Filmworkers has launched a digital media processing service dubbed "The Digigog" at its Chicago and Dallas locations aimed at facilitating the growing number of feature film, television and commercial productions that are choosing to capture and post their projects in data.

Leveraging cutting-edge technology and Filmworkers’ 15+ years of experience in digital postproduction, The Digigog offers a seamless, one-stop solution for servicing commercials, films and other projects from dailies through delivery—especially those shot with digital cameras such as the popular RED ONE and Vision Research Phantom HD.

Services include dailies processing for digitally-acquired media, real-time nonlinear color grading at resolutions up to 2K, final assembly and deliverables production. The Digigog’s services can also be packaged with other services offered by Filmworkers, which include visual effects production, CG and motion graphics design.

While an increasing number of productions are opting for digital acquisition, posting data imagery can be tricky. “Projects that originate on data have special technical and creative requirements,” said Filmworkers president Reid Brody. “The Digigog has the resources needed to process RED camera and other data files with maximum quality and efficiency. Our staff understands the nuances of working with data. They can help clients reap the benefits of a data-centric mode of production while avoiding the pitfalls.”

The Digigog offers overnight dailies processing for data files from virtually any source. The system generates dailies in the format required by the project’s editorial team, including Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes 422, as well as uncompressed files for final color correction and assembly. Deliverables for review purposes are available in a variety of popular formats, including QuickTime.

“We take the frustration out of working in data,” said Filmworkers technical director Todd Freese. “Clients receive beautiful, edit-ready dailies files and without the hassle of data conversions or files that are too large.”

The Digigog offers real-time nonlinear color grading services for both film-based and digitally-acquired projects through the use of da Vinci’s newly-developed Splice technology. Splice, which has been implemented at Filmworkers’ facilities in Chicago, Nashville and Dallas, allows the company’s da Vinci 2K Plus color correctors to grade scanned imagery directly on a SAN. Commercials and feature films can be graded in-context, saving time and enhancing the creative process. Repositioning, grain reduction and other image processing functions can be applied in real time.

Splice makes an excellent component of The Digigog workflow as it is particularly good at handling RED camera files. “Splice allows us to directly access RED camera DPX conversions,” said Filmworkers colorist Lynette Duensing. “It’s a seamless process from end to end.”

The Digigog’s proprietary software facilitates the importation of edit decision lists and automates most aspects of the final assembly process. As color grading occurs at 2K, the workflow results in a high resolution master that can be used to produce deliverables for all distribution channels, including HD, standard definition and Internet media. Because all elements are stored in a randomly accessible, shared-storage environment, multiple versions of a project can be produced quickly and with ease.

From the client’s perspective The Digigog is virtually invisible, according to Freese. “The only thing the client notices is that their session goes faster and smoother,” he says, “and they have a lot more creative options.”