The audio team extracted the 5.1 surround track, used ffmpeg to convert the 48kHz sample rate to 96kHz (to slow it down without pitching Mickey Rooney), and then used the atempo filter to speed it back up.
By: Digital Afterlife Digest Date: October 26, 2024 ghosts s02e16 ffmpeg
In After Effects, this takes 30 seconds. But when you have 47 shots in an 22-minute episode, you don’t use After Effects. You use ffmpeg in a batch script. The audio team extracted the 5
Specifically, the show uses a lot of "particle work"—the ethereal shimmer when a ghost walks through a wall. If you use a standard H.264 encoder, those particles turn into blocky macroblocks. The show’s lead colorist (who wishes to remain anonymous but confirmed this on a VFX forum) runs a custom ffmpeg script for every episode. You use ffmpeg in a batch script
#GhostsCBS , #FFmpeg , #PostProduction , #VideoEncoding , #S02E16 , #CommandLineHorror
The episode’s final scene—a slow zoom on Isaac’s published book as the sun sets through the mansion’s window—uses a ffmpeg zscale filter to simulate the 2700K color temperature of tungsten sunset. The command is just five words ( zscale=transfer=bt709 ), but it turns a digital camera sensor into a nostalgic memory. Next time you watch Ghosts S02E16, don’t just laugh at Trevor’s popped collar or Flower’s spaced-out commentary. Listen for the silence of seamless rendering. Look for the lack of artifacts in the smoke effects. And whisper a quiet thank you to Fabrice Bellard (the creator of ffmpeg ), the real ghost who haunts every frame of your favorite sitcom.
For S02E16, the script likely looked something like this:
