Objective: studying the features of creation of videos in the format Super UHD 8K Rec. 2100 HDR to create an exemplary video suitable for the presentation of future (at the time) 8K TVs.

 

1. Description of the task

2. Description of the research conditions.

3. Research of camera movement technology.

4. Image processing with the quality necessary to obtain the final video in Rec.2100.

5. The results

 

1. Description of the task (lyrical and technical)

​

The reasons that prompted me to do this research.

   When I visited the Historical Parks of Thailand in Ayutthaya in the summer of 2017, I had a burning desire to show the ancient temples to the whole world. Walking past the TV stores, I thought it would be a good advertising platform. Therefore, I set myself the goal of making an 8K video as a demo video for TV.

 

   At that time, only photo cameras were allowed to shoot in 8K resolution (7680×4320pixels). Therefore, the choice fell on time lapse technology (which is well-suited to represent the flow of time). Learning to do a timelapse is a trivial task that any mentor or videographer can teach you, or you can get information from the internet.

 

   But in the process of realizing my goal, it turned out that there was no information related to creating a video of such a high resolution, the new (published in 2016) color space Rec.2100, and the lack of tested software compatibility. So I had to do a research on these issues to get the desired results.

 

Description of the task.

   The development of modern television technology has become possible thanks to the emergence of new display technologies: O-LED and Q-LED. A key feature of these technologies is the ability to obtain pure RGB colors, in contrast to the old methods of obtaining RGB, such as luminophore, color filter (where shades of color are always present). For example, to get light in a Q-LED TV, Quantum Dot is used. QD is a semiconductor nanoparticle in which an electron behaves according to the laws of quantum mechanics, i.e. it can have only strictly defined energy levels, depending on the size of QD. The accuracy of the frequency of the emitted light is determined by quantum energy levels (more precisely, the accuracy of the size of the nanoparticles, which is still an order of magnitude higher than the accuracy of the light filters). 

 

   Pure RGB colors produce a wider color gamut on the display device. To standardize video formats, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) published the Rec.2100 standard on July 4, 2016. The first Samsung Q900 series TV, supporting Rec.2100 and 8K resolution, was presented in September 2018 at IFA in Germany by Samsung company.

 

   At the time of the study, there was no information on how to create a video in Rec.2100. I had to be guided only by ITU-R Recommendation BT.2100. There was also no software designed to work with this particular color space. Also, there were no devices on which such a video could be viewed on. To create a Rec.2100 video on a regular 8bit monitor, I had to work “blindly” and find non-trivial ways to control the final video. I hope this information will be useful to videographers when creating analogous videos.

 

   Another part of my research is about creating video in 8K resolution. Creating video in 8K resolution per se is not a fundamentally new task. But information on compatible, tested lenses, cameras, and software will be useful to videographers. On the other hand, I, myself, conducted a study of complex methods of camera movement, the features of Control Motion technology and its adaptation to 8K resolution. The description of this study is in this article, which will allow videographers not to waste time on these experiments and immediately get to work.

 

2. Description of the experimental conditions.

   Creating a time lapse of a static video is a task similar to that of creating a time-lapse of a lower resolution. Therefore, I restrict myself to the description of the photographic equipment used.

   I used a Sony a7R II camera, 28mm, 16-35mm lenses. If you want to make such a video, you can be sure that this device meets the necessary requirements. The surprising fact was that the 28mm lens, priced at $200 on that is placed on the “permanent sale,” gives a real resolution enough to pass Samsung's technical specifications.

   I used the program After Effects. Earlier versions have great instability when working with 8K resolution. Therefore, I recommend the version 16.0.1.

 

3. Research of camera movement technology.

   To create an attractive video, you need to immerse the viewer in the scene. For this, it is necessary to use a “dynamic camera” - camera movement. Hyperlapse technology was not suitable, because, after the necessary image stabilization, the high resolution was lost, and the final video turned out to be clearly not smooth enough. Therefore, I selected Motion Control technology.

   The simplest movement of the camera is moving forward toward the subject. But a more exciting video is obtained in the case of a complex movement - turning around a virtual point located at 5-10 meters away from the camera. This movement gives a 3D feel to the viewer, due to a change in parallax. For this, it is necessary, for example, to move the camera to the left, while turning the camera to the right.

 

Conclusions.

   I conducted a series of experiments on Slider devices (also called Rail System, Control Motion), which showed:

1. To achieve better visual quality, it is necessary to make the shutter speed of about a second.

2. To avoid blurred background (remote objects), a device is needed that stops at the time when the camera takes a shot. 

3. Before releasing the shutter, a pause is necessary to prevent the camera from shaking. This problem was the most difficult - most Rail Systems - even expensive Control Motion devices - do not have this simple software function. As a result, I worked with a cheap rail, which has a pause function in the control panel before releasing the shutter.

If you take these features into account when shooting, you get a clear 8K image of each frame, even when using the cheapest rails.

 

Software image stabilization.

  Even when using expensive rails, due to backlash and high resolution, additional software image stabilization is required. 

   Warp Stabilizer VFX from After Effects gives acceptable results (see examples at the end of the article) for shooting where there is no clear geometry of the subject, for example, when shooting nature.

   But in the case of shooting cityscapes, due to the minimal tilt of the rails — there is a visible departure in height, in the case of my chosen camera movement trajectory — the subject moves on the video floats up or down (more precisely, 1 up, then down during the video). I used the Stabilize Motion effect in the “Y-axis only” stabilization mode. With Further processing in the effect of Warp Stabilizer VFX is required to smooth out small jitter.

 

As a rule, movement along the X axis does not require special stabilization, since in most cases it is part of the intended movement / camera panning. it is invisible to the viewer and minor inaccuracies and jitter are well removed by Warp Stabilizer VFX.

 

4. Image processing with the quality necessary to obtain the final video in Rec.2100.

Format Description Rec. 2100.

   Rec. 2100 defines a bit depth of either 12-bits per sample. Which gives the beauty and color of the image better than the one you can see on the cover of a glossy magazine. 

 

Image processing with the quality necessary to obtain the final video in Rec.2100.

   At all stages of video processing, it is necessary and sufficient to use Depth Color 16 bit per channel. It is advisable to use the TIFF format, and only when creating the final video, use the Apple ProRes 4444 XQ format.

   I was inspired by the book “Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum…” by Dan Margulis, specifically by his idea of ​​“blind color correction”, “color correction by points”. I continued Margulis’s ideas on Rec.2100 format and also came up with my own “quirks”, to be able to control the video when I cannot see the final result directly (due to the limited capabilities of a monitor - 8bit).

   The Secret of Rec. 2100 HDR, from the point of view of a videographer, is that you absolutely do not have to take into account the features of the Rec. 2100. But, you need to carefully monitor during the whole process and the use of 16bit at all stages, and for such characteristics that are not visible on the 8bit monitor, such as noise in invisible bits, going beyond the dynamic range. 

 

   Strict compliance with these requirements gives you a guarantee of receiving Rec. 2100 on post-production (you get real 14 bit - camera’s limitations, in the required Rec. 2100 12 bit). 

 

   Post-production Rec. 2100 is performed at the final stage, not by a videographer, but during the final preparation of the video for display (due to the large number of formats for a particular TV).

Despite the fact that Post-production Rec. 2100 is beyond the scope of this article, I will say a few words about it - maybe someone from the reading videographers will have to prepare the final video for display.

Of all existing programs, convert video to Rec. 2020 HDR can two programs, now. This is Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve and Adobe After Effects.

 

5. The final results.

   As the result of my research, I managed to get a video in the format Rec. 2100 HDR, which was checked by Samsung technical department (several times :-) and fully met their quality standards. If you use this article as a guide, you can be sure that your result will meet the necessary requirements for such a video. I shared the results with my studio and this raised the quality of their work.

 

Video illustrating work steps (progress as a shoot).

Time lapse video (I participated in shootings as a student)

https://www.thisnight8k.com/bangkok-8k  

 

Video processed only by Warp Stabilizer VFX (the video is not mine, but I took part as the director of the Rail System verification task. From 10 sec.)

https://www.thisnight8k.com/waterfall-8k 

 

My final video (unfortunately, you can only watch Rec. 709, but progress in color is noticeable)

https://www.nataliyadenisyuk.com/8k-video-historic-park-of-thailand  

 

Joint videos of my studio and mine (joint copyright, I did any part of the creation of these videos)

https://www.nataliyadenisyuk.com/8k-stock-video-chicago 

https://www.nataliyadenisyuk.com/8k-stock-video-creative-new-york 

 

 

 

As a result.

   I managed to create attractive and high-tech videos. I posted them on my website and YouTube. Samsung Electronic though iplanet agents contacted me and licensed my videos for use on exhibitions (such as IFA, CES), in TV stores. Agent Zemstone / Samsung Korea contacted me to license my videos in films intended for gift to buyers of Q900 TV.

   Also, my Creative videos and our studio’s Editorial videos, in the creation of which I participated, are licensed under Right Ready (RM). They are used by mass media, such as NBC Universal Digital CNBC, Bloomberg LP Group, Microsoft Multimedia Publishing, CBS Television Studios, The Economist Newspaper Limited, Time Inc, Dow Jones & Company, Inc, CRTV, ChinaFotoPress, Al Jazeera Media Network, Group Nine Media.