‘Centurión’: advanced post-production in Lightworks

Award-winning editor Chris Gill uses Editshare's Lightworks for Neil Marshall's latest film, 'Centurion', set in a Pictish camp besieged by the Romans during the conquest of Britain in the 2nd century. The Lightworks system includes advanced multi-camera editing tools with unlimited sources and dual-SDI outputs, allowing editors to work simultaneously with multi-camera sources and sound effects, thus achieving greater tension and emotion in each sequence.

Filmed in the snow-lit Scottish countryside from February to April 2009, and post-produced at Goldcrest Films in Soho, London, the story of the mighty centurion was brought to life using three Lightworks systems interconnected in RAID via Fiber Channel.

Chris Gill has commented that "Speed ​​was crucial for my editing, as Centurion required multiple cameras to capture all angles of the action. Lightworks has no competition when it comes to speed, it really is the fastest and simplest solution for filming and editing images." The Lightworks system includes advanced multi-camera editing tools with unlimited sources and dual-SDI outputs, allowing editors to work simultaneously with multi-camera sources and sound effects, thus achieving greater tension and emotion in each sequence.

Gill added that Lightworks' "audio level and auto-sync controls have been ideal for matching the entire beat along with the drums in the blood-stained battle sequences. Music is always an important issue for the editor and when it comes to fight scenes it is crucial to the final impact. Lightworks flags if any part of my multiple layers of audio and video tracks are out of sync, making it very easy to go in and fix them. It saves me a lot of time, and I never have to worry about it. Lightworks offers features “Advanced sub-frame audio editing, direct-to-timeline voice tool, support for the Mackie protocol, real-time playback of mixed sample and bit rates, as well as real-time multi-tracking.”

James Richings, Managing Director of EditShare EMEA, was very pleased that "Chris Gill has edited some impressive films using Lightworks to excellent results. He has created a great story with Centurion, demonstrating the versatility of Lightworks in film post-production. Lightworks is an advanced film editor, allowing editors to unleash their maximum creativity. And once again, Chris has demonstrated how a single set of tools like Lightworks can help create a powerful story."

Lightworks in open source

Starting in Q3 of this year, Lightworks will be available as a free download for all users. Developers will thus be able to download the code, modify it, create extensions and sell them in an official EditShare store, its current owner. Therefore, a real avalanche of new functions and editing and correction possibilities is expected in the coming months since this software, although not very widespread, has a community of users who are passionate about the possibilities it already offers.

Following EditShare's purchase of Lightworks, this non-linear editing solution for film and television environments is growing by leaps and bounds in terms of creative and productive possibilities.

Lightworks offers a real alternative for today's editors with advanced features such as one of the most powerful effects engines available, support for native MXF codecs, Quicktime like those of RED R3D, XDCAM HD, DNxHD and ProRes and the ability to handle 2K DPX files effortlessly with real-time effects such as primary and secondary color correction or audio processing.

Additionally, Lightworks has the ability to handle two HD-SDI inputs and two outputs at once, ideal for use in stereoscopic 3D productions. Apart from that, EditShare has added functionality to achieve the best project sharing between editors available on the market being able to edit at 23,976, 24, 25, 29, 30, 50 and 60 fps. One of its most appreciated features is the possibility of viewing on different screens to compare effects and having a sound console on the screen itself. Lightworks also allows direct export to AppleTV and iPhone formats.

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