Native 600 DIT Sam Petrov is utilizing AJA ColorBox for setup and look administration with reside grading throughout tasks, together with an unscripted relationship sequence for a preferred streaming platform.
Whether or not engaged on a characteristic movie, episodic sequence, or unscripted present, crafting the look of content material earlier than it reaches put up requires technical acumen and a inventive eye. The DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) is integral to this course of, bridging the technical realities with the inventive targets on-set to make sure the workforce can obtain its desired aesthetic early within the course of; the position is particularly important now that Digital Manufacturing has introduced typical put up manufacturing work into the manufacturing course of.
Native 600 DIT Sam Petrov has made a reputation for himself in doing precisely that for a variety of scripted and unscripted tasks. A self-proclaimed expertise geek, Petrov stays on prime of how the DIT position is evolving inside the bigger on-set setting and is hyper-aware of the dynamic nature of the expertise concerned. Whereas he customizes the expertise he makes use of for every challenge, he’s begun leaning into AJA ColorBox for setup and look administration with reside grading.
Petrov not too long ago wrapped up an unscripted relationship sequence for a preferred streaming platform, setting the preliminary search for the season and making certain it labored throughout all of the totally different parts of the present. The manufacturing leveraged greater than 30 digital cinema cameras along with an identical amount of robotic (robo) cameras. A number of of the cameras recorded as much as 70 terabytes of 4K footage to AJA Ki Professional Extremely 12G ProRes and DNx recorder/gamers a day, and the AJA ColorBox in-line HDR/SDR algorithmic and LUT coloration rework field supported reside grading on-set in 1080 SDR.
“ColorBox offers us the boldness that the look of all of the totally different digital camera angles match up; it’s highly effective, sturdy, and cost-efficient, and fills an actual area of interest,” defined Petrov. “Our career has lengthy awaited a tool like this. Simply being able to generate a sign as much as 4K and take a look at a system is invaluable.”
Having a instrument like ColorBox is a big boon to my work
Right here is the entire story, as shared by AJA Video Programs. It’s one other instance of how Digital Manufacturing has modified the business and continues to take action. So with out additional ado, right here it goes:
Working carefully with a workforce, he helped set up the search for a spread of motifs and scenes used for the studio portion of the present, similar to a lounge the place dates are held and the hallway for transition pictures. Collectively, they utilized set seems throughout the totally different cameras, every with its personal distinctive traits and coloration science. Petrov frolicked matching the totally different cameras within the context of the obtainable {hardware} on-set. Given the dimensions and style of the present, he didn’t reside at his conventional DIT cart however as an alternative labored in a whole tech room, which included tools just like the Ki Pro Ultra 12Gs. Tools operators ensured that there have been no sign errors, and that recordings had been taking place on the proper time, amongst different duties.
The workflow and interactions on-set diverged from conventional movie and even episodic tasks. With so many cameras, {hardware}, coloring gear, and different expertise on his newest challenge, Petrov would go into the tech room early and collaborate with the lighting director, technical supervisor, and different workforce members to look at all of the technical facets of the challenge from decision to inventive. He was one in every of a number of key folks concerned in executing the inventive and technical search for the cameras, the present, and totally different motifs.
“In put up, it’s vital to have a holistic understanding of processes, workflow, and supreme imaginative and prescient, in order I moved from put up to set in my profession, I discovered myself working upstream. When wanting on the display screen for a challenge like this, I do know from a coloring standpoint the issues I must be careful for and may course right earlier within the course of, and a product like ColorBox is useful on this respect,” Petrov shared. “It’s actually enjoyable to have the ability to get the dynamic suggestions that ColorBox helps on this setting. I’m capable of reside grade with out having to fret about working into limitations. Whereas I’m at the moment monitoring and coloring most tasks in 1080, being able to additionally work in 4K because it turns into extra prevalent is a big benefit.”
For reside grading, Petrov arrange his {hardware}, together with the ColorBox, within the tech room, and the workforce offered a line with a devoted router, so he might select the sources coming into his system. This made it simpler to work with the present director and lighting director to look at all the assorted setups and cameras. As soon as they’d established a base look that they had been proud of, the workforce might shortly swap between cameras to match, with the reside grading side in thoughts, so that they knew how it will look from one other angle in the very same area or the identical angle however in a distinct room. This flexibility was paramount with filming going down throughout a dozen an identical rooms, all with analogous digital camera configurations; Petrov had to make sure the whole lot correlated from one area to the following.
With ColorBox, Petrov can pull out a single standalone gadget and get to work. He continued, “ColorBox is simply unbelievable. I merely navigate to the online UI and may crank out a coloration take a look at sample, then change totally different body charges to no matter we’d like for the technical commonplace. I do know we’re getting precisely what’s wanted from the {hardware} earlier than we even get to the inventive facet of coloration.”
He additionally finds the power to stack a number of ColorBoxes and generate totally different alerts with totally different take a look at patterns, resolutions, or body charges helpful. It permits for flawless execution within the second when Petrov and the workforce must shift focus to extra time-sensitive work. “Having a instrument like ColorBox is a big boon to my work,” he concluded. “It offers me peace of thoughts and makes it simpler to deal calmly with conditions that might usually current nuanced challenges.”
