POST-PRODUCTION THE LAST OF US
IMAGE Warner Bros
T he need to vacate offices and work at home during the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way we all approach work – and producers of the latest high-end television weren’t any different. While people of course still need to be on set, many of the collaborative benefits of working from home have translated to filmmaking and the cloud has become a key component of that. It has transformed filmmaking workflows in many ways, thanks to its ability to enable remote collaboration and flexible working – and will continue to do so. Filmed as the worst of the pandemic was just behind us – between July 2021 and June 2022 – no production better typifies this reality than the epic post- apocalyptic HBO drama The Last of Us . The show transports viewers to a barren, technologically regressed future thanks to a pandemic of its own. But it won’t surprise you that the technology used to make it was cutting-edge. Much has been said about the breathtaking blend of computer-generated and practical Will Newman explores how the cloud drives real collaboration for today’s high-end television
effects, but the production’s collaborative workflow is what resonated for editor Timothy Good and DOP Eben Bolter.
the Cloudsourcing Storytelling podcast, he spoke about how surprised he was at the seamless production workflow, even while working remotely: “It was the first time I had ever used a mirror system, as opposed to an actual editing Avid. I was dialling into a system in downtown Los Angeles from thousands of miles away, and it worked! I felt no lag, no difference – I forgot I was on a remote system.” The benefits of cloud-enabled remote work extended to Good’s personal life too: “We had a production office in Calgary, where we could dial into a remote mirror system. But if we got sick or needed to go home, our apartments had the same systems. Working from home, I didn’t feel burdened by having to stay in a facility until late at night – and then figure out where I was going to buy dinner.” JOEL’S RADIO CODE It’s clear to everyone working in today’s media landscape that remote work of course enables much more flexibility.
ENTERING THE QUARANTINE ZONE
When the pandemic hit (Covid-19, not cordyceps), studios and production teams had to quickly adjust to a new reality. Many worried about how remote working would impact content security during the post-production process. After all, keeping content under physical lock and key was no longer possible. But necessity is the mother of invention, and after several months of shutdown, bringing cloud-based remote servers online enabled editors to restart their work while preventing content leakage. The Last of Us was one of the productions able to take advantage of the adjustment and experimentation that took place in the earlier days of the pandemic. When I spoke to the show’s editor, Tim Good, on a recent episode of
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