Remote Production Tools on Ripple Effect
Prep and Pre-Production
Video Conferencing
The world has been using video conferencing since before the COVID pandemic began in March 2020, but we were able to take it to a new level. Using a combination of Zoom and Google Meet we recorded over 100 meetings that we are utilizing to fuel our White Paper, among other things.
Slack Communication
With over 117 members and 25,000 messages for this project alone, Slack was the workhorse communication tool for this film.
V-Cam Shoot
With environments already created in Epic Games' Unreal Engine, our creative team was able to utilize V-Cam shoots- our DP could literally move a Virtual Camera in space all from the comfort of their home. It only required an iPad, and the ICVR team used an X-Sens motion capture suit as well.
On-Set
Miro provided a place for us to delicately conceive and communicate the workflow with the entire team.
5th Kind
Ripple Effect had many partners, backers, and vendors. With COVID restrictions, however, we were limited to “essential personnel only” on-set. Our 5th Kind live stream allowed us to constantly feed two camera angles to these individuals at home. The “through the lens” and “witness camera” feeds showed the entire cast and crew on-set which was an added level of COVID safety analyzation and gave viewers context regarding how each crew member interacted within their environment.
Teradek
Teradek allowed us to have a low-latency stream which could connect to any computer, phone, tablet or Apple TV whether on, near, or off-set. For our production, this allowed us to have non-essential personnel monitor the shots on large TVs away from set.
Remote Direction
The low-latency Teradek stream enabled one of our Directors to effectively direct talent on-set from across the country. Using an iPad, she could view the “through the lens” feed and communicate with set complete with audio as well as view the “witness camera” to better understand crew interaction between takes.
Leveraging Metadata
Useful Production metadata was collected from ScriptE systems, our Alexa LF camera, ARRI Signature Prime lens data (LDS) and Dailies ALE files which fed to our 5th Kind asset management system
4K/UHD HDR & Atmos
A film as visually rich as Ripple Effect deserves the highest quality picture available today, so ACES Color Management is employed to ensure that creative intent is preserved throughout HDR & SDR home mastering, theatrical mastering and for mobile devices. In addition, an ATMOS mix will be created. All services by Technicolor. HDR/SDR On Set Color Management by Colorfront.
Avid in the Cloud with Sohonet’s Clear View Flex
There are at least a couple strong use cases for cloud-based editing. For Ripple Effect, Avid DNxHR files were uploaded to Microsoft Azure at Equinix, then transferred to our Cloud Nexis via Storage DNA. This allowed for our Editor to work from anywhere using a basic laptop. It also provided for centralized media accessed through Microsoft’s Active Directory to maintain security. For the supervision of Cuts, our Directors used Sohonet’s ClearView Flex for high quality images with low latency.
This critical ‘data about the data’ will benefit areas such as VFX management and studio cataloging.
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