Rodriguez uses Linux to Edge out ILM 192
An anonymous reader writes "A Linux device helped legendary independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado, Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and others) win the race with ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) to create the first movie ever to use a digital format supporting full-bandwidth RGB. Rodriguez's Sin City, which opens April 1, was shot in Dual Link, or "4:4:4" format, and transferred between tapes and hard drives using SpectSoft's Linux-based RaveHD DDR (digital disk recorder)."
Frank Miller (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, its Frank Miller's Sin City. IMHO the writer is more important than the director.
Re:max payne? (Score:1, Interesting)
The big race... (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder how George will take the news? I predict he'll spend a few million (bah! billion) bucks on some cluster racks to console his staff for the loss.
Re:But what does this mean to the movie viewer? (Score:3, Interesting)
Not much, it just means a less cost to create the same end result. Some details of the end result may not have been fiscally possible otherwise, but only the film freaks would really notice them.
For the most part, it just means more profit for the MPAA-members distributing the film and Rodriguez himself.
However, I have to admire Rodriguez for his "guerilla" approach to film-making, he's an indie director that, for the most part, still runs his productions as if they were independent productions (i.e. very frugally, pushing the edges of best-bang-for-the-buck), just with larger budgets. In that sense, what he does as somewhat of a trailblazer trickles down, enabling future indie productions to reach higher levels of technical quality for the same budget.
Re:Are ILM [relevant] today ? (Score:3, Interesting)
today i can create on a home PC in hours what ILM would have taken years
Technically, yes, but you need a lot of really skilled writers and animators to create the movie in the first place. Merely having the capability to render photorealistic 3D images does not by itself make a good movie -- look at the difference between Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within and any Pixar production to see that.
with the rise of even schools having massive renderfarms (like the g5 one)
Again, I think you're mistaken. I assume you're referring to the Terascale cluster at Virginia Tech, but it's not a "renderfarm", it's a supercomputer cluster designated for scientific research. Check out their web page here [vt.edu], they have details about what kind of jobs they'll accept.
Re:Frank Miller (Score:0, Interesting)
RR was kicked out of the Director's Guild for this, since he wouldn't remove Miller's name at their request.
*sigh* (Score:4, Interesting)
VA no longer sells heavy Linux boxes but obviously someone is, and they're selling them to Hollywood.
*sigh*
Sigh. (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides that, this whole thing is completely wrong. We've been using 4:4:4 for years in film production with a device called a "datacine." Go out and shoot 35mm film, which by the way has more color sensitivity than any video camera on the market, then run it through a device that scans each frame at high bit depth and high resolution in (you guessed it) 4:4:4 RGB.
Seriously, these machines have been around for more than a decade. RGB production is nothing new. You guys are making it sound like it's revolutionary, or worse, like it COULDN'T BE DONE WITHOUT LINUX. Inferno has done 4:4:4 since the mid-90s, and that runs on SGI gear.
filesystems (Score:4, Interesting)
During ingestion, the RaveHD wrote sequential DPX files for each shot to a standard Linux JFS filesystem on a fiber-channel disk array, Howard says. When all required shots had been ingested, the entire JFS filesystem was made available via Samba and gigabit Ethernet to the studio's production workers.
JFS isn't one of the high profile filesystems on Linux; People usually talk about Reiser, EXT3, or XFS. I wonder what lead the developers to choose JFS.
noah
Ignore the movie watch the extras.... (Score:3, Interesting)
There is a extra on the dvd for the film where RR ( heavens forbid i even attempt to spell his name ! ) explains how to create some impressive visual and audio affects for your own home movies ( the family friendly ones people ! ) . He gives a very clear and engaging discussion with example film of how to include visual affects , editing and audio additions to make the films more interesting. Id say he understands how open source benefits every on e since he is so willing to share his expertise and experiences.
As for Sin City
Title's a little misleading... (Score:2, Interesting)
Should probably read:
"Rodriguez beats ILM to use RaveHD DDR on a commercial film release"
If you read the article, you'll see that ILM are using the same kit, so edging out has nothing to do with it - he's just completed the first film that uses one. That said, ILM did used to be first with everything new and shiny in film, so maybe it is a bit of a shock.
Anyhows Sin City looks mainly black and white, so what's with the 4:4:4 format?
float, float, float RGB (Score:3, Interesting)
Graphics cards will probably start doing this soon. It's a way out of the "shades of black" problem in games.
Not the first use (Score:2, Interesting)
The Viper Filmstream camera has been used on at least two features prior to this and also uses Dual Link output to a RAID.
http://www.thomson.net/EN/Home/Press/PressReleases /CorporatePress/PREN040209.htm [thomson.net]
Just setting the facts straight.
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Interesting)
anyhow, yes. There were companies who competed with VA after I left (angstrom microsystems), that i helped start (angstrom microsystems) that i eventually left (angstrom microsystem). They made rackmounts (and still do i think) specifically for rendering and we put them all over the place (rhythm and hues, pixar, dreamworks).
but it is a niche market and competitive as hell.
Which wasn't really a competition since... (Score:2, Interesting)