Brook Willard
08-30-2007, 10:55 PM
With so many elements of filmmaking earning the potential for change with the RED ONE shipping tomorrow, there's one key part of every [narrative] camera department that is due for a refresh: the camera truck. As it stands, there are four key areas to a functional camera truck:
Storage space
Camera cart parking
Workbench[es] with compressor
Darkroom
Larger shows can have camera trucks ranging from 10-ton up to full 48' trailers [which is overkill for most any show]. Large camera trailers will often have a built-in generator, a significant compressor with many outlets throughout the truck, air-conditioning throughout the truck [with roll-down flaps to keep the cold air in], a giant lift gate, one or two side doors, a small lounge with some niceties [a food fridge, microwave, coffee maker, etc.], etc. There's generally a significant amount of working space, often in a clean environment [behind flaps and doors, independent of the rest of the truck and the darkroom], an array of battery chargers, etc. These things are rolling camera department embassies... some are ridiculously nice.
But with the changeover from film to a digital workflow, that darkroom is useless. Darkrooms on camera trucks will generally have a raw stock fridge and a pretty decent sized workbench inside [with compressor outlets]. But what's the point now? This is where the change starts.
With so many changes now able to happen instantly, parts of the post environment can be brought to set. We all know that a DIT/camera technician is necessary to deal with backing up footage and getting it into the post workflow, but why stop there? As I've said in the past, the possibilities now go well beyond a laptop on a magliner.
So imagine if a solid 10' or so of the truck became a veritable nerve center for the shoot. It would have several high-end Mac Pros [and a possible XServe node cluster] hooked to several displays mounted to the wall for space savings. All systems could be switched through these monitors and one keyboard/mouse.
The computers would be mounted to a series of shock-mounted racks and wired with all sorts of toys. The first and most notable feature would be a series of striped and mirrored hot-swappable RAIDs. This way, footage could be dumped onto one master server. When drives are full or ready to be sent to the editor, the drives could simply be pulled from the system and sent to the post house where they could be plugged into an equivalent RAID. Since the system would be redundant as well, a mirror of the drives could be sent elsewhere or simply locked up in a safe environment.
The next would be a series of decks [D5, DVCAM HD, you name it. It would be customized to a show's workflow]. Many shows will ship their dailies from transfer to the producers to be screened at the studio on a tape-based format. The presence of these decks in the truck would allow an instant turnaround - dailies in real-time from the set.
If a tape-based dailies workflow isn't desirable, the system could hook up to a cloud server and transfer dailies over the internet. Again, this would be up to the show... but it's a possibility with the technology available today.
The system would also have dedicated bays or adapters for the various RED storage mediums: CF readers, EX34 readers, 1.8" SATA interfaces and enough FW800 or eSATA hookups for RED DRIVEs and RED RAMs. With a truck designed from the ground-up to create a seamless interface with the camera, a very secure and purpose-built interface could be built on the desk. Recessed plugs and ports designed for nothing other than connecting to the aforementioned media.
There would be other little surprises as well... the ideas don't stop here. This is just a little taste.
So what's the workflow? The RED media gets delivered to the truck. The DIT would click the displays into an ingesting machine and start the copy to the RAID. Meanwhile, he could click the displays over to a color correcting machine and grade the footage [with the built-in 3-wheel/knob color controls built into the desk, of course] using REDCINE or another application. By creating a LUT on the fly, the DIT could transfer the settings to a SD card and take it to set. Meanwhile, on another machine connected to the same monitors, he could be editing dailies and pump them out onto tape. We're really talking about more than a DIT here... two people would probably be more suited [one in the truck, one on set], but you get the picture.
One person at one desk in the truck could safely ingest, confirm and delete footage from the media. He could also grade the footage and send a LUT to set. He could also assemble dailies and ship them out from the truck. The post process starts immediately after shooting with a setup like this.
But this is just a bloated given at this point. It's a dedicated overkill system for something that can be handled by a laptop on a set. Why bother taking it farther? And what if you need to get stuff to set? Again, the idea goes further.
As with most trucks, this truck would have a few camera carts parked inside. The carts, however, would be outfitted with a laptop and the necessary interfaces [CF reader, etc.] to ingest data on-set. The laptop would save the ingested data to a hot-swappable drive that could be returned to the camera truck during the shooting day. If the whole shooting day is handled on the camera cart, the cart could be plugged into the truck's network at the end of the day and the footage could be transferred without the need for swapping drives.
The problem with something like this is that it uses up valuable space on a camera cart. But since we're talking about a truck designed from the ground-up for RED... why not design the cart from the ground-up? There are ways to install these parts on a cart while still maintaining the sturdy work and storage space that is needed on a cart. Furthermore, the on-cart ingest system would only be used when the truck is unreasonably far away.
At any point in the day, the DIT could transfer settings [like the aforementioned potential LUT for the camera] onto a laptop [handheld] or onto the camera carts to quickly get approval or color pointers from the DP. This way, if the DP wants the DIT standing by for color tweaks, the entire process can move from the truck to set. All it takes is a wireless transfer of data or a quick plug/swap to get data synced between machines. The nature of the DP/DIT/LUT relationship is another thing that would vary from set to set.
So now there's both a truck-based and cart-based workflow. It can go farther, of course. Part of the benefit of a digital workflow is the instant turnaround time. What if the director or producers want to see dailies on-set? Obviously the playback operator has these tools at his disposal, but the workflow room of the camera truck would quickly become a popular place at lunch.
While it has no home on a camera truck, it would not be difficult to build an air-conditioned 4K theater inside of a smaller box truck. Take the footage from set, grade it and pump the 4K files to the theater truck. Sit the producers in there with some frappucinos and call it a day. For those times when the big cheeses are on set, the entire dailies process can be kicked up to 4K in real-time on set.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many little bits and pieces of a camera truck that could be reconfigured to suit a large-budget RED feature. A complete on-set workflow solution like this may seem like absolute unbridled overkill [and it is...], but it would appeal to a certain feature crowd.
We all know the low-end: a laptop, a CF reader and a RAID on a cart. This solution has been more than enough for the HVX for years and will be more than enough for many/most RED shooters. The low- to mid-end solution is already locked up. I just haven't seen a truly "high-end" solution yet. I think that a truly purpose-built, adaptable RED solution for studio features enabling instant turnaround time for all of these new elements of the filmmaking workflow would be quite valuable. Imagine being able to present something like this to a studio that's nervous about the camera?
And the price? Still less than a week's worth of film/processing/transfer.
Just something to think about.
[Oh yeah, if somebody [i]does suddenly decide to build something like this... come on... call me. I know I've just forfeited any rights to my little idea and all that but... :)]
Storage space
Camera cart parking
Workbench[es] with compressor
Darkroom
Larger shows can have camera trucks ranging from 10-ton up to full 48' trailers [which is overkill for most any show]. Large camera trailers will often have a built-in generator, a significant compressor with many outlets throughout the truck, air-conditioning throughout the truck [with roll-down flaps to keep the cold air in], a giant lift gate, one or two side doors, a small lounge with some niceties [a food fridge, microwave, coffee maker, etc.], etc. There's generally a significant amount of working space, often in a clean environment [behind flaps and doors, independent of the rest of the truck and the darkroom], an array of battery chargers, etc. These things are rolling camera department embassies... some are ridiculously nice.
But with the changeover from film to a digital workflow, that darkroom is useless. Darkrooms on camera trucks will generally have a raw stock fridge and a pretty decent sized workbench inside [with compressor outlets]. But what's the point now? This is where the change starts.
With so many changes now able to happen instantly, parts of the post environment can be brought to set. We all know that a DIT/camera technician is necessary to deal with backing up footage and getting it into the post workflow, but why stop there? As I've said in the past, the possibilities now go well beyond a laptop on a magliner.
So imagine if a solid 10' or so of the truck became a veritable nerve center for the shoot. It would have several high-end Mac Pros [and a possible XServe node cluster] hooked to several displays mounted to the wall for space savings. All systems could be switched through these monitors and one keyboard/mouse.
The computers would be mounted to a series of shock-mounted racks and wired with all sorts of toys. The first and most notable feature would be a series of striped and mirrored hot-swappable RAIDs. This way, footage could be dumped onto one master server. When drives are full or ready to be sent to the editor, the drives could simply be pulled from the system and sent to the post house where they could be plugged into an equivalent RAID. Since the system would be redundant as well, a mirror of the drives could be sent elsewhere or simply locked up in a safe environment.
The next would be a series of decks [D5, DVCAM HD, you name it. It would be customized to a show's workflow]. Many shows will ship their dailies from transfer to the producers to be screened at the studio on a tape-based format. The presence of these decks in the truck would allow an instant turnaround - dailies in real-time from the set.
If a tape-based dailies workflow isn't desirable, the system could hook up to a cloud server and transfer dailies over the internet. Again, this would be up to the show... but it's a possibility with the technology available today.
The system would also have dedicated bays or adapters for the various RED storage mediums: CF readers, EX34 readers, 1.8" SATA interfaces and enough FW800 or eSATA hookups for RED DRIVEs and RED RAMs. With a truck designed from the ground-up to create a seamless interface with the camera, a very secure and purpose-built interface could be built on the desk. Recessed plugs and ports designed for nothing other than connecting to the aforementioned media.
There would be other little surprises as well... the ideas don't stop here. This is just a little taste.
So what's the workflow? The RED media gets delivered to the truck. The DIT would click the displays into an ingesting machine and start the copy to the RAID. Meanwhile, he could click the displays over to a color correcting machine and grade the footage [with the built-in 3-wheel/knob color controls built into the desk, of course] using REDCINE or another application. By creating a LUT on the fly, the DIT could transfer the settings to a SD card and take it to set. Meanwhile, on another machine connected to the same monitors, he could be editing dailies and pump them out onto tape. We're really talking about more than a DIT here... two people would probably be more suited [one in the truck, one on set], but you get the picture.
One person at one desk in the truck could safely ingest, confirm and delete footage from the media. He could also grade the footage and send a LUT to set. He could also assemble dailies and ship them out from the truck. The post process starts immediately after shooting with a setup like this.
But this is just a bloated given at this point. It's a dedicated overkill system for something that can be handled by a laptop on a set. Why bother taking it farther? And what if you need to get stuff to set? Again, the idea goes further.
As with most trucks, this truck would have a few camera carts parked inside. The carts, however, would be outfitted with a laptop and the necessary interfaces [CF reader, etc.] to ingest data on-set. The laptop would save the ingested data to a hot-swappable drive that could be returned to the camera truck during the shooting day. If the whole shooting day is handled on the camera cart, the cart could be plugged into the truck's network at the end of the day and the footage could be transferred without the need for swapping drives.
The problem with something like this is that it uses up valuable space on a camera cart. But since we're talking about a truck designed from the ground-up for RED... why not design the cart from the ground-up? There are ways to install these parts on a cart while still maintaining the sturdy work and storage space that is needed on a cart. Furthermore, the on-cart ingest system would only be used when the truck is unreasonably far away.
At any point in the day, the DIT could transfer settings [like the aforementioned potential LUT for the camera] onto a laptop [handheld] or onto the camera carts to quickly get approval or color pointers from the DP. This way, if the DP wants the DIT standing by for color tweaks, the entire process can move from the truck to set. All it takes is a wireless transfer of data or a quick plug/swap to get data synced between machines. The nature of the DP/DIT/LUT relationship is another thing that would vary from set to set.
So now there's both a truck-based and cart-based workflow. It can go farther, of course. Part of the benefit of a digital workflow is the instant turnaround time. What if the director or producers want to see dailies on-set? Obviously the playback operator has these tools at his disposal, but the workflow room of the camera truck would quickly become a popular place at lunch.
While it has no home on a camera truck, it would not be difficult to build an air-conditioned 4K theater inside of a smaller box truck. Take the footage from set, grade it and pump the 4K files to the theater truck. Sit the producers in there with some frappucinos and call it a day. For those times when the big cheeses are on set, the entire dailies process can be kicked up to 4K in real-time on set.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many little bits and pieces of a camera truck that could be reconfigured to suit a large-budget RED feature. A complete on-set workflow solution like this may seem like absolute unbridled overkill [and it is...], but it would appeal to a certain feature crowd.
We all know the low-end: a laptop, a CF reader and a RAID on a cart. This solution has been more than enough for the HVX for years and will be more than enough for many/most RED shooters. The low- to mid-end solution is already locked up. I just haven't seen a truly "high-end" solution yet. I think that a truly purpose-built, adaptable RED solution for studio features enabling instant turnaround time for all of these new elements of the filmmaking workflow would be quite valuable. Imagine being able to present something like this to a studio that's nervous about the camera?
And the price? Still less than a week's worth of film/processing/transfer.
Just something to think about.
[Oh yeah, if somebody [i]does suddenly decide to build something like this... come on... call me. I know I've just forfeited any rights to my little idea and all that but... :)]