Why do some filmmakers keep refusing to work? on video? Because video still looks different from material originated in cinema. Even when we use the most sophisticated cameras specially designed for electronic cinematography, the Difference keeps jumping out at you. Many times we do not know define that difference. But it's there. And it shows.
Photographers, editors and directors have created a repertoire of tricks to try to disguise the despicable the appearance of the video. Unorthodox filters, lighting tricks, unspeakable manipulations in the cameras, and the famous plugins for film look.
Over time, we've all learned that there are no magic bullets: what can be achieved in post-production depends on what is achieved. achieve on set. But the miracles that can be achieved with the plugins depend on the talent of the artist who applies them and they need many hours of trial and error, of minuscule flat-by-plane and missed render adjustments.
When we talk about high quality products these long Trial and error processes are usually advanced in expensive installations for online editing in HD or in environments of digital intermediate that support resolutions 2K or higher. The post-production houses they frequently run video-to-cinema transfers have learned that these processes they also require pre-processing to achieve a optimal result. And whether this pre-processing should be done using the famous plugins, the thing goes back to complicate.
TV and Video met during NAB 2008 a solution to create a high-quality film look on material HD in real time and with the possibility to adjust the look interactively. This is the Cinnafilm HD1 system, a workstation that harnesses the power of a set of advanced graphics processors, to apply a complete repertoire of film look effects including selective color corrections, gamma adjustments, changes of totally unlimited cadence, simulation of grain and physical damage in the movie and application of letterbox effects.
The truth is that all these options do not seem very impressive, especially since they correspond exactly to what the plugins for film look offer that we can use it in any modern editing system. But the The truth is that the Cinnafilm system offers results that do not can be compared to plugins because it starts for processing the material with a color depth of 32 bits per channel and with 4:4:4 sampling a level of quality that does not it is common to find in current editing systems, and which is not always available in more composition systems Advanced.
The processing quality of the HD1 system becomes evident when extreme adjustments are made to material that includes ramps multifaceted. Even when it comes to material originating in formats 8-bit digital video color processing that is applies on the system HD1 does not introduce visible defects in the image - no defects such as banding or posterization appear. However, it must be very clear that the Cinnafilm HD1 system is not a color checker although it does include some basic resources for signal adjustment.
The real strength of the HD1 system is that it makes an analysis vector of the motion containing the image accurately sub-pixel, and based on that analysis applies each of the effects that together constitute the film look of form simultaneously and without producing unwanted effects by the application of layered effects. For example, thanks to vector analysis a more natural grain simulation is achieved that responds to subtleties such as changes in the incidence of light in the plane focal and not to the application of noise patterns completely arbitrary, as with many of the plugins available in the market.
The image density adjustments that are achieved by the Manipulation of gamma values are calculated in such a way that consistent results are obtained despite variations in luminance in the original image but if required adjustments between plane and plane the process is streamlined by the application of preset settings and the possibility to make adjustments in real time and with the material in playback no renders.
But the biggest potential of the HD1 system lies in the applying cadence change effects in the video original. Motion analysis enabled implementation of a system called True Motion Estimation or TME that allows apply excellent quality deinterlacing processes together with synthetic motion blur effects that allow you to achieve virtually unlimited cadence conversions. The software TME generates interpolated frames of the highest quality that produce completely fluid 30i to 24p material conversions, without jumps or jitter effects in fast movements. And reverse conversion delivers equally convincing results.
In fact when the HD1 system executes a change of candencia it is not limited to applying a pulldown or decimating the tables: effectively creates the required tables from the original material. In an extreme demonstration of this capability we saw how a sequence of three frames became a fluid movement of almost four seconds, and although it is always runs the risk that a complex background will delate the process, the The result is impressive. The TME process also opens interesting possibilities to obtain reverse images of high quality, even if the original material has been registered in an interlaced format, or to correct defects visible in HDV material.
The working model proposed by Cinnafilm assumes that it is more efficient application of the process to finished parts. That is why he suggests to your customers who finish their programs by following the common procedures and after finishing the color correction apply the film look process by using a external service.
Some tests may need to be done to make the color correction added to the film look process no generate unexpected results, and is usually better than charts are applied after the film look process, but the Truth is that the result of products processed by Cinnafilm so far is excellent, whether it's reach a final video mastering as a transfer to film.
Among the features that Cinnafilm has planned add to HD1 system in the near future is the application of tracking effects and removal of objects in time real, processes that can benefit dramatically from the ability to synthesize fill images, and the generation of synthetic effects of depth change of field, which would take advantage of the possibility of extracting masks or mattes in real time thanks to the basic analysis process of movement. This type of image manipulation opens up as well interesting possibilities in the conversion line of simulated 2D to 3D material, as it would be possible to simulate the slight ones perspective changes created by stereoscopic capture to from images captured by a single camera.
Obviously the application of the film look process of CinnaFilm requires the use of hardware dedicated: a specially configured workstation that is controlled by an interface that runs under microsoft Windows. Considering the cost of hardware and Features of its system, Cinnafilm aspires to operate with a business model in which service houses rent the devices for a fixed cost to provide services in the local market or refer the work directly to Cinnafilm.
Although this model seems strange it is not totally unknown in the world of high-level post-production; until a few years ago it was common for a tape with a master finished will be dispatched to another city to make correction of color from tape to tape or in some cases apply film processes look that used proprietary hardware jealously protected by its inventors. In the world of autonomy digital what Cinnafilm proposes is very simple: to achieve optimal quality results we must take our material to the where the hardware and know-how are more Suitable. At least for now.
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