by Nancy Jundi
Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck’s directorial debut released in October, is one of the first features being cut entirely in High Definition. Originally set up with a traditional Standard Definition pipeline, the production became frustrated with the low resolution images, which prompted Miramax to approach Runway Edit about making the move to an HD pipeline. Runway re-engineered the workflow with a setup that included two Avid Symphony Nitris HD systems, upped the storage on the project to a 24 TB
Avid Unity shared storage solution, provided all HD peripherals and worked closely with the editorial crew to re-conform early cuts of the Film into the HD environment.
Editor, Billy Goldenberg noted “You can actually see the actors’ eyes and other objects you don’t normally see until you get to the big screen, which is the biggest advantage. There’s no degradation of the image, there’s very little compression, not like a regular Avid with 14:1 compression. It saves time and it’s a pleasure to not be surprised as much when it’s projected. Moving from the Media Composer to the Nitris was seamless, mostly because Runway was able to hook up a Mac keyboard even though it’s a PC system. They had software that made all the buttons the same as I’m used to.”
Director, Ben Affleck responded “It does take up a lot of storage, but it’s really worth it. I was a big advocate and really, really wanted it. It’s great and definitely the next evolution. To go from this back to an Avid Meridien—where you won’t be able to see the colors or how the shots look— won’t happen. Most folks will do a DI (Digital Intermediate) and you can see everything there, but you can do a lot of color correcting in the Nitris. You get to see what the movie is really going to look like and to me that’s important.”
Daniel McGilvray of Runway added “We love working with forward-thinking filmmakers who see the benefit of HD and are willing to forge new ground to get better results.”
