American Cinematographer - November 2001 - 122

separated from the DVD-authoring tools.
"This streamlines production and keeps
us from tying up expensive authoring
tools to do simple streaming video

of

work," he notes.

run

Shortly after opening the DVD
facility for business, FotoKem got a call

when

from Revolution Studios. The studio had

just completed Americas Sweethearts
using DVD dailies from the Sony facility.
Revolution was planning to do film
dailies at FotoKem for its next feature,
The One (see feature article on pg. 50),
and wanted to know whether FotoKem
could also do DVD dailies. "We

thought

it would be great filler work to kick off
our DVD studio," remembers Fluntsman.
FotoKem

quickly arrived at a
system for creating DVD dailies. After
taking delivery of the film by 7 p.m., the
telecine

transfer

was

finished

at

midnight, and the DVD division would
get an EDL with timecode settings for

creating The One.

became

dailies," he says. "It was great not
having to stop what we were doing to
to a

encoding bit

rate that would allow him to fit the mate¬

rial onto

single disc, and he then
creating chap¬
ter points at each slate. While the mate¬
rial was encoding, other DVD team
members prepared the documentation
a

encoded video and audio,

and created

reels.
and

menus

for the different

By 8 a.m., the DVDs were burned
ready to be sent to the film's

creatives and studio executives.
"We started

by giving them two
DVDs," says Jim Hannafin, FotoKem's

screening

room

and fast-forward

fact that FotoKem does it all, from lab to

DVD, under

one

From the

Sherak,

a

roof.

new

Technique

as a

facility is called
tribute to Technicolor

tion of

FotoKem next offered DVD dailies

services to the

Spike Jonze-directed
Adaptation. "He had a number of special
requests, and we were able to tailor the
process to meet his needs," says
Huntsman. That included putting bars
and tone from the original master tapes
on the DVD and creating custom labeling
and

menus

to make it easier to access

the desired

options. Jonze also wanted
projected, so
FotoKem set up a theater for that.

to view the DVD dailies

FotoKem's DVD division is also

busy at work

on

DVD mastering

his doctorate. He founded Technicolor in

1915; the facility's name was a combina¬

"technique" and "color."
points out that the
creative tools used in digital-intermedi¬
ate technology have been standard for
Sternlicht

music videos, commercials and TV post¬

production for many years. "The telecine
suite has become an extension of the
creative process

in all of those areas," he

says. "It was very crude in the beginning,
but as the digital tools evolved, people's

imaginations took off. They'd shoot film,
digital format, and manipu¬
late the images in an interactive environ¬

convert it to

ment. Now these tools are available to

filmmakers for the

big screen."

Sternlicht notes that film labs and

(Artisan's Night Scare is a recent project),
as well as digital asset management and

post facilities in Copenhagen, Paris and

trailer libraries. But it's clear that DVD

several other

dailies

longer a "filler" item in the
new division. "DVD dailies are a really
good example of how technology can
are no

make film executives' lives

nient and

more conve¬

give them exactly what they

want," concludes Hannafin.
FotoKem Film and Video, (818)
846-3101, fax (818) 841-2130, Web site:
www.fotokem.com.

European cities have
routinely provided digital-intermediate
services for independent filmmakers for
about two years. "They aren't dealing
with big studios, where different people
have budget responsibilities at different
phases of production and postproduc¬
tion," he observes. "It's an independent
creative community in Europe."
Several U.S. films, including
Pleasantville; 0 Brother, Where Art

The Latest

Thou? and HBO's

Technicolor's

been timed in

Technique:
Digital FilmMastering Facility
by Bob Fisher
Technicolor has opened Tech¬
nique, a digital film-mastering facility, in
Burbank, California, with executive vice

distribution masters, which ensures that

the time and frustra¬

The

of time."

point of view of Tom

saves

shuttling a VHS from clip to clip
and ups the resolution and overall image
quality. Hannafin points out that film
producers and execs benefit from the

media."

"Technique" was on the cover of the MIT
yearbook in 1904, when Kalmus earned

partner in Revolution Studios,
DVD dailies were an indispensable part

DVD; it

tion of

in all release

footage on my TV or laptop and
push a button to get to where I wanted to
go. It was very convenient for everyone,
and I think we saved a lot of people a lot

president Peter Sternlicht at the helm.
new facility is providing long-form
digital film scanning, recording and color¬
grading services for feature releases.
"This is a logical extension of
services for us," says Sternlicht. "We're
providing a creative option that can
enhance the moviegoing experience.

as a

seen

formats, including HDTV, DVD and other

founder Dr. Herbert Kalmus. The word

senior vice

president of business devel¬
opment. "But they all got so excited
about it, we ended up creating seven
discs a day."
The convenience factor is making
DVD dailies increasingly popular. For
executives who "want what they want
when they want it," nothing is as flexible

their creative vision is

needed to fast-forward. I could

we

watch

each of the slates and the reels.
Fluntsman calculated the

"Everyone here

enthusiastic fan of DVD

an

The

Filmmakers

can

also create universal

was

Conspiracy, have also
digital suites. The latter
simultaneously released in 35mm

film, hi-def and standard video formats.
"One of the

advantages is that once you
through this process, you never have
to go to telecine again," Sternlicht says.
"We're building a very large facility
go

where

we can

serve as a

future film and
It's not

an

store data

files that will

master for all current and

digital release formats.

archival medium. You should

still store your

negative and separations
properly in a vault for posterity. Even data
on computer hard drives will eventually
degrade, but we can monitor and migrate
files so that they're always a true repre-
American Cinematographer - November 2001

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