Innovative Mega Playground Workflow System Accelerates Barry Levinson/Al Pacino HBO Film to Debut April 24
NEW YORK: Accomplished DP Eigil Bryld discovered a prototype of Mega Playground’s innovative DP Dailies thru DI process while working on the 2009 Jeff Daniels/Ryan Reynolds Paper Man. at the West Village production/post production complex. “When Playground CTO Terry Brown and principal Eitan Hakami demoed their new dailies thru DI solution for me, I found it a fast, cost-effective process for providing a consistent creative look for digitally printed dailies from original camera negative,”? he says.
Bryld, whose credits range from In Bruges to Kinky Boots and Becoming Jane, recommended the Playground to the Barry Levinson You Don’t Know Jack production team. HBO established production offices there for the Al Pacino Jack Kevorkian biopic which shot on location in NY last year. “I’ve been a fan of Barry’s since Diner, and was very pleased for the opportunity to work with him on Jack,”? Bryld says. “By the time we established our Playground offices, Terry and Eitan had DP Dailies up and running. We ran some tests and quickly realized its potential in terms of image quality, speed and cost-effectiveness.”?
In addition to its operational efficiency and consistent image quality, Bryld was impressed with DP Dailies ability to bridge the feature film and TV production worlds. “In traditional telecine, you can have images that look ok on the monitor but prints that don’t match at all,”? he says. “We are always concerned with the question, ‘What if it doesn’t print?’ DP Dailies supported my confidence in the quality of our footage. I could experiment with exposures, quickly see where we were going too bright or too dark and make all the necessary adjustments.
“Footage gets a life of its own when it’s loaded into the computer,”? Bryld adds. “We would see things that came back a little warm or a little too cold, and compensate to maintain a consistent color temperature. Rushes must accurately reflect what you’ve shot. It was impressive that nothing had to be redelivered with this project. The Playground team is passionate about their DP Dailies system. That spirit inspires a sense of trust in their ability to deliver what they say they can. It’s also great to be involved with meaningful new developments early on, and to watch them come into their own.”?
Set to debut Saturday April 24th exclusively on HBO, the HBO Films Presentation of You Don’t Know Jack co-stars OscarA® winner Susan Sarandon (EmmyA® nominee for HBO’s Bernard and Doris), Danny Huston (HBO’s John Adams), EmmyA® winner Brenda Vaccaro (Once Is Not Enough) and EmmyA® winner John Goodman (The Big Lebowski).
You Don’t Know Jack signaled a reunion for Bryld and Playground colorist Ben Perez. “We’d worked together on other films, and already had an excellent rapport,”? Bryld says. “That is very helpful in eliminating the issue of second guessing. I also liked the convenience of having Ben send test images to my iPhone to compare frames. And, the Playground also recalibrated my laptop to enable me to accurately view scenes online.”?
An economical director who uses contrast to increase the gravity and drama of his images, Levinson was pleased with the DP Dailies work. “Our Playground rushes were strong and not flat. We used the grade they applied to the dailies when we went to the DI stage,”? Bryld says.
“You’re actually beginning your DI process at the dailies stage,”? he adds. “If you can scan once it is not only a significant cost savings, but it means less negative handling. The archived scans can be conformed and color corrected with a finished look for digital previews. It’s an easy argument to win over traditional telecine. I look forward to returning to Mega Playground with another project and, to experimenting with digital acquisition which would probably be ideal for the process.”?
Bryld and camera operator Charlie Libin shot You Don’t Know Jack with two Panavision cameras primarily with opposing angles to capture both performances, but occasionally side by side. “Levinson and Pacino both like to work fast. We had to move the cameras quickly to keep the momentum going,”? he says. “We shot on location all over New York: The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island… We did some green screen sequences, and some studio sets for scenes in Dr. Kevorkian s apartment. We also went on location for scenes in his original home in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oaks. This was a terrific experience and I was very pleased to be a part of it.”?
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Mega Playground is strategically housed is three Manhattan locations. Two locations are in the heart of the thriving West Village independent film community. A 30,000 sq ft facility at 609 Greenwich St. with a neighboring 14,000 sq ft. facility opening in March 2010 at 96 Morton St. It also houses an editing satellite in Midtown in the famed Brill Building at 1619 Broadway. Mega Playground provides High Definition post- production services which include Avid and FCP rentals, online DIs, Color Correction, Telecine, Dub services, the proprietary DP Dailies digital workflow process, as well as production offices for feature film, Broadcast and Reality TV production companies.
