DATA LAB SERVICE GUIDE

Digital Dailies

The files that are recorded by digital cinema cameras are rarely able to be used directly in edit systems. They need to be transcoded so they will work. Think of it as getting one-lights from film negative. You can’t stick fi lm negative into an AVID; you need to get it telecined first, then capture the tape into an edit system.
Similarly, Digital Camera Negative (DCN) files need to be ‘developed’ before they can be used. Like film, they can be put onto tape, which can then be captured into an edit system. However, we can also transcode them directly to the format that the edit systems use, thus missing out the importing step. This is a much quicker workflow as data is copied to the system many times quicker than real-time. The benefits of a tapeless workflow include:

• Faster-than-realtime workflow

• Automatic splitting and labelling of clips

• Preservation of original timecodes & metadata

• Detailed on-screen burn-ins

• Easier conforms

Transcodes to native AVID media

Whilst Final Cut Pro can work with quicktimes of almost any codec, AVID works with its own proprietary .mxf format. If you are editing on the AVID platform, MPC Data Lab will convert your rushes directly to this format. This enables editors to just plug in the media drive or copy the media to their system and start editing.
There is a big difference between this service, and what many other companies offer as AVID-compatible QuickTimes. AVID-compatible QuickTimes are NOT native AVID files, and need to be imported to an AVID and converted to the native format; a process which is usually slower than realtime, whereas merely copying the native media is many times quicker.

RED and Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro can edit RED media natively, without the need to transcode. However, there are certain limitations that you should be aware of. Firstly, you need all the media available at full resolution, which may require large-volume high-speed media. Secondly, any kind of effects in the edit – speed changes, keying, resizes, and even sometimes dissolves – will likely prevent real-time playback and will need rendering on the timeline. This can be extremely time-consuming and interferes with the process of editing. If you intend to use effects in your edit, we recommend that you transcode RED media to a format with a smaller data rate which will be able to support real-time playback.

Charging model

MPC Data Lab charges for digital dalies by the amount of data transcoded, by the GigaByte (GB). This echoes the film model of charging per foot. At any point during the shoot the on-set Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) will be able to tell you exactly how much you have shot in GB. Working out the running time is a more complicated process, especially if you have shot many different resolutions and formats.

Data Rate Calculator

To work out how much data a particular camera will take up on disk, or find out the running time for a given amount of data, MPC have developed a handy Data Rate Calculator. This will help with estimating costs and budgeting.
www.moving-picture.com/calculator

Playouts to video

With current technology and available processing power, it is cheaper and faster to to make tape dailies for the formats with higher data rates, typically Phantom HD and Arri D-21. These camera formats do not have a draft transcode facility, so effectively a data transcode means doing a full quality transcode first and then to offline media, so playouts to tape are a quicker option. Of course, we are able to make tape playouts from any format if that is the desired workflow. MPC’s proprietary TrackBack software allows us to take the EDLs generated by editors from our tape playouts, and track back to the original Digital Camera Negative. This enables simple automated conforms without the need for either timecode burn-ins on the offine tapes, or complicated eye-matching.

One-light and best-light grading

Whether you are making digital or tape dailies, MPC Data Lab offers a full range of grading possibilities:

• Implementation of grading files created on set throughout the dailies output - eg. RED .RSX files, Iridas .look files, Truelight LUTs etc.

• Creation of one-light looks, implemented over the whole of the dailies

• Best-light grades where each shot is adjusted for the best result

• Technical grades, to give a colourist the largest dynamic range

One-light looks are included in all transfer costs. Best-light grades are subject to additional charges. Clients are welcome to come into the Data Lab and work with our colourists to set a look for dailies, which is subject to an hourly ‘client attend’ charge.

Data Lab service

MPC Data Lab provides an overnight dailies service. As long as the job is booked in, just bring your rushes drive to us and we will deliver your dailies to your editor first thing in the morning. We provide Lab Report Sheets which give a full quality control report and list any issues that have arisen with the shot footage, as well as amounts transcoded, length of footage transferred to tape, along with any stock usage.
We also have multi-part carbon Digital Camera Report sheets for use on-set. These are like traditional negative report sheets but adapted for digital aquisition and help create a proper paper trail. They help the lab staff know what media should be on the drives and what to do with it, and provide efficient communication between the set and the lab.

Online conversions

To get the best possible quality out of the image, we will go back to the original Digital Camera Negative. At this point, any decisions can be made as to how to pre-process the image; extraction options, downscaling methods and colour space. We will deliver the image with a technical grade to get the largest dynamic range from the original media ready for the main grade.
We will take the EDL from the editor, and use that to convert just the footage needed in the edit (plus handles if the edit is likely to be slipped). We will ensure that the final high quality media is in a file structure that guarantees easy conforms on your chosen conform or grading platform. High quality media is provided as uncompressed 10 bit .dpx files unless requested otherwise, and the resolution of the files can be anything up to the camera’s full capture resolution. Anything over 2K is charged at a higher rate, reflecting the amount of time it takes to process the material.

Digital conforms

The standard way of providing media is as .dpx files that can be conformed or graded on a non-linear grading suite. However, we can provide a ready-conformed file sequence or master tape if required for a master grade.

Archive

One of the most important thing to consider when shooting digitally is how you store your master. As anyone knows who has had a computer die on them, hard drives are liable to failure. The best way to store data is on LTO4 tape, which is a robust long-term storage medium.
MPC Data Lab offers two types of LTO4 tape archive. The basic option, recommended for all jobs, is a copy to our internal LTO4 archive system. As this is continually archiving work going on in the facility, the tapes are not available for removal, but provide a secure digital master which can be restored to our main drives at any time. These tapes are recycled after one year.
Additionally, we can create an LTO4 Digital Master that you can take away with you. This will be an industry standard .tar archive, which can be used on any LTO4 tape machine. This option is recommended for all jobs where you need to keep a master for longer than a year, and is a standard requirement for insurance and completion bond companies, especially on feature films.
Data Ingest & Data Out
We need to copy the raw camera data onto our system before we can transcode or archive it. For digital dailies transcodes these processes are included in the price. For digital online, we do charge an ingest fee. However, if you have already processed the dailies with us, then that charge will not apply. If the grade or rest of the post is not happening at MPC then there will be a charge for writing that data on to a drive.

Storage

There will usually be a period between the dailies creation and the online. We can either keep the media on our SAN disks, or delete it and then restore it to the SAN from our archive when needed. There is a small charge for both these processes, so the length of this period and the nature of the job will dictate which option is most convenient and cost-effective.
For example, a feature film will generate a large amount of media and there will be a long edit period, so it makes much more sense to restore the media from an archive when needed for the DI. For a commercial, it will make sense to keep the media on the SAN if there is a quick turnaround, or if the media is needed for an extended campaign.

MPCTV

MPCTV is our online dailies and approval system. Dailies can be published as soon as they are made and viewed anywhere there’s an internet connection — ideal for crew on locations far from the edit suite, or for clients the other side of the world, removing the need for costly and time-consuming shipping.
Registered users can make comments, create playlists and clipboard selections and then share them with invited guests. Users can also upload their own clips and media to the project space, ideal for editors to upload assemblies and cuts for review. The site is secure and password-protected so only approved viewers can log in.