Film and Digital Times - March 2007 - (Page 8)

Cooke /i dataLink Salome the Script Supervisor was the bane of our existence. Just when we were ready to call action, she’d bring everything to a halt with a shrill cry, “Millimeter?” no matter how complex the shot, how many hours had gone into lighting, how delicate the scene or difficult the acting. No matter that our camera assistant had planned on giving her the information after the shot was over, not wanting to distract the talent. If Salome didn’t have her millimeters, she wouldn’t let us do the shot. Admittedly, jobs often begin with great expectations of a meticulous log book quickly forgotten when paperwork intrudes on the next setup. The log usually lists every setup’s vital 5F statistics: focal length, focus distance, f-stop, frame rate, and filters. This information is important for matching angles, later reference, effects work and dreaded reshoots. But, after a few days, very often the log book is abandoned and the information goes on camera reports which, by some immutable law of nature, rarely wind up in the editing room to which they were promised. Zoom shots are difficult to log: where were we on the zoom barrel at the beginning, middle and end? A few more days into production, and the clever camera assistant has somehow inveigled the script supervisor into including all the camera notes onto the script notes. Manually writing down lens settings for each and every shot has been compared to monks copying manuscripts in the computer age. There is a better way. The Cooke /i dataLink is a small box, made for Cooke by cmotion. Above, script notes with lens information: 90mm, T2, focus at 22'. Below, frame by frame /i dataLink information: 30mm, T8.098, focus at 0.972 Sensors inside /i lenses provide continual readouts of lens data It mounts (Velcro) to any camera to record the focus, zoom and iris settings of each take. The information is recorded onto a Secure Digital (SD) card, just like the one in your Blackberry 8800 or Nikon D80. What makes it Metadata is that the /i dataLink box can record lens and camera statistics for every frame of film at any frame rate up to 100 fps. The metadata is handed off to post production on the SD card, or downloaded to computer and emailed. In post, the stored data is imported to the editing or effects program and is immediately ready to use without any manual manipulation—a huge cost savings in time and guess work. 8 Mar 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Film and Digital Times - March 2007

New from Transvideo
Wizards of Wireless Focus and Remote Control
Cooke /i dataLink, Pixel Farm and Avid
Sony F23
Tiffen Steadicam Merlin and DFX Filters
Kodak Digital Ice and Arriscan
16x9 Inc 1.5x Tele Converter for HDV Camcorders
JVC PL Mount Adapter
Canon XHA1 and XHG1 Camcorders
Kata Camcorder Guards
Formatt Grads
ARRI at NAB
Lighting with Paint

Film and Digital Times - March 2007

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