Integration and Efficiency: Realizing the Promise of Digital Filmmaking Technologies

IRIDAS, an industry leader in integrative filmmaking technologies, will join a group of pioneering companies at NAB 2008 to present the "End-to-End Digital Workflow," demonstrating start-of-the-art RAW pipeline tools for production, post, and finishing. Joining IRIDAS at booth SL10708 at the Las Vegas Convention Center will be camera maker Silicon Imaging, compression experts CineForm, and Wafian, makers of digital video recorders. Already in use on projects around the world, RAW workflows with the non-destructive IRIDAS .Look file format for color metadata offer filmmakers enhanced image fidelity while significantly reducing throughput and storage requirements.
The production component of the exhibit, presented by Silicon Imaging, will feature Silicon Imaging digital cinema cameras, including an SI 2K stereo rig similar to that used in "Dark Country," a 3D thriller scheduled for release this summer. Capturing to the CineForm RAW format, the SI 2K has SpeedGrade OnSet built right in so that creative looks can be developed, applied, modified, and exchanged in the camera’s LCD viewfinder. The camera can also be linked to a laptop or workstation running SpeedGrade so that .Looks can be created and edited in a calibrated viewing environment. "The SI 2K was designed from the ground up for flexibility," said Steve Nordhauser, VP of product development at Silicon Imaging. "The integration with our partners CineForm and IRIDAS is an excellent demonstration of our open design approach."

CineForm RAW performs light compression on image data from Bayer format imaging sensors such as that in the SI-2K. During recording, non-destructive .Looks are inserted into the recorded files to provide an accurate color reference for all postproduction work. In the post area of the booth, CineForm will demonstrate the flexibility enabled by cross-platform .Look insertion on both Windows (Premiere Pro) and Mac OS (Final Cut Pro). "The emergence of new digital cameras and imaging formats presents new industry workflow challenges," said David Taylor, CEO of CineForm. "But the great success of our partnering efforts are end-to-end product solutions which are otherwise unavailable."

Wafian will present its family of recorders at the show, including the new HR-2-DS Direct-to-Disk HD Video Recorder, which can record and play back a single 4:4:4 stream, or stereoscopic 4:2:2 streams into CineForm format clips for grading in SpeedGrade DI.

"Our companies stand out because we look at the workflow process as a whole, " said Patrick Palmer, IRIDAS COO. "This allows us to discover new connections, redefining the methodology for getting to the finished product.

Color-correction and real-time color preview during capture, recording from the camera right to an editable file format, and metadata creation and exchange are some of the innovations that have arisen from this broad view of the digital filmmaking process."

The End-to-End Digital Workflow exhibit is being presented with support from Intel and runs from April 14 through 17, 2008. Visit IRIDAS at booth SL10708 in the South Lower Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center.