PBS's "Mel Brooks: Make a Noise" Completed with Teranex 2D Processor and DaVinci Resolve
Fremont, CA - September 24, 2013 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Los Angeles based post production house Shapeshifter used Blackmagic Design’s Teranex 2D Processor and DaVinci Resolve colour correction software to finish the feature length documentary “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.”
“Mel Brooks: Make a Noise” recently aired on PBS as part of the popular American Masters series, and has quickly become one of the most talked about documentaries of 2013. The film combines celebrity interviews with archival footage to shed light on the comedy giant’s personal life, creative beginnings and legendary career.
Director Robert Trachtenburg chose to shoot the film’s interviews in 4K at 23.98 fps. This footage was then edited into a 29.97 fps (DF) project and was combined with the archival footage, taken from more than five decades of Mel Brooks in film, television and on stage, which was already 29.97 fps.
Shapeshifter colourist Randy Coonfield began colour correction on the film by converting the provided 29.97 fps project back to 23.98 fps, recreating a proper link to the original footage and creating AAF files, allowing him to conform all of the 23.98 fps 4K footage in Resolve to begin colour correction. He also did a large amount of zooms to reframe interviews, which had been shot with this idea in mind.
“With Resolve’s ability to work with the full resolution files, zooms of 200 percent and more still looked terrific, which is amazing,” said Randy. “Our work included extensive secondary colour, diffusion effects and many Power Windows to create a specific look. This required a lot of tracking as well, and Resolve handled all of it perfectly.”
After colour correcting and resizing the 23.98 fps material in Resolve, the team used Blackmagic Design’s Teranex 2D Processor to perform a render process that created DNxHD media for conversion back to 29.97 fps. The new, colour corrected 29.97 fps footage was then cut into the sequence, replacing the original lower resolution shots. Once the timeline had been finalized at full HD resolution, a mixdown of the entire piece was created, which was again sent to Resolve for a final colour pass.
“Some of the footage needed additional work, like noise reduction, sharpening, repositioning and colour,” said Randy. “A few interviews needed more colour correction or different zooming, so we went back to the 23.98 fps project. But since much of the archival footage was already colour corrected, this step required very little manipulation to achieve our desired result.”
For the final step, the entire 29.97 fps mixdown was sent back to the editing team, who then overcut the archival footage and any newly created footage from the camera files, adding titles and finalizing the film.
“Using both Blackmagic’s Teranex and DaVinci Resolve really streamlined the process of finishing this film,” said Randy. “We combined very different elements together, and Blackmagic helped us achieve the look we were going for, which in the end helped us truly capture the essence of the legendary Mel Brooks.”
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About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, colour correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and film restoration software for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci colour correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including stereoscopic 3D and 4K workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au
About New Magic Australia Pty Ltd (Australian and New Zealand Blackmagic Design master distributor)
New Magic Australia Pty Ltd is a recognised leader in the distribution and marketing of multimedia hardware and software, representing a carefully selected range of innovative, leading manufacturers and catering for both the professional and consumer markets. New Magic Australia established in 1993 is the Australian distributor of Blackmagic Design, Convergent Design, Hauppauge Computer Works Inc, Cubix, Matrox Video Products and Sony Creative Software products. www.newmagic.com.au
