FSM launches safe on-set data solutions
With the rapid shift from film to digital, data is now your neg. So how can you be sure you’re protecting the most valuable part of your shoot?
Responding to market needs of DoPs, directors and producers, Sydney-based FSM has setup a new division to manage on-set data and image requirements. It’s called FSM ON-SET.
FSM realises that successful data management is more than a notebookand portable drive. The company has spent months developing arevolutionary wrangling box that is safe for camera data. A purposedesigned device built to handle anything from simple data shoots todata heavy 5000 fps extravaganzas. And it comes with the expert todrive it.
Cameras include – Arri Alexa, Phantom, RED, Canon 5D, Weisscam, SI-2K and more.
FSM ON-SET offers:
– Secure backup of camera data
– Archive to LTO tape drive with verification
– Review and QC footage
– Colour grading with colourist on set
– Select takes and edit
– Preliminary keys and test composites with VFX Supervisor
– Time saving file preparation for Avid or Final Cut Pro
– Uncompressed HD, 2K, Stereoscopic 3D recording
FSM ON-SET is available for productions grading or compositing at FSM and launches on 13th September 2010. For more information call Steve Dunn on +612 8966 5000 or email onset@fsm.com.au
16 Comments
good idea.. i would recommend this to production companies
this whole area has always rattled me – lost and corrupt hard drives etc = potential major nightmare
this looks like an obvious and good solution
if you get lost or corrupt hard drives you employed the wrong people to begin with.
As Red Adair famously said ‘if you think employing professionals is expensive try using amateurs”
That said, this service should also help. Though needs to be affordable, otherwise no one will use it and your back to square one… unless you employ the right people to begin with…
This has been such a disjointed part of production. It’s great to see someone taking it seriously
3.09
you don’t know what you’re talking about
its not about employing the wrong people
its about locking up a potential major issue with a more professional approach on set
backed by a post house that knows what its doing
there are way more variables ( corrupted drives, formatting issues etc ) that could end up being expensive since the shift to digital
the days of giving the 35mm exposed stock to the runner to take to the laboratory, minimal risk, are kinda over
Has been happening for a while in some respects as a lot of the guys on set are aware of these issues and have their own process for dealing with it, its just now someone has figured out how to charge for it.
LTO back up and mirrored raid drives have been backing up data cleanly, efficiently and securely by some places for a good few years now.
Good to know we can have an editor and colourist hanging around all day on set for a nice hourly rate.
10.47
bit off the mark
the reality is many techos on set do the minimum and an entire shoot can rely on a data dude actually having a clean system, HD’s that are as safe as possible, plus multiple back up systems – I’ve found on digging deeper that what appears to be a safe pathway actually isn’t
my experience is that this area can fall down and be a bit risky/sloppy
I for one would love to have an editor and colourist on set so I don’t have to field the questions about why the picture looks like it does when everyone knows its ungraded etc etc
been there before too many times
From one who knows on very large studio shows: Be very careful about grading on set.
A DP and camera crew should be getting feedback about the EXPOSURE of the digital negative, not what pretty looks any colourist can get out of the material. There is a huge difference, and those pretty looks may be concealing a whole world of pain down the chain.
Good comment 2:00 PM
The original camera data remains available for assesment at any time. The concept of colour correction on set is primarily to balance the footage, much like happens in a film rushes transfer now – never to disguise or conceal a problem.
But what doesn’t happen now is a great deal of quality control and verification that the data is in good shape and has been accurately copied. Drives bought off the shelf from an office supply company don’t always instill a lot of confidence.
Add to that the cost and time savings because the data is being prepared for editing on the day. When productions are shooting hours and hours of material, even for the simplest of commercials, this can really keep a schedule and budget in place.
And then there’s the ability to record various cameras that currently have no simple recording solution.
8.17 Sorry i have to laugh.. so its not about employing the right people in the camera department.. your saying its about employing yet more people to ensure the wrong people do it right?
The camera department has moved on well and truly and anyone decent should completely be sorting this out and NOT needing extra services to get it right for them.
Sorry but you should know about a corrupted drive the moment it happens, warnings on the camera re dropped frames, checking playback after each setup coupled with then passing the drive to a pro to check before you move on can protect against that.
The wrong format? if we’re talking RED then R3D files are ALL you need theres no need to change it to any format at all till you export your grade weeks later. if you shot in the wrong ‘format’ then again i say.. you employed the wrong people on camera to begin with
And since when was the runner taking exposed stock to the lab the minimal risk.. what about wrong stock used, wrong exposure, wrong white balance stock, shutter flicker, leaking mags, the 300 ways a loader can screw up and any of the 1000 other things that cant be seen till rushes
get to the end of your shoot and you have a “corrupted drive or a formatting issue’ then it definitely starts with the core crew. That said FSM are pros and will help keep some of the thicker crews from screwing it up for the rest of us
5.37 thanks for spoon feeding us a good technical lesson
hopefully you feel better now
its not about thicker crews
its about making more secure an area that in my experience was lacking
and for me having the on set grade tweaks available to the picture will relax edgy clients
As far as I can see the only real benefit from this is the ability for an on set editor has the ability to trash the takes you don’t want to use immediately saving potential transfer time later on down the track.
A simple monitor LUT will give your client on set a ‘look’ and allow them to see what it may finally look like. These can even be custom built for the files/camera being used. This eliminates the need for an on set colorist.
A back up is great but no one can guarantee 100% that data won’t be lost somewhere at some point and if you get a ‘good’ drive instead of the cheap shit being passed off as professional they rarely fail I have only seen two corrupt ‘good’ drive (Lacie) in the last few years and one came from a virus on an editors Laptop and the other was dropped about 5ft!
Most systems from final cut upwards now have the ability to read most of these digital files natively and add a look/balance to an editing copy leaving the files raw for grade and online. There is no real need to worry about conversion times anymore for a lot of these files.
If you have a good wrangler and your crew are digitally aware it seems like overkill.
If you were shooting Phantom/Red/Photron etc, why would you book a crew that didn’t understand those formats, there are plenty of talented people that nail it eveytime. Ask around instead of just booking your regular crew when it comes to these new formats.
That said as long as it was cheap enough and there were no ongoing ‘storage/library’ costs it might be worth considering for the bigger campaigns.
Seems to me all they’re looking to do is raise the bar and treat the process with more respect. Will it cost more – it might. But not enough is being budgeted now, especially for back up and long term archive. A recent million dollar shoot was sitting on the agency’s desk on a bunch of portable drives. This is all too common. It’s a good initiative and shouldn’t be considered cheap.
It’s an area you can’t ignore. I made the mistake once of using a more than capable friend to data wrangle and ended up loosing a chunk of the footage to a silly mistake. It’s unbelievably frustrating. Having someone reliable is priceless and it helps enormously that they follow the project from production to post.
9:46, not enough budget is always going to happen and will happen more and more, hence the need to shoot digital a lot of the time in the first place.
Needing a bigger budget for an extra service isn’t going to get you one.
I need a new house but its not just going to magically appear.
Your agency had the portable hard drives from a million dollar shoot on their desk, as opposed to on portable drives at FSM, the difference being? Apart from the fees??
Hey keep on working with the wrong people and Putting money into extra services if you like. I prefer to put the money on the screen and If the look of the monitors on set makes you agency twitchy.. again a good crew would solve that.. Also try a nice idea.. they don’t rely so much on the grade.
Oh and if the drive on the producers desk is the only copy? Then they deserve to lose a
Million $ on a reshoot. Any decent DIT will keep a copy on their own raid till the job is safely posted