Essential tools for file based workflows Andrew Wild

Post Standard Def Beta / Digi Beta DV / DVCam Tape Tape Decks Beta / Digi Beta DV / DVCam NLE Linear Online

Evolution or Revolution? Revolution Noun  A forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system:the country has had a socialist revolution (often the Revolution)(in Marxism) the class struggle which is expected to lead to political change and the triumph of communism:when I grew up it was the Marxism that was very strong, it was like the revolution was coming next week  a dramatic and wide-reaching change in conditions, attitudes, or operation: marketing underwent a revolution Evolution Noun  The process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth.  The gradual development of something: the forms of written languages undergo constant evolution  Chemistrythe giving off of a gaseous product, or of heat:the evolution of oxygen occurs rapidly in this process  [count noun] a pattern of movements or manoeuvres:flocks of waders often perform aerial evolutions  Mathematics, dated the extraction of a root from a given quantity Source: Online Oxford dictionary

Post Transit medium Post Storage for editing Archive SD/HD/3D File based data NLE Online

What’s happened?  Editing and additional tool set being reduced to commodity computers and infrastructure!  Camera to file based acquisition (Tapeless) giant increase – its here!  Acquisition to edit timescales reduced (zero time?)  Production costs driven ever lower

What can we do in Post?  Specialist skill set is still required.  Specialist tool sets still required for finished program – Grade / Dub / Deliver.  Specialist infrastructure still required.  Back catalogue of tape based material access still required.

Rule 1: Workflows  You had a workflow for Tape, you just need several now for file based material!  Understand the acquisition process and the material it makes and the needs it brings with it.  Adequate provisions for the production (Toolset for transcoding/storage etc)  Data management.  Delivery.

Duplicate Transport Store Deliver Archive © 2011 Andy Wild Workflow example Capture

Camera Codecs  What type of file will you receive? RAW-MXF-.MOV-.MPG  Can you access the data easily?  Can you process the data natively?  How much footage/data will you get? It can be hard to relate GB to HRS of footage.

Storage  How much storage?  What type of storage? Local disks Network Storage  How to manage the the storage? Man power Software tool set

Storage  What’s a TerraByte mean in real terms? In hours what does a TB mean? Its hard to tell!  Data still needs to be ingested and this still takes time. 600:1 shoot ratios are madness but sadly the norm. Desktop copies can take hours when being copied to SANs.

Local disks  Still has its place.  Pocket drives still the most common ‘transit’ medium.  High performance at low cost.  High capacity at low cost.  Finishing workstations MAY need it if using uncompressed data streams.

Network Storage  Expensive to deploy for real time editing.  Expensive to expand and maintain.  Does bring increased flexibility.  Limited performance – delivery medium depending.

NLE Systems  Can we use the camera codecs directly?  Do we need to transcode material?  Are the workstations powerful enough?  Do you have enough workstations?  Do you have the right type of toolset for the job?

NLE Software  Appropriate tool set. Avid – Final Cut Pro – Adobe - Autodesk  Keep track with software versions. Native Codec support etc.  Staff training. Understand new technology, workflows and project needs.

Workstations  Hardware more important then ever!  CPU speed, RAM and GFX Card. Highly efficient high quality codecs need fast systems and GPU acceleration to decode the image for playback.

Delivery  What format does the client want delivery in? Tape File  Do you have the right tool set to deliver the right file format?

Transcoding  How much to transcode?  How much time will this add to the process?  New files also need to be stored.  Transcoding can be performed on NLE workstations or dedicated transcode software.

Encoding  Files may need to encoded for delivery or shared workflows.  Dedicated software or NLE software?

Archive?  Does the client need their rushes archiving?  Does the final deliverable need to be archived?  Does the entire project need archiving, if so in what format?

Disk Archiving  Do you have the needed storage capacity for storing data indefinitely?  Do you have the appropriate RAID protection?  Do you have the power and the aircon?  Could the cloud offer you a solution?

Data Tape  Data tape solutions are easy to install...  Good software search tools however are hard to come by.  LTO5 is the current IT type solution – but expansive and only 1.5TB per tape.

What about a MAM?  What do you think you need a MAM for?  How much will the MAM cost?  What’s the ROI on your MAM?  What will the MAM do for you?  Ask yourself again... Do you really need a MAM?

Posts shopping list  Knowledge of cameras and workflows.  Storage – plenty of it.  Workstations ability.  Data management skill set and SW tools.  Archiving hardware and software.

SAN NLETranscodingEncodingIngestArchiving

Price TalentProduction Post Production Deliver Use of technology & cost

Conclusion  Costing of equipment is falling but skill set is still king.  You must keep pace with camera technology to understand what you may have to tackle.  Just because its on a drive doesn’t make it instantly available.  Make your client understand what can help you can help them!

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