Blueprint Post

Blueprint Post Delivers On Time and On Budget with Cinedeck

With three locations serving Los Angeles, Blueprint Post finishes some of the most popular reality and reality competition shows for network and cable television. Blueprint Post Production looked to Cinedeck to improve their deliverables process and decided on a for their on-line division, Blueline Finishing. We recently spoke with owner, Craig Large and on-line editors, Mark Fletcher and Jon Kelble about how Cinedeck has helped their workflow. “The primary reason we decided on Cinedeck was to help with the finishing workflow for ‘American Ninja Warrior’,” explains Craig. “’Ninja Warrior’ is a 2-hour show with seven different masters – it is not an easy show to deliver. Often we’re delivering on Friday for the Monday airdate and we simply can’t afford a slow-down or a QC rejection. One way we’ve saved time is during the layoff-watch down process. We can now layoff to file and watch down concurrently – our on-line editor watches the Symphony layoff from Cinedeck while the post supervisor watches the same file as it’s being created in another bay. When the layoff is done, we refer to the timecode on the notes and simply ‘punch-in’ changes. It’s absolutely brilliant!” Since the Cinedeck was a success with Ninja Warrior, making the decision to use an Insert Edit workflow on other projects was easy. “We delivered a 10-episode MTV series, ‘Stranded with a Million Dollars’. After the show had already been delivered, the network requested a last-minute graphic change. We not only had to change the graphic but also the slates between each act. There were 5 versions of each episode so we had fifty shows in total that needed to be updated,” Mark explains. “What could have been a nightmare was a million times easier with Cinedeck,” adds Jon. “If we had to export out of Avid to make these changes and re-QC each episode, it would have taken six to seven hours per episode. Instead, we took the files that had already passed QC and inserted the new graphics and slates. We were able to update each episode in about one-third the time. Cinedeck was a huge plus while we were working on this series.” Another benefit realized by Blueprint Post on many of their shows is taking the guesswork out of export settings by using Cinedeck’s VMM (Blacked File) workflow. “With an export workflow, if an incorrect setting is selected the file will fail QC. Using Cinedeck to create a Virtual Mastering Media ‘template’ file means we no longer worry about settings,” Jon explains. “That’s a big reason why I LOVE Cinedeck. I look at the show specs, create a ‘blacked-file’ template and then copy that file for every episode. I don’t have to double check work after every output or worry about anyone failing to meet spec or accidentally changing a setting – it’s an enormous help!” Mark concludes.

• About Blueprint Post Blueprint Post is a full-service postproduction and equipment rental company with 3 facilities in the Los Angeles area. They offer over 75,000 sq.ft. of editorial suites, production offices, on-line finishing services and equipment rentals. Blueprint Post 4146 Lankershim Blvd. Suite 300 Toluca Lake, CA+1.818.843.5376 www.blueprintpost.com