CASE STUDY

Focus FS-4 Works the LA Film Festival


Challenge

Covering live events can demand long nights and tight schedules, and for Post-Production Supervisor Ryun Hovind, covering the Los Angeles Film Festival was no different. Running from June 22 to July 2, 2006, the LA Film Fest attracts emerging filmmakers and film masters alike, screening more than 175 narrative features, documentaries, and shorts.
 
Ryun and his team were responsible for providing footage to local media outlets such as the LA Times and onsite festival venues, in addition to producing FesTV, a daily one-hour program highlighting the day’s events with film clips, footage from parties, and interviews with celebrities  and filmmakers. Film crews captured all the action—often returning at 10 p.m. To get footage ready by the next day, editors worked late into the night, with post-production often lasting until daybreak.
 

Solution

Looking for ways to cut down on production time and shave hours off their long nights, Ryun turned to Focus Enhancements’ Direct To Edit® Technology. He equipped his team with the Focus FS-4 Portable DTE Recorders that let videographers record DV or HDV streams directly to disk via FireWire. With the FS-4, Ryun’s team transferred footage directly to their nonlinear editing system, Final Cut Pro—no capturing, no file transfer, no conversion. By eliminating these intermediate steps, footage was ready for editing almost as soon as it was brought in.
 
For Ryun and most of his crew, the Film Fest was their first time recording to disk. For some, it was a hard concept to grasp. He condensed the FS-4 operations into a single page to help ease everyone’s transition to the new technology. And they continued to use tape for back-up purposes; in some cases, this strategy enabled them to give the DV tape directly to a local news team, while they relied solely on disk for their own production needs. In another instance, when the film crew ran out of tape on the red carpet, the FS-4 allowed them to keep shooting.
 

Results

Ryun estimates that DTE Technology® saved them at least one hour in editing time per tape. “It’s amazing to shoot an event at 9 p.m. and then be editing minutes later,” he said. Without Focus Enhancements, we’d start filming a red carpet event at 8 or 9 p.m., and bring the tapes back at 10. It wouldn’t be until midnight that we’d have the footage in and ready for edit. Now we’re ready to go by 10:20 p.m.” This schedule gave the editing team a shorter night, enabling them to leave by 3 a.m., instead of staying till 6 a.m. while using tape. The FS-4 shaved several hours from the editing process each night, but Ryun noticed something else—the quality of the finished product was far better, since editors could focus on being creative instead of capturing tape. “It’s essential to just get in there and start editing, especially with the evening shift,” Ryun explained. “People tend to get lethargic when they need to wait around for several hours. They can get out of the zone before they’ve even started to edit.”
 
Focus Enhancements also enabled the team to work more productively by making more effective use of their computer workstations. “We’re using powerful stations, but you still can’t edit and digitize at the same time. I couldn’t do much else if was digitizing,” Ryun explained. Using FS-4 recorders allowed the team to free up workstations, enabling more editors to work on different segments for FesTV at the same time, in addition to making footage available for the LA Times, producer Steven Spielberg, and others. “more people were able to get the footage they wanted, and in the format they needed, because we had the FS-4s,” concluded Ryun.



About the Los Angeles Film Festival

Since its inception in 1995, the LA Film Festival has grown into a world-class event, showcasing the best of American and international cinema. Held annually for 10 days in June, the Festival brings together budding filmmakers, critics, scholars, film masters, and movie lovers. This year’s Festival had more than 60,000 attendees with screenings for more than 175 narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos. (www.lafilmfest.com)

About Focus Enhancements, Inc.


Innovation, efficiency, and superior quality are the foundation on which Focus Enhancements builds its products. A world leader in advanced video production, digital asset management, and digital signage solutions, Focus delivers products that perform superbly day in and day out, and backs them with unparalleled service and support.



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Focus FS-4

Weighing about one pound and only 1.5 inches thick, Focus FS-4 HD and FS-4Pro HD Portable DTE Recorders bring Direct To Edit Technology to your DV or HDV handheld camcorder. Whether mounted directly to your camcorder or clipped to your belt, the FS-4 is designed to excel in the field. Focus FS-4 Portable DTE Recorders are available in two models—the FS-4 HD and the FS-4Pro HD (available in three configurations).


"It’s amazing to shoot an event at 9 pm and be editing minutes later. Without Focus and their DTE, we’d start filming a red carpet event at 8 or 9 p.m., and bring the tapes back at 10. It wouldn’t be until midnight that we’d have the footage in and ready for edit. Now we’re ready to go at 10:20 p.m."

Ryun Hovind, Post-Production Supervisor, www.ryunhovind.com