Blackmagic Design announced that Sydney-based production house Studio Goose used DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud for grading, editing, VFX and audio post production for Australia’s Northern Territory Tourism Board campaign “Country Is Calling.” With the production and post-production staff coming from various locations across Australia, the company collaborated using Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci proxy workflows.
Studio Goose is a production company in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, founded in 2005 by CEO Keaton Stuart. To date, many productions have been produced using innovative methods, both creatively and technically.
In 2022, the company will work with Northern Territory production company Global Headquarters and writer/director Justin Schneider to bring to life the Northern Territory’s famous natural beauty, ancient Aboriginal culture and stunning wildlife. Created 10 digital packages highlighting the figure. “Country Is Calling” is a campaign conducted in conjunction with the epoch-making children’s program “Barrumbi Kids” produced and broadcast by NITV.
The Northern Territory town of Katherine, where the commercial was filmed, and the small communities of Beswick and Balanga are far from the city and full of spectacular scenery. With the ad’s production and post-production staff coming from various locations across Australia, the company needed a remote workflow that could be used instantly from anywhere. Using DaVinci Resolve Studio for post production allows data managers, assistant editors, editors, colorists, sound designers, mixers and online editors to work together using Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci proxy workflows.
The DaVinci proxy workflow gave each rep access to data within minutes of rush ingestion. Without this integrated proxy workflow, tasks like sending rushes in the mail or uploading large files in remote Northern Territory towns with slow internet can take days. It is expected that it was hanging.
Mr Stuart commented:
Stuart: One of the biggest benefits of using Blackmagic Cloud is that it expands the scope of collaborative work in creativity. Everyone worked from different locations. Data management by Global Headquarters from the Northern Territory, assistant editing in Blue Mountains, NSW, editing by Daniel Oates, Sydney, grading by Shane Dunn, Sydney, sound design and mixing in Queensland. Walmsley Audio, final online export and mastering at Studio Goose, Sydney. With Blackmagic Cloud, projects that require different departments to work on can be delivered quickly and with high quality.
Campaign creator and producer Monica O’Brien said:
Monica: Both Keaton and I are always quick to pick up information about intuitive systems. Resolve’s workflow is very smooth. I would never use another platform to produce a show.
The two content packages had to be completed in a matter of days in order to be ready for screening at the Darwin International Film Festival. Using DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud, I created a proxy and sent the necessary files to each person in Dropbox. This reduced the amount of data that had to be downloaded and made it easier to get started.
Stuart: We imported, edited, graded, sound designed, mixed and finished within Resolve.
What really stands out is that the creative elements of post-production, including editing, sound, VFX, compositing and grading, are all in one program, seamlessly collaborating on the same project in real-time. is what you can do. I want everyone to know this. This should become the standard way of working.
Working in the Fairlight page of DaVinci Resolve Studio and being able to communicate with the video and audio staff via Blackmagic Cloud was a huge advantage.
Stuart: It’s very helpful for sound designers to be able to start with a rough cut rather than waiting for picture rock. Sound is an integral part of the final emotional side of any production. It’s great that editors and sound designers can take turns working without having to spend time checking which frames moved, fixing sync and effects and footage out of sync.
Studio Goose has adapted this workflow to “I Am Me” edited by John Unwin, “For Real” edited by John Unwin, Daniel Oates and Brendan Cain, Keaton Stewart and Daniel “The Gamers 2037” edited by Mr. Oates and Brendan Kane; “Barrumbi Kids” edited by Daniel Oates, John Unwin and Pip Hart; Australian Society of Film Editors (ASE) and It was also used in ‘Muster Dogs’, edited by John Unwin, who was nominated for the Australian Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Editing, Fiona Strain of ACS, Ollie Dannon of ACS and Brendan Kane.
“The Gamers 2037” is a VFX-heavy, high-concept tween drama series aired on 9Go!.
Stuart commented on why Blackmagic Design’s workflow was useful in the production of the show.
Stuart: When working on The Gamers 2037 and other VFX-heavy shows, Resolve’s ability to export individual clips from the timeline has been a huge help. This saves a lot of time preparing clips for VFX work. Many of the shots in The Gamers 2037 were intended to be reframed, so Resolve’s tools were easy to work with, allowing me to adapt on the fly without breaking the editing flow.
The Blackmagic cameras are easy to use and the easy connection with Resolve has been a huge help. The resolution of the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K was also important for shooting scenes with chroma key. We shot all of our VFX shots with Chroma Key on a Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, so we had clean keys and the resolution we needed for reframes.
