Summary

American Production Services completed 1080p/24 HD post-production of HBO Films' BOYCOTT, a dramatization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the rise of Martin Luther King Jr. The project demonstrated HD's advantages over traditional film finishing, including real-time color correction, faster turnaround, and cost savings compared to conventional film conform methods.

Source document circa 2001 preserved as-is

Friday, April 13, 2001

APS posts HBO's "Boycott" in 1080p/24 HD

Los Angeles, CA--APS (American Production Services) recently completed the "24p" HD postproduction of HBO Films' "BOYCOTT," a groundbreaking and historically faithful re-creation of the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.

"BOYCOTT" takes viewers back to 1950's Montgomery, Alabama to witness the events that led to the Supreme Court's decision that Alabama's bus laws were unconstitutional. Among these events were the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a crowded bus and move to the "Negro section" as ordered by the driver; her court battle; the rise of young minister Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to a leadership role in the struggle for equality; and the boycott of the Montgomery public bus system by black citizens.

"BOYCOTT," which aired on HBO between February 24 and March 29, 2001, was filmed primarily in 35mm and edited in standard definition on an Avid. But the footage was transferred to 1080/24-frame progressive (1080p/24) HD to take advantage of the speed and flexibility this near-film resolution medium offers.

"HD opens up the latitudes of creativity tremendously, at a reduced cost. You're able to see different color timings, special opticals, and visual effects instantaneously in the edit bay. With no quality compromise and a faster turn-around, HD affords filmmakers the opportunity to explore the creative possibilities of what their film can truly be," says Peter Ware, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Stargate Digital, a full-service visual effects and digital imaging company, in Pasadena, CA.
Contracted by HBO, Stargate brought APS into the project because this cutting edge facility is one of a handful in the world capable of uncompressed, real-time "24p" HD editorial. From November 2000 to February 2001, APS/LA Senior Editor Walt McGinn was immersed in the complexities of posting the HBO movie, including online assembly (of over 1400 events), primary color correction of 170,000 frames, and Dolby E audio encoding and layback.

Director Clark Johnson shot "BOYCOTT" using a "stylized documentary within a feature film framework" to allow the viewer to observe the events from different perspectives and hear directly from the people who were involved. According to Director of Photography David Hennings, "BOYCOTT" employed distinctly different styles including a conventional feature film look; 1950's black and white newsreel-style footage; grainy stock footage typical of the period, and a 1950's "Kodachrome" home movie look.

After the dailies were transferred with normal color tones, the colors were altered in the HD edit suite to convey different moods, such as a ìtobacco-vintage, wear-datedî look reminiscent of that timeframe; or an edgy black and white documentary look. ìUsing the internal color correction storage system on our Sony HDVS-7000 HD production switcher, the attributes and adjustments for these looks could be instantly recalled and precisely re-applied to any scene in the movie to maintain consistency,î says McGinn.

ìThe project benefited from all the creative, dynamic ideas exchanged and incorporated into the finished show,î says McGinn. ìBy using HD instead of film conform, decision-makers were able to screen and project high-resolution HD approval copies, complete with credits, effects, and soundtracks, and see changes made in minutes rather than days.î

DP David Hennings feels that the potential of the digital HD process is limitless compared to traditional film finishing. ìThe entire process of meticulously cutting and gluing the film together is eliminated, and with the touch of a button, you can make a change that would take a week to do the traditional way,î he explains, ìAlso the traditional process is expensive. Thanks to the new process, we were able to scan our film to HD resolution, then edit it, so we achieved the same look of more expensive and lengthy processes.î

In todayís increasingly budget- and time-challenged production environment, Stargateís Peter Ware says that, besides speed and efficiency, ìHD post production offers the opportunity to explore different paths with the directoróexperimentation that might not be possible were it not for real-time HD capabilities. And the 24p HD master is an excellent springboard for PAL, 35mm film, or other popular distribution formats,î says Ware. ìHD is new, so a lot of traditional filmmakers are timid about trying it. But once they do, few turn back to conventional methods.î

APS President and Founder Conrad Denke says, ìAPS is proud to have worked on such an important motion picture. From assembly to color correction to Dolby E encoding, HD didnít let us down. In fact, it more than proved itself as the best vehicle to accomplish something as complex as ìBoycottî conforming to the design of the creative team.î
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As the worldís premiere HDTV production and post production company, APS has two state-of-the-art HD online edit suites-- at its Seattle, Washington and Los Angeles, California facilities respectively-- and a comprehensive portfolio of HD services, including top-flight HD production, editorial, graphics, and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound capabilities.

APS has a Website at www.apsnw.com. APS Seattle is located at 2247 15th Avenue West, in Seattle, Washington, 98119 (Phone: 206-282-1776; Fax: 206-282-3535.) APS-LA is located at 11755 Victory Blvd., in North Hollywood, California, 91606 (Phone: 818-769-1776)Ö five minutes from the Burbank Airport and Universal Studios.