12 CREATION
August 2018
Seeing Megan in 8K
To test its new 8K infrastructure , Los Angeles-based Gradient Effects , a global full-service studio , created a five-minute short called Megan , which takes viewers deep into the heart of an alien hot zone , where monsters lay in wait in a sporeheavy world .
Megan includes over 100 VFX shots created by Gradient and sister company Secret Lab ; Gradient also worked with Helinet , which provided real-life preferences and a hanger that acted as both a set for the interior cockpit shots and the hot zone . Once finalised , the team blended the assets to 8K aerial plates created with RED cameras and Helinet stock footage .
Learning to grapple with 8K also meant building up Gradient ’ s on-site infrastructure , including the addition of a high-speed network , clustered storage and a core engine that engineers could upgrade and tweak whenever a new insight came into play .
As to what were some of the biggest challenges in shooting in 8K , Olcun Tan , owner and visual effects supervisor at Gradient Effects , told APB : “ The actual challenge is storage . The higher the resolution , the higher the need for storage and storage cartridges .
“ Today ’ s cameras , like the ones produced by RED , can handle 8K really well actually , as long as there is enough storage available for all the different takes . Like always , it ’ s a budgetary issue as more storage cards / drives need to be accounted for while shooting .”
Gradient will also be submitting
Megan is a five-minute short produced by LA studio Gradient Effects as a proof-ofconcept for 8K .
❝ Once you enter the world of 4K , 6K and 8K — combined with HDR — you find that this workflow affects the complete infrastructure of a company .❞
— Olcun Tan , Owner and Visual Effects Supervisor , Gradient Effects
the 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) mastered version of Megan to several film festivals , and is fielding offers from distributors and partners who would like to develop the story . The next phase of the project will be the conversion of Gradient ’ s posted footage into the Dolby high dynamic range ( HDR ) platform , to be screened at a later date .
Tan also has some advice for aspiring content producers : “ Once you enter the world of 4K , 6K and 8K – combined with HDR – you find that this workflow affects the complete infrastructure of a company .
“ The network bandwidth and storage distribution become essential , especially when you have many artists ’ workstations and computational nodes reading and writing , all at the same time .”
If the bandwidth requirements are not supported by the infrastructure , any company will quickly find itself in a position of standstill , Tan cautioned . “ That ’ s why we tested our bandwidth , storage and network solutions on Megan , to prove to our clients , like Apple , Netflix and Amazon , that we are a step ahead and working in 4K / UHD is very comfortable for us .
“ As this short was a proof-ofconcept , we now feel confident in offering an infrastructure that can produce 8K projects to interested and potential clients .”
Alexa Mini allows DoP to shoot more and wait less
Tasked with shooting a TVC for the New Zealand Defence Force ( NZDF ), director of photography ( DoP ) Žiga Zupacic chose ARRI ’ s Alexa Mini .
He explained : “ As soon as I talked to the director about the look and the technical side of the TVC , it was clear that we had to use the Alexa Mini .
“ We had to switch through multiple set-ups along the shooting days from handheld to quick and subtle tracks on the Movi PRO and Movi XL on the tracking vehicle . As the Mini is so versatile and easy to rig , it was the perfect fit — allowing us to shoot more and wait less .”
Another reason why he chose the Alexa Mini , Zupacic revealed , was the aesthetic the director and himself wanted to achieve . The Alexa Mini , combined with Pana vision G series Anamorphic lenses , gave Zupacic exactly what he wanted .
He also revealed that most shots in the TVC were based on shooting with practical lighting , shooting lights through windows and chasing the path of the sun .
“ The last 10 % of tweaking all the levels of the lights is my personal favourite , as that ’ s when the subtle magic which defines your taste happens ,” said Zupacic . “ All of these gave the commercial an overall look and aesthetic that the director and I enjoyed .
“ We were going from small indoor spaces to really fast-tracking shots in the forest on the Movi XL , and in all these scenarios , especially when going from large to small spaces , the Mini ’ s size and versatility were incredibly helpful as they gave us the chance to track on the Movi Pro in small , confined spaces .”
Having used a variety of cameras throughout his career , Zupacic believes that everything is dictated by taste and , most importantly , the way a scene is lighted , as well as which lenses are used next to the camera . “ In my case , the ARRI look is my preferred choice from the colour science to the way the images feel and how the footage can be graded .
“ When it comes to the Mini , I enjoy the fact that I can retain the ARRI look while having the chance to use it in different rigging scenarios .”
DoP Žiga Zupacic chose ARRI ’ s Alexa Mini to shoot a TVC for the New Zealand Defence Force ( NZDF ).
ChyronHego ’ s LyricX continues to support Happy Graphics
Incorporated in 2012 , Happy Graphics is a UK-based , full-service provider of advanced graphics presentations for broadcast and corporate clients .
Upon launch , one of the company ’ s key goals was to become a premier provider of cutting-edge graphics for live entertainment and sports coverage in the UK . According to Jeremy Tidy , founder and director of Happy Graphics , the company has since made “ a lot of progress ” towards that goal , helped by its selection of Lyric , ChyronHego ’ s graphics creation and playout solution .
Today , Happy Graphics is running LyricX , the latest 64-bit version of the system , as Tidy described : “ Its souped-up performance and expanded capabilities for data links have proven invaluable for one of most current high-profile projects — coverage of the 2018 British Superbike Championship series .”
For this year ’ s edition , Happy Graphics rebranded up to 35 different graphical elements that are used for the various qualifying and race sessions covered live , as well as presentation graphics . “ In addition , we ’ re now able to bring in a richer and broader set of timing feeds than ever before ,” Tidy elaborated . “ We can also dyna mically update the leaderboard graphics after every lap to keep the commentators being informed . This type of in-depth graphics presentations that process such a large quantity of data simply wouldn ’ t be possible without LyricX .”
LyricX also provides a function called update ordering , which allows Happy Graphics to quickly see the order of the data fields and how the intelligent interface would talk to a particular graphic . “ If we ’ ve got something that ’ s slightly out of sync , we can quickly drag and drop and change the order of the fields — a huge boost for testing and debugging any issues that might crop up ,” said Tidy .
“ It ’ s extremely powerful to have a graphics system that can support multiple data connections , and it ’ s very easy to link new graphics services into LyricX without any major reconfiguration of the system .”