Digital Dailies: "The Race to Good Enough"
Submitted by Peter Cioni on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 14:46
This article from Cinema Editor Magazine is predominantly a profile of Duck Grossberg, who has provided DIT services on "Life of Pi" and "Real Steel" among other projects. Michael gave Duck an OUTPOST training session back in October 2010 (i.e., a long time ago). My biggest issue with the article is below:
The majority of those offering on-set digital labs are those who also look to wind up with the Digital Intermediate. Their stake is more vested in the big pay off that is final color as opposed to seeing a project through an entirely solid pipeline. Grossberg, being entirely agnostic to finishing houses and editorial system preference, can build a workflow designed entirely around what will yield the most efficient results as a whole.
First of all, this person is mis-informed if he believes the "big pay off" is the final color. Rates for services have dropped significantly, headcount is expensive, competition is strong, and CAPEX necessary to offer these services is significant. Secondly, a post house's involvement in both on-set services and the final color ensures that all components actually work together during re-assembly / conform / mastering. Assuming that one's agnosticism toward finishing allows him/her to build better workflows for a project is inaccurate based on our past experience. Being concerned with how the "work flows" (from set to screen) and then performing services will yield the results. We pride ourselves in being aligned with editorial's interests, while still being focused on the overall work flow.
