With competition for compelling content constantly heating up, the challenge for a number of post-production houses in the region is to find cost-effective workflows that can enable them to create the best content possible.

The only constant in the post-production industry is change, says Peter Barber, director of Creative Services for Blackmagic Design. A leading post-production facility based in Singapore, the company specialises in post producing commercials, HD documentaries, TV series, feature-film finishing and Digital Intermediate (DI).

When Blackmagic was established in 2004, its initial business plan was to be a pure editing and finishing facility. A crucial post service, the transfer of film into video form, or telecine, was outsourced, a process that Blackmagic eventually felt did not contribute to an effective workflow process. Thus, change was required, and the company reveals that this decision saw Blackmagic become "the first-post-production facility in the region to scan film in 2k format using the DI technology". It provided Blackmagic with the quality it was looking for, but with the technology at hand then ' providing a scanning rate of 8-10spf — it was deemed too slow to handle Blackmagic's burgeoning workload.

The evolution continued with Black-magic's introduction of the Lasergraphics Director 4k film-scanning system in 2009. The installation enabled 4k scanning and increased 2k scanning capabilities to Blackmagic's two existing Director film scanners. It boosted scanning rate to 8fps, and allowed Blackmagic to scan in multiple formats, including 2k, 4k and QuickTime.

Another key decision made in Blackmagic's fledgling years was to purchase a DaVinci Resolve color corrector, widely accepted as the standard in post-production coloring. Blackmagic believes that color grading is a pivotal part of the post-production workflow, and the DaVinci Resolve offers Blackmagic a streamlined, nonlinear coloring process at TV commercial speeds.

Another advantage for the post house are the creative technologies being offered by Blackmagic's other division, known for its cost-effective graphic cards, video switch hubs and format converters, as well as the recently acquired DaVinci brand, which has further strengthened the Blackmagic creation tools brand.

However, if change is inevitable, then there must be greater emphasis on original thought in workflow and constant focus on how the workflow will help the post-production facility, adds Barber. Post-production facilities must also be receptive to change, and be willing and ready to modify or change workflows in order to meet new business needs. It is also critical that they have the right people. Barber says Blackmagic was born out of the conviction that people, ideas and creativity are just as important, if not more so, as great tools.

"There is a paradigm shift in post production toward people and workflows, not machines. When customers walk through my door, they ask who's doing their job, not what machinery we are using," he proclaims.

Meanwhile, Oktobor, an Auckland-based visual effects (VFX) and animation post-production studio, shares the same people-centric philosophy. Ganesh Raj, accounts director of Oktobor, says: "At Oktobor, we encourage the earliest possible sharing of ideas with our clients in order to add the most value across multiple disciplines. This is not something we just say; this is our mantra."

To improve and add value to its existing workflows, Oktobor recently announced the acquisition of the Base-light Four colour-grading system from Filmlight of the UK. Baselight Four allows Oktobor to provide true tapeless workflows and real-time performance up to 2k resolutions for film and digital acquisition formats, including RED, Phantom and 5D. Oktobor believes that Baselight Four ensures that the integrity of the material flows seamlessly through all of Oktobor's creative suites. Raj further reveals that Oktobor is currently ramping up its technology in order to work on stereoscopic 3D projects.

The proliferation of 3D has presented post-production houses with both opportunities and challenges to enter into a new area of post production.

Riding on the wave of the Hollywood movie Avatar, 3D has become a global craze, translating into more and more 3D content being churned out by content producers, making stereoscopic 3D post production a real business proposition for the first time.

Next month, filming will begin for Singapore's first stereoscopic 3D feature film, co-produced by Blackmagic. This establishes another first for Blackmagic, which becomes the first 3D stereoscopic post-production facility in the republic. To prepare for operation, Blackmagic has recently upgraded its existing post-production infrastructure to offer stereoscopic 3D editing and DI services for stereoscopic 3D films originated on film, RED, data or HD. Furthermore, Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve grading suites include the new Impresario grading interface and specialised monitoring systems that enable stereoscopic 3D colour grading in any resolution up to and including 4k.

Increasingly, post-production houses are becoming equipped with the ability to carry out stereoscopic 3D post production. The Lab, a post-production house based in Sydney, has been developing its capability in the 3D stereoscopic pipeline over the past 12 months.

In 2009, The Lab created stereoscopic test shots for a big budget Australian feature film. Using the Baselight Four grading suite, The Lab was successful in processing two 2k images as well as projecting them via the Barco DP90P. Using the Xpand active glasses, clients were able to view the colour grade in 3D stereo in The Lab's DI theatre. In addition, The Lab has complied a number of its recent TV commercial projects that contained 3D animation and recreated them as stereoscopic versions. Clinton Down, The Lab Sydney's head of 3D, says: "From an advertising perspective, right now we are focusing on educating our clients on the benefits of stereoscopic projects and this has been very popular, and generated a lot of interest from creative agencies and directors."

However, not all 3D content was filmed natively. Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland was originally shot in 2D but converted to 3D before its theatrical release. While those of Avatar's may dwarf its box-office receipts, the movie's relative success with audiences worldwide has led, increasingly, to many studios rushing to retrofit and convert existing 2D material into stereoscopic 3D format. However, not everybody is enamoured with the idea.

Avatar director James Cameron reportedly pointed out that people are now converting movies from 2D to 3D. He continued that this would probably work against the adoption of 3D because they will be putting out an inferior product. Besides, contrary to popular belief, a post conversion may not necessarily be an easy process to carry out. The Lab's Down explains: " If you have shot something as stereoscopic from the outset, then a relatively simple post project might only involve a grade across both eyes, and an adjustment to the plane of convergence. If you convert something to stereo from a 2D source, we would look at many approaches ' all of which are scene-dependent. There might be shots which require the scene to be reconstructed in 3D animation, with the live action footage being projected back into the reconstructed world. Or the 3D team might need to rotoscope a foreground actor from a background plate to help sell the idea of stereo."

Proponents argue that post conversion gives filmmakers more creative flexibility and control with cinematography during live action production. That was the deciding factor for Burton and his Alice director of photography Darius Z Wolski when they decided to shoot in 2D and then convert to 3D. To filmmakers and producers like Bur-ton, the underlying premise is that there are fewer restrictions in a 2D shoot, thus creating their desire for 3D conversion.

While opinions may be divided over the merits of post conversion, less disputable is the fact that more technology is gradually becoming available to support post conversion. Dutch 3D media company Zero. Creative's 2D-to-3D conversion service ensures that all 2D content is converted on manual frame-by-frame bases instead of automated processes. According to Zero Creative, this approach prevents errors, resulting in a highly accurate and high-quality 3D conversion.

"It's in our business' best interest to deliver high-quality 3D. If we don't deliver the highest quality of 3D conversion, chances exist that the audience could be disappointed about 3D in general, we can't risk that to happen," says Pierre van Maasakker, CEO of Zero Creative.

Meanwhile, hardware manufacturers are also banking on 3D. JVC recently introduced the IF-2D3D1 stereoscopic image processor, which works as a 2D-to-3D converter. Compatible with a range of HD formats, the IF-2D3D1 is designed to contribute to 3D content production work-flows, either in converting 2D material or dealing with content shot natively in 3D.However, JVC's assistant vice-president for marketing and communication, Dave Walton, stressed that the converter is intended to augment, not replace, the other conversion techniques in making creative 3D decisions. "There is no magic box that will let you convert everything, but the JVC system will speed the process up," he says.

Hence, will stereoscopic 3D post-production hold the future for the post-production industry? As with anything 3D, the jury is still out. Inconsistent workflows and tools in this nascent process, along with still undetermined delivery standards, contribute to some of the uncertainty. Moreover, there is little doubt that 3D post processes could add time and expense to budgets. 3D projects mean double the recorded material, double the disc space, double the rendering overhead and double the issues with moving material.

Suffice to say, 3D post production is intrinsically linked to the successful adoption of 3D across the board. After all, there will be no demand for 3D post-production services if the demand for 3D content is non-existent.

The Lab's VFX supervisor, Tony Cole, remains optimistic about the eventual success of 3D. "I think 3D stereoscopic will definitely be part of the future of film and TV. We are already seeing Hollywood studios converting their blockbuster films to 3D. So there will no doubt be more 3D content to be seen in feature films and TV."

Because of the Avatar phenomenon, 3D has attained a ubiquitous presence. Regardless of its ability to retain its longevity, there is little doubt that demand for 3D content is soaring. This simply means that there is an existential gold-rush mentality where 3D is concerned and the demand for stereoscopic 3D post-production services would increase exponentially, more so if 3D content successfully crosses the threshold from movie to TV. After all, if the economics make sense, more content will be produced in 3D, on top of the scramble to convert existing 2D content into 3D.

Rising from the ashes, 3D has certainly altered the landscape of the post-production industry. The only question that remains is whether the post-production industry is prepared for the change to 3D or not. APB