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Videography Magazine

November 2007

Wired Science
HD Production With Proxy Files

by Joy Zaccaria

In keeping with its advanced science motif, Wired Magazine has launched a weekly television series shot in HD called Wired Science. In conjunction with PBS' KCET in Los Angeles, the show premiered nationwide on October 3 endeavoring to expose viewers to the base elements of what is happening in science today--as well as to the people making it happen.

In addition to presenting cutting-edge technologies in front of the camera, the series is using cutting-edge technology on the production side. To enable Wired Science to be produced entirely in high-definition, KCET's Los Angeles facility built an HD production control room complete with HD cameras for both the studio and the field. The series is being produced for multiple platforms, including mobile applications.

Gordon Bell, vice president of engineering and operations for KCET, chose the Sony HDCAM F350, for HD field cameras shooting in the 1080i format. The HDCAM records on a disc, not unlike a DVD disc and it records the full-resolution media along with a proxy file.

For Bell, the choice to go with Sony was made partly due to the media itself. "The Sony disc in the camera costs $29 for 50 minutes of recording media at full-resolution," said Bell. "Whereas with the Panasonic P2, it costs thousands of dollars for four 8-minute cards. The media must immediately be transferred onto something else since you can't afford to have too many of those cards." It was a natural fit to go with the HDCAM since KCET already has a lot of Sony products in house. "We use Sony Digibeta and we have Sony studio cameras," said Bell.

Another reason to go with the Sony HDCAM was to speed up the initial process of ingesting the material for the editors. "The proxy file can be transferred onto the Avid Unity system as a file transfer as opposed to real time," said Bell. "So it saves time and money."

Time was a key factor since the delivery date had been pushed up from some time in January 2008 to September 2007. "It compressed all the schedules so they had to come out of the gate running to make their first air date of October 3," said Bell.

In order to accommodate for the shortened schedule, KCET needed to add more Avid Adrenaline Media Composer edit bays and more editors. The use of the proxy files during editing made the necessary difference to meet the deadline. The initial edits were done using the proxy files only. "The video looks awful and the audio sounds bad," said Bell. "But you can do your edit, create your list, and then you up-res your material to the full-res versions. The list puts it together for you."

Sony supplies a viewer, the PDZ1 that works on a home computer -- without the need for VHS or DVD dubs. “It gives you audio, video, and time code,” said Bell. “It's just like a QuickTime kind of thing except it's Sony's own specific player.” For Bell, proxies were a handy solution because they can be thrown on a flash drive and taken over to transcription.

"The Avid Adrenaline Media Composers work well with proxy files in editing and it saved a lot of time," said Bell. He reported that the proxies didn't work on the Nitris, Avid's new Symphony that edits in HD. For this production, the Nitris could only be used once the footage was up-ressed. “I guess the Nitris and proxy files hadn't quite shaken hands yet,” said Bell. “The Nitris would hang up and you'd have to reboot a lot when using the proxy files. But the Adrenalines loved the proxy files. They just sang right through it.” Bell reasoned that Nitris is a good HD edit platform, it just didn't like the proxy video. “They're coming out with software fixes for it," he said.

Bell was responsible for making it an HD control room at KCET. "It's PC-based with 11 edit bays hooked into an Avid Unity. The Avid Adrenalines were used to cut the story pieces and some color correction was finished on the Avid Symphony Nitris units. There was not a lot of color correction needed. “Field pieces were shot by different cameramen so they have different looks that needed to be blended and matched back to the studio look as well.”

Chris Deichl is a camera operator using one of Wired Science's three kits for its varied locations. With the Sony XDCAM, he used Fujinon mid lenses and the lighting kit is fairly small consisting of three in the LTM Pepper light series: a 300, a 200, and a 150 Watt along with one Lowel Rifa-lite.

The crew generally consists of the camera operator, the sound person, a PA, and the producer. On one particularly notable location, the crew went 6,500 feet underground, down in a functioning mine. It was a piece on neutrinos, the research of which should one day reveal how the universe was made. The lab was that far underground in the mine to be safe from contamination from lights and radio waves.

"The crazy thing was the passageway to the laboratory was the dirtiest environment you could possibly imagine shooting in," said Deichl. "All to get into the laboratory that is the most sterile environment. Once at the lab, we had to clean all the gear, take showers, and change before entering." Due to assignments like this, the collection of gear was kept simple and streamlined.

Time was also an issue for Deichl on the shooting end. "We would show up to one location and shoot there for maybe an hour or two and then we have to get B roll," he said. For a segment on science kits, they had to go to two museums, and a compound in New Mexico. “We had to do three different set-ups in one day. When we get to the location we have to assess what natural light can be used to enhance a scene. That is then tweaked with the light kit,” said Deichl. In that regard it is challenging just to get in, shoot it, and be out the door and off to the next segment.

Deichl likes to do establishing shots more cinematically. "On the sticks for nice wide shots--the vistas," he said. "And then when you're in the place, it's more like reality TV. It's cinema verite-ish where you're running and gunning--like ENG type stuff."

The core subjects of Wired Science will be as varied as those covered in the magazine—anything from brain-scanning lie detectors and unmanned aerial vehicles to how homeland security fears are changing the contents of kids' chemistry sets.

Chris Hardwick and Kamala Lopez host the show's in-studio content, including interviews, how-to segments, and introductions to segments presented by field correspondents from locations all over the world. Stories include a report from Estonia on a botnet cyber-attack that shut down the country's banks and newspapers, a look at cardiac surgery performed by a "robo" doc, and an in-studio chat with Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist who connects investors with innovative ideas in the world of green technology, consumer electronics, and biotech.

Wired Science is designed to be a more upbeat show according to Gordon Bell at KCET. "The show is designed to be witty for a younger demographic—in the 20-30 age group--and the editing is done fairly quickly. It's fast paced as far as the cutting goes."