'Digital
Videography' - July 2005
HD
Production for "The 4400" - by
Jon Silberg
Some
cinematographers approach digital assignments as though
they are merely lesser film shows. Tony Westman, CSC,
is not one of them. Though he’s spent three decades
shooting feature and television work on film, Westman
embraces the immediacy and interactivity that digital
cinematography offers him on every setup of USA Network’s
sci-fi drama The 4400.
The series, now in its second season, is based on
the premise that some 4,400 people were abducted by
aliens and returned to Earth, altered in various ways.
The episodes show the strange occurrences that result
within ordinary situations. The show is not effects-intensive;
rather, its bizarre feel is created in large part
by the framing and color shifts apparent in the cinematographic
style.
Westman uses Panavised Sony F900s to photograph the
episodes—the eight-day shoot schedule generally consists
of three days in studio and five on location—in the
24p HD format. Fascinated by the ability to manipulate
images during capture, Westman works closely with
digital imaging technician/on-set colorist Chris Oben
to set a look for each scene shot in principal photography.
He first explored the interactive possibilities of
HD when working on the Showtime series Dead Like Me,
also with Oben inside the black tent adjusting the
color balance and contrast during production. The
pair worked on The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz for ABC before
taking over The 4400 for its second season.
Oben spent eight years as an online editor and works
as a first AC on other shows when he’s not functioning
in his colorist/digital imaging technician role; he
sees himself as the perfect conduit between the production
and post positions that used to be more clearly delineated.
By working closely with Westman during shooting, he
can help the cinematographer establish much of the
overall look of the show, as well as the shot-to-shot
matching, that would be more the responsibility of
postproduction colorists in the world of episodic
TV shot on film.
Westman and Oben rely heavily on a device they created,
the Magic Lantern HD Framestore system, to get the
most of Oben’s function. Based on a high-powered computer
(they have both a Mac and PC version), an HD capture
card and software such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro
and After Effects, this box allows Oben to capture
and store still frames of every setup Westman does.
The frames, which are captured at full HDCAM resolution,
retain the look of every setup in terms of lighting
and the adjustments Oben makes with the Sony MSU 750
(Master Setup Unit) and RMB 150 color, exposure and
contrast control device. The additional image alteration
software helps to indicate how Westman wants the final
product to look after the online color session and
effects compositing are complete. Westman and Oben
are currently shopping the Magic Lantern HD Framestore
system to resellers and rental houses.
Westman explains what inspired him and Oben to develop
the Framestore system. “One tool the colorist has
is a frame store, which allows him to match scenes
over time. That ability seemed to me to be what’s
lacking when you shoot HD. You have the tools to match
the shot you’re doing now with one you did last week
or two months ago, but you don’t have any reference.
You can’t sit there with tapes and cue up a shot from
months ago. We capture every setup we do—every close-up,
every wide shot—and each is filed according to show
number and take. With our Framestore, we can instantly
call up a still from every shot we’ve done, and use
the still as a reference for the shot we’re working
on. The second unit can bring along a DVD and match
everything by eye.
“I’ve been shooting HD for four years,” Westman continues,
“and for two and a half of them I’ve been using this
Framestore. The ability it gives me to evaluate and
match shots, to set a look while I shoot, is excellent.
We do half the job of the [postproduction] colorist.
Now they don’t have to spend all that time just matching
shots. What the colorist can then do, in consultation
with the producers and myself, is take the show up
another level and create a broader arc of color and
mood shifts.”
Executive Producer Scott Peters, who co-created the
show with Rene Echevarria, recalls that he was not
initially a proponent of digital cinematography for
The 4400, even though he was convinced it would save
money on stock and post. “I kicked and screamed about
HD,” he says. “I was a holdout for film. I insisted
[the digital format] had to be proven. So we did some
tests shooting 35mm and with the Thomson Viper. We
were all very impressed. We shot the pilot with the
Viper. That was a 21-day shoot; we saved between $60,000
and $80,000.”
When the time came to reassess for the current season,
USA Network executives wanted to go with the Sony
F900 CineAlta rather than the Viper, again to save
money. Between savings on the camera package itself
and the longer tether available between camera and
control unit, the Sony camera had some definite advantages.
Wary of changing again, the producers, Westman and
other principals compared HD footage originated on
the Viper and the F900 and, again, saw no discernable
difference. Peters insists he would not favor saving
money at the expense of quality; he says the decision
to shoot HD over film and then the F900 over the Viper
required no such compromise.
Westman has never worked with the Viper but says he’s
longed for that camera a couple of times because of
its smaller profile. “When we’re shooting inside cars
and other cramped quarters, I have to deal with the
fact that the F900 is The Incredible Four-Foot Camera.
The Viper is little smaller, which could help sometimes.”
Westman maintains that there are still situations
that would be better captured on film. For example,
there’s no HD camera he can stick inside a car as
a crash cam. “We used to put a little Eyemo or Zap
camera inside a crash box,” he says. “There’s nothing
like that in HD, so we used Mini DV for a quick shot,
which got the Paramount technical people upset.” When
he had to shoot a scene for Dead Like Me with the
setting sun behind the action, he told the producers
he had to shoot on film. “It’s the only way I can
guarantee the sunset will look like a sunset and not
turn into this white, pasty mess.” And, for high-speed
work, he’s not sure that shooting at 60i and then
creating slow motion in post is comparable to the
real thing. Otherwise, he has come to embrace HD fully
for his television work.
The cinematographer with 30 years of film shoots to
his name has become attached to the ability he has
with HD to define a look for The 4400 and establish
basic scene-to-scene color correction during the shoot.
He explains, “It’s like deciding on a new film stock
for every setup and having an unlimited number of
film stocks.”
-
by Jon Silberg
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