I’m in Atlanta shooting a brief documentary that requires studio and hand held configurations with a quick switch between the two options.

So here is how I’m rolling in the city today and tomorrow:

Camera: Sony NEX FS-700
Digital Recorder: PIX240 10bit
Power: Anton Bauer Gold mount on AB Matrix cheese plate.
Monitoring: Small HD on Noga Arm
Light Weight Matte Box: O’Connor O’Box with O’Grip handles
Shoulder Pad: Arri on 15mm rods
Follow Focus: Arri
CineTape
PL Adapter and Support: 16X9
High performance camera support/next generation of tripod: CinePed Slider on Quattro ( 4 adjustable telescopic legs).

Soon I will post something about the Holographic project that I just wrapped in LA before I left. It was great to work in such an international environment with the Sony CineAlta F65, and people from Musion Technology (UK), Mosaic Productions (Canada). The singer Leslie Feist really impressed me vocally and I’m very curious about how it is going to look the final hologram for Samsung event.

In the last two days I gave a presentation at Band Pro Film & Digital in Burbank,CA about the different DIT carts available at Bertone Visuals for rentals. For me it was a particularly important and intense moment because it was the first time in history that a 4K projector fed by a Mobile Color Correction system was projecting 4K raw video played at 24 fps from all existing 4K digital motion picture cameras.

Bertone Visuals showed that 4K Secondary Color Correction (power windows) it’s actually possible in real time in a “near set” environment. In our opinion this is an exceptional tool for Directors, Producers and Studio Executives that value the possibility to watch “near set” what they have shot during the day just few hours before. The experience is not anymore a monitor kind of experience, but rather a true cinematic projection on a big portable screen. This quality control feature is not the only characteristic of the Bertone Visuals Dreadnought Cart. Indeed, it carries on many post production software not only for color correction needs, but also for non linear editing (Avid, Adobe CS6 production suite) and for multiple simultaneous LTO-5 back up with BRU PE. There were no records before yesterday about this possibility and Bertone Visuals R&D made it possible without compromises offering performances that are way higher than those available in many indoor DI suites. / Now the Dreadnought is available for rental together with a skilled and experienced Colorists.

Bertone Visuals DIT cart will be showcased at Band Pro Film & Digital on Thursday 02/07/13 at 10:00AM and with a second repeated session at 4:00 PM.

The event will be focused on basic workflows for the Sony F series cameras (F65-F55-F5).

The Dardo Cart among other software uses Assimilate Scratch Lab 7 and DaVinci Resolve 9 as core apps.

What is interesting about the BV Dardo Cart is that regardless of the fact that the apps require different dedicated hardware (from AJA Kona and Black Magic Design) to output a HD-sdi video signal to the Broadcast Monitor, both world coexist seamlessly on the mobile system. This technical achievement (on a mobile post unit) has been reached by our R&D implementing a Thunderbolt dual channel technology.

With the Dardo a trained DIT can execute in a reliable way the following tasks:

1. Data Management :

- ingesting media from a wide variety of cameras ( F65-F5-F55-Red Epic-Canon C500-Arri Alexa-Black Magic Design-Canon 1Dc 4K.)
- ingesting media from 3-4K Raw Recorders: Codex S and Codex M, Sony SR4 and convergent Design Gemini.
- making multiple copies simultaneously on 3-4 shuttle drives
- executing Copies with Checksum Error Checks.
- executing a LTO-5 back-up on 1.5TB/3.0TB cartridges via BRU Producer Edition.
- check the integrity of the clips (artifacts might always be there) with a almost universal video player.

2. Color Management:

Not all the cameras today can overlay on Director’s Monitor a “nicer look” than the flat Raw for the DP and the Director. In order to achieve a non-destructive and not embedded “look”, skilled DITs or Near Set Colorists can create custom LUTs, Rec 709 LUTs with proper software that generate 1D or 3D LUTs.

Through a portable LUT box in between the Dardo Cart and the Video Village, DPs and Directors can experiment their look and send by email to the final post production facility their vision (CDL) Color Decision List.

This on-set LUT making is the main reason for the Tangent Element Panel on the Dardo Cart. In order to make the process more “ergonomic” the DIT/Colorist can seat to the right of the cart where a Boland Monitor duplicates the main GUI of the Apple Mac Pro Retina Display and he/she can watch a color calibrated Sony Oled PVM1741 below the GUI.

3. Finally, Transcoding and Audio Sync options are available and suitable for Commercials.

However, we recommend a more powerful cart such as the Bertone Visuals Dreadnought for these two tasks that most of the times require also a separated professional since in a multiple cameras environment, ingesting the media is already a delicate and compelling task.

With that in mind we used a excellent Raid 5 solution that besides being very fast it is also very reliable.

It’s reliable because it has been built with corporate rated 6G/ SAS hard-drives.

Also the 20 TB Raid has a dedicated Controller (Areca) which doesn’t interfere with the data transfer of other SAS data traffic (Codex S, Codex M, Quantum LTO-5 Drive)

I’m concluding here pointing out the fact that the Dardo Cart doesn’t necessarily require a lift gated Camera truck or a Cargo Van to be delivered on set.

Indeed, it has been designed with “modularity” in mind and it can break down in three separate modules: 1. Lid Box 2. Core Cube and 3. Wheels.

Hope this post was informative and made you curious enough to attend the upcoming event in Burbank, CA @BandPro Film and Digital.

First F65 Anamorphic Aerial Footage

Monday April 8th NAB 2013 will take place like every year at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Bertone Visuals as its tradition contributes to the show with its own 4K contents shot with the Sony CineAlta F65 4K camera exactly like we did last year with the first self produced F65 camera test shot at Joshua Tree National Park. That camera test, still available on Vimeo and on this blog, was subsequentially licensed to Black Magic Design for the implementation of the DaVinci Resove 9 manual and its tutorials.

This year we graded the video starting with an official LUT from S-Log 2 to Rec 709 color space. The anamorphic footage was shot using a Hawk 75mm C series X 2.0 prime lens in conjunction with a SpaceCam gyrostabilized Systems mounted on a turbine powered A-Star helicopter piloted by the SAG movie pilot John Tamburro. The video will be displayed at NAB 2013 on a LG 4K Ultra HD TV set at Aberdeen’s Booth #N4919. Aberdeen designs Servers and Storage solutions for Post Houses and his Accounting Executive Steven B. Cohen contributed in the summer of 2012 to development of the Bertone Visuals DI Suite in El Segundo, CA.

A true 4K resolution video is going to be played also during the Fusion I/O party on Tuesday and the 4K DPX 10 bit sequence will be hosted on super fast Solid State Drives directly mounted on PCIe 3 cards.

Finally, Bertone Visuals Rental will have one of its Sony F65 at Focus Optics (lens manufacturer for the Ruby series PL Zoom 17-24mm T2.8) and many Cineped Rotary Sliders installed at BandPro Film and Digital booth.

Hope to meet you there this upcoming week!

Today Bertone Visuals became a proud Sponsor of Film and Digital Times.

We are extremely pleased about joining Jon Fauer ASC Magazine which is really a great publication about technology and technique in Motion Picture Production.

Here we are! One of the most complete DIT cart is now finally available for rentals. Dardo is a solution for feature films and high end commercials shot in Raw 16-14-10 bit. It has been designed with the Arri Raw and Sony F65 workflow in mind and besides its data management and editing features BV Dardo is also capable of becoming a Mobile Color Correction suite for On Site Colorists.
Dardo is the ideal partner for shooting with the Bertone Visuals Alexa Plus with the Codex since it has the Codex VFS software pre-loaded and the Codex SAS Transferring Station. The captured 3K Arri Raw footage can be stored in the 20 TB raid 5 (all constituted by 3TB corporate rated hard drives) and through the Virtual File System software from Codex Digital it is possible to transcode in Apple Pro Res or Avid DNxHD with plenty of embedded metadata, LUTs, ALE and CDL files. Moreover , it is possible to process the same tasks with the Sony CineAlta 16 bit 4K Raw files sources using a combination of software and hardware such as Sony SR-PC 4 (10Gigabit Ethernet or eSata), Sony SR-D1 (USB 3.0 or eSata) and Assimilate Scratch Lab running on the MacBook Pro 15” Retina Display. The cart has multiple input/output pci video cards and a Aja Break Out Box that makes possible not only to edit with the Adobe CS6 Production Suite, but also to grade in Da Vinci Resolve v. 9 or create LUTs and using Assimilate Scratch Lab for dailies and sound synchronization.

The MAC OS X graphic user interface (GUI) is displayed on a light Boland 16:9 monitor, whereas the color critical monitor is the Sony Oled PVM1541 Tristar. The DIT or the On Set Colorist can comfortably operate seated in front at both monitor with the luxury of an excellent Tangent Element Control Panel and Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Track Pad.

Finally, regardless if the compact dimensions, BV Dardo offers LTO 5 back up that allows to store 3TB on removable cartridges that get handled by the industry standard software BRU Producer Edition.

Dardo is a state of the art technological DIT cart and makes elegantly much more than what is usually out there in the field.

Everybody in town these days is trying to get a Cine Ped system to try it on set. I have done it once and since then I never stop using it and I have always one or two with me when I’m involved in a production.

As you can see in the picture above that I have taken at Bertone Visuals Studio in El Segundo,CA the weight of a Sony CineAlta F65 fully geared-up with a 24-290mm PL Angenieux Optimo was not that much of a big deal for the Cine Ped system with the Quattro that can handle smoothly up to 85 lbs.

Anyway, I thought that it can be very informational to read what Shane Hurlbut ASC has to say about the Cine Ped so here there is the link to his recent blog-post enjoy it: 

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/10/the-cineped-full-360-rotatable-slider/

This is what the Bertone Visuals Sony FS700 Cinema Style camera looks like and it is available for rent now.

As it comes out of the box from Sony the camcorder does not have a lot of accessories and records its footage on a 32GB high capacity SD card as 8 bit AVCHD Sony Codec.  

The non linear editing software Adobe Premiere Pro is capable to ingest directly without rendering this format and there is a free player somewhere on the Internet called VLC that allows to play this file format as well on Mac OS platforms. The NEX FS 700 UK comes together with an E mount Zoom lens from 18mm to 200mm, which is a good solution if you are thinking to shoot something ENG style and you need Auto Focus capability.

Nevertheless, we configured our own version “Cinema Style” to pull out the maximum out of this extraordinary Super Slow Motion camera.  Basically, we are offering the FS700 plain basic or with a sophisticated Cinema Style rig which includes: 15mm light weight rods, ergonomic adjustable handles, shoulder pad, Anton Bauer Power, Cheese Plates, Electronic Viewfinder and the famous Sound Devices PIX 240 10 bit external recorder. The recording on the Pix 240 is 10 bit and allows to save in Apple Pro Res 4:2:2 for Final Cut or in DNxHD for Avid. The transferring of the files from the fast SSD plugged in the PIX to the Laptop or to the external drive can happen via USB 3.0, Firewire 800 or eSata connectivity.

Finally, we decided to use a 16X9 Inc PL mount adapter so we can get access to CP2 cinema lenses, Cooke S4i, Panchro  or even Zoom lenses that will allow a much more professional quality.

The Movcam cheese plates provide a useful support for the mounting of any additional accessory such as an on board camera monitor (TV Logic 5.6”) on Noga arm if we are planning to have a First AC pulling the focus. In that case we can still add to the package an O’Connor CFF -1 follow focus and a light Arri LM15 Matte box.  

This camera has 3 built in settings for the Neutral Density filters and the capability to record 240 frames per second in full HD 1920X1080 progressive. Higher frames rates are possible (480fps, 960fps), but the resolution will consequentially decrease.              

It took almost 9 months for Producers and DPs to become familiar with the Codex, and now its rental activity at the Bertone Visuals Camera Rental Department has really picked up.

Not long ago, Producers couldn’t figure out why they should allocate financial resources for the rental of an external Codex Recorder when they could instead rent two fancy cameras for their production for the same amount of money. Although Producers are not DPs or DITs, they usually pay the bill for DI and Post, and they have recently discovered the advantages of grading raw vs. compressed footage (Apple Pro Res, AVCHD, DNxHD, etc…). They have learned that Colorists will execute their grading sessions more efficiently with the Raw material as opposed to compressed. Why? Because with Raw footage (14-16 bit), the colorist is going to spend more time Grading rather than solving problems and trying to pull out acceptable masks for local/selective adjustments.

Another interesting phenomena that I’ve noticed is that sometimes a “Take” gets discarded because it wasn’t properly exposed, even though it rendered a better action than any other “Take.” Well, here, we are dealing with another great benefit of shooting in Arri Raw with the Codex: almost all the “Takes” become usable because they inherently contain more data information. For example, when a Colorist needs to increase only the brightness of a talent’s face, the Colorist can simply Push-Up a stop in a Power Window (DaVinci Resolve), but if the Colorist tries that without Raw, annoying artifacts will show up, making the “Take” unacceptable. This is an extremely valuable characteristic.

Another advantage is that Arri Raw footage using the Codex conceptually resembles film stock. What I mean is that film stock contains a sequence of frames, not a single file, and that is true for the Arri Raw footage as well. When you open a folder containing a scene that was shot in Arri Raw, you don’t see a single file (like with an Apple Pro Res — .mov), but you instead see a sequence of frames progressively numbered. With the single file, I have seen its encoding so corrupted that it can’t be opened with anything – the file is simply lost forever, usually at great expense.

Furthermore, there are additional benefits when you shoot raw with the Arri Alexa Codex:

1) The DIT can embed useful metadata for post production facilities (think of those who make CGI/VFXs, how much they will appreciate having immediate information about the focal length of the lens used - Cooke S4i / Arri LDS systems.)

2) The .ari files are 3K resolution, so they look appropriate for theatrical releases.

3) The Codex has its own VFS (Virtual File System) software that’s capable of generating deliverables — transcoding easily from Raw to editing formats such as those used by Avid Media Composer or Final Cut.

Additionally, with the new Abobe CS 6 Production Suite, Arri Raw can be ingested directly by Premiere Pro, which sounds absolutely remarkable.

Finally, the last feature I really like about shooting with the Alexa Codex is that footage can be transferred using only the Codex transferring station. That is an important safety feature against unauthorized copies. The digital magazine encapsulates the SSDs inside, and they can only be read by a computer with both Codex software and hardware, which is different from SXS cards that can be easily copied by anyone with a USB reader attached to his laptop.

Honestly, talking as a Cinematographer, the Codex way is the way to go with an Arri Alexa today.

The Cine Ped is a revolutionary Camera Support System which consists of a 3,5 feet long slider supported by the Quattro (4) telescopic legs that with “Rosetta” style joints provide a stable and safe support for a fully equipped Motion Picture Camera up to 85 lbs of weight.
The CinePed is made in USA, more precisely in Torrance, CA by a company named Camera Support Industries. Mr. Chol Kim is the inventor of the system and he actively collaborates with Bertone Visuals Rental Department on several levels. What is unique about the CinePed is its ability to rotate on its axis while sliding horizontally. Before, the Slider was mounted occasionally on a J.L. Fischer Dolly, but now with the Quattro legs it became a stand alone solution for independent filmmakers that want to expand the possibility of their camera movements. It simply represents a powerful solution for those kind of Productions that cannot afford to have on set a dolly together with its crew. Indeed, the Camera Department can mount and use by itself the Cine Ped System and execute very interesting over the shoulder kind of shots. The maintenance of the System it is very simple and it just requires to clean the rails before and after the usage with a piece of cloth br/> The Cine Ped is available now for Rental and has adaptors for 75mm and 100mm balls for the clients that don’t use Mitchell based Fluid Heads.