News

December 9, 2013

Blackmagic Design today announced that Jaguar’s “F-Type, Your Type” short film series was graded using DaVinci Resolve by Aaron Cao, colorist and owner of Shanghai-based MZ Postproduction. The three episode series tells the story of three characters’ pursuits of their dreams and has been shown in theaters and on websites across China.

Directed by Chris Reed and starring Taiwanese artist Jimmy Lin, China’s “Princess of Ballet” Hou Honglan, Chinese actress Ni Ni, known for her debut in Zhang Yi Mou’s “The Flowers in War" and the stunning Jaguar F-Type convertible sports car, the short films were produced by Gwantsi, one of the leading production companies in China. Despite the tight color grading schedule, the team’s goal was to produce three films that reflected the elegance of the Jaguar F-Type.

“The three films required us to grade more than five hundred shots in three days, but as the director and cinematographer, Chris didn’t want to compromise quality because of the tight schedule and was strict as always with the way the footage was graded to ensure a filmic look,” said Aaron. “Thanks to DaVinci Resolve’s tools and efficient color grading, we achieved the goal on time.”

Developing the look of the Jaguar F-Type was paramount for Chris, and as the footage from the shoots was not consistent, extensive color correction was required to achieve the perfect look to show off the Jaguar F-Type.

“The F-Type Jimmy Lin drives in the films is orange, but the original footage looked flat and the color of the car changed between scenes due to varying lighting,” explained Aaron. “Chris insisted on working hard in primaries first to bring back the color, instead of directly pulling a chroma key, to ensure the image looked real.

“That sort of increased the complexity, but there was always a tool in DaVinci Resolve that could increase my flexibility and help me meet Chris’ requirements,” he continued. “In this case, the custom curves enabled me to fix the color of the car in primaries and make sure the image looked more natural and realistic.”

Aaron also noted how DaVinci Resolve’s node based grading was key to an efficient workflow. “Every time Chris requested a tweak to the grade, I could easily make the adjustment by adding or removing nodes until he gave it a green light,” said Aaron. “Sometimes Chris might hesitate when he needed to make a choice between different grades for a shot, and DaVinci Resolve allowed me to quickly show him the grade he wanted to review by turning on and off any of the nodes, which made his decision making process easier and faster.

“Flagging is another great efficient feature for projects like the F-Type films because it let me locate a shot or quickly find a grade among hundreds of shots,” he continued. “Before grading, when Chris was establishing the key shots and identifying problems, I tagged the key shots with red flags and the problematic ones with blue flags. And even during grading, I also tagged different grades with flags. Whenever Chris wanted to see a shot or grade, I was always able to find it in no time because the flags guided me.

“DaVinci Resolve’s object tracking was also used constantly. I just needed to specify the object to track, and DaVinci Resolve would automatically do the rest. That saved me a lot of time,” concluded Aaron.

“Overall, I am very happy with the final looks for the three films. DaVinci Resolve can make good shots look great and great shots look amazing,” said Chris.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color 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 color 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 www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Eyeon is offering holiday discounts on various Fusion products, including Fusion Subscription, and Fusion Upgrades. Contact us for details.

Blackmagic Design today announced the immediate availability of HyperDeck 4.1 software which adds three new Apple ProRes™ file formats for the HyperDeck Studio broadcast recorder. HyperDeck 4.1 update is available now free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website.

HyperDeck Studio customers can already record and playback in uncompressed, or compressed ProRes 422 (HQ) and DNxHD formats. This new software update adds three additional Apple ProRes™ file formats, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 (LT) and ProRes (Proxy) which provides customers with significantly reduced video file sizes while preserving full frame 10-bit 4:2:2 quality.

This update allows customers to get longer recording times for the same file size so they can use low cost SSD drives while still recording high quality video in all SD and HD resolutions. Using ProRes 422 (Proxy) it is possible to record over 24 hours of 1080HD video in a single 480GB SSD drive. Selecting the type of ProRes format for recording can be set via the built in on screen menus and all ProRes types can be played back automatically.

The Apple ProRes 422 formats are designed specifically for multi-stream non linear editing, minimal generation loss and fast export, making them very popular video file formats for post production and broadcast. All ProRes files recorded with HyperDeck Studio can be opened directly in Apple Final Cut Pro X™ for immediate editing.

“We are extremely excited to be delivering yet another amazing free update for all HyperDeck Studio customers,” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. “HyperDeck Studio was originally launched as a 10-bit uncompressed SSD based broadcast deck for rack mount recording and playback. Since launch, we have delivered multiple free software updates that have given our customers incredible new features including DNxHD recording and playback, enhanced built in menus, ProRes 422 (HQ) recording and playback, new Ethernet protocol for deck control, timecode run triggered recording and we also launched the advanced HyperDeck Studio Pro model featuring Ultra HD formats and 6G-SDI technology. Now with the addition of 3 ProRes formats, HyperDeck Studio is the ideal replacement for aging broadcast decks and is perfect for fast paced broadcast and live production environments.”

About HyperDeck

HyperDeck Studio is a broadcast deck SSD recorder, that lets customers record and play back the highest quality uncompressed and compressed video format’s using fast 2.5” SSD’s. HyperDeck Studio records and plays back uncompressed, compressed ProRes or DNxHD formats. HyperDeck Studio features dual SSD slots and a beautiful user friendly VTR style design with function buttons, a control wheel for jog and shuttle, plus external RS-422 emulated control.

The high resolution LCD screen displays timecode and transport information, plus a full color thumbnail preview of the current clip in record and playback. Crystal look buttons give customers full transport control just like a broadcast deck. HyperDeck Studio features SDI and HDMI connections giving customers the highest quality SD or HD recording and playback from a single SSD!

Availability and Price

HyperDeck 4.1 software update is available now for download free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website for HyperDeck Studio customers.

Press Photography

Product photos of the HyperDeck Studio, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color 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 color 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 www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Blackmagic Design announced that the ATEM Production Studio 4K was deployed during the 2013 United Arab Emirate (UAE) U17 World Cup as part of a new live production workflow in the six host nation stadiums.

Organizers approached Pulse Middle East, a provider of audio visual and lighting solutions, to not only design and install the new system, but to also provide technical and operational support throughout the world championship of association football for players under the age of 17.

The Emirate stadiums hosting games during the U17 World Cup were the Al Ahli Stadium (Dubai), Mohamad Bin Zayed Stadium (Al Ain), Al Jazira Stadium (Abu Dhabi), Sharjah Stadium (Sharjah), Emirates Stadium (Ras Al Khaima) and the Fujeirah Stadium (Fujeirah).

Coverage of the World Cup’s 52 matches was filmed by up to 12 HD cameras at each venue. HD-SDI signals were fed into an OB truck where the material was composited on a vision mixer and the clean program feed was used to meet each of the host venues’ in-stadium matchday video requirements.



Four separate down converted HD-SDI program outputs were taken from the OB van and fed into the stadium’s ATEM Production Studio 4K and composited using the ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel.

“Output one was a mixed program feed of the on pitch action, while the second output covered the stadium, capturing the supporters’ reactions as the games unfolded. The stadium’s production team then produced its own mixed program output, which was played out on the stadium’s giant LED screens in 16:9 650i50,” explains Rami Haber of Pulse Middle East.

The production team took a further two program outputs from the broadcaster, which were used for the television screens throughout the stadiums concourse, hospitality suites and press commentary positions.

Rami goes on to explain: “Although Ultra HD 4K wasn’t a requirement for this World Cup, all of the stadiums involved expressed an interest in retaining equipment once the tournament had drawn to a conclusion. That’s why it was important for the live production workflow to support SD, HD and ultimately 4K formats.”

Press Photography
Product photos of the ATEM Production Studio 4K and ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com.

About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color 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 color 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 www.blackmagicdesign.com.

For a limited time only, NewTek's LightWave 3D software is available for 875 EUR ex. VAT. Users of LightWave 10 or older can now purchase the upgrade for 395 EUR ex. VAT! This is a limited time offer.