community of independent directors."
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Marketing Independent Films in the Digital Era
In four years, much can change. Four years before Guild members and gearheads gathered for "Digital Day," I stood on the same stage moderating a different event, "Digital Coast '99," which also explored how technology would alter entertainment.
Back then, the soon-to-be-ill-fated startups like DEN, Pop, and Pixelon were headline news, and the unprecedented web-hyped success of The Blair Witch Project was the only blueprint for digital marketing. If you arrived late on the Digital Coast, you missed the party. Many young companies who attended that conference tanked within months, and early notions about how the 'Net would change film promotion soon proved mistaken.
Four years later — and wiser — entrepreneurs, directors and technologists continue to explore digi-marketing. Hollywood's tech quest goes on, and during "Digital Day," I was joined by a diverse group of innovators with real-world case studies of using digital media to promote independent films.
Now, Blair Witch isn't the only indie whose online promotion tale has a happy ending. Better Luck Tomorrow co-producer Joan Huang spoke to Guild members about harnessing community fan power through online groups, message boards, and fan-created websites. DGA member Christopher Coppola, producer-director, PlasterCITY Productions (G-Men From Hell, Bel-Air), said weblogs and guerrilla web promo possibilities are changing the way he approaches projects like his forthcoming feature, Bloodhead. Screening Room Inc. founder Bob Golibersuch is working with venues throughout the country to ease the switch to digital distribution, creating new avenues for indies in the process. Visionbox Media CEO John Manulis talked of harnessing the affordability and flexibility of digital technology to rep and market films like Charlotte Sometimes and Teddy Bear's Picnic, and Tech Consultant Tara Veneruso sketched out future wireless promo possibilities for mobile devices.
Which technologies will take center stage in another four years? It's too soon to tell — but these discussion participants all agree that innovations in digital marketing are just beginning.
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The Essentials of Digital Sound
Sound is as essential a component of filmmaking as image. "Digital Day" acknowledged this, and offered members an exploration of digital audio basics during a step-by-step seminar covering crucial tips from pre-production to final mix.
Line producer and unit production manager Cleve Landsberg (Crazy Horse, Mr. Destiny), production sound mixer Ed Novick (Spider-Man, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) and supervising sound editor Steve Williams (From Hell, Thirteen Days) took participants behind the scenes through live tutorials on a number of digital audio systems, including a new device from hardware manufacturer Fostex. The group also shared front-line experiences that taught each of them what Guild member Landsberg described as the digital audio's golden rule — "If you don't plan carefully in the beginning, you'll have problems later on."
Some sound elements are common to both digital and analog. Choosing the right type of microphone (overheads, or body-worn devices helpful for loud exterior sets), then positioning it correctly determines, in both formats, whether or not you'll reach the all-important sonic "sweet spot."
"Like tennis, [the sweet spot] is where you hit the ball perfectly and don't even feel it," says Landsberg. "The goal is to capture all the nuance and flavor in your actor's voice."
But other issues such as timing, phasing, and bit rate are unique to digital. "Sixteen bits sounds better than eight, but 24 beats both," explains Oscar-nominated soundman Novick. "The more bits the better."
Another digital-only "gotcha": matching sampling rate to that of your nonlinear editing system. Unlike analog, digital transfer requires identical frequency rates in both sides.
The switch from conventional sound production can be painful even for experienced filmmakers, but simple steps can ease the blow.
"After the first day of shooting, take a moment to look at your dailies — then, input them to your editing device or give them to the sound house to confirm that everything works," says Landsberg. "If you make time for that moment early on, digital doesn't have to mean painful."
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Digital Hardware Options
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In the fast-growing digital world, technologies crop up every day. So how does a director know where to start when planning production? Three seminars held in the DGA Boardroom, moderated by DGA UPM and producer Brian Frankish, spelled out the digital hardware options available to filmmakers in three major areas of motion picture creation: production, post-production and visual effects.
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Production: Digital Photography and Dailies
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Marker Karahadian, President of digital and video rental company Plus8 Digital, spoke about the choices for image capture. Reviewing the various camera and recording systems available, Karahadian noted the importance of support, especially when working with new media, as well as taking a healthy attitude. In the ideal approach, he noted, a director should say, "I saw a film that looked great and I think the same technique would work for my picture," as opposed to, "The bean counters say I need to get the lowest price — how much for a 24P package?"
Panavision's John Galt gave a primer on HD technology, providing a history of the development of the medium. He discussed the differences between Standard and High Definition, lens requirements and the advantages of using 24P HD, among many, the immediacy of review. Quick approval of images can allow crews to strike sets overnight instead of waiting for dailies the following day.
Steven Cohen of Cohen Communications reviewed the increasingly popular use of High Definition for the creation of dailies. HD allows a director across the globe to view dailies in less than an hour, as in the case of Around the World in 80 Days, currently in production in Germany and the Far East. And unlike linear digital dailies supplied on tape, dailies read off a disk recorder can be viewed in any order desired.
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Digital Applications in Post-Production
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Efilm's Bill Feightner explored the use of the "digital intermediate" in post-production. Unlike conventional telecine, the digital intermediate represents a digitization of the complete captured image (full frame). Color correction can take place during the process, under direct supervision of the director and/or DP, providing a color-correct digital master available for editing. Use of the digital intermediate also means that visual effects production and translations for various output media can be done without having to re-scan later.
Ian Vertovec and Michael Cioni, HD Technicians with PlasterCITY Productions, demonstrated a complete independent post-production system put together for director Christopher Coppola on his latest 24P feature. The two assembled a system that gave Coppola complete control of editing, visual effects, color timing and sound — all working out of a garage facility.
Coppola invested the $400–$700/hour (normally spent at a post-production house) in the purchase of a complete system based around Final Cut Pro. For $102,000, PlasterCITY provided the director G4 computers, software, drive space, monitors and audio boards.
The focus of the seminar then shifted from tools for the independent director to tools for the big studios. As Warner Bros. Post Production Executive Marc Solomon noted, "The old axiom, 'We'll fix it in post,' has now become 'We'll create it in post.' People are now planning from the beginning to accomplish things you would normally be thinking about in pre-production and performing after principal photography."
While Warner Bros. expects to begin making use of digital intermediates later this year, he said digital dailies have already enabled executives on two sides of the ocean to view dailies for the studio's successful Harry Potter franchise. "The 2:30 p.m.-go-to-dailies thing has basically been eradicated."
Steven Cohen capped off the seminar with a discussion on the use of digital media for previews, which is particularly helpful when a picture isn't yet available for viewing.
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Visual Effects: From Do-It-Yourself to Working With FX Houses
The third seminar of the trio focused on the range of visual effects tools available to the director today. PlasterCITY's Vertovec and Cioni discussed some of the basic visual effects (VFX) possible with the system they assembled for Christopher Coppola. Using Adobe AfterEffects and other common software, simple 2D effects such as clouds can be produced in a matter of hours, allowing the director to make changes as the film progresses. More complicated 3D effects, they advised, should be left to true VFX designers.
Stargate Digital's Visual Effects Supervisor Jim Riley described the VFX his company creates for television productions (including USA Network's recent TV movie Helen of Troy and the popular CSI and CSI: Miami). The company works on PC-based software, networked to allow all team members access to any scene. Citing CSI as an example, Riley noted the importance of creating a signature look for episodic series. "It's become, stylistically, how people relate to the show."
Richard Hoover of Sony Imageworks led Guild members through the creation of visual effects for a big studio feature, screening examples from Spider-Man. For effects-driven features, he said, "studios with the resources to write code to solve effects problems" can expect to spend nine months (as in the case of Spider-Man) or more in visual effects post.
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Desktop Editing: An Overview of Final Cut Pro
For those interested in learning more about desktop editing, DigitalFilm Tree's Ramy Katrib and Zed Saeed were at "Digital Day" to discuss the popular Final Cut Pro editing system. They provided some background on the program as well its basics, from image capture to application on episodic series (such as NBC's Scrubs). Even veteran editors like Walter Murch have begun making use of Final Cut Pro for big studio features like Anthony Minghella's upcoming Cold Mountain.
Katrib and Saeed illustrated Murch's system — set up in a Kodak facility in Bucharest — which features four computers to handle everything from digitization, file management and Murch's own work station.
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Lighting: The Basics for DV & HD
"Lighting is lighting," DP Johnny Simmons told the audience in his seminar on the topic. But special care must still be applied when working in digital video to produce desired results. Noting that HD lenses tend to increase depth of field, Simmons stressed the need for a balance of increased aperture, careful lighting and use of neutral density filters. HD also tends to bring out detail in the background shadows. "You're not lighting HD, you're shadowing HD," Simmons said. Care should also be taken with makeup application in order to avoid the "painted" appearance. Simmons suggested good communication between the DP and makeup artist.
Ed Barger of Barger-Baglite demonstrated lighting equipment useful with HD, and Digital Imaging Technician Keith Collea and 1st AC Michelle McKinely discussed their work. Simmons closed the seminar by noting that the only crew difference between film and HD is the replacement of the film loader with a video technician, a person critical to the look of the captured image.
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