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<strong>Appendix</strong> 9: Deconstructing Several Films’ Workfl ows<br />
And not to sound like a stuck record, everything would be simpler and, therefore, better if 24 FPS<br />
simply went away. Shoot and display all video, digital media, and motion picture fi lm at NYSC<br />
video speeds, 23.98 FPS or 29.97 FPS. Of course, now we would need to talk to our PAL<br />
friends. . . .<br />
Zodiac<br />
Directed by David Fincher<br />
Written by James Vanderbilt (screenplay), Robert Graysmith (book)<br />
Zodiac marked the fi rst time a major motion picture was shot without the use of fi lm or<br />
videotape. The fi lm was shot on the Viper camera by Thomson, but not to videotape. Rather, the<br />
camera was in the “fi lm stream” mode, raw data from the camera was recorded directly to<br />
drive. Parts of feature fi lms and short fi lms have been shot this way in the past, but the processing<br />
required to turn the data into workable and viewable “footage” made the process too cumbersome<br />
for a major, feature-length fi lm. New products and faster computers have now made this workfl ow<br />
possible.<br />
Zodiac was shot in uncompressed 10-bit 4 : 4 : 4 1,920 × 1,080/24p FilmStream mode with a 2.37 : 1<br />
anamorphic aspect ratio. Zeiss DigiPrime lenses were used to help ensure a razor-sharp image.<br />
Industry standard DPX data from the Viper camera was recorded on one of 20 D.MAGs (digital<br />
magazines) removable hard drives loaded in DFRs (Digital Film Recorders) made by S.two of Reno,<br />
Nevada.<br />
The drives were transported to the edit room where they were downloaded and backed up to data<br />
tape. This was done with S.two’s A Dock, which also allows for checking the backup data for problems.<br />
With as many as six cameras rolling on some scenes, the amount of data being downloaded<br />
challenged the workfl ow, but with twenty “magazines” the system worked well. Well enough that<br />
Fincher has stated he will never shoot fi lm or video again. He just started his next feature, and he is<br />
back using the Viper and S.two data recorders.<br />
The data was rendered and processed to usable image media that was stored on 40 TB of Apple<br />
Xsan storage. At one point, the rendering became a bottleneck with more footage coming in<br />
than could be rendered on the Xsan. Rather than bringing in a second Xsan, the postproduction<br />
team opted to buy a collection of Mac minis and let them help out with the rendering. Good<br />
bang for the buck.<br />
The media was cloned and down converted to the DVCPRO HD format and transferred to Xsan<br />
drive array. The DVCPRO HD shots were imported into Final Cut Pro for editing. The project<br />
was also kept on FireWire drives and made available to the postproduction team via the Internet<br />
so that everyone had access to the media without being restricted to the edit room. While this<br />
presents a security issue, good encryption is more secure than a locked door on an editing<br />
room.<br />
As the rendered media from the Viper has not been “timed,” the look is very bland. Several temporary<br />
looks were decided on for each scene, and the DVCPRO HD shots were color corrected using Apple’s<br />
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