It was a dark and stormy night. A secret agent barely escaped his car plummeting over a cliff. At the last minute, our champion saved the world from a foraging mutant mass. Those exploring the edges of space were saved from yet another evil galactic empire. And thanks to Domo Broadcast Systems’ Film Assist solution, the crews filming it all were able see and review every shot instantly!
Shooting the action sequences that make up today’s biggest blockbuster films often requires numerous cameras to get the needed shots, covering myriad camera angles. Cameras are placed far from the centre of the action, as well as mounted in or on moving vehicles to capture the activity from within.
With DBS Film Assist, the entire production team no longer has to wait for all the rushes to be assembled before they can check to ensure they got the footage they were after. It can help reduce the pressure they feel to unnecessarily repeat shots — “just in case” — before the light or other conditions change. Instead, DBS Film Assist uses wireless camera outputs to transmit the filmed output to groups around the set to review instantly. They can then decide right away if they need to repeat a shot or call it a wrap.
How it works
Typically, film cameras also produce video output at a lower quality than the recording resolution. With the DBS Film Assist solution, this output is fed to DBS wireless camera systems, and then, DBS receivers placed around the set pick up the feed. This allows each of the various, dispersed production teams to see the shots, including any coverage at significant distances or being captured in moving vehicles.
Using DBS’s Helios-TX transmitter in this process passes 10bit video, which is essential for checking footage quality — especially important for the Lighting Director. DBS Film Assist can pass Look Up Tables (LUTs) for colour correction, time codes to know exactly when cameras were rolling, and a range of camera metadata. It can encode in PsF video formats, and also has an SDI loop-through feature. Fan control allows for silent running for when you need total silence on set, and 24p video framerate gives genuine film-standard feel to the video feed.
Discover more about DBS Film Assist at IBC 2022
DBS Film Assist has been at work on many of today’s biggest movies, becoming a must-have solution helping to reduce production costs and time, while aiding the production team in providing instant, high-quality feedback and making adjustments, all based on relevant camera-originated data.
To learn more about how you can put the invaluable resources of DBS Film Assist to work for you, contact us today. If you are attending IBC 2022 in Amsterdam when it is on from September 9 to 12, be sure to visit us in Hall 10 on stand 10.D40 to see a personal demo of DBS Film Assist in action.