The Turkish Film World Goes Digital
By Cem Gül, Designer, Director and Animator
The movie business here in Turkey is exploding, thanks in part to the introduction of RED ONE 4K cameras from Red Digital Cinema and CineAlta cameras from Sony which have paved the way to a digital cinema future here.
Just as excitingly, digital post production has now enabled Digital Intermediate (DI) mastering for more efficient delivery in whatever format is required. As a result, the need for sophisticated editing and mastering systems to complete the digital production chain has opened vast new opportunities for independent production specialists such as myself.
I shoot, edit and finish most projects working mostly by myself, while also directing motion graphics work for TV, commercials and show packages. Although an independent artist in Turkey, I have to compete on every level with the established facilities and that includes meeting the major studios’ tight deadlines and tighter budgets. That’s why I appreciate the empowerment Blackmagic Design products have given me by using desktop computing systems to even out the playing field for my digital production finishing.
This has enabled me to complete major elements for several 2K domestic feature film projects including the music and sound design for the theatrical trailer that accompanied the 2006 thriller, Gen (“Gene”), and the visual effects, trailers, and main titles for 2007’s horror film, Musallat (“Haunted”). When I began these films, I was working with 2K or 1080p Cineon or DPX files to create the VFX but had to compose my work without an HD video card. I had already been using Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink SD cards for standard definition video capture, and had found they were fantastic. So when I needed the capability of real time HD editing and playback, Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink HD Pro video capture card was an obvious choice. The DeckLink HD Pro card proved to be easy to use and came at a great price. This card was also the only fully digital card available without analog support (which I didn’t need) for my PCIe computer.
I was able to finish the online work for Musallat in my home studio, where I do most of my work and captured original footage from a Sony F900R HDCAM directly to the Mac Pro via the DeckLink HD Pro card. It was all was accomplished with an RGB 10 bit 1080p workflow utilizing the Blackmagic Design DeckLink card’s codec.
When completed, the Musallat project was approximately 4TB. To monitor the finished video, I used the Blackmagic Design Intensity card’s HDMI output and showed the final work on an LCD television to Musallat’s and Gen’s director/producers. Before I delivered the project, nobody believed I could handle so a large project in a home studio utilizing just desktop systems—and still finish on time and on schedule! Now everybody’s a believer.
Just a year later, I had stepped up to Blackmagic Design’s newest DeckLink HD Extreme card with Dual Link and 3Gbs. It has everything I need on a single card and offers me the greatest range of options for upcoming feature film projects. The DeckLink HD Extreme card is the only solution for monitoring both SDI and HDMI with two different displays at the same time. All I have to do is connect my DeckLink HD Extreme via its HDMI output to my LCD television and show the HD video to the client/director in all its high definition glory. At the same time, using my HDLink HDTV resolution monitoring converter, I can view the same HD video on my 23” Apple Cinema Display. This new DeckLink HD Extreme is great. It's “the real deal all in one card”! Amazing!
On my latest project is a comedy film entitled Seytanin Pabucu (“Devil's Shoes”) for which I was responsible for all the visual effects, main title sequence and the movie’s trailer. But once I needed to step up to HD and 2K capture and editing, the only way I could stay on budget was to find a cost-effective method for looking at every pixel in the HD or 2K video stream for pixel-by-pixel monitoring. Fortunately, I discovered that the Blackmagic Design HDLink Pro monitoring converter connected to an Apple Cinema Display monitor gave me exactly the quality I needed to evaluate my own work and also to present it in the highest quality to my clients.
Last year, Bilkom, the local Apple authorized distributor here in Istanbul, invited me to be a part of the Apple/Bilkom Applemaster lecture series. This series allowed me to share my real world knowledge while demonstrating to audiences how one creative person using a single desktop computer can handle massive projects up to 2K resolution in real time on a small budget.
When doing the Applemaster series, I bring my full editing workstation complete with Raid-configured SATA2 drives from G-Tech, Seagate and LaCie, as well as monitors, speakers etc., to share my movie and television projects. By deconstructing the processes and breaking down shots right in front of their eyes, the audience can see how I edit and playback huge 1080p files in real time and compose, then finish, entire shots on one desktop machine.
For the most recent seminar, I used a 42" Philips HD LCD television along with my 23" Apple Cinema Display to show the sophisticated HDMI client monitoring features of my new DeckLink HD Extreme card. The demonstration went over really well.
Today, I also teach visual effects and motion graphics in Istanbul’s Maltepe University where I showcase my real world film and television post production processes using Blackmagic Design DeckLink cards in an Apple and Adobe-based workflow. Whether teaching at the university or participating in a lecture, instead of simply talking about software I use Blackmagic Design DeckLink cards to demonstrate everything that is happening at a pixel-by-pixel level. Even though I conduct these presentations live, there’s never been a problem.
Although in Istanbul there’s a preference for some of the older and much more expensive systems for high end video post production and film finishing—after all, most people here have pre-formed ideas about editing. But increasingly, we freelancers and owners of boutique post houses are showing even the major studios and networks that there are lower cost alternatives for creative post production.
Now that even Turkey’s national TV networks are preparing to switch to high definition broadcasting there will be new production opportunities for everyone. Thanks to these amazing desktop tools, I can be as productive, creative and competitive as the big houses without having to rely on a “cast of thousands”. They give me the power of independent content creation on my desktop at a maximum quality level but a minimum cost. That’s why, I have to say, it's “Blackmagic”.
