Star East Digital Ramps Up Productivity with SCRATCH Data and 4K Workflows

Project Profile: Page (1) of 1 - 08/24/09

CEO Yoon Kim and digital artist Kevin Kang of Star East Digital Labs (Seoul, South Korea) were looking for another grading system to integrate into their existing post-production workflows. After putting SCRATCH(r) through its paces, they determined SCRATCH had the power, real-time performance, features, and stability to deliver high quality results for their clients. One such project is Take Off - the current #1 box-office hit in Korea.

As the largest post-production facility in South Korea, Star East Digital Lab does the post for an average of 25+ feature films each year. Their challenge was to develop a more efficient and cost-effective post-production workflow to handle this workload, yet yield quality results. This led to their selection of ASSIMILATE's real-time SCRATCH(r) Digital Process Solution in November 2007 and by the following January they finished two long-form films that released on the same day - January 31, 2008, Korean New Years' Day.

Both films were shot in 35mm and the DPX files were imported by SCRATCH, along with the EDLs, running on an HP 9400 workstation with an Nvidia 9400 graphics card. At its release, Director In Ho Yun's "The Game" (2008) was the number one box office hit in South Korea. Director Gi Ho Ha's "Radio Days" (2008) was also a box-office success. More films soon followed, including Director Heyoung-jin Kwon's "The Truck" (2008) and Director Ho Jae Lee's "The Scam."
With two SCRATCH licenses, Star East Digital initially used one system as a one-stop solution for these films in the managing of data, editing, conforming, color grading, adding in VFX, and finishing.

Korea's #1 box office hit, Yong Hwa Kim's Take Off (July, 2009); image courtesy of Star East Digital Labs

Kang notes, "We had both 'The Game' and 'Radio Days' in post production at the same time, with the same release dates, so our team put in some very long hours, including 24-hour days to get everything just right. One artist did the conforming, and while he was resting, I did the color grading, and then we would go back and forth. We had SCRATCH set up on a XSAN network with fiber channel so we were easily able to transfer files back and forth. SCRATCH proved to be a very fast and very reliable data workflow, and an excellent choice for meeting our requirements, which was an exciting realization for us."

Image courtesy of Star East Digital labs; Director Gi Ho Ha's Radio Days (2008)

Star East then set up the second SCRATCH system for the conforming process. Kang says, "We have found SCRATCH to be the fastest and easiest to use as a conforming tool, so the process goes very quickly and smoothly. It also offloads workload from our big-iron traditional post systems, and this adds to cost efficiencies for a film project. We can conform on SCRATCH and then send the files on to SCRATCH color grading or one of our other systems for any given project."
"With 'The Truck,' we realized the value of SCRATCH's real-time performance," says Kang. "The director was going for a specific look and so we experimented with different versions of the grading. Because we were working in real-time, we could immediately see the variance of hues and tones. We were able to easily create and stack three versions for comparison, which helped the director make the final selection to match his vision. Other directors have also found the real-time review sessions invaluable because changes can be easily made before their eyes, which saves time in the long run."
"The resolution independence of SCRATCH is another advantage for us," says Kang. "Since the films are all in data, we can output to any format, such as 35mm, HD, or digital cinema. We can also render out to DPX files for film output to cinescope."

Image courtesy of Star East Digital labs; Director Heyoung-jin Kwon's The Truck (2008).

#1 Box Office Hit and the SCRATCH-RED 4K Digital Workflow
"The SCRATCH-RED workflow easily handles the native REDCODE data in a real-time, streamlined workflow. The VFX shots are easily imported into SCRATCH and dropped into the film's timeline," says Kang. "The overall time savings and ease of use of this workflow, as well as the high quality results and cost efficiencies, are going to change the way films are made in Korea. This workflow is truly revolutionary - a hard-to-believe story that ends up exceeding your expectations."

Kang adds, "The one thing that I want to emphasize is that "Take Off" contains more than 5,000 RED shots, and without SCRATCH, I am sure that I would not have been able to finish this project on time." Star East recently upgraded its DI suite with a Globalstor Extremstor DI Workstation that's especially optimized for the SCRATCH-RED 4K Digital Workflow. The power of this combined system enabled Star East to manage the workflow, numerous files, and output for "Take Off."

Expanded Business Model
As the oldest digital lab and post production house in South Korea, Star East opened its doors over 50 years ago. Their business has evolved over the years to adapt to market changes - importing/exporting/distribution of films in the past to traditional post production, and now telecine, subtitling, dubbing, and digital post production for any film format.

Kang notes, "We stay at the forefront of technology and manage our costs so that we can compete in the global markets. We have found that as a standalone workflow, SCRATCH has enabled us to stay competitive. Specific SCRATCH functions are also a good fit for our other workflows and helps offset costs."

Kang adds, "As I've stressed, cost effectiveness is always a concern in post production, but even more so in our currently difficult economic environment. I can safely estimate that we are saving up to one-half our time in DI when using SCRATCH for a project. When you couple this with ease of use and a streamlined workflow, we're getting a phenomenal return on our investment."

Star East also appreciates the open design of SCRATCH itself. "Like SCRATCH, all software should run on an open operating system so we can use our hardware of choice. An open environment also makes it easy for us to add other peripherals at any time, such as RAID storage, graphics cards, and control panels. This type of product design is another factor in cost effectiveness, which again has a positive impact on our competitiveness."

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