editor’s note Reality TV, plug-ins and more! EDITORIAL MARC LOFTUS Senior Editor/Director of Web Content (516) 376-1087 his month, we look at Reality TV — those shows that nobody admits to watching, but [email protected] for some reason, are surprisingly popular? Let’s face it — they are inescapable! I can CHRISTINE BUNISH T honestly say I’ve never watched Jersey Shore or Real Housewives, but when I checked Film& Video IAIN BLAIR my own viewing habits, Reality TV programs kept popping up. Film My guilty pleasures are of the “Alaskan” and “Gold” genres: Gold Rush, Bering Sea Gold, JENNIFER WALDEN Wild West Alaska and Flying Wild Alaska to be specific. Heck, I even got roped into Jungle Audio By Gold, which takes place in Africa. The length that these guys go through to not find gold is DANIEL RESTUCCIO West Coast Bureau MARC LOFTUS astounding! I can’t stop watching. I’ve even caught a few episodes of Finding Bigfoot?! As if [email protected] SENIOR EDITOR/ I expect them to actually find Bigfoot?? BARRY GOCH DIRECTOR OF WEB Finding Bigfoot researcher “Bobo” graces our cover this month, and if you turn to our West Coast Blogger/Reporter CONTENT Reality TV feature on page 18, you can read more about the challenges program produc- MICHAEL VIGGIANO Art Director [email protected] ers and post houses face in dealing with tons of footage, a wide range of acquisition for- [email protected] mats, multiple storylines, and broadcast deadlines. Say what you will about Reality TV, but the “reality” is that it’s a serious business. One that helps manufacturers sell equipment. ADVERTISING One that keeps post studios busy. And one that US audiences seem to enjoy. (Any Duck MARI KOHN Director of Sales Dynasty fans out there?) (818) 291-1153 cell: (818) 472-1491 [email protected] Gary RHODES Eastern & Intl Sales Manager (631) 274-9530 cell (516)410-8638 [email protected] LISA BLACK Corporate Sales Executive, Events, Custom and Integrated Print/Publishing Services [email protected] (818) 660-5828 SUBSCRIPTIONS (818) 291-1158 CUStomer ServiCE 620 West Elk Ave, Glendale, CA 91204 [email protected] (800) 280 6446 DALE ESCEN Account Manager 818-291-1122 [email protected] REPRINTS Reprints (781) 255-0625 • (818) 291-1153 LA SALES OFFICE: 620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, California 91204 (800) 280-6446 WILLIAM R. Rittwage President / CEO But there’s a lot more to this month’s issue. Iain Blair talks with director Peter Berg about the well-received feature, Lone Survivor (page 12). Jennifer Walden connects with a number of audio pros, each of whom reveals one their favorite problem-solving post tools (page 30). And on page 36, we have a gallery of VFX Plug-Ins that can improve the look of any project with only a minimal cash investment. Some of these plug-ins now benefit from GPU acceleration too, helping to speed up performance and save pros time. SEE US ON “I think every artist, editor or animator I know has a set of plug-ins they just couldn’t imagine doing their jobs without,” says Greg Estes, VP of marketing at Nvidia, whose GPUs help power such releases. “And that’s really not surprising given the ability of many of the Post Magazine is published by Post, LLC, a COP communications company. plug-in software vendors to be agile and get innovative new looks or effects to market Post does not verify any claims or other information appearing in any of the advertisements contained in the publication, and cannot take any responsibility for quickly. These are sometimes very small companies, but they punch way above their any losses or other damages incurred by readers in reliance on such content. Post cannot be held responsible for the safekeeping or return of unsolicited weight in terms of technical ability. And one of the things they do extremely well is listen articles, manuscripts, photographs, illustrations or other materials. Subscriptions: Address all subscription correspondence to Post Magazine, 620 West Elk Ave, Glendale, CA 91204. Subscribers may also contact customer service to their customers and respond with unique capabilities, profoundly impacting the effi- at 818-291-1158, or send an email to [email protected] For change of address please include the old and new address information, and if possible, ciency of workflows and the creative process.” include an address label from a recent issue. Subscriptions are available free to qualified individuals within the United States. Non-qualified 1 year rates: USA $63.00. Canada & Mexico $94.00. All Other Countries $133.00. Airmail Delivery Enjoy the issue and let us know what you think? is available for an additional $75.00 annually. Postmaster: Send address changes to Post Magazine, P.O. Box 3551, Northbrook, IL 60065-3551. Please send customer service inquiries to 620 W. Elk Ave., Glen- dale, CA 91204 4 Post • February 2014 www.postmagazine.com RealityPosting TV Ghost Hunters, which is approaching its 200th episode, is cut on Avid Media Composers at Pilgrim Studios. 18 Post • February 2014 www.postmagazine.com This genre of programming relies on efficient workflows and Reality lots of storage. By Christine Bunish Finding Bigfoot uses Sony XDCAM as its primary acquisition format, but also captures on GoPros and infrared cameras. Unscripted reality programming poses unique challenges for the production companies that shoot crime shows, home-themed content and paranormal adventures, and to the post facilities that support them too. It’s a world where massive amounts of footage is the norm. Workflows can be tape- or file-based, or both, and color grading can range TV from filmic to edgy and authentic. FINDING BIGFOOT Folks worldwide have been “Finding Bigfoot” for the eponymous Animal Planet series for three seasons now. From West Virginia to Nepal, their quests have been documented by Ping Pong Productions (www.ppongproductions.com) in one-hour episodes that find the show’s investiga- tive team pursuing “compelling evidence” of the creature, says Jeffrey Williams, one of the show’s five editors. He and his colleagues cut Finding Bigfoot in the Hollywood offices of Ping Pong, which is equipped with Avid Media Composers and a Studio Network Solutions’ SANmp shared stor- age system. The show is shot entirely on location with Sony XDCAMs as the primary cameras and an array of GoPros, Contour cameras and FLIR infrared cameras for night imaging rounding out field produc- tion. Three to nine cameras cover any given scene, Williams says. “The field crew shoots for seven days and post will get 60-80 hours of footage for every episode,” he explains. “They also spend half-a-day shooting aerials that give a real sense of scope to these wild environments. These aerials help stitch the episodes together and really set the show apart.” It takes the assistants two weeks to ingest and build group clips for the editors’ Media Compos- ers. “Every episode comes with a beat [scene] sheet and field notes, and the editors pretty much take over from there. We have a lot of creative freedom to tell the best, clearest story in post. There’s a fairly established rhythm for the show, but the field and post have been able to take chances with that structure this season to keep the storytelling fresh and exciting,” says Williams. “For each episode, multiple editors will contribute a scene or two in the early stages, but there’s ultimately one primary editor for each show and the team has six weeks to deliver the first cut to the network. It’s a tremendous amount of work in what feels like a very short amount of time.” Despite the volume of material the “very organized and efficient workflow keeps everything moving smoothly,” he reports. “After we lock the episode and everybody signs off on it, another in-house editor onlines and color grades the episode on an Avid Symphony Nitris. We mix here and have just started to deliver to the network on LTO at their request, so we’re pretty much tape- less from start to finish now.” Color grading consists of “balancing and enhancing daytime scenes of the beautiful locations,” he says. “Since this is a paranormal-type show, audiences enjoy the moody night-vision look, so we match multiple cameras to a single night vision look so viewers can experience them seamlessly.” The challenge for the editors cutting Finding Bigfoot lies in “the storytelling,” Williams says. “There’s so much material to go through and we’re always looking for ways to make each scene stand out, but we have to stay true to what our cast finds with each encounter they investigate. There’s no faking it. So we focus on finding unique and compelling character moments, dramatic night scenes, and funny moments with the cast. That’s what makes the show so popular.” www.postmagazine.com Post • February 2014 19 Posting Reality TV Deadline: Crime posts at Technicolor-PostWorks in NYC. The studio’s (L) Schneider and (R) Smith are pictured above. DEADLINE: CRIME response,” Smith explains. “Within FilmMas- during the first couple of episodes,” Smith The new investigative news program, ter, we start by applying our own C-Log to reports. “By the second or third episode, we Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall, from NBC Rec 709 transform. We then process the hit a good stride in knowing how to best News’ Peacock Productions, debuted on color essentially as we would for a feature direct Peacock to prep the sequence and Investigation Discovery last fall with the digital intermediate.” split out certain plug-in effects from their MSNBC anchor leading a team of correspon- The show aims for a natural film look.