Prospect HD Reveals the Treasures of the Copper Scroll

by Jim Long, Writer and Director

This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls by a Bedouin shepherd in a cave along the shores of Israel’s Dead Sea. Regarded by many scholars as the greatest archaeological discovery of the modern era, the Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls contained several Biblical texts such as Book of Isaiah and numerous other sacred manuscripts and commentaries. Subsequently, teams of archaeologists scoured this arid, rocky region known as Qumran and eventually found close to 900 ancient documents.

In 1952, a scroll, almost eight feet in length, was discovered in Cave 3Q that was unlike any of the other ancient texts found at Qumran. It was unique both in construction and content. The other scrolls were inscribed on parchment but this document was written on the purest of copper. It was also unusual because it was not a book but an inventory and guide to fabulous caches of gold and silver. Some experts believed that the text described hidden treasures from the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Some believed the Copper Scroll might be linked to the Holy Grail while a dedicated few maintain that the Copper Scroll describes holy treasures from Solomon’s Temple—treasures that include the Vestments of Aaron (the first Cohen Gadol or High Priest), the Jeweled Breast Plate of Judgment and the legendary Ark of the Covenant.

Read the remainder of the fascinating story...

Mysterious Origins of La Jolla’s Sunken City

Fascinating Underwater Archaeological Expedition uses JVC HD cameras & CineForm's Prospect HD

by David Faires, Director, and Michael Arbuthnot, Archaeological Filmmaker

Archaeological mysteries lying off the coast of San Diego will be seen as a historical first in Team Atlantis Productions’ (www.teamatlantis.com) “Mysterious Origins of La Jolla’s Sunken City”. The show’s Writer/Producer, Michael Arbuthnot and Director/Editor, David Faires take underwater cinematography and storytelling to a new depth.

Not only is Mike Arbuthnot the Writer/Producer, but he is rapidly becoming one of the most recognizable archaeologists in the United States. As a young professional archaeologist and former college professor, Arbuthnot has been featured on ABC, Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel. Most recently Arbuthnot conducted the first archaeological survey of the famous shipwreck R.M.S. Titanic with film maker and explorer James Cameron on Discovery Channel’s televised event, Last Mysteries of the Titanic. He is continuing to excite audiences and historians alike by blending ancient history and archaeology with filmmaking.

Ancient underwater artifacts discovered off San Diego’s coastline

Mysterious artifacts were first found off La Jolla’s coast (north of San Diego) in the early 1900s when children would return to shore with small stone bowls. From the time scuba diving became popular in the 1950s to current day, more than 2000 artifacts dating as early as 5000 years  old have been recovered and at least 34 submerged sites have been recorded from locations as deep as 30 meters. Some scientists have even speculated that La Jolla is home to a sunken village! Despite the long history of discoveries, surprisingly little is known about how the objects were originally deposited. In the “Mysterious Origins of La Jolla’s Sunken City”, Arbuthnot and Faires will explore several hypotheses and reveal never before seen artifacts.

Read the remainder of this fascinating underwater exploration....

The 18 Month Window - Feature Film posted using Connect HD and Sony Vegas

by David Weese, CEO, Premier Enterprises DDK, Inc. dba Premier Media

The 18 Month Window website        Premiere Media Corporate website

Is the combination of CineForm Connect HD plus Sony Vegas one that is up to the task of a 90 minute feature? As I emerge from the trenches of writing, directing, producing, editing, posting, and scoring The 18 Month Window, I'd have to say so.

The feature is the story of a has-been country singer turned two-bit talent agent. When he hears young JoLeena Grant sing, he's sure the Big Time is within reach. It's a voyage of personal discovery suitable for the entire family.

We shot with 2 Sony FX-1 cameras on 60i, captured on standard PC's using CineForm's Connect HD, and edited using Sony Vegas, which our company (Premier Media) uses for all our media projects. Post and sound effects were handled with Cakewalk Sonar. We also used Blender3D and SynthEyes for some green screen and tracking.

Following are a couple of David Weese's observations after completing post on The 18 Month Window:

"In terms of image quality, CineForm's claim of visually perfect stands up."

"I can vouch for CineForm's 60i to 24p algorithm - it's hands down the best 24p I've seen come from 60i source material."

Read the whole story, including some insightful observations about how to best shoot Sony's FX1 in 60i mode with conversion to 24p.
 

Prospect 2K Used to Online the Indie Feature LBS

The feature film LBS is a passionate real-life story about an individual "Neil" who fights a food addiction problem beginning at 385 pounds. The film was shot on 16mm film in 46 days spread over 27 months, during which Neil lost 170 pounds. 

The post-production partners participating in LBS (Adobe, CineForm, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Pixel Harvest) wanted to build on the success of their first desktop digital intermediate feature film called Dust to Glory. But this time the goal was to produce the world's first feature to originate on film, but to use a desktop computer for its online 2K DI workflow.  Post-production was performed entirely using  Adobe Premiere Pro and CineForm's Prospect 2K, include editing, color correction, effects, trailers, and 35mm filmout.

Cut-negatives were scanned by Pixel Harvest directly into 2K CineForm Intermediate files with spatial resolution of 2048 x 1276.  The three hours of scanned cut negatives fit easily on a Firewire drive using about 200GB of storage.  Jacob Rosenberg did an outstanding job as the post-production supervisor for LBS, further perfecting the online DI workflow originally used on Dust to Glory. A single Hewlett Packard xw9300 workstation, running Premiere Pro and Prospect HD, performed the online editing and color correction using the 2K CineForm Intermediate files. Final color correction is currently in progress. When complete the CineForm Intermediate files will be sent to Pixel Harvest on a Firewire drive, from which the film transfer will be made, eliminating the need for an expensive export through Cineon files.

Read the Post Magazine article that chronicles the post-production workflow used on LBS....
Visit the LBS movie website
 

Prospect HD and Wafian HR-1 Used in Supernatural Thriller Spoon

Currently in pre-production, the supernatural thriller Spoon, by Inspired Minority Pictures in conjunction with Atomic Visual Effects, begins its production shoot in February 2006 in South Africa.  The goal of Spoon's filmmakers is to create a low-cost "commercial independent" film with the visual impact of a larger budget feature. To achieve this they chose JVC's HD100U HDV camcorder, Wafian's HR-1 direct-to-disk recorder, and CineForm's Prospect HD.

The production will shoot up to three cameras, outfitted with 35mm lens adapters for improved depth-of-field performance, that record directly into 10-bit CineForm Intermediate files using the new Wafian HR-1.  The signal source is the component HD output of the HD100U which bypasses the MPEG compression inside the camcorder.  This also allows for capture of 60p material for perfect slow motion effects.

The physical distance between the filmmakers (South Africa) and CineForm (Carlsbad, CA) necessitated effective written dialog so we created a blog for the project.  Together we felt the decisions being made for Spoon are similar to decisions all independent filmmakers face when planning a production, so we chose to publicize the blog and encourage others to take a look.  Don't hesitate to offer comments or ask questions as appropriate.

Flanked by the Spoon production crew, the picture to the right shows the Wafian HR-1 direct-to-disk recorder outfitted as a traveling unit with UPS power in the back of a car!

Spoon blog: http://indiefilmlive.blogspot.com/      Read our Filmmaker Workflow tutorial     Questions? Contact CineForm by email
 

Prospect HD Records Panavised HDW-F900/3 direct-to-disk in innovative music video Cactusflower

Through our products, CineForm is excited to be playing a leading industry role in enabling innovative production and post-production workflows.  The music video Cactusflower is a great example of this. 

Shot almost entirely on location in singer/songwriter/musician John Gold's 350 square foot apartment, Cactusflower was shot with a Panavised Sony HDW-F900/3 and recorded direct-to-disk from its HD-SDI output into a Prospect HD workstation .  The recorded CineForm Intermediate files (10-bit precision at 1920x1080 resolution) were the Digital Master used throughout the compositing-heavy post-production workflow with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. 

Says director and editor Jacob Rosenberg in the November 2005 issue of Video Systems,

"“On a stage, on a set, you get the immediate feedback from direct to disk,” Rosenberg says. “You have everything there for you. I definitely think people who are doing stage-oriented work, set-oriented productions, can have much greater control over program elements using a direct-to-disk strategy. The second you are done on set, you can start working. That is where you start to see the opportunities. All elements are available to everybody, and everyone is using the exact same files. I think this way of working is totally the way to go.”

Since Cactusflower was shot, CineForm and Wafian have announced the HR-1 direct-to-disk recorder to enhance the same workflow embodied by Cactusflower.

Read the November cover article in Video Systems by Lee Rickwood....     See the video in HD....
 

Kosovo by Vision Film Works

CineForm customer Vision Film Works has recently completed shooting a documentary HDV film in Mitrovica, Kosovo.  Kosovo is a story of reconciliation, hope, and the human spirit - examining the process of documentary filmmaking in order to attempt to objectively look at the situation in this war torn region. According to the filmmakers,

"Despite the economic collapse, and the political instability, Kosovo remains a land full of life, where everyone has a story, and every story has come at a great price."

Why is CineForm's involved?  Tribulations in Kosovo infrastructure demand that post-production be performed on - of all things - a laptop.  The combination of Aspect HD with Adobe Premiere Pro offers the highest performance HDV editing solution available.  Here's what the filmmakers had to say in a series of unsolicited emails:

"Things are going well...and of course AspectHD is treating me very well...no problems at all!  I'm amazed how well it works on a laptop!  I'm hoping to be finished shooting by the end of December, and then back to the U.S. to finish post...I'll continue to keep you guys updated."

"I’ve recently done a side by side comparisons of the same shot – one in HDV, the other in DV. The difference between the CineForm encoded images and those of the same shot in DV are night and day. Even with the DV images properly interpolated to HD resolution, there is no comparison. I then reversed this test, taking the HD images and down converting them to DV. Again, there was no comparison. The HDV originated shots that were captured with Aspect HD via Premiere Pro were much more crisp, had truer colors, and were free of aliasing."

Prospect 2K used to online edit "Santa's Polar Blast" at Cinema 2K resolution

Lance Bachelder (Editor and “NLE Dude”) of O Entertainment based in San Clemente, CA, along with Producer Paul Marshal, have wrapped the first real-time Cinema 2K project edited and finished on a PC workstation.  Their project was the re-cut of a large format holiday production to be presented in 3D for theme parks and ride films entitled, “Santa’s Polar Blast”.  This studio is not new to creating firsts as it is the brain child of Steve Oedekerk, best known for such blockbusters as “Bruce Almighty”, “Ace Ventura” “The Nutty Professor”, “Jimmy Neutron” and “Santa vs. the Snowman”.

“I can’t imagine anyone not working this way”, Lance exuded and went on to say, “Even if Prospect 2K is used off-line, this enhanced workflow saved so much time and cost, plus increased our creativity and the enjoyment of watching our show in 2K resolution vs. a highly compressed off-line resolution”.

Before we don our 3D glasses and get ready to enjoy the amazing visuals and lively storytelling of “Santa”, let’s go back to how the original 37 minute large format (IMAX) 3D animated feature was repurposed as a 15-minute theme-park-ride film in Cinema 2K resolution.  Read the rest of the story....        Read the Millimeter article

Read our Filmmaker Workflow tutorial to learn how Prospect HD and Prospect 2K with CineForm Intermediate can save your project substantial post-production dollars.

Questions about Prospect 2K? Send us an email....

CineForm Prospect HD used to online edit the feature film "Dust to Glory"

“When we began the D2G post work we were ... not convinced we could use an online compressed DI format....  After all, nobody had ever done this before. But ... the effort was an overwhelming success as measured by the superb visual quality of the film print.”  - Dana Brown, Filmmaker

“[Nobody has] any idea how many “rules” were broken in delivering such a high-quality HD master for the film print. The CineForm Intermediate compressed format provided flawless reliability and stunning visual quality through multiple recompressions, holding true to the original source quality”.  - Jacob Rosenberg, D2G Online Editor and Supervisor

Read the Post Magazine Cover Article (Jan 2005) by Daniel Restuccio that analyzes the CineForm Intermediate compressed DI workflow used on "Dust to Glory"

Read the white paper covering both production and post-production details for Dust to Glory

Rhythm Films Uses Aspect HD on Feature Film Daydreams

Geoffrey Pepos (Writer, Director, Composer,
Editor, Cinematographer) is the head of Rhythm Films and is currently wrapping up the post-production process for his new feature film, Daydreams. Geoff made his first appearance on the world's independent film stage in 2001 with the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nominee, Some Body.

In his latest film, Daydreams, Pepos originally shot with a professional 3-chip DV camera. During a particularly physical shot involving a horse, one of the DV cameras was destroyed. Call it luck or fate that Geoff decided to check out the new HDV formatted camera the JVC JY-HD10U. The beginning and end of the film is being shot in the HDV format, and this is allowing for a more cinematic look and feel. Read the rest of the story....

Arial Foundation Chooses Aspect HD for HD Education

Tom Pirelli, Executive Director of The Arial Foundation is changing lives by introducing kids of all ages to the new world of digital media communication. This is not your parent’s Hi-8 or even DV world – but the world of high-definition video. Tom was previously the CEO of a publicly traded software company. Today, he runs a private charitable foundation and his wife, Jane, serves as Vice President. The primary mission of the foundation is to improve the use of technology in schools (all grade levels through University) and to use technology to improve living conditions for handicapped people.

In less than a year, The Arial Foundation outfitted three schools and one charitable organization with the latest in HDV technology and training in how to use the new techniques. After Tom discovered the JVC GR-HD1 HDV-format camera, he used it as a catalyst to create complete HDV Digital Media Centers, from acquisition to editing to projection. This ambitious project now has these Centers up and running in four institutions:  Read the rest of the story....

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