Prestigious Documentary Uses Multiformat Editing with EDIUS Workgroup 8

When you are looking to improve your workflow, there is nothing like a real-life example to give you insight into the effectiveness of a product. Grass Valley's EDIUS Workgroup 8 covered the following project's nonlinear editing needs and then some. Read on to see how they overcame challenges and reaped the benefits of Grass Valley's editing software.

Andrzej Kaluszko Multiformat editing for prestigious Polish documentary

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CHALLENGE Multiple file formats, resolutions and frame rates on the same timeline, with the ability to edit in real-time

SOLUTION EDIUS Workgroup 8 (as an upgrade from EDIUS Pro 7.5)

BENEFIT Real-time editing, effects and color correction, with the ability to transcode into the Grass Valley HQX codec if necessary

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Background

Based in Warsaw, Andrzej Kaluszko started his professional life as a director and founded Aura Film Tv Productions in 1990. In 2000, he purchased his first nonlinear editing system after working with a large number of editors on various films, TV programs and commercials. While he learned about editing theory and style in film school, having his own editing system meant needing to also learn the technical aspects of digital editing. Today, he mostly works as an editor, but will collaborate based on the needs of the project. “I started with EDIUS even before it was called EDIUS, with DV REX – its predecessor – because of its simplicity and speed,” said Kaluszko. “I’ve tried Avid and Premiere, but I knew what I liked best – DV REX, now EDIUS.” After cutting his 55-minute documentary Lichen’s Prophesy on DV REX, and being extremely satisfied with the results, Kaluszko moved to EDIUS v2.5 and has used all successive versions up to today’s EDIUS v8.1.

Solution

Kaluszko’s Aura Film Tv Productions have worked on various worldwide projects using EDIUS, including 3-screen performances for the Polish Pavilion during EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan and Chopin at the Pyramids in Giza where Polish contemporary musicians playing Chopin were accompanied by Kaluszko’s films on screen. “In total, I’ve worked on hundreds of projects using EDIUS – documentaries, multimedia presentations for theatres and concerts, commercials, projects in Japan, Germany and Spain…just to name a few,” said Kaluszko. “EDIUS was instrumental in all my major projects including Alina Janowska from the Pawiak Prison (shown in Chicago and at the Docu Film Festival in Lodz), Lower Silesia – Touch the Mystery, Poland at 3 Screens and my latest, Victory 1920.” Victory 1920 is a 50-minute documentary for Poland’s TVP History channel. It chronicles the one of the most important battles in the 1,000 year history of Poland, the Warsaw Battle. “It is completely unbelievable, but in 1920 Poland has won the war with the biggest country in the world – communist Russia,” said Kaluszko. “Poland was reborn in 1918 after 123 years of not existing as a state. The country was divided into three parts governed by Russia, Germany and Austria. “In 1920 (after two years of freedom), Poland was attacked by communist Russia, which planned to conquer the whole of Europe and then the rest of the world for communism. And little Poland won in the Warsaw Battle and has defended Europe until the World War II in 1939. The Warsaw Battle was the only time Russia had ever lost a war.”

“We had many different files – photos, painting, archival film, and new footage shot on five cameras: RED Epic, Sony FS700, Sony Alpha 99, Canon EOS 5D Mark III and GoPro 3+, so we had four different file types on a timeline –RED, ProRes, AVCHD and mov, in 4K and HD. That was a power of EDIUS, that we could have everything on the timeline in real-time.” Andrzej Kaluszko, Director & Producer Aura Film Tv Productions, Warsaw

Victory 1920 tells about the most important episode of the Warsaw Battle. “We had a few historians speaking about the battle, but the most important part was the reconstruction of the battle scenes. We used a lot of volunteers, and you can see the results in the trailer (www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM-PhATmbww). It’s in Polish, but you will be able to understand what is happening. Editing Victory 1920 is where Kaluszko placed his faith in EDIUS. “We had many different files – photos, painting, archival film, and new footage shot on five cameras: RED Epic, Sony FS700, Sony Alpha 99, Canon EOS 5D Mark III and GoPro 3+, so we had four different file types on a timeline –RED, ProRes, AVCHD and mov, in 4K and HD. That was a power of EDIUS, that we could have everything on the timeline in real- time,” explained Kaluszko. “The only exception was RED files, which we had converted into HQX files so we could edit in real-time. Every interview was shot with two and sometimes with three cameras, so I had to synchronize them in EDIUS. We didn’t have them connected as a master and slave so we had different timecodes. I synchronized them using waveforms as a reference. The multicam feature in EDIUS is just so helpful. “Color correction was very important for the film and made entirely in EDIUS,” said Kaluszko. “I wanted to have three different color spaces: contemporary scenes that were intensively saturated, old photos and films in black and white with a red component, and reconstruction scenes intensively desaturated leaving only military browns and greens. Sometimes HD clips had five or six filters, but everything still always played in real-time. “The sound mixer in EDIUS was very useful, but the loudness meter was an absolute necessary for broadcast. It was also important to have the waveform/vectroscope in EDIUS to control black level and chroma for broadcast. It also so easy to use the safe color button in the color correction tool if necessary. I can say that EDIUS performed great.”

Benefits

Upgrading software is never an easy decision, but for Kaluszko the decision was dictated by workflow.

“I upgraded to EDIUS 8.1 to optimize my multiprocessor system,” explained Kaluszko. “I wanted speed, stability and support for all the new formats, especially from 4K cameras. I wanted to edit smoothly and fast, but also to export long pieces of work into the various media formats in the shortest possible time. I needed a 4K workflow, I wanted the new GUI design and new beta OFX support .”

Kaluszko is also happy about the new announced features that will soon be available for EDIUS 8: optical flow, motion tracking, RAW support, new color grading, LUT and LOG support, background rendering, auto loudness adjust and more. He also elected to upgrade from the Pro version to the Workgroup version to fully unlock the potential of his PC. “The speed is fantastic, optimized for my two multicore processors, and very useful for Avid projects with native DNxHD import/export , plus the built-in loudness meter and interoperability with a lot of broadcast hardware and software. “If you have a powerful editing station with two or more multicore processors, you should absolutely upgrade to EDIUS Workgroup 8, especially for broadcast work.” Kaluszko also has some advice for those still using previous versions of EDIUS or who have never tried EDIUS: “For those using a previous version of EDIUS, all I can say is go for the upgrade. EDIUS 8 is really very good and worth its price. And for those who have never tried EDIUS, you must try it. You get a superfast and convenient system that works with so many formats including the newest ones that other systems won’t even touch. You can put every clip – even with different resolutions and frame rates – on one timeline. You can put as many filters and transitions as you like, and still edit in real-time. “And the most important thing – you buy EDIUS forever. Ownership is important to me - I don’t like monthly or yearly fees”