« Workflow Introduction

MEDIUM-SCALE DRAMA.
MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY.

CODEX FOR TWO-CAMERA FILM

This example shows how Codex can be used for a typical medium-scale drama production, which would traditionally be shot on film using A & B cameras. This production generates 2 hours of footage per day for 30 shooting days, a total of 60 hours. It is edited at HD resolution and finished to a Digital Intermediate (DI).

Codex on-set

For maximum flexibility, one Codex Portable is used for each camera. One Portable is used for recording and monitoring, and can also record all 8 audio tracks; the other is used for a roaming camera. Notes and metadata are written by the script-supervisor, on a laptop connected to the Portable over a network – before, during or after the shoot.

The Portable provides immediate HD playback on-set, so that focus, framing and continuity can be checked to avoid costly reshoots. The basic ‘looks’ have been predetermined by the cinematographer, and are applied as LUTs by the Portable. Any changes to the LUT can be monitored directly on-set, and are also kept as metadata for post-production.

During the day’s shooting, both the cinematographer and effects department take full-resolution frames from the Portables to make certain that everything is perfect. As a result, reshoots are avoided and extra safety-shots are unnecessary.

As shooting progresses, the Diskpacks are cycled through a Lab regularly to copy material to the 9TB Internal Diskpack and generate viewing-files from the shots. Five minutes after wrap-time, the Director is given a USB stick with all the day’s good takes, to take home and review.

Delivery

At the end of the day, the last shots are loaded into the Lab to copy across - this copying has been staged throughout the day, and takes around 1/3 real-time. Now all the day's footage is stored on the Internal Diskpack and the Lab immediately begins making two separate archive data-tapes of the entire day’s material – both complete in just over an hour.

Once the archive is secure, the HD editing files are generated, complete with sync sound and all metadata/notes. This production typically marks 60% of the shots as good, and all the editing files are finished in less than real time, completely ready to be delivered on hard-drive or by direct network.

Reprints/Finishing

The entire 60 hours of production fit on two blocks of the Lab’s storage. The blocks can be kept online for instant, automatic delivery of further files – if the Lab is networked to the users, this does not even require an operator. Or, it can be kept at low cost on the shelf, and plugged-in when needed.

Either way, when the time comes for finishing, the Codex Lab simply processes the final EDL and generates all the files needed – fully automatically and in less than the running-time of the final film.

Conclusion/Costs

Everything in this Codex workflow is far quicker than traditional methods. Full-quality review means that all decisions are much more certain. Unlike film, there is no single point of failure. By the evening of each day there are three separate copies of the material in existence.

Last but not least, everything is far cheaper than film. The entire materials budget, for all the deliverables for this 60 hours of materials, is just a few thousand Euros. Together with the equipment cost and labour, the total end result for everything – from viewing to archive – is a fraction of the cost of film. Indeed, it will probably be cheaper than simply buying the 60 hours of negative – and leaving them in the can.