News

IGN Pro League Live Streams SXSW eSports Tournaments with Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design today announced that IGN Pro League (IPL) used Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Camera Converters, Micro Videohub, Videohub Master Control, H.264 Pro Recorders, DeckLink Quad capture and playback cards and Mini Converters HDMI to SDI, Audio to SDI and SDI Distribution to support its professional eSports tournaments at SXSW Gaming 2013.

IPL brought in 27 top players from around the world to compete for cash prizes and rankings in “StarCraft II,” “League of Legends” and “World of Tanks.” During the tournaments, each player was stationed at a desk equipped with a computer for game play and an audience facing 54" LED screen mounted on the front. The screens displayed logos and information from IPL’s proprietary web application, such as player names and viewer votes on potential winners.

“The application is run by an open source program called Caspar, which was created by the Swedish government for broadcast graphics and adapted for IPL’s use,” said Tracy Peterson, manager, video production, eSports, IGN Entertainment. “The dynamic data is piped through Adobe Flash Player, then the Caspar system pushes it out via DeckLink Quad cards to Mini Converters, which feed the 54" screens. We use the DeckLink Quad cards so each of our four graphics computers can feed four to eight screens.”



At the heart of the operation were the Micro Videohub and Videohub Master Control, which route the Caspar graphics, switcher feed and even a direct video playback should the switcher go offline. The feeds were routed to a 21 ft. diagonal center stage screen, which also displayed logos, advertisements and sponsor information. In running a multitude of graphics, IPL relied on the Micro Videohub to change inputs without any disturbance to the viewing experience.

“‘League of Legends’ is the most popular game in the world right now, and it has a huge library of fantastic characters that the players select from. Every viewer has their own favorite, and the selection of these characters is a ceremonious moment in the event,” said Tracy. “We use in game animations and our graphics system to run a short hero animation for each character as they are selected. This portion of the show excites the audience and gets them ready for the main event, so it needs to be flawless. The graphics come directly from the DeckLink Quad cards, through the Micro Videohub and are projected onto the center stage screen. We also use the Micro Videohub to seamlessly switch from the program to the Caspar feed and back again during this sequence.

“We invest a lot of money in our stage show, which is why we stream them live on Twitch.tv and about an hour later on YouTube and our syndication channels using the recordings of each match. We use the H.264 Pro Recorders to capture high quality digital recordings that we upload directly to the Internet. The devices are easy to set up and operate, as well as work well in any environment,” he said.

One area IPL was able to reduce costs was implementing fiber thanks to Blackmagic Design’s ATEM Camera Converters, battery powered optical fiber converters with talkback, tally and mic inputs.

“The ATEM Camera Converters saved us hundreds of dollars per day per camera. In only a few events, we could justify the upgrade to fiber, and the ability to run miles of fiber was a huge bonus,” said Tracy. “We are looking into using fiber to combine three to five stage shows to create a new wrap up channel and provide analysis and tournament updates throughout the day, live. Without Blackmagic Design, we simply wouldn't be able to do all this.”

Press Photography
Product photos of Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images. IPL images are available here.

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 DaVinci Emmy™ award winning 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, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Sesame Street's Latest YouTube Videos Shot With Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Blackmagic Design announced that directors Josh and Jason Diamond of the Diamond Brothers shot Sesame Workshop’s, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, "Can You Tell-y Me How to Get to a Billion?" and "Counting the 'You's in YouTube" videos with Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Josh and Jason Diamond worked with DP Timur Civan on the four day shoot, and NYC based freelance colorist, Juan Salvo, used Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve to color the project.

"Shooting ProRes was a plus in that we were trying to find the best ISO to f-stop ratio. All the characters have fur and fringe, and there’s much more fine detail," said Josh. "Being able to try a couple shots in various settings then pop the SSD out and quickly pull some keys in After Effects directly from the SSD was a huge time saver. We were able to compare and contrast while setting up so we weren’t fighting with it in post. There was no secondary processing or transcoding to go through."

Spending sometimes as little as 40 minutes at a location, the team had little time to set up before they were shooting, breaking down, loading out and moving to the next location.

"We weren’t able to scout any locations ahead of time, so we showed up with a small lighting package and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. The camera is small, light and doesn’t need a lot of accessories, and we were able to leave it rigged so it could be powered up and shooting in seconds," said Josh. "Having 13 stops of dynamic range gave us the flexibility to say 'there’s a lot of nice natural light, so let’s throw up one Kino for fill and shoot.' Also shooting in Log allowed us to protect our highlights much easier."



With a Rec 709 image on the camera’s built in display, the team viewed a Log image on a secondary SDI monitor and benefitted from being able to use both images to determine if the shot looked good or needed adjustment without having to waste time setting up a large producer’s monitor in tight spaces.

"We were able to roll in, take five seconds to look around, figure out who and where we were going to shoot and go. We even filmed at a school with three and four year olds who weren’t going to sit patiently for long," said Josh. "The Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s versatility, ergonomics and efficiency were key to our workflow for this shoot."

"I was able to hand hold the Blackmagic Cinema Camera for almost six hours without a break, which enabled us to stay on schedule, get extra takes and move between the numerous locations with minimal crew. The camera was critical to the speed we required," said Timur Civan, DP. "The Blackmagic Cinema Camera gave us the most image quality per pound of any camera out there, and we were able to deliver image quality on par with cameras costing three times as much, but at half the size weight and complexity. It has a great run and gun form factor with a big cinematic look."



Shot in ProResHQ, the footage was edited by Sesame Workshop and then sent to Juan for color grading. Since the footage was shot in Log, Juan ensured the contrast, exposure and saturation were appropriate for each distinct setting, and Resolve's Log grading tools allowed him to dial in exposure and contrast as desired.

"The latitude and tonality of the footage were excellent, and Resolve’s robust Log grading and agile secondaries made it a breeze to work with," said Juan. "In almost every shot, I used secondaries, qualifiers, Power Windows and custom curves to get the footage looking just right. And having all those functions available at the push of a button from my control surface made it a cinch in a time sensitive environment. Resolve allowed me to render out review versions and final deliverables in real time."

Press Photography
Product photos of Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images. The Diamond Brothers images are available here.

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 DaVinci Emmy™ award winning 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, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. For more information, please check www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Visual DOF, free Android application designed to extend the management of the depth of field area when filming, has been updated (download). The app supports the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, as well as many other popular cameras and sensors, and now features support of large tablet screens in landscape orientation, input of custom Circle of Confusion parameter, and locking the size of human subjects. More in the following video:

Sci-fi thriller ‘Hero Punk’ shot with Blackmagic Cinema Camera

March 7, 2013 - Blackmagic Design today announced that “Hero Punk,” an upcoming feature film from writer and director Kanen Flowers and produced by Scruffy.TV, was shot using Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

“Hero Punk” is a sci-fi thriller set in 2042 in a dystopian society where the government is working to rid the world of people with mutant abilities. Because more than half of the film was shot on a 1,100 sq. ft. green screen, the team had to mark the virtual world via tracking markers and capture enough latitude in the images to separate the actors from the background, ensuring that lighting the actors would not decompose in the footage.

“After shooting some tests, we realized we needed a camera that could handle the richness of the green screen and the fidelity of the tracking markers, but that was flexible enough to support our sometimes ‘run and gun’ workflow where we could grab SSDs and go,” said Kanen. “We also had to stay conscious of our budget and the fact that we needed two cameras for weeks of shooting.”



Kanen, along with cinematographers Paul Del Vecchio and Patrick Johnson, found everything they needed in Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, high resolution 2.5K sensor, built in SSD recorder, open file format support and compact design. Shooting in ProRes 442 in a 10-bit color space against green screen, the team was able to easily capture tracking markers and correctly light the actors, preserving their natural look without requiring a tremendous amount of tweaking in post.

“We set both cameras at the same f-stop and shot flat, which allowed us to light the talent correctly because we didn’t have any interference from the green screen. The camera’s high dynamic range ensured that when we added the color back later, we could pull a better key in the composite,” said Kanen. “The Blackmagic Cinema Camera was perfectly suited for our workflow. ProRes is a great native codec, and the ability to pop out an SSD with ProRes and seamlessly copy it over to the editing system was amazing. We even edited on site, and the rough composites allowed us to stay on track with what we needed.”

Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s ease of use and flexibility were essential in accommodating the production’s workflow and allowed the team to focus on performance, directing and storyline. Shooting 10 pages a day, the team was constantly setting up new shots, experimenting with perspectives, from 12 ft. in the air hovering over actors or sliding along rails underneath them, and numerous handheld and shoulder shots.

“During one scene, we had the two cameras on shoulder rigs in a very tight kitchen. The scene would have never happened if not for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. There was so much movement that a DSLR would have sacrificed quality and any other camera would have been unwieldy and sacrificed movement,” said Kanen. “The Blackmagic Cinema Camera feels like a DLSR but shoots like a professional cinema camera. And it’s so intuitive that I was able to take over shooting one day. It provided us with the freedom to experiment with shots, let us achieve the look and feel that we wanted and allowed us to make the movie we wanted to make.”

While the film is still in the final editing and finishing stages, Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, the world’s most advanced color correction tool, will be used for color grading.

Press Photography
Product photos of all Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images. “Hero Punk” images are available here.

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.

Intelligent Creatures announced their decision to define their pipeline with the entire eyeon suite of technologies and workflow methodologies. "We've been working closely with eyeon to develop a new pipeline around Fusion and Generation project management and shot review. The ability for artists to review their work in the context of an active timeline is amazing," explained Eric Doiron, Compositing Supervisor at Intelligent Creatures. With a long history in helping directors tell the most compelling stories possible in such films as Battle: Los Angeles, Watchmen, Babel, The Fountain, Stranger Than Fiction, and Mr & Mrs. Smith, Intelligent Creatures are one of the industry's most creative VFX firms. When asked to respond to the benefits of Fusion, Doiron elaborates, "I really like how Fusion approaches depth compositing and volumetric effects. Through efficient use of the world position pass, Fusion achieves beautiful volume masking and fog effects in a format with a very small data footprint. And since calculations are in world space, the solution is independent of the camera point of view. The low data overhead rendering in near real time allows for more iterations and reduced turnaround time. This gives artists incredible creative freedom up until the last minute, and provides significant savings for the producers." See our eyeon lineup page here.