1. case study 10
LightIron
LightIron and Pablo get together for
The Social Network
Complete file-based workflow provides a roadmap for the future of digital cinema

2. case study 10 LightIron
Director David Fincher’s film The Social Network describes the founding
of Facebook, which, along with making its founder Mark Zuckerberg a
billionaire, changed the way millions of people communicate every day.
In the future, film historians may point to Fincher’s production as having
made a similar impact on the way entertainment media is created. The
Social Network was produced, from shooting on the set through delivery
to digital theaters, entirely with file-based digital media.
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3. case study 10 LightIron
ʻʻ
The projector was stunning
ʻʻ
and the environment
allowed you to work in
a theatre atmoshphere
rather than a DI suite
Jeff Cronenweth, ASC cinematographer
Cover and left: Stills from
The Social Network
Inside cover: Ian Vertovec gets to grips with
David Fincher’s vision in The Social Network
Digital all the way Nimble workflows
In fact to call The Social Network a “film” is Fincher has a history as an early adopter of That nimbleness carried through to the post
something of a misnomer, as it was conceived digital technology and shot several previous production workflow: the raw R3D files were
from the start as a wholly digital product. The films with digital cameras. The Social Network processed by 1st Assistant Editor Tyler Nelson
innovative production techniques and was shot at 4K with RED One cameras and transcoded to ProRes 422 LT (in near real
workflows employed by Fincher and his team equipped with the manufacturer’s new time) for offline editorial, performed in Final
(including color grading via Quantel’s Pablo Mysterium-X chip, whose superior low light Cut Pro by longtime Fincher collaborators
4K) were never meant to emulate traditional performance is clearly evident in the Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter. Editorial then
film processes, but rather were intended to crispness and detail of the many scenes shot prepared a fully conformed and stabilized
take advantage of the practical and creative in dark environments. version of the film for delivery to LightIron’s
benefits of file-based digital technology. Vertovec in the form of uncompressed 2K
Although film prints were eventually made for The small size of the RED camera (it’s not DPX files.
use by theaters not equipped with digital much bigger than a consumer camera)
projectors, those prints were derivatives of the allowed the production team to remain light
digital cinema master, rather than the other on their feet, particularly while working on
way around. The Social Network can thus be location. Similarly, because RED’s R3D files,
viewed as a “true” digital cinema production. even at 4K, are relatively small, the cameras
did not have to be tethered to large, immobile
“The Social Network was produced digitally for disk arrays. Additionally, Fincher and his
digital,” explains Pablo Colorist Ian Vertovec, cinematographer, Jeff Cronenweth ASC,
of LightIron Digital, Los Angeles. “Although shot everything at a single ASA setting and
many people who experience it in theaters will recorded all of the camera data in its raw
be watching a film version, it was really made state. No time was spent applying camera
with the future in mind, when everything is looks or grading on the set. As a result, the
digital.” production moved along at impressive speed,
wrapping in 68 days, several days ahead
of schedule.
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4. case study 10 LightIron
Grading to go Sophisticated reality Above: Scenes from
Final grading, conducted under the supervision of Fincher Because The Social Network was being mastered for The Social Network
and Cronenweth, was done on a ‘mobile’ DI theater set digital cinema as a first choice, the approach taken in
up at RED Studios in Hollywood. The theater included a the final grade was different from other films. “We did
Pablo 4K, made mobile from LightIron’s Los Angeles not use a film emulation LUT,” Vertovec notes. “That was
facility, along with a Sony T420 4K digital projector and a something unique to our process as normally film
40-foot wide screen. emulation is used throughout. I feel that we would not
have gotten the most out of the digital image if we had
Setting up a DI theater on a soundstage was made been twisting it through a film LUT.”
possible by the small size of the Pablo 4K, its low power
requirements, and its physically small, yet efficient Dylan Fincher has a reputation for creating dark, moody films
disk array. All iterations of the film, including multiple and The Social Network continues in that vein, although
versions of 1,000 visual effects shots, were stored locally its look is predicated on the substance of the story and
on the Pablo in a 4-foot tall mobile cart. the world inhabited by its characters. Cronenweth
described the look as “sophisticated reality,” observing,
Cronenweth, for one, considered the unusual grading “It’s a contemporary yet classic style that stayed true to
environment to be a boon to creativity. “I enjoyed the lifestyles these kids lived.”
the process very much,” he says. “The projector was
stunning and the environment allowed you to work
in a theater atmosphere rather than a DI suite that,
in turn, gave a more accurate perspective when
evaluating images.”
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5. case study 10 LightIron
Creative color
ʻʻ
Vertovec notes that Fincher and Cronenweth had done
a superb job of capturing the look they wanted on set,
and as a result he was able to devote most of his time in
Pablo to refining details rather than to setting looks.
Even so, that left considerable work to do. Vertovec said
that he used windows to manipulate details of nearly
every frame of the film—in some cases a dozen or more.
“We were never totally relighting, because it was all lit
correctly on set, but we did a lot of enhancements, like
taking down a wall or lightening something up,” he
recalls. “For example, we wanted to be sure that the
ʻʻ
The Social Network was produced digtitally for
digital. Although many people who experience it
in theatres will be watching a film version, it was
really made with the future in mind
Ian Vertovec, Pablo Colorist at LightIron
wood in some of the Harvard buildings didn’t look too
red as it would feel too fresh. So, we put a bit of blue
into it to make it look aged—that’s something you
couldn’t do on set.”
Above : Film promotion
Above right: Still from
The Social Network
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6. case study 10 LightIron
At a glance
• The Social Network was produced, • All the color grading was carried
from scene to screen, with entirely out by Ian Vertovec on LightIron’s
file-based digital media Pablo 4K
• LightIron were able to create a DI • The result is ‘sophisticated reality’
theater on the soundstage thanks to which perfectly captured the
Pablo’s small size and power needs Director’s vision
• Raw data was recorded so no time
was spent applying camera looks or
grading on set
Time for perfection
One of the advantages of working in a fully digital
workflow, in general, and working with Pablo in
particular, is that it affords time to make those types
of subtle adjustments. Time that would be spent in
transcoding files or rendering scenes can instead be
devoted to creative work. For that reason, Vertovec
expects many more films to emulate the workflow used
on The Social Network. “The technology is great, but
it’s really about liberating creative people,” Vertovec
says. “More and more people are beginning to make
that connection.”
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