January 2012
2 posts
major league independents: Sundance 2012
It is no secret that independent film is the greenhouse for digital cinema trend development. Anyone arguing otherwise has not experienced the petri dish of digital development that the independent community is responsible for. And as much as filmmakers communicate with each other, it is the independent community (a common place where film-to-film in-breeding can often occur) where the story of...
The DI Difference of HAYWIRE
Last year, Light Iron had the opportunity to collaborate with director Steven Soderbergh and his top-notch post crew on his action-thriller, Haywire. This is a director who’s outstanding credits and generous personality make him an absolute pleasure to deal with, but what many people forget is how avant guard he really is. Back in 2007, Steven was the first true champion of 4K digital...
December 2011
2 posts
4K+ Digital Intermediate
If you really wanted to make a 4K end-to-end movie, what would that entail?
While myself and my team have been working with 4K material for close to 4 years, we recently got a chance to perform the mastering of our first 4K internationally delivered feature film; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
In a way, it was really the summation of 4 and 1/2 years of planning that led to the 4K...
DRAGON TATTOO 4K DI WORKFLOW OVERVIEW
Thank you to Debra Kaufman who conducted this interview about our recent 4K DI workflow on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” On this film, the director and editorial team presented a series of new and interesting challenges which enabled all of to explore territory we had not previously been before.
That last sentence, all by itself, is exactly why we do this.
Debra...
November 2011
2 posts
THE MUPPETS MEET 4K
35 years ago Jim Henson and his team began broadcasting its one-of-a-kind 1/2 hour television entertainment comedy program, “The Muppet Show.” Through the last three decades, 10 additional Muppet movies were made for the big screen and home video enabling this unique cast of characters to transcend at least 2 generations. Though the Walt Disney company purchased Muppets in 2004,...
SCARLET's WEB
In typical RED fashion, the latest announcement of SCARLET-X has as many people excited as concerned. There are a lot of opinions on the matter and I have enjoyed hearing the multiple perspectives from many corners of the market. But some of the discussions came from what looked like a “reactionary point of view.” Granted, many people have been making serious assumptions about what...
October 2011
3 posts
timkotthoff asked: Michael - RED has listed on it's website that REDCODE RAW is capable of 12 and 16-bit RAW : Compression choices of 18:1 to 3:1. Is there a way to select what bit depth is being captured? I couldn't find that anywhere in the menus. In my mind, the lower the compression, the higher the bit depth. If that's true, does that mean that from 3:1-10:1 the bit depth is 16bit and subsequently...
To Mr. Jobs
To Mr. Jobs, You didn’t simply inspire people to be creative, you invented outlets so creativity could simply thrive. You paved a way for people like me to succeed on our own, but my career was only made possible because you possessed the foresight I didn’t. I didn’t know how much you impacted my life until I was mature enough to start realizing I am not the only reason I am...
timkotthoff asked: Michael... it was a pleasure meeting you at RED Studios as well as getting an insider's look at Light Iron. Thanks for taking the time and letting us have a peek into your world. :-) I was wondering if you will be teaching the Reducation Post Production class on December 8th and 9th?
August 2011
2 posts
Quantel Spotlight
When Ben Le Foe contacted me to do a “spotlight” interview for Quantel, I was interested as I find the ways in which the company Quantel connects with consumers and customers is very genuine. But what was really interesting is to answer 10 questions about myself is an exercise that I rarely do. In fact, I realized this was fun and challenging at the same time. I enjoyed...
Final Cut Pro X
Clearly I did not exhibit any foresight with regard to the emotional impact in which this particular topic has generated. Very interesting, very exciting and very important. Above all, the summer release of Final Cut Pro-X is an event that should be monitored carefully and evaluated as the program continues to mature every quarter. In effort to document some of the direct feelings I have on the...
July 2011
1 post
DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT INTERVIEW
Michael Cioni on Digital Asset Management
Written by Mary Yurkovic
Growth of file-based acquisition requires more education while bringing changes in common expressions.
Over the past decade, CEO & Founder of Light Iron Michael Cioni has been a leader in file-based acquisition and desktop-based post production. Michael has served as a Digital Intermediate Supervisor on over 200 feature...
April 2011
1 post
Getting a 5K TATTOO
CHALLENGE
On Monday, April 11th, RED Digital Cinema debuted the Epic short film, “Tattoo” in 4K at their NAB booth in Las Vegas. When it was introduced, viewers were told “10 days ago, what you’re about to see didn’t exist.” This couldn’t be more true…
TRENDS
Over the past 4 months, I have noticed that discussions regarding a change in traditional...
December 2010
1 post
A Widening Trend
In March of 2003, the 75th Annual Academy Awards were held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, California. But this particular year marked a unique turn of events for the broadcast, as it was the first time a major awards show was broadcast in high definition. I remember the day well, as my friend Ian and I were excited about a major live HD broadcast (outside of the Superbowl). Ian and I had...
October 2010
2 posts
tomcheater asked: Hi michael Im a huge fan after the social network (i managed to get pre release tickets so ill be one of the first in the uk to see it this week!) and everytime i look into the process of the red images and how well it turned out (from reduser.net) all signs pointed to you! I know its quite vague but some things you talk about in the forum kinda go over me as Im just starting out and am shooting...
Social Network in ICG Magazine
Below is an exerpt from an insightful article that can be found in the October issue of ICG Magazine by Chris Wolski
Writing on the Wall
The RED M-X, coupled with Fincher’s notoriously precise planning, helped provide for what DP Jeff Cronenweth describes as a “trouble-free” 68-day shoot, with the show wrapping a few days early. The DI process that then followed was even more efficient,...
September 2010
6 posts
Ferris Beuller and 4K
A patron of the RED USER.net forum mentioned seeing the Social Network in NY this weekend. He inquired as to whether or not the film was projected in 2K or 4K, commenting how good it looked on the large screen. I responded to the forum, but wanted to include the response here since this issue is much bigger than The Social Network. In fact, it goes back to another post I made earlier regarding...
2010 3D Summit
3D Summit
This past Wednesday and Thursday at the Universal Hilton was the annual 3D Summit event. This event boasted some of the latest and greatest 3D talent and tools which were spread out amongst a myriad of key speakers and hallways filled with prototypes, proof of concepts, demonstrations and demos. Myself and Ian Vertovec were asked to accompany the Quantel booth and help demonstrate...
Streaming Video Playback - LiVE PLAY
Since 2008, a significant number of post production houses seemed to have disappeared. Some have been sold at a loss, others were merged with a group of pre-existing facilities, some were liquidated, one I know of simply changed its name, and a few just went out of business. No doubt, the world of filmmaking is changing, and we at Light Iron believe that some of the future of profitable post...
Dolby Made Pictures
As IBC 2010 begins, there are a number of products that are going to be released, announced, and examined closely. One of which that I think will deserve all the recognition it is going to get is Dolby’s new color grading monitor. When I first started talking about this monitor about 6 months ago, people asked me “Why is Dolby making a monitor? I thought they were a sound...
The Social Network Final Color
I’m pleased to announce that the final color on David Fincher’s [I]The Social Network[/I] is complete and on 35mm film. To get a first look at what the final film looks like, the TV spots have started airing all with images straight from the DI. You can also go online and see the TV spots on The Social Network website (]www.500millionfriends.com).
The final DI look can now be seen...
RED REEL 600 & 4K
Since 2007, I have produced and edited 8 company reels for the RED Digital Cinema camera company. Most of the reels coincide with special event exhibitions - such as IBC, NAB, or in-house RED events and play all over the world and sometimes online (if you know where to look).
Friends that know me know that when I have to make a new RED Reel, I not only go “off the map,” but that...