The slow adoption of digital filmmaking technology might mean headaches for DPs who have to learn new workflows, but David Fincher hopes it will mean fewer nightmares for his cinematographers. "He asked me once, 'Don't you sleep better knowing it's all in the can with no scratches?'," says Claudio Miranda, recounting his work as director of photography on Fincher's latest Viper-shot feature, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is slated for release next May. "We're not trying to make the Viper look like film. The Viper has its own look." Debra Kaufman got him on the record about how the digital set is already changing – Benjamin Button had no DIT and no digital dailies. Intrigued? Read on.
Workflows are going digital, but working filmmakers know that a whole lot of analog challenges still lay between principal photography and theatrical release for many projects. Assistant editor Evan Schiff, who joined Pan's Labyrinth after principal photography wrapped in Spain and director Guillermo del Toro returned to his home in Los Angeles, figured out ways around some of the remaining obstacles, including the still-daunting PAL/NTSC divide and the demands of creating a DI in Toronto from a camera negative that never left Barcelona. We asked him how it worked out.

DI itself is still a growth economy, as the economics make sense for an ever-broader range of features. Ed Heede reports in on the decisions one facility, FilmworksFX/DFL in Santa Monica, made in converting an existing screening room into a state-of-the-art DI space.

Speaking of state-of-the-art, producer Bernie Laramie has a comprehensive new idea in the field of digital dailies. He wants to capture as much data as he can from every piece of gear on a film shoot that will output a number. He calls the result – essentially an on-location server with a metadata recorder – Monster. Once again, Debra has the details.

Finally, in another bit of news from StudioDaily.com, Michael Grotticelli interviewed Michael Caporale for HD Studio on the workflow he helped set up in Anchorage, Alaska for a crew covering the Iditarod with solid-state P2 camera gear. Brrrrrr.