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Full Code Masters
Full Code Masters encodes features for digital cinema
Independent movies such as the Finnish-Russian co-production The Cuckoo and Party Monster have been encoded in Windows Media 9 Series for digital cinema
"Independent filmmakers are going to reap the benefits of Windows Media 9 Series," says Lloyd Forcellini, principal of start-up New York facility, Full Code Masters. "The independent film community now has a seamless digital media platform that enables filmmakers to take original digital footage straight through editing and post production to finish a digital master without ever transferring to a tape."
 Forcellini set up Full Code Masters "to take advantage of the multi resolution outputs from Quantel to fufill digital cinema needs and all possible video deliverables". Working with the Quantel eQ editing system with the QColor in-context grading option, Forcellini encodes and grades features in Windows Media® 9 Series.
"The eQ is a very powerful display and processing engine which means we can evaluate all the parameters needed to create a very good, high quality encode."
A growing number of features, mainly independently made, are being shown at digital cinemas. They are encoded in Windows Media 9 Series and are then sent securely to individual cinemas for downloading and screening. Forcellini, former vice president of DuArt Labs, has already encoded many, including The Cuckoo and Party Monster.
"Windows Media 9 Series has the best encoder quality out there," he says. "The image and sound quality you are getting is the best overall I've seen and by far the best for the data rate we are using." Forcellini says the projected image also retains the texture of the film print. "It is amazing, if you're transferring from a clean print, the image is beautiful. In the theatre, it still feels like you're watching a film being projected."
He says Windows Media 9 Series works throughout the production chain, from dailies to the final projection. "Windows Media 9 Series, with its high quality and low bit rate, enables production companies, small and large, to be able to review the material on a daily basis at a very high, true to life image quality."
It is an area other companies are looking at. For example, The Moving Picture Company (MPC), one of Europe's leading facility houses and digital film effects pioneer, uses The Quantel iQ in its new digital film lab.
MPC technical director Roland Brown says MPC is looking at the Windows Media 9 Series capabilities of iQ. "Windows Media 9 Series is an encoding system in iQ that enables us to deliver work for approval or for viewings of work in progress," Brown says. "We hope to use this if our clients want to see titles we've produced in the digital lab, or see how an edit works: if we make a change we can send them a short clip. Up to now, we have had to use a separate encoder if we want to send material out. Having Windows Media 9 Series in the system enables us to go directly from iQ."
Quantel is a supporter of Windows Media 9 Series as part of its philosophy of offering customers an open collaborative workflow. "This is going to be an important tool, particularly in the creative world," says Martin Mulligan, sales director at Quantel. "At the moment, when you're building up a story, your special effects director and producer have to be there giving approval. With Windows Media 9 Series, they don't have to be there. You can have remote approval. It's like an early offline edit, but very intensive. On the other side of the process, when you're creating the storyboard, you can use Windows Media 9 Series to fire the film backwards and forwards with your producer. It forms a more cost effective work flow."
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