It’s not “my problem” has been a common refrain from producers when the discussion of 4K comes around, that is until they see actually see the bill.
Yes, advancing technology costs more, the gear required is new, often untested and not always easy to acquire or work with. Even then, your Post department may still be deciding how to handle their 4K workflows, especially when delivery is likely still to be 1920 x 1080, yet the storage and monitoring requirements are still based in a 4K world, as any archive of the content should be.
My first 4K job happened 10 yrs ago, as AC while surreptitiously walking around the RED Digital Booth at IBC shooting 4K 24p on a prototype of the Phantom 65. Since then I have acquired 4K in planes, trains and automobiles, from one frame every 6 seconds to 1000 frames per second and have never looked back to acquiring 1080 again.
Since then, while everything changed, on the other hand, nothing changed at all. Because of a choice made long ago to continually move forward with the technology, incrementally advancing my tools and techniques in direct correlation to the digital evolution was imperative to maintaining a stable, functioning workflow as the technology around 4K solidified.
To that end, I keep my computer systems current, my storage solutions are in a constant state of upgrade do to the expansive nature of files in the “tapeless” world in 4K. The old Boy Scout proverb of “Be Prepared” will never be more valid, otherwise you and your production could be in for an unending string of unnerving surprises.
Everything in 4K will take longer in the beginning. Longer to setup, the makeup and hair needs to be better defined and presented, even dressing the set and watching for things like errant cables, tape and other gak require extended patience and persistence.
After all that, it will still take longer than ever to move the data and make dailies, even necessitating multiple people to handle incoming overwhelming amounts of data created in multi-cam productions when acquiring RAW Camera data
All of these decisions affect your delivery. The lower your acquisition costs, the more is needed in the Post budget to compensate as that “affordable” 4K camera will deliver a comparatively noisy, color limited file that is highly compressed and most likely, requiring considerable additional effort when finishing for some productions.
The better camera systems are going to cost more to rent, shooting correspondingly larger files, take longer to transfer and process, yet yield images of substantially higher quality and far greater bit depth, reducing a number of issues that can effect Post.
Every decision effects every other. Most of what I have shared so far is on how the camera systems handle 4K, yet the truth of the story is found more in the post workflow. For every success onset, there are the are dozens of failures in post. Producers are surprised when I explain that the first time someone works in 4K the post process is going to take at least 2x-3x times longer than they are expecting.
Next week: Tricks and tips for moving data in a 4K world.
