The digital intermediate changed post-production. Myrl A. Schreibman explains how the DI process works and what it gives filmmakers in color and finishing.
There are many aspects of creativity that impact a film project – from the writer, to the director, to the cinematographer and the myriad of creative elements that are in between. But the very last creative element on a film project rests with the color texture of the answer print of the project. The answer print is the most pristine image that one can see that is made off of the original picture shot negative. To this end and in collaboration with the cinematographers, directors and producers, film laboratories who manufacture the final project must think artistically as to how it affects story. The color timing of the answer print is the last area when creativity can be applied. Color timing the negative involves color correcting the print from the negative scene by scene for tone, mood, texture and dramatic feelings. It is at this time that people discuss colors of the image in terms of descriptive emotion which the laboratory color timer translates technically to achieve the apt effect. If the project is in video and is to be transferred to film, the same process is followed – only this time, it is done shot by shot through a video process suitably called the “daVinci process”. However, there is another process that is costly but is being used more called the Digital Intermediate Process. In simplest terms the Digital Intermediate process or DI is the conversion of film to digital bits and then back to film again. This process is revolutionizing the post production process and will influence everything from on set production to the delivery of content to consumers and everything in between.
Done in the digital environment, a colorist has the ability to create almost any look imaginable and control the color of an object or person within the image of a frame. In addition to the advanced color control advantages of the digital intermediate, the process also avoids many of the conventional optical printing steps in the film answer print delivery process. The original camera negative is scanned into a computer so the process can be done digitally. Carefully and painstakingly, each image is looked at and digitally color timed at a higher resolution and color fidelity than that of a telecine process which is used for video and television. This process uses digital tools to color grade, which allows for much finer control of individual colors and areas of the image, and allows for the adjustment of image structure (grain, sharpness, etc.).
The process had its origin in the late 70’s and early 80’s, when the digital medium had its genesis. Before 1980, anything having to do with the digital medium and/or video was separate and apart from film, and the two did not work together except for the occasional brief movie that was shot on video and then digitally transferred to film. But it was rare. The movie for television, The Girl, The Gold Revolutionizing Post Production and Influencing On Set Production to Distribution
Watch & Everything, produced at Paramount Studios, was the first movie (for television) to ever intercut original picture negative with tape to film negative and then color digitize the effects segment results for the movie. The sequences were short and were only for certain visual effects. In its infancy, it was miraculous to the viewing audience, and the ratings for the show when it aired went through the roof. But this gave the impetus for the technical creative artists to see how the two mediums could develop and borrow from one another. The first film to ever use the digital intermediate process from the beginning to end was, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). And in the last six years, the process is catching on, and more and more movies are using the process – primarily for its accuracy of color timing and color grading which affects the story aesthetics. Since effects such as dissolves, fades and wipes are performed digitally, this process also eliminates the inter-positive to inter-negative process all together, which is often used for color timing with some of these film sequences, and thus, reduces the quality of the image.
Ideally the process begins in pre-production with the producer, director and cinematographer finding a post house laboratory they are comfortable with and testing with them, since each will have its own workflow requirements and recommended practices. The team should test various picture looks and understand the workflow requirements for the DI process and how it will impact production; and the director of photography must be learn how his work can exploit the advantages of this process. Additionally, the producer should understand how the process would affect the budget and scheduling. Once the editorial process has been completed and the picture is locked to sound an over cut negative is scanned into digital bits. This scanning process varies from facility to facility as does the methodology. Some facilities will color grade the film on the scanner before converting it to bits, and some will scan the negative and then color grade. As scanning technology continually improves, the methodology will improve, and hopefully, the economics as well.
When the project is ready to be color graded and timed, the director of photography will spend about two weeks with a colorist digitally grading the film and setting the overall final look for the project. From scene to scene color consistency to advanced skip bleach looks, in the digital lab, a great colorist has the ability too create almost any look imaginable. Once completed the color corrected data is moved onto a powerful workstation for conformation. On the workstation, the data is conformed to the edit decision list (EDL) and compared to the locked offline output for editorial consistency. During this process, things like dust busting, scratch removal, speed changes, transitions, title graphics and end credits can be added. Additionally, simple effects, wire removal and boom removal can be performed if need be. If the film includes visual effects or other digital elements, they will be imported into the project while on the workstation. On most projects the conforming and cleanup process only takes a few days. After conforming and cleanup, the Digital Intermediate process will produce a digital answer print which can be played back through some large screen digital projection system and approved before committing out the project to film. Clearly one can see that this process also avoids many of the conventional optical printing steps which were indicated earlier with fades, dissolves and wipes. Because the original camera negative is scanned and all subsequent processing is done digitally it is possible to eliminate the inter-positive to inter-negative process all together. Once the digital answer print has been approved it will be filmed out to meet the requirements for film distribution. The film recording process from the DI process gives you the ability to select different film stocks with different grain and look characteristics. The output from the film recorder will create a distribution master that will require only one light printing with no further color or printer light changes greatly simplifying the printing process. The end result is a higher quality print for movies and a digital master ready to be delivered to any tape or other distribution medium without re-mastering.
When in the end the digital answer print is filmed out to meet the requirements for film distribution it offers a pristine image to the viewing public. More importantly this process is posturing the inevitable: digital distribution of movies which will be called digital cinema! If this sounds expensive, it is! Which is why it is not a common practice – YET? But will be soon! So stay tuned!
Myrl A. Schreibman is a film professor at UCLA School of Theater Film and Television and author of the books, The Indie Producers Handbook, Creative Producing from A – Z and The Film Director Prepares, A Practical Guide to Directing Film and Television, by Watson Guptill Publishing.
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