Profile: Change is Good

How a terrible accident a decade ago turned software engineer and government worker Jith Paul into a key player in Ottawa’s film industry

By Kyle Brown,  Ottawa Magazine, May 2013

Many filmmakers would say they started on their path the second they picked up a camera as a child.  Others realized if it the first time they watched a film that truly inspired them.  For Jith Paul, however, it was the injury to a vertebra in his back that launched his film career.  In 2002, Paul, who was working as a software engineer at the time, fell while working out at home, injuring his back.  In the aftermath, he worked with an occupational therapist to relearn how to walk.  But as he took care of his physical recovery, Paul’s mental focus was on how to follow his dream of working in the film industry.

Now, just over a decade later, the 41-year-old finds himself overseeing–he jokingly labels himself president, CEO and janitor–Treepot Media, one of Ottawa’s fastest-growing production companies.  But how does someone make such a drastic jump–from a secure job consulting with the government to a player in the notoriously unpredictable film industry?  ”Sometimes you need a catalyst to reorganize your priorities in life,” Paul says.  ”And after the back injury, I decided maybe film was something I wanted to try more than just as a whim.”

In 2007, Paul entered the broadcasting program at Algonquin College.  Two years later, a new graduate with limited experience and no real job prospects on the horizon, he lucked out by meeting Heather Farmer, who organized the Indie Attic.  This weekly event took place at the now defunct Cajun Attic, a small second-floor music venue in the Market.  On Wednesday nights, independent bands used the place as a space to jam.  Public admission was free, and Paul, along with anyone else who had a DSLR camera, was able to shoot the performances.  The bands quickly realized the benefit of having free videos of their gigs and linked to them through their social media pages.  Paul collected and organized these videos, facilitated a stream through iTunes, and dubbed the project Treepot TV.

In 2010, he officially founded Treepot Media, a production company focused on producing and collaborating on documentaries, short films, and music, even and promotional videos.  (The first film he produced won at the 2011 Ottawa International Film Festival and was a semi-finalist in the CBC Short Film Face-off competition.)

In the time since, Paul has increasingly turned his focus to creating documentaries that deal with social injustice on a global scale, all the while continuing to stoke the flames of Ottawa’s film community.  Over the past two years, he has orchestrated a number of independent showcases, offering local filmmakers a chance to come together and present their work to the community.  These showcases have played at the Mayfair and Bytowne, as well as a the Centretown Movies in the Park series.

If local filmmakers are going to succeed, he says, a system is needed for encouraging and fostering collaboration, learning and creativity among all the players.  ”One of the things that really frustrated me when I first graduated was that some filmmakers quickly slipped into thinking, Okay, we just need a job to pay the bills.  It frustrated me that people would just give up that reality,” says Paul.  ”So it becomes about a community that works together and helps each other so that we can succeed.”

That commitment to community and collaboration rings true in Paul’s most recent project, an interesting take on the chain-letter tradition.  Currently referred to as the Cliffhanger Project, it will see six local filmmakers each produce a scene to collaboratively create one feature film.  The catch? Filmmakers will have only two months to produce their scene, and they can’t begin until they see the scene before theirs (they must continue the story from where the previous scene left off).  Explains Paul: “The filmmakers will have complete creative control over their chapter, with the exception that they have to follow the game–you have to continue the story.  You can conceivably kill everyone off, but where’s the fun in that?”  The first of these webisodes will be posted in May.  As the community balloons, many kcal filmmakers have become quite skilled in the art of making shorts.  But Paul hopes this project will push the envelope and encourage creators to consider producing features as well.

As for his own goals, Paul hopes to shoot on film one day.  ”There’s something romantic about not knowing how something will turn out until you develop it,” he says, noting that he hopes to convert Algebra, his directorial debut, to film. (The digital short took the prize for Best Technical Quality at Ottawa’s Digi60 Festival in December.)  Mostly, though, he simply looks forward to continuing to tell stories.  ”I love that the Biography channel’s tagline is Everyone’s Life Is a Biography.  Whether its fiction or reality, I like to tell stories,” he says.  ”Visual storytelling is what filmmaking is, at the end of the day.  Once you strip off all the technology and all the administrative stuff, it’s just a very old tradition.”

Trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now available on demand at Indie Koala

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Treepot DCP Guide

I recently directed my first short film al-gebr(a), about a painter grappling with the loss of his eyesight. I’m currently submitting it to festivals around the world and I notice that quite a few of them listed DCP as an exhibition format alongside HDCam, DigiBeta and 35mm film. Since the technology is fairly new, and since most major studios have switched to DCP as the delivery mechanism for their films, I thought I would research what it took to create and test a standards-compliant DCP.

If you are new to DCP, the Wikipedia page for Digital Cinema Package is a good primer.

I learned several lessons putting together and testing my DCP so I thought I’d document my workflow, primarily for indie filmmakers who feel overwhelmed by the amount of information and different workflows available on the internet.  This is by no means a definitive guide; just documentation related to a real world practical example.

First off, since I’m so proud of what my team of brilliant actors and crew accomplished here’s the trailer for the short film al-gebr(a). I can hardly wait for the film to appear on a festival screen near you!

  

So back to the task at hand: The goal with this example is to create a DCP with 2k scope image (1:2.39 aspect ratio) image and a dolby 5.1 soundtrack from an edit of 5k/4k footage in Premiere Pro CS6 running on a Mac.

Step 1: Generate a sequence of images to feed OpenDCP

There’s two ways to do this.  One is to create a series of 16 bit TIFF images and then use OpenDCP to convert those into a stream of 12 bit xyz jpeg 2000 files as specified in the DCP standard.  One thing I noticed is that TIFF images created directly from Premiere Pro via the Adobe Media Encoder were 8 bit.  I did some research (using Google) and it doesn’t look like there is a way to generate 16 bit TIFFs directly from Premiere.  I ended up creating a dynamic link to the Premiere Pro sequence then exporting a TIFF sequence in After Effects.  A couple of things to watch out for here.  Make sure your composition has a bit depth of 16 bits per channel, and in the Output Module Settings, choose Trillions of Colors rather than Millions of Colors.  Any other combinations will give you an 8 bit TIFF sequence.  I am creating a 2k scope DCP so my images need to be 2048×858 to maintain the correct aspect ratio.

Fig 01: After Effects composition color depth. Click for larger image.

Fig 02: Choose Trillions of Colors. Click for larger image.

It is a good idea to check one of the resting images by opening it up in photoshop to make sure that the dimensions and bit-depth are set correctly.

Fig 03: After Effects Render. Click for larger image.

Fig 04: Checking dimensions and bit-depth in Photoshop. Click for larger image.

At a recent SAW Video DCP workshop Edward Folger provided a link to a free JPEG 2000 plug-in for Premiere Pro  from a company called fnorware j2k that can be used to create the sequence of JPEG 2000 files directly from Premiere.  That eliminates  the TIFF step entirely.  Check for a link under Tools along the right side of this post.  This saves a lot of time and also provides the ability to create a lossless JPEG 2000 master of your sequence for archival.

Fig 22: Generating Digital Cinema JPEG 2000 sequence directly from Premiere Pro. Click for larger image.

Fig 23: Generating Lossless JPEG 2000 sequence directly from Premiere Pro. Click for larger image.

Step 2: Generate Digital Cinema JPEG 2000 Sequence in OpenDCP

If you use the j2k plug-in to generate Digital Cinema JPEG 2000 files you can skip this step.  If not, you can use OpenDCP to convert either Lossless JPEG 2000 files or 16-bit TIFF files (I have also read that it works with DPX files) to Digital Cinema JPEG 2000 files. The process is quite straightforward but can take quite a while depending on the length of your movie and the processing power at your disposal.

Fig 05: Generate Digital Cinema JPEG 2000 files. Click for larger image.

Step 3:  Create MXF files of Video and Audio

Next point OpenDCP at your JPEG 2000 files and audio files (you need to split out each channel in to a separate 48/24 mono track, in my case the 5.1 mix is in 6 files clearly labelled).  I didn’t have subtitles to deal with for my example.

Fig 06: Type=JPEG2000. Set input and output. Click for larger image.

Fig 07: Type=Wav. Set input and output. Click for larger image.

Step 4: Title Generator

Next hit the DCP tab, use the Title Generator to set the various components and metadata related to the project.  Each one of these items affects the name of the DCP package and will let the projectionist and the projector easily identify whether this is a short, a feature, the dimensions of the frame, whether it’s 2D/3D etc.

Fig 08: Generate DCP Title. Click for larger image.

Step 5:  Generate the DCP

This step combines the image sequence and audio files to create the DCP.  It won’t take long and when you are done you end up with a folder containing the MXF files containing audio and video and some XML files with metadata.

	Fig 09: DCP Generation in Progress. Click for larger image.	Fig 10: DCP Generated. Click for larger image.
	Fig 11: DCP Files. Click for larger image.

Step 6: Create transport drives

The next step is to copy these files on to removable media that you can then ship to a festival or take to a theatre for testing.  There are several options here.  I did read that some servers had problems with bus powered drives.  There are many tutorials out there that state HFS drives work in most cases.  Some state that they have to be ext2 or ext3.  Some even report success with NTFS drives.  I created bus powered exFAT and HFS drives to begin with, then subsequently purchased the Paragon extFS plugin (link on the right hand column of this post) to create an bus powered ext2 one.

Fig 12: exFAT, HFS drives. Click for larger image.

Fig 17: ext2 drive. Click for larger image.

Step 7: Testing

The best test is to actually take your drive to a cinema and try it out on a real DCP server.  I first tested the DCP at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa.  This theatre uses a Dolby DSS100 server and a Christie 2K Projector.  The exFAT drive didn’t work.  The bus powered HFS formatted drive did!  The picture was nice and crisp, the audio was great and the projection had the correct aspect ratio and used up the entire screen.

	Fig 13: Dolby Server at the Mayfair Theatre. Click for larger image.	Fig 14: Projection at the Mayfair Theatre. Click for larger image.
	Fig 15: Projection at the Mayfair Theatre. Click for larger image.	Fig 16: Projection at the Mayfair Theatre. Click for larger image.

My next test was at the Bytowne Cinema, which employs a doremi DCP-2K4 server and a Christie 2k projector.  Here the HFS bus powered drive didn’t work at all but the bus powered ext2 drive did.  I suspect the ext2 drive would have worked at the Mayfair too, had I had that done at the time.  From all reports that is the format (or the more recent ext3) that hollywood movies are formatted and delivered.

	Fig 18: doremi server. Click for larger image.	Fig 19: doremi server console. Click 260 larger image.
	Fig 20: Projection at the Bytowne Cinema. Click for larger image.	Fig 21: Projection at the Bytowne Cinema. Click for larger image.

Heading down to the local cinema to test your DCP is not always the most effective (although it’s the most sure-fire) way to test your project.  There are a few software tools you can use as well.  I couldn’t find an open source one and they are all quite costly.  I have included links to easyDCP and DCP Player, two of the more popular ones I found out about at the SAW Video workshop.  The screenshots below are from the demo versions available on their sites just to prove that they actually work.

	Fig 24: DCP Player demo in action (VMWare on Mac). Click for larger image.	Fig 25: Easy DCP demo Selection Screen. Click for larger image.
	Fig 26: Easy DCP demo running. Click for larger image.

That’s it.  It’s a summary of what I learned on my first DCP creation adventure.  Use this info to help in the creation and testing of your DCPs and please use the comments section below to let me know of any tricks and tools you have come across.

Good luck!

UPDATE (2013-03-15):

Thanks for the recommendation, Edward Folger.  The Stereoscopic Player from 3dtv works on a Mac via VMWare and is reasonably priced at 39 euros. The demo version can be used to view the first 5 minutes of your film.  A tip: click on “Monoscopic Left Image Only” to view 2D material.

Fig 27: 3dtv Stereoscopic Player (demo version) playing Algebra. Click for larger image.

UPDATE(2013-03-19):

I heard back from the Empire theatre chain. They run Barco projectors and hardware. I plan to test the DCPs out at one of their theatres soon.

I posted a link to the guide on RedUser.net as well.

About the Author

Jith Paul (Photo by: JF Dufault)

Jith Paul is a filmmaker based in Ottawa, Canada, producer, director, cinematographer and editor of several award-winning short films, documentaries and music videos.  Most recently he directed al-grbr(a), a short film about a painter grappling with the loss of his sight, a award winners at the Digi60 Filmmaker’s Festival 2012.

More: jithpaul.com.

References

This guide relies heavily on material from the following tutorials and seminars.

Danny Lacey Film Blog

Matt Cameron: DCP Tutorial

SAW Video seminar on DCP by Edward Folger

DCP Wikipedia Page

DCP Info (Academy Spec)

Special Thanks

I am fortunate to live in a city with a couple of indie-friendly cinemas that graciously permitted me to test out my DCP.  I wouldn’t be able to confidently state that this workflow works without their participation so I am including links to them.

Mayfair Theatre

Bytowne Cinema

Also special thanks to Josh Stafford and Marcus Lemm.

Tools

Links to useful tools.

OpenDCP

Paragon ExtFS

fnorware j2k plug-in

Digitall DCP Player

Faunhofer’s EasyDCP Player+

3DTV’s Steroscopic Player

A recent Algonquin TV broadcasting graduate, Paul got involved in the Ottawa independent film scene as part of a “five-year experiment.”

Although he has always been passionate about film, the local filmmaker first graduated from the University of Waterloo with a bachelor’s in engineering. After working a of couple small jobs in Toronto he moved to Ottawa, enrolled at Algonquin and refocused his career by starting his own production company called Treepot Media.

“Sometimes you have to figure out if it’s more than just a whim,” said Paul, “just dive in with two feet and see what happens.”

According to Paul, Ottawa is a very “indie-friendly” city.

While cities like Toronto and Montreal are better equipped to house bigger TV productions, Ottawa fosters more creative short-term works.

The accessibility to technology has led to a real “explosion” of independent movies in the past year or two, said Paul.
In fact, al-gebr(a) was shot with the same Red Epic camera that was used to shoot the top-grossing blockbuster, The Hobbit.

But the process is considerably different from filming a Hollywood production.

“As an indie filmmaker you do everything, you wear a lot of hats,” said Paul.

“I would find it quite an adjustment to have to wait for someone to move a stool, because that’s art department and not electric.”

In fact, Paul and Ayari both worked on each other’s films, with Ayari acting as director of photography on al-gebr(a) and Paul as assistant camera on Thirteen Downs, the beautifully shot feature film that topped off the Double Bill.

Written and produced by Karim Ayari, co-founder of Splitklips, another local production company, Thirteen Downs premiered at the Ottawa International Film Festival.

Shot in Wakefield, the feature-film tells the chilling tale of a family’s unravelling secrets.

“The idea behind this movie at first was to make a feature film that I could use to eventually get funding to make other bigger movies with bigger casts,” he said after the show, highlighting the financial difficulties often faced by independent filmmakers.

Ayari said he is very proud of what he was able to create in a limited amount of time — the movie was shot in one week and the cottage was booked one day before shooting began.

“I think it says a lot about what you can do with just adrenaline and passion,” said Ayari.

With extremely tight budgets, cast and crew are often working for free, said Paul — or next to it. So what motivates these actors, directors and crewmembers to dedicate entire weekends to free labour?

“It’s my biggest passion,” said actor Sasha Chichagov, who played the leading role in al-gebr(a) — a visual artists who loses his sight.

“Anything that has something to do with film and acting, I will never say no.”

Although he started acting at 18, Chichagov had to put his passion on the backburner.

His day job: he is a scientist, who will soon be setting out on an expedition on Baffin Island to study glaciers.

Mélodie

Explore the imaginative spectacle that is Mélodie’s mind through lenses that inspire her to see the world as only she can. A true spectacle through spectacles!  Starring Mélodie Courval, produced and directed by Mylene Paquin & Karim Ayari.

Ottawa at Night

A look at downtown Ottawa streets and landmarks at night.  Directed, shot and edited by Jith Paul featuring an original score by Julio Andres Rodriguez.

Undone

A door to door salesman tries to get through his day by selling the one thing that everyone wants, a second chance. Starring Jean-François Dufault, Gillian Pownall, Aphra Williams, Bogdan Cojocaru, Ron Langton, Gordon Allan, Michelle Adams, Dan Demarbre, Ryan L. Palmer, Lindsey Reeves-Whit, Kyuss Palmer West and Ellen Manchee.  Directed by Jean-François Dufault, shot by Nick Séguin.

The Interview

A professional young woman finds herself in an unusual job interview with a man who is, unfortunately, just being himself.  Starring Richard Gélinas and Mélodie Courval.  Directed and shot by Karim Ayari.

Ripples

Set in the very near future, “Ripples” chronicles the sudden, massive evolution of mankind from a celestial force, and two friends as they journey to discover peace whilst the world as they know it is crumbling all around them.  Starring Jordan Krakower, Lindsay Gerro, Faye Rowland, Julien Masterson and Ron Tarrant.  Directed by Kevin Friel, shot by Jeremy Kennedy.

Poetry in Motion featuring Brandon Wint accompanied by Claude Munson

The short poetry video provides a visceral account of a poet’s mind/body relationship, mediated through his prose and the language of story.  Director, DOP & Editor – Craig Allen Conoley, 2nd Camera – David Majer, Additional Folly Sound – Claude Munson, Performance by Brandon Wint (Poet) and Claude Munson (Guitar).

Mal De Tête by Fiona Noakes & The Other Guys

Album: Out of the Shadows. Director/Editor:Kristian Lariviere, DOP: JF Dufault, Lighting Tech: Ken McDavitt, DIT: Harris Nielson, Still Photographer: Frank Pomerleau

Misnomer by Tara Holloway

Music video shot and directed by Holly Bronco, edited by Valerie Holloway.

Like This by My Favourite Tragedy

Music video directed and shot by Karim Ayari.

Useless by Fiona Noakes featuring Timothy Trant

Music video directed and shot by Jeremy Kennedy.

And They’re Off by Jack is Jill

Album: soundtrack of “First Date”. Director/Writer/Editor: Derek Price, Director of Photography/Editor: Jith Paul

Thirteen Downs stars other Ottawa-based actors Sophia Radisch and Ron Tarrant.  The movie takes place over a single day, set mainly in Tarrant’s character Dan’s house in the woods.  The story revolves around the odd friendship that develops between Radisch’s character, a 13-year-old girl named Lily, and the elderly Dan.

When Dan’s estranged son Stuart, played by Gelinas, seeks his father out for reconciliation, he is confronted instead with the presence of Lily at the cottage.

“Karim spent months looking for the right house for the cottage, where most of my scenes were shot.  he finally found what he was looking for in La Peche.”  Most of the footage was filmed in Quebec.

“Shooting in a cottage was awesome.  It was great being isolated with everybody involved. There was nothing but the filming to worry about.  It was a tiny crew of great people.”

The movie employs flashback sequences to establish the development of Lily and Dan’s friendship.  Richmond Road’s own baker Street Cafe was transformed for two days as the location of a flashback scene set in a restaurant.

“Thanks to the Ottawa International Film Festival’s 72 Hour Film Challenge–held in late January–more people are branching out into film making.  I’ve met a lot of great new people through film jobs,” says Gelinas who is a seasoned player in the Ottawa theatre scene.  ”I like working with Karim, he has a wicked sense of humour, a real brightness and positivity that is terrific and rare.”

Gelinas is looking forward to more exposure to film.  ”I like it because it uses different muscles, it’s a new challenge.”  Just two weeks ago, he played a gambling fool who risks his hand in a variety of Russian Roulette for a scene in Crook, the latest film from Ottawa-based production company Zed Filmworks.

And you can catch Gelinas flexing his stage presence this May in the Company of Fools production of White Rabbit Red Rabbit, a story from Iranian playwright Nassism Soleimanpour.  ”You don’t rehearse, you just show up.  The point is you don’t know what to expect.”

Trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Synopsis:
Paul has won two tickets to Taiwan. He decides to try speed dating to find someone to take with him and finds more than he expected.

Creative Team:
Writer/director: Angelia Hughes, Ben Walker, Karim Ayari, Luca Fiore, Ivana Borojevic, Jith Paul
Producer: Jith Paul

Links:

Polar Bear Love on NSI

Polar Bear Love on CBC

Polar Bear love wins the 72-hour Film Challenge
– OttawaFilm.ca – Feb 7/2011

Romancing the Bear
– Holly Gordon – The Wig – Feb 11/2011

“Polar Bear Love” wins the Sexy Film Festival
– OttawaFilm.ca – Feb 24/2011

Polar Bear Love on IMDB

CBC gives Best Short Film choice to Canadians
– The Shorts Report – May 26/2011

Trailer for Algebra

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.