Visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain went shopping recently for something that would allow their VFX artists to look at their work in the context of a new conform. They invested in multiple Assimilate Scratch systems. Where some people might think of the systems as designed for "digital intermediates," the people at Digital Domain have a different idea.
"The main thing we were looking for was an ability to conform to an ever-changing cut for review and approval purposes," says DD vice president, Digital Studio Jeff Stringer. "We were trying to combine the ability to look at sequences in the cut with all the features of a 2K preview station, such as looking for matte lines, adjusting the gamma and all the other things that allow you to find flaws."
Looking to replace the aging Commander system from the now-defunct 5D, Stringer went shopping for something that would both conform an ever-changing cut and examine VFX sequences in minute detail, with the added ability to load in customized LUTs. "We found that most of the features we were looking for were in Digital Intermediate systems," he says.
Stringer found systems that were overkill (read: too expensive) or under-performing (read: cheap but too basic) until he settled on Assimilate Scratch. Now, with Scratch in place, DD supervisors can watch the work of many VFX artists in the context of the film's actual cut. DD wrote a "shoot to Scratch" tool that allows any VFX artist to send his or her sequence to the cut, which Scratch will automatically update.
Stringer reports that the Scratch interface is also very easy for supervisors to grasp, and that they can easily compare many versions of a shot, in sequence or with split screens. Digital Domain continues to use its in-house tool Nuke for color grading.
The use of what's considered a "DI" tool for something other than color grading highlights the point that some in the industry have been making for some time: that DI means different things to different people. "We may need to have an industry understanding of what we mean when we say those two little letters DI," says LaserPacific Media Corp. president Leon Silverman. "I hate the term 'DI' because it focuses too much on this thing you do at the end of a movie and not enough on what you do as an integrated system that takes the filmmaker's vision from the first day they shoot, in a trustworthy way to delivery of the final elements."
Silverman points out that this definition for "digital intermediate" was "hijacked" from its original coinage. Journalist/industry watcher Bob Fisher recalls the conversation when the term "digital intermediate" first arose, during the Cineon system's first project, to digitally restore Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Fisher was in discussion with Cinesite's Bruno George and Disney VP Harrison Ellenshaw. It was Ellenshaw, recalls Fisher, who predicted that, "this 'digital intermediate' was going to be used to produce all movies."
If "digital intermediate" does indeed describe the migration of the entire creation process from film-centric to data-centric – whether or not it's shot on film or digitally – then what would Silverman call it? "I say we should call it post production and understand that it's part of the changing method of workflow and how production meets post production," he says. "It's actually the merging of production and post production. We used to say 'Fix it in post' à¢Ã¢Â‚¬” now we're creating significant amounts of the production in post.
"I want to make sure the industry is on common ground in discussing workflow, expectations, budget and so on," he adds. "We'll be talking about this for the rest of our careers."