Featured Story
Worth The Wait
Jul 1, 2009
So many fans ask why it takes so long to produce the DVDs from World Championships. This story will take you from the beginning to the end of the video production process.
The editing process starts by getting each performance into the computer, called video capture. A video crew from John Flower Productions captured the line cut (what you see on the jumbotron in Dayton and what is sent out as the live webcast). They also capture several other views that can be utilized for the final edits. This gives the editors several camera options in addition to what they captured live in Dayton.
Producer John Flower reports, "By capturing uncompressed video, we end up with over 6 Terabytes of information in the main system. That's over 1200 DVD's worth of information!”
Flower goes on to explain, "We spend anywhere between 30-120 minutes editing each show, depending on how good the line cut is and how complex the show is. From there we make any necessary color adjustments, such as adding saturation to make the colors pop or making the blacks darker and the whites whiter. We also make any necessary audio edits in the event that there is a long delay between the announcer starting and the guard being ready to perform. Finally, we add in the graphic elements and output 150 uncompressed shows plus 35 alternate video angles, each at 8-10 Gigabytes. This whole process takes some where between 4-6 weeks."
The editing of the performances is simply one of many steps. There is production of the DVD special features, DVD menus, disc wrap artwork, DVD face artwork, all created eight times (for each volume of the DVDs). Back in the WGI office, the staff creates the video credit screens and approves all artwork, menus, and edited shows.
From there the edited, uncompressed shows are sent to Chicago for DVD encoding and authoring. This consists of high powered computers running what is called variable bit-rate multi-pass encoding on each show. What starts out as an 8 GB Quicktime movie ends up as an approximately 200 MB MPEG file for DVD. This process is what allows up to 30 performances to fit on a disc while still remaining at a high video quality. We also encode a Dolby Digital Stereo AC3 file for audio playback. Once in that form, the discs are ready for authoring. Authoring is the process of linking menus and video files together so your DVD player knows what to play in what order, and what it should do when you hit a certain button on your remote.
Authoring is where that process comes to life. When the initial authoring is done, check discs are sent out to the WGI office. Each disc is checked through by multiple sets of eyes for any errors and playback compatibility. And if there are none, we move on to manufacturing. Encoding and authoring generally takes about a month from start to finish.
Manufacturing is also a multi-step process by which the 8 volumes of check discs are turned into glass master discs for replication. A final round of check discs produced once the discs are glass mastered, and once those discs are approved, it is generally about 2 weeks until the final discs are shipped out. The artwork is printed and inserted into cases, faces are printed and the final replicated discs are inserted shrink-wrapped, boxed up, and finally sent to WGI for delivery. So, if everything goes smoothly, discs are out the door and available for sale towards the end of the DCI season. A long wait, but necessary to ensure that everything works properly and looks the way customers have come to expect from WGI.
John Flower has been producing the WGI Color Guard World Championship discs since 2004. John and his crew has been involved with DCI telecasts and Cinecasts since 2001 and BOA Grand Nationals since 2005. For more, visit www.johnflowerproductions.com.
WGI expects the 2009 DVDs to arrive in the office by early-August. Once they come in they will be shipped out right away. Keep your eyes on wgi.org for all of the latest information. If you haven't already, order now!
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