Steve Franko, VPT Senior Colorist

Digital Dailies
Excerpt from article in Production Update, June 2005

There is a lot of discussion about the positives and negatives of digital technology, so P3 spoke to Steve Franko, who is the senior colorist at Video Post in Dallas, Texas, and asked him to comment on his company and this digital process.

Franko: “Video Post is a high end transfer facility, serving the Southwest. We’re probably the largest post-production facility in the Southwest. We have three telecines. A Millennium, a Spirit, and a Y front. Each one of them performs a different task. We are able to transfer to standard def and HD in both the Millennium and the Spirit. Each piece of equipment performs different tasks. The Y front is used mainly for dailies. The Millennium is capable of 2K and 4K scans. We also do smaller projects that don’t demand HD or standard def. We are not, at this time, able to do DI (digital intermediate) work, but we are looking to the future in this area.”

P3: “Some cinematographers have negative feelings about using digital technology. What suggestions would you have for them to feel more comfortable with this technology?”

Franko: “I have been doing transfers for about 22 years. When we talk about digital acquisition, we are about talking digital cameras. If a cinematographer is comfortable shooting 35mm film, which is the highest acquisition possible, I would suggest they shoot with what they are comfortable with, yet embrace the digital technology of scanning the film and putting it through the digital pipeline. Then, do the finishing out using the digital workflow to do the finish out.”

P3: “When you say finishing out, what do you mean?”

Franko: “Scanning the images in, doing offline, online, special effects, dust busting, color correction, etc., all digital. What this means is, if you scan an image, let’s say 2K scans, you have the ability to take a 2k scan and scale it to HD, or standard def, and also do what is called a ‘film out’. And what that means is, you can take that 2K scan and use film print look up tables (LUT) to accomplish a theatrical quality release print.’

‘There is a lot going on, but what is really important is that you are not doing two or three different formats. You are actually scanning in one format, and out of that one format you are able to extract all these formats, with a lot of ease and a lot less headache, without having to go through all the gyrations of doing two transfers: one in standard def, and one
in HD, etc.”

P3: “One of the complaints seems to be that you don’t have the capacity to accurately see what you need to see, with regard to color, or with regard to what you have shot.”

Franko: “VPT is looking into a sensible process down the road. There are several different pieces of software that will allow the cinematographer, or the director on the set, to have some small type of color corrector on the set, to look at what the camera is capturing. Remember what a camera captures is not what it is really going to deliver. That’s the misnomer. Properly shot film can see everything in the whites and everything in the blacks. It looks like a flat image in capture. I think that is what scares everybody. If we know what the camera is capable of capturing, you could have another tool on the set that would allow you to do minor corrections so you could crush the blacks and blow out the whites and make the director, client or the creative person in charge feel at ease as to what the final look of the shoot might be. Demonstrate before color correction and after. If they can understand the concept of digital post, that you have all of this latitude on film, and then have the power to transfer and make it look better in the post-production workflow, I think people would embrace this digital technology even more.’

‘What really needs to happen is that there needs to be a good link between the post-production and the production team. You need to know what the final distribution will be before you start shooting. There are so many formats out there right now. You need to find someone you can work with who can help tie everything together.”

P3: “What would you suggest for cinematographers who may have negative feelings about working with digital dailies, or working in the digital arena?”

Franko: “If a DP is more comfortable shooting 35mm film, I think he should stick with that format, and yet be aware that the capture, or acquisition, has everything that will be needed. That film can be transferred into a digital workflow.”