POS boasts first Quantel Edit Box

(Linda Morrish is a partner in Producers Optical Services, Toronto.)

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Producers Optical Services has taken the digital leap. With the recent installation of Quantel’s Edit Box, we have become the only non-linear 601 digital component editing facility with true random access in Canada.

The Edit Box is a very powerful self-contained editing, paint and effects system. It comes with two effects layers, with an option for a third layer, each incorporating a chroma/luminance keyer, color corrector, filters and a three-dimensional dve, similar to a Henry. We optioned a third layer with all of the above so our clients would have the flexibility to do multilayered effects.

A Quantel Paintbox has been integrated into the system so rotoscoping, painting and sophisticated matte work can be applied to still images or video clips. The max option, which allows you to manipulate a 3D grid by picking and pulling points on the x, y and z axes, has been added to the dves.

Our full-blown system with all the options was delivered Aug. 19. The cartons came off the truck and within four hours we had it installed. But that morning was the culmination of over a year of research.

March 1993 to 1994: My partner, Michael Evans, had attended NAB ’93. We were conscious of the changes taking place in the production and post-production market and of our own need to expand, so we started to scout around for options.

When he returned it was definitive – digital and definitely non-linear in the future.

He began to contact suppliers and introduce our ideas, discussing options for a digital suite that could transition into a non-linear digital suite.

We went to NAB ’94 with a short list, shopping list, and a schedule for installation. The time had come to make a decision.

After wandering through 14 miles of aisles looking at every switcher, editor, recorder, storage medium, effects generator and character generator, we left Vegas with 50 pounds of literature and a wish list.

Michael met with reps from numerous manufacturers, reviewing what was available and how it would integrate into the non-linear world we envisioned. Although a traditional linear digital suite was available, we were not finding the complete long-term solution to our non-linear goal.

It was exhilarating and exhausting, consuming our thoughts day and night.

May-June 1994: Enter Quantel. Here was an uncompressed digital solution that gave us random-access, non-linear editing, and they could meet our delivery date. I loved the product the moment I saw it, it spoke of the future.

Amongst ourselves we discussed over and over every pro and con – the risks of installing the first system, new technology, expandability, future options, shortcomings, advantages, market acceptance, every reservation, every scenario.

Culminating a year of research, we made the gut-wrenching decision: the Edit Box order was placed at the end of June.

August 1994: The first job is booked and things are scheduled to start mid-to-late August. The Edit Box is installed but the training won’t commence for another three days.

Nick Iannelli, our editor, has had the opportunity of familiarizing himself with the tablet and menus, but the crunch is here. The trainer arrives, and as he leaves, our client walks in the next day.

Sept. 6, 1994: Robert Bouvier, producer/director with Heathgate Films, leaves for the last long day. He has just completed a 30-minute u.s. infomercial, ‘Sign of the Times,’ for Matrix Research.

I asked him about his experience as our first client on the Edit Box, sharing Nick’s learning curve and doing a lengthy, complicated program.

The first surprising thing he found was the absence of a room full of machinery. A tablet, monitor and keyboard replaces a whole room of equipment. As he says, ‘Not needing a whole bunch of machines is incredibly fast in conforming the showÉ unbelievable speed.’

A cmx list is input and the footage is automatically conformed in Edit Box. Under many circumstances the show would now be finished, but in this case, the show is really a 30-minute effects sequence.

Most of ‘Sign of the Times’ was four to five layers with no off-line per se of the background elements.

The backgrounds were composited quickly within the system using all three channels of effects, keying, color correction and dve. The blue screen elements supplied had a lot of blue spill in the entire scene.

Robert felt he was ‘able to do a really good chromakey considering the material I had. The Edit Box was instrumental in fixing up poorly shot chromakeys. Any time there were images with problems – from simple glitches to dropouts – it seemed to be a magic box, able to fix any type of problem.’

For Nick, recording directly to the drive arrays makes complicated builds ‘painless.’ One shot in particular consisted of 18 layers; in a traditional suite it would have meant building layer upon layer.

Because of the non-linear aspect, the logistics of 18 layers are much easier, giving him ‘the opportunity to get more creatively involved with the projects’ as he can devote more time and energy to the visual rather than mechanical aspects of the edit.

Robert also describes the Edit Box as a ‘one-stop machine.’ Whenever they ran into problems it wasn’t necessary to go to another location to fix them. And since the system is self-contained with all the options, when they needed to add or change something, the process was not interrupted or slowed down. The transparent platform allows immediate access to the Paintbox.

Some of the timings were not exact; at the end of the edit the show was 12 seconds over time. With the non-linear feature, they were able to cut shots they didn’t need, bringing the show to time without having to go another generation. It was done, literally, in seconds.

When it comes to versioning or any future changes, it will be easy. Every step of every element is logged and all the layering information is accessible. For example, Nick can simply replace just a background with all the settings of the chromakey intact.

The question at the end was could it have been done more quickly in a linear suite. We don’t know. Everyone agrees it may not have been as good.

As Robert says: ‘Because of the scenario of one big special effect from the beginning to the end, it is almost unfair to judge. To take on a long-format show, heavy on effects, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink may have meant several passes to attain the little nuances in a traditional suite.’

Nick agrees, saying the thought of building a b roll often leads clients to pass on these little nuances because of time constraints.

As for Robert’s final comments on his experience: ‘There is no question all of this is meaningless without the people.’ And for that we thank Nick. For a first edit he had to pull every new trick learned only days before out of the Box, but that in itself says something about the interface and speed.

Of the system itself, Robert says: ‘There is no question to me that the future is here, the future is here with digital effects in editing with the Edit Box. The show, in the end, was a great success. It looks very unique, very now and current, attracting people of all ages. It’s doing its job and that’s basically what you want to do in the end, to retain viewership.’

As for Nick’s closing comments: ‘Now that I’ve got the systemÉit’s a very different way of doing things. You have to get the Edit Box mindset. It’s a very powerful toolset that allows me to do things I might not attempt in any other edit suite. With less machinery to worry about, I feel much more creatively involved in the edit.’

To date, there have not been any nasty surprises. A clean edit list makes a big difference in getting started.

The thought process is non-linear, which, for some, is new. Those familiar with it, seem to blend into the Edit Box mode quickly. But it is the way of the future. And it’s here, and it’s now.