ACHT perfects the HD post process

Since ACHT Frankfurt’s launch in 2003, the post production company has become known for its technical and creative excellence, working with high profile directors such as Wim Wenders and with Cannes Gold and MTV award-winners on its reel.

ACHT provides a range of services, from shooting to post production, specialising in HD post production, editing and special effects for commercials, movies, music videos and corporate films. The company has been a pioneer in high definition. It was one of the first German facilities to acquire HDCAM SR, opting for Sony SRW-5000 HDCAM SR VTRs when it moved into HD in 2005.

Oliver Kaehler, the head of production at ACHT, says that the majority of its commercials work is now in high definition, whilst all of its TV idents are worked on in HD. “A few years ago we were talking about the future of HD,” he says. “Now the future is already here. No matter what file format you use, in the end you will have to use HD.”

Recent commercials for Naturefund, Fritz Kola, 1919 Tai Chi and Ariel were all post produced in HD, as were TV design jobs for German channel ZDF’s Terra X, SF’s intro to sport’s programming and European TV network 3Sat’s science programme, Nano. ACHT was behind the film for Mercedes Benz at Frankfurt’s Expo IAA 2007, which received Cannes Gold. It also worked on German band Tokio Hotel’s video for its track, Ready, Set, Go, which won the best video newcomer award at this year’s US MTV awards.

HDCAM SR at the heart of the post process

As an experienced HD outfit, ACHT has organised HD workshops for directors of photography, for advertising agencies and for editors at TV stations so that they can get a better understanding of the process of HD filming and editing. The workshops have proven to be useful for the facility as well as for its clients, giving them an opportunity to exchange views and experience and reassuring film-makers that HD is not a completely new world. “That is an important point for our customers,” says Kaehler. “The progress of work in a tapeless HD post production is the same as in a SD post production and what we hand out to them in the end is a tape.” That said, ACHT has a great deal of new high definition experience to share, having honed the process of HD post production.

The facility originally chose Sony’s HDCAM SR because it believed that this would become the main format in post production and special effects, since it offers compression suitable for the high-end of the market. The SRW-5000 works in combination with ACHT’s other systems, including an HD Baselight colour-grading suite, two Flame systems and one Flint online system, together with the facility’s Gigabit network. This gives an ideal solution for the treatment of HD. “HDCAM SR guarantees that the results of the constant workflow are of the highest quality throughout the entire post production process,” says Kaehler.

ACHT has been aiming to do all HD projects using the HDCAM SR as the main machine, because it is both practical and cost efficient, as well as saving on lengthy import or export processes. With the SRW-5000, a faster workflow has developed and, at the end of the edit, an HDCAM SR master can be provided, without quality loss issues. “In the beginning of the HD workflow, our clients were a bit reserved,” says Kaehler, “but now almost all of them ask for it.”

The HD workflow

As an expert in the use of HD, Kaehler describes the workflow at ACHT, using HDCAM SR and the 1920 x 1080 format, which has proved to be a time saving process, even when converting from material originated in a film format. At the end of a shoot, the film material arrives at the facility. If it has been shot in either 35mm or 16mm, it is then given to a partner company that scans it with a one light process on to an HDCAM SR in 4:2:2. At that point, it is passed from the HDCAM SR to the offline-edit.

After completion of the offline edit, an EDL is passed to the Baselight colour-grading suite and the takes are loaded according to the EDL from the HDCAM SR. The next step is for the Baselight system to render the colour-graded material to the facility’s SAN server. The Flame system loads the colour-graded takes, with the assistance of the EDL (Fileconform). After finishing the online edit, the final master is played off to HDCAM SR.

“This workflow system would have never established itself that well and been accepted by our clients, if the quality had not been excellent. It is a reliable system and the whole process is magnificent for high-end productions,” says Kaehler. “At ACHT, we are all very satisfied with this way of working and handling HD projects. As we are one of the leading post production companies in Germany, it is well known that we provide good quality.”

BVM-L230 Grade One monitors

ACHT also has two 24-inch Sony HD LCD monitors, as well as its three new generation BVM-L230 Sony monitors for all kind of productions. “For the last two years we have been able to offer a complete HD workflow – from editing to colour-grading, the biggest part of our projects are handled in HD,” says Ralf Drechsler, one of the managing directors at ACHT FRANKFURT. “Now we have made the last step by buying the Sony BVM-L230 monitors. With the new monitors, the native rendering of the footage in our online is perfectly completed.”

With a flexible technical offering, catering for a range of formats, ACHT has been able to establish itself in the forefront of German film production facilities. As well as a leading post production house, it is also considered a state-of-the-art design company and as a partner and consultant in the complete production process. “Not only do we see ourselves as the technical assistant at the end of a production, but also as an important service-interface between film production company, advertising agency and client – and this in respect of the technical, logistic, communicative and creative aspect,” says another of the ACHT managing directors, Ralf Ott.

19 December 2008