Capital FX Speeds 2K and 4K Workflow on Major Hollywood Movies Using SGI InfiniteStorage Technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and LONDON, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With seven digital film recorders running 24/7 and more film directors requesting the stunning visual fidelity of the 4K digital intermediate process, Capital FX, one of the UK's leading post-production companies, selected Silicon Graphics as the storage and cross-platform networking solution provider for its new digital intermediate (DI) theatre. Housed in London's Mayfair district, close to the heart of UK film and television production in Soho, Capital FX now has the ability to complete the film-making process from the digitization of raw shot rushes, through colour grading, dust busting, editing, special effects, compositing and film write-out in real time, at 2K or 4K resolution. Installing a SGI(R) InfiniteStorage RM660 SAN with SGI(R) InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS(TM) software means that Capital FX has centralized its digital workflow, allowing multiple operations to be performed simultaneously on multiple operating systems in different suites in the facility. This reduces the requirement to copy data-critical in this market, where a 90-minute feature film in 4K resolution generates 16TB of data. The solution was purchased in the quarter ending in June.

Almost as soon as the eight-seat DI theatre was operational, Capital FX realized demand outweighed their capacity. Warner Bros.' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came in as a 4K project, requiring DI, color-grading, and effects, plus subtitling and final output to film for 21 different language versions. The facility has taken a second floor in the Mayfair building to construct an additional, much larger DI theatre venue, and is rapidly proceeding to purchase additional SGI InfiniteStorage systems and related networking hardware and software. The expansion is, in part, to ensure Capital FX is ready to handle another major 4K DI project, Warner Bros' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, due to be released in the US in mid-November. The Harry Potter job will include film scan to digital intermediate, effects, compositing, and color-grading, with many different language versions as well.

"With the SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 system we have converged the entire workflow to work on one feature at a time, and we don't have to copy two or three sequences to various locations on the network while different departments work and then convert the changes," said George Ilko, IT director, Capital FX. "Initially, we selected SGI for the CXFS shared filesystem, which is unique to SGI, so that we all can work simultaneously. We also based the decision on reputation, technical expertise, and products we knew were robust, as well as for SGI GRIO software, which provides the ability to play back a 2K scanned full-length feature, which is 2.5 to 3TB of data, in real time, or a 4K scanned feature, at around 16TB of data, in real time. We run ARRI scanners, film recorders, and color management software in addition to Autodesk software. Between ARRI, Autodesk and SGI we've got a really good partnership and very good integration between the three companies' systems. This is a very efficient way of working."

The DI theatre at Capital FX is an Autodesk Discreet(R) Lustre(R) 2K/4K digital grading and color correction system. Designed as a complete preview theatre with full Dolby(R) Digital 5.1 surround sound and THX(TM), it features a Barco(R) D-Cine Premiere DP100 digital projector and a Kinetron film projector for side-by-side comparisons on the 8-metre-wide screen. The SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 SAN with 20TB storage uses SGI InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS to link to the entire facility. The DI theater, with Lustre running on Windows(R) XP, is networked to a Discreet(R) Smoke(R) editing/finishing system running on an SGI(R) IRIX(R) OS-based, 4-processor Silicon Graphics(R) Tezro(R) visual workstation for HD and special effects, and is also networked to the post-production suite, which primarily runs Discreet(R) Combustion(R), along with Apple(R) Shake(R), and Eyeon Software's Digital Fusion(R). Capital FX's own in-house art department, which creates original title sequences and artwork on Apple(R) Macintosh(R) systems, is also linked by the SGI SAN. SGI shared filesystem CXFS ensures seamless workflow between any and all of the suites, regardless of operating system.

SGI(R) Guaranteed Rate I/O (GRIO) v.2, software for enhanced performance of high-bandwidth data, is in the process of being added, ensuring real-time DI to film output. Capital FX protects the valuable intellectual property they work with using the very latest security solutions from Cisco Systems throughout the facility's IT structure; as with all of the other components in the digital workflow, the security solution integrates seamlessly in the SGI SAN infrastructure.

With approximately 40 employees at present, Capital FX was founded in 1990 as a film optical house, and transitioned to digital film mastering and an IT infrastructure almost six years ago. The facility's bread and butter has always been foreign versioning title work and it offers the only laser subtitling in the UK. Using CELCO Fury(TM) recorders, which run Silicon Graphics(R) Octane2(TM) systems, as well as ARRILASER digital film recorders, the facility has the biggest film output in Europe, and handles the foreign title versions for almost all of the major features distributed by Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, United International Pictures, and 20th Century Fox.

The recent addition of the DI Lustre suite with SGI RM660 storage and SGI shared filesystem CXFS has proved a tremendous success. Capital FX has used the theatre suite to finish not only the DI and color-grading but extensive original work on a number of late summer and early fall releases, including Stealth, scanned in at 4K, and Batman Begins, Asylum, Ripley Under Ground, The Bridge, Dead Man's Card and the just completed V for Vendetta, all scanned in at 2K.

"With the current push for a larger venue DI theatre, SGI's scalable InfiniteStorage systems are an important benefit, allowing us to add nearline storage very quickly. That's a huge need of ours, to keep constantly growing the network," said Ilko. "We'll actually be doubling the storage to 40TB of online storage, switching on GRIO, putting in a 68TB nearline storage device and another SGI InfiniteStorage gateway server. We're also purchasing SGI Data Migration Facility, which will allow us to automatically dual-state data, meaning it is copied to online and nearline storage simultaneously, as it arrives into the network. DMF also monitors the threshold of the online SGI RM660 storage, and as that gets to about 80 percent capacity, the data is automatically migrated to the more cost-effective SATA nearline storage. The scalability of SGI InfiniteStorage is also important because we've already run tests in 6K resolution to ensure we're future-proofed, and 6K is absolute monster!"

"Future-proofing a digital intermediate facility is exactly what SGI InfiniteStorage solutions provide," said Louise Ledeen, senior marketing manager, production, SGI. "It's having the storage and networking capabilities you need now, at real-time speed along with the SGI CXFS cross-platform functionality which enables our customers to select the best applications for editing, finishing, and interactive color grading so that directors and cinematographers, collaborating with the colorists and other creative talent, can fully realize their artistic vision. And, as 4K digital intermediate becomes more popular, SGI scalable infrastructure provides the ability to seamlessly add storage capacity for handling simultaneous projects at 2K and 4K resolution, and beyond."

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NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, IRIX, Silicon Graphics Tezro, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks and CXFS, Octane2 and The Source of Innovation and Discovery are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Apple, Macintosh and Shake are registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Discreet, Smoke, Lustre, and Combustion are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. /Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact: Lisa Pistacchio, +1-650-933-5683, or pistacchio@sgi.com, or Julie Cumberland, +44-118-925-7956, or juliec@sgi.com, or SGI PR HOTLINE, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR FACSIMILE, +1-650-933-0283, all of SGI.