John MacGibbon - PBS's Frontline
"From China With Love"
"Her code name was "Parlor Maid," and she was an FBI "asset" for 20 years. Her information about China eventually made its way to four American presidents. Then in April of 2003, Katrina Leung and her FBI "handler," Special Agent J.J. Smith, were arrested. The government alleged that Leung was an agent for China and that Smith had helped her. In a stunning announcement, the government also revealed in court filings that Smith and Leung had carried on a romantic relationship for more than two decades. In "From China with Love," Frontline explores a story of secrets, risk, patriotism, and perhaps a story of love."
Since 1983, Frontline has served as PBS's flagship public affairs series. Hailed as "the last best hope for broadcast documentaries," Frontline's stature over 20 seasons is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries.
The responsibility for creating the show's promos and much of the packaging materials falls to John MacGibbon. John has worked with Boris FX since his days at ZOOM, a children's show also produced by WGBH. He claims to have used every feature of Red at least once, with the exception of the Heart spline primitive. (Frontline doesn't have much call for hearts, but you never know.) Since John is a Motion Graphics Package user, he also uses Boris Continuum Complete for AVX in his work on the series packaging and promos for Frontline and a second series, Frontline/World. These products help him to create imagery that matches the program's cutting-edge journalism.
"Although I have an Avid Marquee, I find Red more effective for creating sophisticated text animations, " said John MacGibbon, Frontline editor. "The "From China with Love" promo is a good example of how easy it is to quickly create sophisticated title animation."
Frontline's Boston post-production facility, OutPost, includes three Windows-based Avid Symphony systems, as well as several Macintosh graphics stations. Frontline remains the only regularly scheduled long-form public-affairs documentary series on American television, producing more hours of documentary programming than all the commercial networks combined. With about 22 documentaries produced each season, media management is critical to meeting the program's tight deadlines. The editing and graphics systems share 3 TBs of storage, connected via their Avid Unity system.
The flexible workflow of the Boris Motion Graphic Package easily fits into this collaborative environment. John uses Red as both a plug-in and as the standalone Engine. When creating complex transitions in the Avid timeline, he uses Red as a plug-in. Simpler effects use BCC AVX in the Avid timeline. While some effects require the timeline video, some multilayered composites and complex titles animations are more efficiently produced on the separate graphics workstation. This allows editing to continues on the Symphony systems while the Red Engine renders out to QuickTime using Avid's Codec. The cross-platform KeyFramer means that John can also experiment with offline effects at home.
John is responsible for both offlining and onlining his work. Both Continuum and Red easily allow you to simply batch render once the high resolution video is online. This lets John focus on creative tasks rather than I/O and data compatibility issues. All Frontline programming is up converted to air on the PBS HD channel. John must provide both 16x9 anamorphic and standard 4:3 versions. A simple Red Project preference makes this a snap.
Frontline recently upgraded their systems to include BCC version 3.0. Among the more than 40 new filters, some provide practical benefits, while others help the promos maintain their sophisticated look. One practical benefit is provided by BCC DeGrain. As a documentary series, Frontline includes shots from multiple sources in multiple formats (including VHS) in a single show. BCC DeGrain helps integrate the different types of media, including archival stock, into a single project with a more uniform look. On the other hand, the new OpenGL-accelerated Lens Flares will help John to create compelling images, replacing some older plug-in technology. While Symphony includes both motion tracking and stabilizing, BCC AVX's motion tracker is integrated into most of the filters. John can easily create distinct effects such as tracking volumetric lights with a minimal of effort.