Picture This Productions gets confident with Bluefish444 Create 3D Ultra
06 August, 2013
Founded in 1999, Phoenix-based Picture This Productions Inc. (PTP) has been providing fully equipped professional production crews to major studios, broadcast networks, national television shows, advertising agencies, and corporate clients, and is well-versed in all facets of video production, from dramatic productions, comedies, music videos, independent features, documentaries, commercials, electronic press kits, behind the scenes, multi-camera shoots, reality TV, sports and full feature stories for national news and television shows.
Curt Pair, shooting a spot for Fishman electric guitar pickups, with the Red Epic.
PTP offers complete post-production editing services with state of the art equipment, and has global experience in 5K, 4K and High Definition resolution motion pictures, with services from script to screen.
PTP’s work has appeared on various broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) in the form of news magazines and features to sports outlets (Fox Sports, ESPN, HBO Real Sports, PGA Tour, The Golf Channel, NASCAR Images), corporate video presentations (Ford, GM, Walgreens, Barrett-Jackson, Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences), documentaries (Last Picture Show, Chronic Insomniac) and independent films (Home Front, Letters from Home, Princess of Ahwatukee).
Curtis Pair, Founder of PTP who also serves as Director of Photography and Post Production Supervisor, understands the entire process in the motion picture business. Because he is an editor himself, he truly understands what the editor will need in terms of footage created in the field, to accomplish the end goal; often he enjoys editing his own material. He conducts research, creates storyboards, test shots, example edits and various lighting schemes for each project to ensure the perfect harmony of creative artistry, technical mastery and the communication of the intended information.
He comments, “At PTP we are a small bunch of dedicated and creative artists that have the common goal of providing the best imagery possible to each and every one of our clients. We take pride in providing a product that comes in on time, on budget and beyond expectations. We often make the project look like twice or triple the budget. We try to post as much as much as we shoot to present the best possible product, and enjoy taking the cinematic look and feel to other types of production as well.”
With extensive experience in broadcast television PTP switched its focus in 2009 to more cinematic endeavors, specializing in high resolution digital cinematography. Shooting primarily 5K on a Red Epic, PTP also accommodates budget-minded clients who want a high end look but can’t afford 5K by using the Sony XDCam. PTP started with AVID, moved into Premiere and now cuts everything in Adobe CC.
PTP previously used a different video card in its system but started looking for another solution when its previous card continually ‘disappeared’ from the system. While the other card could be used in multiple environments, that was not enough to compensate for the technical issues frequently experienced. PTP looked for other options in the marketplace, and upon the recommendation of several industry-leading creative professionals, invested in Bluefish444’s Create 3D Ultra.
Curtis states, “Using Red footage, even ultimately in a 1080 environment, can be taxing on a computer system to say the least. I like the fact that the Create 3D Ultra allows me to playback 12 bit NATIVE R3D files in real time in both Premiere and After Effects. The ability to take this signal and allow it to be used with virtually any monitor in HDSDI or HDMI is an added bonus. It’s awesome to have such a powerful scaling module built in! We’ve had to offer some projects in 720, and the scaler is terrific. On rare occasions, we’ve had to upconvert 720 footage to 1080 and the scaler made the final image look better than I thought possible. “
He continues, “I like that I can fire up the system, open Premiere and start editing. I concentrate all of my efforts into the creative process instead of the technical process. Using the Create 3D Ultra gives me confidence! “
PTP has used Bluefish444’s Create 3D Ultra with The Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (for recruitment videos), Bondurant School of High Performance Driving (marketing videos), Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auctions (marketing videos, featurettes, TV commercials, Speed packages), GJ2 Guitars (marketing videos). In addition, PTT has also produced projects for The Golf Channel, ESPN, Make A Wish Foundation and General Motors and is currently in production on two short films and an independent feature using Create 3D Ultra.
Curtis comments, “There are a number of features we like with the Create 3D Ultra. The ability to use realtime effects with Create 3D Ultra is fantastic. Anything to save ‘render time’ is awesome. Clients aren’t willing to pay us to sit there and watch the computer crank away on something. Therefore, my earning potential is higher and the return on my investment is greater. When we edit with older ‘interlaced’ footage, and we are using it in a progressive environment, it’s nice to have hardware deinterlacing. It truly improves overall image quality. The quality really shines through when the 12-bit processing kicks in. Using SONY and ARRI material we can see that the color fidelity is maintained by the Bluefish444 12-bit Processing pipeline which can convert the high quality images for 4:2:2 video output.”
Bluefish444's Create 3D
He continues, “Working with Bluefish444 has been great, in particular Cutter Stevens. Cutter has always been a true professional and has a firm grasp on technology, the state of the business and how our industry is moving forward. He’s there for us whenever we need help and his positive upbeat attitude is comforting if we need anything.”
Curtis ends with, “Next for us is a full-blown 4K post-production solution. We shoot in 4K and now we want to edit in 4K. We want to monitor our work in 4K. If Bluefish444’s 4K solution is anything like what we’re using now we’ll be happy campers!”
