Horror Thriller The Signal                       Debuts at Sundance in HD

When producer Alex Motlagh (Last Goodbye) sat down with friends and colleagues in Atlanta, Ga., to begin working on the horror thriller The Signal in late 2005, his goal was simple. He wanted to begin work on a low-budget project to keep the creative juices flowing until his next major film project came along.

But after submitting the project to a number of film festivals, Motlagh experienced some unexpected thrills of his own: he began fielding calls from excited film reps. The word on the street was that the horror movie - in which citizens are besieged with radio, television, and other broadcast signals that distort reality and turn them into hyper-violent killers - just might be the next hot independent film.

He then received the call that most independent filmmakers only dream of. Motlagh was informed that the movie, the second from production company POPfilms, had been selected for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. "It was weird because we never really entertained thoughts of getting it into Sundance," says Motlagh. "It was just a low-budget horror film made by people I knew in Atlanta."

But suddenly this low-budget feature had become Motlagh's next big project.

"Filmmakers can spend the time they need in an edit suite without worrying about breaking the budget."
- David Ballard, President and Creative Director, LAB 601

From HDV to Sundance

The film itself is a tale that taps into society's nightmares of how technology can destroy mankind. But the use of technology during the shoot is an example of the positive advances and collaborative workflows that have been unleashed by today's digital cinema equipment.

Three directors - David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry - were involved in the project, each writing and shooting a third of the film, which is told from three different perspectives. To keep costs low while maintaining quality, they shot in HD using a Canon XLH1 camera, capturing approximately 40 hours of HDV material during a two-week shoot that began on January 7, 2005. Atlanta-based post-production facility LAB 601 served as home base for the team of directors as they each completed offline and online editing of their individual sections using multiple Avid editing stations connected to an Avid Unity shared-storage system.

David Ballard, LAB 601 president and creative director, says this was the second project that POPfilms and LAB 601 had worked on together. "Five years ago we started an independent film initiative to bring filmmakers to Atlanta," says Ballard. "We helped POPfilms with their first picture, Last Goodbye, and told them to call us when they were getting ready for their next picture because technology would keep changing and making it easier for them to complete a project."

The filmmakers needed that expertise to handle The Signal's HD workflow, which presented a few challenges up front because the Canon XLH1 camera had just been introduced around that time. "We were one of the first to actually use the Canon camera, and the results looked amazing," says Motlagh about the visually arresting quality of the HDV source material. However, the camera was so hot off the assembly line that it outpaced the development of a completely accurate codec for ingesting material. So LAB 601 developed a scheme that enabled the team to ingest the HDV material via FireWire drive at DV25 resolution for initial offline editing in SD to get the project rolling. Soon after, they discovered the Convergent Design HD-Connect LE system, which enabled them to do an HDV-to-HD-SDI conversion, which helped resolve any remaining codec issues, and enabled the team to input all of the HD material into the Avid Unity system using the Avid DNxHD 145 codec.

The space-efficient Avid DNxHD encoding format, which significantly reduces file sizes while maintaining HD image quality, enabled the director/editors to perform the most exacting editing and finishing work with the same speed and ease associated with working in SD. "We had all of the HD footage online so the directors could edit any material from any part of the film," says Ballard. "It consumed about 2 TB of storage at the DNxHD 145 resolution."

"We've been impressed with just how powerful the Symphony Nitris system is with Avid DNxHD 145."
- Alex Motlagh, Producer, The Signal

A Story in Three Acts

LAB 601's facility includes 10 edit suites with a variety of Avid editing gear tied to an Avid Unity system with 11 TB of shared storage. "What we can do with the Avid workflows and systems is help filmmakers put their money on the screen rather than in clunky back-room processes like downconvert dubs," says Ballard.

The easy interoperability between Avid systems came in especially handy on The Signal as the rough cut was done on whichever Avid editing system was available during off hours at LAB 601. This included an Avid Xpress Pro system, a Media Composer Adrenaline system with the Avid DNxcel card, and a Symphony Nitris system - all of which were equipped to handle both SD and HD cuts.

Motlagh says the Avid Unity system was an absolute lifesaver on this project, enabling multiple people to work simultaneously on the same material. "The great thing about the workflow was it let all of the directors edit their own pieces, and they could all be accessing the same footage at the same time through the Avid Xpress Pro or Media Composer or Symphony system," he says.

Bruckner was responsible for editing the first third of the movie, while Gentry edited the second third, and Bush edited the final third. For Bruckner and Bush, the project also provided a chance to expand their professional skill set beyond Final Cut Pro. 

"They both really picked up the Avid [system] quickly," recalls Motlagh. "They sat down for about a week or so, and they were able to walk through the Avid features. For two guys who had never worked on an Avid system they did great."

All three directors worked together after hours at LAB 601, hopping on any available workstation and accessing material and cuts-in-progress from the Avid Unity system's shared storage. Being able to work on the project at the same time in adjacent suites made for a more cohesive final product from a creative standpoint. Directors could easily check in on each other and see where the overall project was going. "We were all very cognizant that we were making one movie with a linear story in the style of Rashomon," says Motlagh. "It was similar to episodic programs like The Sopranos or Deadwood where there are different directors working on various episodes."

And for Motlagh, who was watchful of the budget, simultaneous editing had a positive impact on the bottom line. It meant not having to wait until one act of the film was completed before beginning the second or third, a process that could have doubled or tripled the production time - and significantly increased costs.

The Avid DNxHD 145 codec also played a key role in the quality of the end product, which was onlined complete with color correction on the Symphony Nitris system. "It really looks amazing," says Motlagh. "Dave and Dan are very good color correction artists, and we've been impressed with just how powerful the Symphony Nitris system is with Avid DNxHD 145."

All-digital Storytelling

Ballard believes this project is an example of the changing paradigm in digital cinema production where independent filmmakers can use a $10,000 camcorder rather than renting cameras for $2,000 a day and still come out with a high-quality, visually sophisticated film.

"It's all about being smart in business," says Ballard. "When you combine the access to Avid systems with the proven track record and knowledge here at LAB 601, the filmmakers can spend the time they need in an edit suite without worrying about breaking the budget."

In early January, Motlagh and his crew were busy putting the finishing touches on the film at LAB 601, using the Symphony Nitris system for the final finishing and mastering. After all, Sundance was waiting. The film, which is being mastered onto a Sony HDCAM SR tape using the Avid DNxHD 145 resolution will screen digitally at the festival from a Sony HDCAM dub of the SR master.

"We're going right down to the wire," says Motlagh of the final push. "Sundance has definitely pushed us to finish the film. But with the system we had in place, with three directors and the Avid Unity system, we were able to make sure every choice was accurate - and we told the story we wanted to tell."

* CREDIT: Courtesy of POPfilms