Room 401: Tapeless Workflow Makes Fast Work of Reality-Based Horror Show
Room 401, a new weekly program from Punk'd executive producers Billy Rainey, Jason Goldberg, and Ashton Kutcher, airs on MTV and puts an outrageous horror twist on the wildly successful hidden-camera, prank-based genre. Each 30-minute Room 401 episode includes four small horror vignettes in which an unsuspecting 'mark' is set up by a friend and given the fright of his or her life. For the post-production team, a variety of Avid systems helps to ensure that the horror show remains strictly in front of the camera.
Produced by Katalyst Films and Toyplane Industries, Room 401 illustrates how a fully tapeless workflow allows for efficient collaboration and fast project turnaround. ToolShed, a small post-production boutique owned by Rainey, Kutcher, and Goldberg, handles the editing, effects, and mastering. Rainey says the facility grew out of their needs as producers to have more control over their projects.
"We were watching money go out the door to rental facilities. So out of necessity we decided to build our own facility with our own equipment," he explains.
When Rainey and company first began looking to build their own post facility several years ago, editing systems were still an expensive proposition. That equation changed significantly during the last few years, making it possible for them to cost effectively open their own facility.
"When we first started looking the cost was $100,000 a seat.
Now prices have dropped where you can get a couple of seats and more for that price," he says.
Previous experience with Avid systems during production of My Own, another MTV program, led the team to Avid's door. The facility now features a 4 TB Avid Unity MediaNetwork shared-storage system and four Macintosh-based Media Composer Adrenaline editing stations.
"We've been through every incarnation [of Media Composer software]," says Rainey about the various shows he has produced. While many new features have been added to the Media Composer system over the years, his favorite remains the Multicam option, which allows the editing team to view all the camera angles on one screen simultaneously. "We really like the Multicam feature as the bulk of our shows are running a minimum of eight cameras," says Rainey, referring to the time-savings gained by the quick and easy management of footage from multiple cameras.
"We really like the Multicam feature as the bulk of our shows are running a minimum of eight cameras."
- Billy Rainey, Executive Producer, Room 401
Tapeless Workflows Deliver
The production process for Room 401 begins with shooting the program on standard-definition Sony XDCAM cameras at 50 Mbps. "Each camera shoots about a half hour for every four minutes of screen time," says Rainey.
Sony XDCAM SD was selected after shooting the pilot in HD. "We realized the program would never air in HD, so it didn't make sense to subject ourselves to the limits of light sensitivity in today's generation of HD cameras," he explains. "Our show takes place at night in the shadows and darkness, so we need to operate at about two f-stops faster than usual."
The XDCAM camera files combined with the Avid editing systems show how file-based workflows can speed up the editing process. The XDCAM camera records video as files on Blu-ray discs and can record a high-resolution version as well as a low-resolution file simultaneously. The Media Composer Adrenaline system gives the editors the option of importing both the high-res and low-res files, while the Avid Unity system easily accommodates the necessary storage capacity. Low-res files give staff members a quick look at what shots are available to jump-start the creative cutting, while the higher res files are used for the majority of the offline process and, ultimately, in online editing.
Audio tracks are also recorded on a tapeless format. Fostex audio recorders capture the audio on a hard disk and allow the audio files to be dragged and dropped to the Avid Unity storage system.
"All [video] material is ingested at 10-to-1 compression," says Rainey. "The group of video clips are then married to the audio so we have a complete scene." Editors (the facility has a staff of 12) then go through with script notes and lay out the stories. During the editing process Rainey and the team watch each segment's material three times to select the best shots with the strongest reactions. They end up with a six-minute, roughed-out version of each segment that the lead editor pulls together.
With the Avid Unity system, multiple users can watch the same material simultaneously from different workstations. "I still remember the days before the [Avid] Unity [system] when we would run the drives around the facility via 'sneakernet,'" recalls Rainey. "Now we can be spread out in the facility in different rooms and work on the project simultaneously."
"Editors today still prefer working with Avid [systems]."
- Billy Rainey, Executive Producer, Room 401
Business Necessities
Enabling multiple editors to work on the same project at the same time also speeds up the editing process, an important capability in today's high-pressure Hollywood environment.
While years ago there was a pilot season (typically late spring/early summer), today - thanks to the growth of original cable programming - the pilot season lasts year round, especially for alternative-reality programs like Room 401.
"Networks today can't give you more time to make shows," says Rainey. "[The time allowed for producing a show is] getting smaller, and today it is around four to five months."
With the help of Avid editing, storage, and effects systems, Sony's XDCAM format, and Apple Macintosh G5 towers, ToolShed can get the job done.
"I've been a diehard Mac fan all my life," says Rainey. "It's rock solid, and you don't get bogged down in knowing about directories and different drives. It's a much more tactile experience than using a PC. You can look at it and figure it out."
A life-long affinity for the Macintosh platform fits perfectly with Rainey's penchant for using Avid systems on his projects. "Editors today still prefer working with Avid [systems], and it's about giving the editing talent what they want," says Rainey.
All of the editing is done on Macintosh G5 tower systems. "On Punk'd we would do cuts on the laptop on location because that was the only time we were in the same place at the same time," says Rainey. "But this show is different. We can block it and shoot it like it's a feature film. It's nice having a schedule."
The Macintosh-based Media Composer Adrenaline computers coupled with the Avid Unity system provide a complete platform on which to create high-quality and complex projects.
"Everything lives on the [Avid] Unity [system], including the sound effects [that we receive] from Sound Ideas," says Rainey. "And in horror, sound effects complete the project." Final audio work is handled by Burbank, Calif.,-based Always Growing Enterprises using DigiDesign Pro Tools systems, which offer seamless interoperability with the Avid editing systems.
And then there are the visual effects. The GenArts Sapphire plug-in suite for Avid AVX products, which now offers more than 45 new effects and 190 plug-ins for image processing and synthesis, is an important part of the editing process as well. "It has a great effects palette that allows us to take the project to the next level," says Rainey. "It has all the subtle things you want to do for a horror project like beating up the video and giving it a tattered film feel. Plus it's really intuitive and can render out quickly. The keyer is great too, allowing us to drop the host into anything and pull a great, clean key."
While Room 401 is the latest example of alternative-reality television, it also illustrates the power of the latest post technology all tied together in a seamless workflow.
"You used to have four editors who would work on the same show but wouldn't speak to each other, and you would need a floppy disk to link them together," says Rainey. "Now I can't imagine not having a system like [Avid] Unity. Even if it's just myself and an assistant editor working on a documentary, I want to be connected. I couldn't do it any other way."
* CREDIT: Images courtesy of MTV