Documentary Filmmaking is experiencing an explosion in growth. In 2017 alone, over 242 new long-form and short-form documentaries were added to Netflix. Adding to the complexity, Netflix Post Production delivery standards has reshaped documentaries, pushing filmmakers and post production companies to meet 4K Dolby Vision / HDR deliverables. Boardwalk Pictures and Cricket Lane saw an opportunity to redefine how documentaries are made.
Boardwalk Pictures is an award-winning production company that develops and produces premium and elevated series, features, and a variety of programming for digital and brand clients. Cricket Lane is Boardwalk Pictures state-of-the-art editorial and finishing company servicing a broad spectrum of documentary series. Their combined credits include some of the hottest shows on Netflix, including Chefs Table, Last Chance U, Fearless, and a variety of other projects.
“It’s a collaborative process, first Boardwalk Pictures record high-resolution content out in the field and then bringing it back to Cricket Lane for post production. We have a lot of freedom with everything under one room,” mentioned Dan Lillegard, Vice President of Boardwalk Pictures.
The Workflow
Boardwalk had some challenges at the start. 4K-high quality standards meant Boardwalk/Cricket Lane needed a facility that allowed them to do offline editorial, finishing and audio at the highest quality. Key Code Media was brought on to help design a post production workflow that would meet these standards, defining best practices and set up a pipeline to edit and have a fully 4K finish within Avid.
“Predominantly we went with Avid Media Composer. All of our staff work off Avid. We needed a workflow that was both flexible and collaborative from that perspective,“ mentioned Suzanne Greenfield, Head of Post Production at Cricket Lane.
Cricket Lane’s facility is ready for 4K high-quality standards, packing 20 Avid Media Composer systems, 2 BMD Da Vinci Resolve stations, and a full 5.1 Pro Tools audio mix room. The post facility is networked with Avid NEXIS/San storage and fibre connectivity built into each station. LTO archiving is also included to preserve projects and protect media for long-term storage.
Working With Key Code Media
In regards to working with the Key Code Media team, Dan commented,
“Key Code’s culture is very collaborative, taking a very thoughtful and holistic approach. They also house everything we need under one roof. A lot of other vendors don’t provide that. Key Code gave us everything under one shop.”
Key Code Media provided Boardwalk Pictures and Cricket Lane with workflow design and integration services, deploying a 4k-capable network of multimedia post production systems.
