by Stephanie Argy

The London facility Midnight Transfer, which started as a dailies company and then moved into digital intermediates (DIs), has begun offering a new service called “DI from Day One,” which gives filmmakers the opportunity to scan all the footage they shoot at 2K in real time. These scans can be down-converted for use in the editing room, but the high-res images — and any color-correction information associated with them — remain stored on drives so that they can be used for previews and eventually for the DI. 

Until now, the standard workflow for DIs has been to scan in the edited cut at the very end of post, and then make the final image adjustments. But this has meant that color correction is often done three times: once for the dailies, once for the conformed versions of the work-in-progress shown at preview screenings, and once for the final cut. “Because we started out as a dailies house, it seemed to us that all the work we were doing was getting completely lost,” says Greg Barrett, head of production at Midnight Transfer. “We’d build a rapport with the director of photography during production, but then none of the grades would be saved.” Moreover, by the end of the post process, many cinematographers are typically off on other jobs and unable to supervise the final digital grade.

Midnight Transfer’s goal is to integrate dailies, conforms for previews, and DIs so that all color-correction work is preserved.  “All the grades you’re doing are inherently contributing to the DI process, but at the same time, editorial can get it as fast as ever,” explains Barrett. Furthermore, visual-effects artists can start compositing immediately with true 2K scans.

Midnight Transfer scans the original negative in real time on a Thomson Grass Valley Spirit 4K scanner. Because the film runs straight through, there is no rocking and rolling (as in a traditional telecine), meaning less wear and tear on the negative. The 2K files are then color-corrected on a FilmLight Baselight finishing system. Early color corrections can be done on a Baselight Four system with an HD monitor, but for final resolution grading, the facility has a Baselight Eight system connected to a Barco DP100 2K projector from Bell Theater Systems. A FilmLight Truelight color-management system provides color calibration throughout the process. The data is stored on a SAN and two Clipsters from DVS with 100TB of storage, supplied by Root6.

Barrett estimates that Midnight Transfer can accommodate 60 hours of 2K footage and several assemblies. Color-correction information is stored as look-up tables that can be applied to the raw images, and the settings for a variety of looks can be kept on hand throughout the shoot and the post process.

Designing Midnight Transfer’s pipeline required extensive collaboration among companies that are often competing with one another. But Andrew Johnston, sales and marketing manager of FilmLight, says all parties cooperated because they respected the vision advanced by Barrett, Midnight Transfer’s owner and managing director Neil Harris, and colorist and company director John Claude. “They knew what they wanted to achieve,” says Johnston. “We worked with Midnight Transfer, Thomson and other suppliers to forecast what could go wrong and find solutions before it did. It’s been about a nine-month gestation, with lots of sessions over white boards and beer mats in pubs.”

According to Barrett, Midnight Transfer has found that different people see different benefits to the process: producers notice that time and money can be saved; post supervisors appreciate a more efficient workflow; and directors and cinematographers like the extra freedom and creativity. Although the system gives cinematographers more control and more consistent images, however, they must invest more time in color correction during production. “The director of photography is central to the process, and this means a bit of re-education and a shift in work patterns. We’d love to get the director of photography in as much as possible, either at the end of the day or the end of week, so we can start building the look according to what he or she wants.”

Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, who was doing a conventional DI for the feature The Best Man at Midnight Transfer at press time, notes that doing color-correcting during a shoot would actually alleviate some of the burden on cinematographers. “You could project scenes on a daily or weekly basis, view the files, and start doing the grading as you’re making the film,” he says. “This would save invaluable time, because you’d have a chance to establish a conversation and a look.”

Johnston says that although the DI has become prevalent fairly quickly, it still poses some inconveniences for filmmakers, and “many things that concern people new to the process — the way the movie disappears into some technological hole, the way the color translates, the slowness of the PCs — are addressed by Midnight Transfer’s approach.” Adds Zambarloukos, “DI from Day One is a good, common-sense idea. The ultimate benefit is knowing that what you’re shooting is going in the right direction.”