We sat down with Hungary-based DIT Daniel Farkas to discuss his recent involvement in ‘Alien: Romulus’. Wait, another ‘Alien’ film? That’s right, the science fiction horror-thriller forms the latest addition to the iconic ‘Alien’ franchise, with its storyline set between the first two movies from 1979 and 1986. Hence, the production needed to pay tribute to the original feel of the early films while creating an exciting new cinematic experience. In this interview, Daniel shares how he leveraged Silverstack Lab, Livegrade Studio, and ShotHub to handle his responsibilities on set and in the dailies lab.
As DIT and founder of his own dailies company (DIT LAB Ltd.), Daniel’s professional life is characterized by variety, a fact he really values: „I thoroughly enjoy the diverse challenges that come with each type of project. It keeps my work interesting.“
When working as a DIT, Daniel is mainly involved in American feature films and TV series such as Wednesday and All the Light We Cannot See, to name a few. As a dailies supervisor, he also covers commercials, TV series, streaming series, and major studio movies. What’s special about his work on Alien: Romulus is that both his areas of expertise came together, as Daniel happily recalls: „I was invited for an interview four months before the shoot and thrilled to get the opportunity as the main unit DIT. Additionally, Wil Fluckey, a post-producer I had worked with earlier on Red Sparrow, gave my company the chance to handle the dailies for the show, which was an exciting challenge.“
The best practice is to link the dailies lab with the set […], so post-production can start working earlier and more accurately with the footage.“
His involvement in both areas allowed Daniel to create a truly integrated workflow that helped connect set and post – a critical approach, as Daniel points out:
„In my experience, editorial and post-production teams want to receive footage (both dailies and rushes) as quickly as possible. This has evolved the work of DITs and data managers to a new level, where tasks like metadata filling, dailies grading, camera color matching, quality control, and even some transcoding are done on set. The best practice is to link the dailies lab with the set for these tasks, so post-production can start working earlier and more accurately with the footage.“
So, let’s take a closer look at how Daniel and his team handled all these tasks and responsibilities. As mentioned before, the movie’s storyline is sandwiched between two existing films from the 70s and 80s, or as Daniel puts it: „Alien: Romulus takes the audience on a journey back to the original feel of Alien, while also exploring new levels in the story, from director Fede Alvarez’ unique and at times chilling perspective.“ Achieving a feel that caters to both nostalgic references and Alvarez’ unique creative vision took thorough preparation and close collaboration between creative and technical roles:
„The DP Galo Olivares and director Fede Alvarez, were very well-prepared and a pleasure to work with – from our first meeting to the wrap. Before principal photography, we conducted several camera tests. Then Galo, the final colorist Mitch Paulson, and I began a session to create a show LUT for the movie, which we used throughout the production.“
„Livegrade is essential to my work“, says Daniel as he goes into further details about his look and color workflow. He elaborates: „I received two log signals from the cameras (two Alexa 35s, often used simultaneously) and used Livegrade Studio to grade the footage in a CDL-LUT workflow. I also recorded the log videos (every take) with Livegrade Studio, which made it easy to revisit any shots for grading adjustments or scene matching, and also provided useful references for our 2nd unit“.
Our DP appreciated Livegrade’s ease of use for reviewing connected scenes, applying special grades or LUTs, and using the signal measurement tools like false color and scopes.“
In addition, Livegrade Studio allowed Daniel to support DP Galo Olivares more directly, as he explains: „Our DP appreciated Livegrade’s ease of use for reviewing connected scenes, applying special grades or LUTs, and using the signal measurement tools like false color and scopes.“
Overall, Daniel’s on-set responsibilities span from color matching between cameras to filling out metadata for each shot, assisting the DP and gaffer with lighting, and operating iris units with the DP. To handle these tasks, Daniel relied on the following setup:
„My cart was equipped with two FSI Box IO and two AJA Colorboxes for LUT management, an AJA 16×16 Video Hub, two FSI DM250 monitors, a Leader LV5350, Semote Camera Remote, Tangent Element KB panel, Stream Deck, quad splitter, various signal amplifiers, two AJA IO X3s, BMD SmartScope Duo 4K, and a MacBook Pro. I use an ADICAM mini+ cart on set.
On the software side of things, he also integrated Silverstack Lab and Pomfort’s cloud service ShotHub to streamline his workflow and connect on-set data and look management with the dailies creation process:
„I also filled out scene/take information, descriptions, and QC elements in Livegrade. Camera reports were managed in ZoeLog, which helped streamline our workflow and integrate with our Silverstack Lab project. After reload, the data manager downloaded the footage from the camera media to an on-set RAID and a transfer drive using Silverstack Lab. They rechecked all the slating and grading, synchronized sound, and transcoded DNxHR files and H.264 files.
At the dailies lab […] Silverstack Lab is a core part of our workflow as we use it for reporting, transcoding, dailies grading, and generating ALEs for Avid Media Composer.
„On the dailies side, I ensured that all color and metadata information was properly translated to rushes, which was facilitated by using ShotHub on set. At the dailies lab, we would receive PSLA from set, so the metadata is filled out when the dailies process begins. Here, Silverstack Lab is a core part of our workflow as we use it for reporting, transcoding, dailies grading, and generating ALEs for Avid Media Composer.“
Given how seamlessly Pomfort applications work together, Daniel concludes by describing them as „incredibly efficient tools“. This is also the case for quality checking, which was performed using Silverstack Lab. Daniel describes his team’s QC process as follows:
„We typically review footage using specific picture settings to detect any dead pixel issues. After that, the dailies operator watches the footage in real-time, checking for human and technical errors, such as crew or equipment in the frame, soft focus, iris jumps, etc. Each error is logged with a code based on the Netflix standard, which has become very common practice. The operator records these errors in a clip report with the corresponding in-out timecode.“
While most of the workflow was pretty straightforward, some unique challenges presented themselves when vintage cameras from the 1990s were added to the mix. As they couldn’t be handled the same way as their digital counterparts, Daniel’s full technical expertise was needed to find a suitable workaround:
„We also used JVC SD Broadcast cameras as security or helmet cams. These cameras had no options for metadata recording, grading, or even proper footage recording, so we had to develop a system to make them compatible with our workflow. We used small recorders and converters to ensure proper footage recording, first up-converting the signal from SD to HD, then using Blackmagic Video Assist 4K recorders. We added a timecode Lockit box to the XLR input and used the device as a rushes recorder. This system worked surprisingly well!“
So, besides the thrill of successfully solving technical challenges, we were curious about Daniel’s other favorite memories from working on Alien: Romulus. While we often hear that fond memories are mainly about the people you meet and interact with on set, an answer involving a 2,31m Hungarian basketball player turned actor was a first:
„Meeting Robert Bobroczky was my most memorable experience. He is an incredibly tall guy and a real hero in my eyes, playing the Alien-Human hybrid in the movie. Also, to set the tone for the movie, the director Fede Alvarez invited the entire crew to an Uruguayan BBQ, which he and his wife hosted—a wonderful start to the project!“
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Big thanks to Daniel for sharing these insights with us!
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More InformationDaniel Farkas, DIT & Dailies Supervisor
Daniel lives with his wife and two kids in Budapest, Hungary. He holds a degree in cinematography, started working as a DIT in 2012, and has run his own dailies company since 2016. As a DIT and dailies supervisor, Daniel is involved in various projects, including many international feature films and TV series.