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Rodriguez uses Linux to Edge out ILM
An anonymous reader writes "A Linux device helped legendary independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado, Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and others) win the race with ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) to create the first movie ever to use a digital format supporting full-bandwidth RGB. Rodriguez's Sin City, which opens April 1, was shot in Dual Link, or "4:4:4" format, and transferred between tapes and hard drives using SpectSoft's Linux-based RaveHD DDR (digital disk recorder)."
Rodriguez's Sin City,
Actually, its Frank Miller's Sin City. IMHO the writer is more important than the director.
"For Great Justice."
I think you're a bit misguided...
today i can create on a home PC in hours what ILM would have taken years
Technically, yes, but you need a lot of really skilled writers and animators to create the movie in the first place. Merely having the capability to render photorealistic 3D images does not by itself make a good movie -- look at the difference between Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within and any Pixar production to see that.
with the rise of even schools having massive renderfarms (like the g5 one)
Again, I think you're mistaken. I assume you're referring to the Terascale cluster at Virginia Tech, but it's not a "renderfarm", it's a supercomputer cluster designated for scientific research. Check out their web page here, they have details about what kind of jobs they'll accept.
I just want to point out that during my tenure at a certain Linux company, the name of which rhymes with "VA Linux".... OK it was VA Linux, back in the heady days of year 2000 I was telling certain key members of upper management there that if VA is going to sell high proced Linux boxen then they ought to consider building and selling boxen specifically for FILM PRODUCTION. I repeated myself more than once. I was told by certain key players in upper management who no longer work there that "We're not interested in going after niche markets."
VA no longer sells heavy Linux boxes but obviously someone is, and they're selling them to Hollywood.
*sigh*
I know you guys have to frame everything in terms of "LINUX WINS!" but you know what? It's not a race. Nobody was sitting around a table going, "I wanna be the first to make a feature with 4:4:4 dual-link RGB!" In fact, just the opposite: Everybody was sitting around going, "Let somebody else try 4:4:4 HD video. I don't want to take a chance on it with millions of dollars of somebody else's money."
Besides that, this whole thing is completely wrong. We've been using 4:4:4 for years in film production with a device called a "datacine." Go out and shoot 35mm film, which by the way has more color sensitivity than any video camera on the market, then run it through a device that scans each frame at high bit depth and high resolution in (you guessed it) 4:4:4 RGB.
Seriously, these machines have been around for more than a decade. RGB production is nothing new. You guys are making it sound like it's revolutionary, or worse, like it COULDN'T BE DONE WITHOUT LINUX. Inferno has done 4:4:4 since the mid-90s, and that runs on SGI gear.
During ingestion, the RaveHD wrote sequential DPX files for each shot to a standard Linux JFS filesystem on a fiber-channel disk array, Howard says. When all required shots had been ingested, the entire JFS filesystem was made available via Samba and gigabit Ethernet to the studio's production workers.
JFS isn't one of the high profile filesystems on Linux; People usually talk about Reiser, EXT3, or XFS. I wonder what lead the developers to choose JFS.
noah
For Spy Kids three that is !
... well as others have commented few Graphic Novels progress well to film but that does not preclude the opportunity that it can occur !
There is a extra on the dvd for the film where RR ( heavens forbid i even attempt to spell his name ! ) explains how to create some impressive visual and audio affects for your own home movies ( the family friendly ones people ! ) . He gives a very clear and engaging discussion with example film of how to include visual affects , editing and audio additions to make the films more interesting. Id say he understands how open source benefits every on e since he is so willing to share his expertise and experiences.
As for Sin City
And thats why Firecrackers and kittens don't mix.