Prologue - Atomic-VFX and CineForm collaboration

When Atomic VFX approached CineForm about participating in their film project called "Spoon", it became apparent to all of us that the workflow decisions to be made mirror the decisions other Independent filmmakers will struggle with. Simon Hansen and the rest of the crew at Atomic-VFX aren't afraid to experiment with new technology, but they are methodical in evaluating and analyzing the technology to verify in advance that it matches their needs. For our part, we at CineForm believe there's nothing that helps our technology mature more than getting our hands dirty, so we were excited to work with the Atomic-VFX guys. We decided together that other filmmakers may benefit from following the requirement --> analysis --> decision process as it applies to Spoon. Other posts in this blog will add lots of detail to the analysis and decision process we are all actively going through.

Part of our enthusiasm for this project is that Atomic-VFX wanted to push the envelope in a number of areas. The project is to be shot with the JVC HD100U, and from its component output will be recorded direct-to-disk using CineForm Intermediate. This decision allows lots of creative freedom including capturing at 48p and 60p for various slow motion effects. The project will be edited online using Prospect HD with Adobe Premiere Pro plus After Effects for compositing and effects work. There are many, many decisions still to be made, but we'll save those for later....

By the way, we've never once met one another face-to-face. Atomic-VFX is in South Africa, and CineForm is in Carlsbad, CA. But Skype, email, and ftp sites are great things!

David Taylor
CineForm