System information

Nov 27 2008 Copyright RED Digital Cinema

Appendix D: Post Production

RED workflow is quite easy to understand, especially if you have had experience with photo-

graphic RAW image processing, or shoot 16mm or 35mm film followed by a telecine transfer to a

non-linear video editor and on-line conform.

RAW data has a wide dynamic range and color space, so you can freely change the white bal-

ance of the footage, adjust exposure and alter highlight and shadow tonality in post-production.

The RED ONE camera records RAW sensor data using wavelet based REDCODE RAW com-

pression to a CF card, or RED-DRIVE digital magazine. The compressed RAW data is then trans-

ferred from the digital media via FireWire or USB-2 to a Macintosh OSX workstation running RED

Alert! or REDCINE, or to a Windows XP workstation running REDCIINE post production software.

These applications do not directly edit or conform the RAW data themselves, but prepare the

RAW data for editing and conforming by RGB domain post-production software applications.

If you are using CF media, copy the clips onto the workstation’s hard drive. If you are recording

to a RED-DRIVE, it can be directly mounted as an external drive using FireWire if desired which

eliminates the media copy step.

In film processing terms, RED Alert! and REDCINE act as an integrated film laboratory, telecine,

and one light color corrector. They convert recorded REDCODE RAW data to RGB video, and

provide basic one light image processing and color correction. Using REDCINE, footage can also

be cropped, resized, or repositioned. These functions lessen the amount of time required for

color correction or re-framing of shots after the final cut has been completed.

RED Alert! can generate QuickTime reference movies suitable for use in dailies applications, and

export a sequence of 2K or 4K resolution RGB image files as TIFF or DPX files for DI use.

REDCINE can also encode 4K or 2K RAW footage into a variety of uncompressed RGB and

compressed 4:2:2 video formats. Provided the appropriate QuickTime codec’s are available on

the host computer workstation, compressed video choices include ProRes, DNxHD, DV100 and

M-JPEG QuickTime movies at 1080p or 720p resolution. For film out, multi-media or special ef-

fects applications, REDCINE may export a sequence of 2K or 4K image files in TIFF, Open EXR,

DPX, JPEG, or Photoshop PSD file formats.

Creating 4:2:2 at 1080p or 720p resolution QuickTime movies provides compatibility with the

majority of non-linear editing systems.

Depending on the QuickTime movie resolution, material may be taken directly to a broadcast de-

livery videotape format, or after the editorial decisions have been made, video can be conformed

at full image resolution by replacing the lower resolution edit proxy (e.g. 720p at 8 bit quality) with

a high resolution 4K, 2K or 1080p image file.