Bluephoria is so indefinable that theater critics created a new category — “Unique Theatrical Production” — for it for the Outer Critic Circle awards.
Real-time Switching and Uncompressed HD
Rhoades and Ericson offlined 40 hours of raw HD footage as DVCPro HD through FireWire into Final Cut Pro 5 — without any generation loss.
“With footage from 12 cameras to pull from,” Rhoades says, “we needed what Final Cut Pro 5 had to offer: real-time switching and uncompressed HD.”
“I switched in a file, and the client said, ‘That’s it? You’re done?’ At one point I thought, ‘I hope this doesn’t look as easy as it is.’”
Once the footage was loaded into Final Cut Pro 5, says Rhoades, “it was basically point and click. The interface is designed so that you see a grid of 12 clips running simultaneously — one clip from each of the 12 cameras. I just selected each screen as I wanted them, editing on the fly in real time.”
Rhoades also could add or subtract cameras at any time, switch from shot to shot with or without affects and auto-assemble sequences based on time-of-day code.
“That’s It? You’re Done?”
“It works like you’re doing a live switch,” he says. “Final Cut Pro also has quick keys so you can edit using the keyboard instead of clicking on the screen. You can be tighter with cuts and switch faster.”
Rhoades produced the rough cut in about a week. When the client and producer reviewed it and made changes, Rhoades made one of the edits as they watched.
“I switched in a file,” Rhoades says, “and the client said, ‘That’s it? You’re done?’ At one point I thought, ‘I hope this doesn’t look as easy as it is.’”
When the cut was final, Digital Arts color-corrected using Silicon Color’s FinalTouch — it integrates with Final Cut Pro via XML — then output the final master sequence from Final Cut Pro to tape.
Upgrading to Final Cut Pro 5
For the project, Ericson set up the workflow and guided Rhoades through a seamless HD multicam switching experience. “We have a big facility that’s Mac-centric, but this is the first time we had upgraded to Final Cut Pro 5 and the latest G5s,” Ericson says. “The part that was really impressive is that we could implement it and have it work seamlessly, very quickly. We didn’t have to go through crazy support problems and bugs.”
Blue Man Group’s tour design producer and creative director Philip Paluso was equally impressed. “We were looking for an expert finishing house to help us create a flawless HD workflow in a comfortable, client-friendly environment,” he says.
“Kevin found Digital Arts and it was smooth sailing all the way. Our client couldn’t have been happier.”
