Control Dailies Workflow
Powerful, concurrent dailies processing
Control Dailies is designed to enable a concurrent workflow for dailies in which the following processes all take place at the same time:
Audio Ingest
In practice, the Audio Ingest is often done first, as the audio arrives at the facility before the film arrives, which must first go to the lab for processing. For circle take projects, the logging of metadata and identification of sync points can be done at this point, before picture is available. For full reel or digital acquisition workflows, it makes more sense to post-sync to picture. Control Dailies provides the flexibility to do this with features to accelerate the process, regardless of the methodology chosen.
Picture Ingest
As soon as the picture elements arrive, Picture Ingest begins. Picture can be ingested from digital files with the DA Head, or directly from Telecine or VTR. Digital ingest and some modes of VTR ingest can be completely automated, whereas film ingest is generally a supervised process. Again here, depending on the chosen methodology, picture can be ingested without any regard for metadata. Or, in the case of circle take projects, each take can be ingested alone, and automatically sync'ed to pre-logged audio in the process.
Audio Sync and Logging
After the first take is ingested, the Assistant can immediately begin the process of building virtual dailies reels. Efficient, intuitive tools are available with ergonomic keyboard shortcuts for the Assistant to Sync, Log and Trim takes. Preferences can determine commonly used macros, as well as protections for maintaining source-record timecode relationships for film projects that track their DI with timecode as opposed to keykode. An integrated Quality Assurance process requires the Assistant to verify that metadata is correct and that sync is perfect before the take goes onto a reel.
The attention to detail in these Control Dailies features makes syncing and logging a breeze -- Entire camera loads are logged and sync'd in mere seconds.
Typically, the Assistant will sync and approve about 10 minutes of material and then switch to Tape Layoff.
Color Correction
As events are logged, the Colorist jumps to each one to apply color. The Colorist can select the appropriate LUT, make Color decisions using the track-ball control panel, or use the two together.
Color correction is applied in real-time in the SDI output for the colorist to view on an HD monitor. An integrated still store and project store allow the colorist to both compare frames from previous days as well as quickly apply color decisions from one take to another.
Color correction is applied in real-time in the SDI output for the colorist to view on an HD monitor. An integrated still store and project store allow the colorist to both compare frames from previous days as well as quickly apply color decisions from one take to another.
LUTs and Color values are stored in the Control Dailies database, so the entire system has access to them. Color coding of events on the timeline and database list view make it easy for the assistant to work concurrently with the colorist, synching sound and approving takes to reels for tape layoff and encoding by Convey.
Project configurations determine the LUT applied to each deliverable created by Control Dailies and Convey.
Tape Layoff
While the assistant lays off those 10 minutes to tape, another 10 mintues of material will be ingested by the Colorist. The Assistant can then go back to QA this material, and resume laying off to tape.
In this manner, the assistant is able to have all the material on tape approximately 10 minutes after the last frame has been captured to the system.
In this manner, the assistant is able to have all the material on tape approximately 10 minutes after the last frame has been captured to the system.
Digital Deliverables
As events are approved in Control Dailies, CONVEY is working in the background to encode the footage and metadata into multiple file formats. Codecs such as MPEG 2, DNxHD, WM9, MPEG 4, QuickTime and AVI can be simultaneously created with user defined bit rates, aspect ratios, window burns and audio mixes. Choose to output to files, DNxHD, Blu-ray or DVD.
Slate and Burn Templates and Layoff Configurations created in Control Dailies are available for use in CONVEY or, if desired, can be created within CONVEY. As part of CONVEY's Project Management, all templates and configurations are recalled automatically, eliminating redundant input and setup.
Additional format-specific templates can be created, stored and recalled as project-based assets, including custom DVD or Blu-ray menus and water marking for individual recipients.
Slate and Burn Templates and Layoff Configurations created in Control Dailies are available for use in CONVEY or, if desired, can be created within CONVEY. As part of CONVEY's Project Management, all templates and configurations are recalled automatically, eliminating redundant input and setup.
Additional format-specific templates can be created, stored and recalled as project-based assets, including custom DVD or Blu-ray menus and water marking for individual recipients.