A Case Study in Movie Post-Production Kostas Kavoussanakis Project Manager, EPCC

Business Experiments in GRID 2 Overview Motivation for BEinGRID Business Aspects FilmGrid Case Study

Motivation

Business Experiments in GRID 4 Project Data Sheet Type of project: Integrated Project Project coordinator: ATOS ORIGIN Project start date*: 1st June 2006 Duration: 42 months Max EC contribution: 15.7 M euros Consortium: 75 partners The mission of BEinGRID is to exploit European Grid middleware by creating a toolset repository of Grid services from across the Grid research domain and to use these services to deliver a set of successful business experiments that stimulate the early adoption of Grid technologies across the European Union.

Business Experiments in GRID 5 BEinGRID Vision Typical Technology Transfer project: –2 waves of 18+7 Business Experiments involving SMEs in various industry sectors and covering full value chain –Aiming to prove that businesses will benefit from the adoption of Grid technologies –Planning to set up a repository of vertical Grid solutions, available free/at cost to the respective sectors

Business Experiments in GRID 6 The importance of BEinGRID The European Paradox –Europe is strong on Grid research and research take-up –Europe is weak in commercial exploitation Unique flagship project: great opportunities and challenges –addressing the European Paradox Three main aspects: –the industrial trial involving the full value chain –the repository –the business models

Business Experiments in GRID 7 BEinGRID and its siblings Datamining Grid OntoGrid InteliGrid K-WF Grid CoreGRID six virtual laboratories UniGridsHPC4U Provenance NextGRID service architecture Akogrimo mobile services SIMDAT industrial simulations data, knowledge, semantics, mining KnowArc Chemomen tum A-WareSorma platforms, user environments Specific support actionIntegrated projectNetwork of excellenceSpecific targeted research project g-Eclipse Gredia GridComp QosCosGrid Grid4all AssessGrid GridTrust trust, security Grid services, business models ArguGrid Grid GridEcon Nessi-Grid Challengers Degree BREIN agents & semantics XtreemOS Linux based Grid operating system supporting the NESSI ETP & Grid community BEinGRID business experiments

Business Experiments in GRID 8 Project Setup Technical cross activities Trust & Security VO Management Service & Data Mgt Architecture & Interop Selected branches: GTv4, UNICORE/GS, g-Lite, GRIA, WS-* Business cross activities Dissem. & Exploitation Market Study Business Modelling Mdw-1Mdw -2 Mdw -n BE1 BE2BE3... BE4 BE5 BE18 Repository

Business Experiments in GRID 9 Experiments by sectors Experiments by technology Cross Activities Finance Multimedia Retailing Logistics Chemistry Government–Public service Aerospace Environmental Science Textile Ship Building Engineering Automotive Movie post- production End- User Service Provider Integrator

Business Aspects

Business Experiments in GRID 11 Unusual support BEinGRID features a dedicated activity to provide Business and other Non-Technical Support to the BEs –Market and pilot context –Business modelling –Exploitation strategies –Common dissemination –Training –Legal issues

Business Experiments in GRID 12 BE Business Focus Business Model – how will it make money? –Place in value chain and alliances –Target market –Product and/or Service offering Business Case – the business opportunity in terms of RoI, or other measures, end-user perspective mainly Business Plan – elements of how project will go to market –Target market and competition –Offering and value proposition (added value) –Marketing and Promotional Plan –Implementation plan

FilmGrid – Movie post-production workflow

Business Experiments in GRID 14 BE02 – FilmGrid Movie post-production workflow –18 months, starting Sep 06 Reviewing data flow in the industry –Current data movement tied into celluloid shooting –What is the effect of digital capture? –How useful is Sohonet other than for ? Partners are: –EPCC, The University of Edinburgh –The Hat Factory, a motion-picture post-production house in Soho specialising in digital workflows –Joe Dunton and Co, a movie-equipment hire associated with high- value projects

Business Experiments in GRID 15 FilmGrid Topics Distributed Post-Production –e.g. director, cinematographer, grader, editors, V/S FX Large Amounts of Data –~10 TB of working data per movie Transfer of Data –Currently by courier

Business Experiments in GRID 16 Solution: Data transfer Past PresentFuture

Business Experiments in GRID 17 Solution: Storage presentation 12N ……… Filtered view of global data Workflow metadata Distributed data Client

Business Experiments in GRID 18 Checkpoint Captured user requirements –TA description significantly overhauled –Extensive GUI mock-ups reviewed in Jan Issued design document –Features unique, distributed data storage scheme –Includes class diagrams Assessed middleware –Building most necessary components ourselves –Considered SRB –Globus WS Core to build services for inter-server communication –Postgres for database –Security: PERMIS? VOMS? Drafted Initial Business Plan –Aiming for proof-of-concept, usable software –We would at least like to see the software taken up by our end-users –Software as a service scenario?

Business Experiments in GRID 19 FilmGrid in the Movie Value Chain Aim is to produce a software tool for movie post-production to improve: –Security –Efficiency –Cost-effectiveness Handling large data files Tuning workflow to match digital media UK Film industry turnover by value chain activity, 2002 Value chain activityTurnover (£m)% of total Distribution and exhibition 2, % Production % Post-production1534.3% Pre-production1403.9% Total3, % Source: Cambridge Econometrics/Optima ?y=2005&c=12

Business Experiments in GRID 20 FilmGrid Business Case Opportunity: –Recent UK Film Council report says that the UK Film Post Production sector is worth £410M. –An increase in efficiency of only 10% would save £41M annually in the UK alone. –The market may well include thousands of customers world-wide Value of the Grid: –Employing Grid technologies to develop components –Employing Grid methodologies to go from centralised to distributed RoI: –No concrete figures yet –Project cost (estimate): ~£360K –RoI calculation will have to take into account non-monetary benefits Description:Software tool that handles large files and metadata, while encapsulating post-production workflow Efficiency Gain: THF estimates savings of up to 50% in time and processing costs by reducing delays to receive data and to the actual processing of data Effectiveness Gain: Data transfer becomes secure, reliable and traceable. Post- production workflow becomes repeatable across movies. Single access point provides data location. Business Edge: Mitigates the risk of movie segments being leaked. Reduces the turnaround time and allows a bigger share of the market. Business Value Table

Business Experiments in GRID 21 FilmGrid Business Plan Channels: –Possible to market alone, based on THF and JDC contacts world-wide –May prefer to team up with a large post-production equipment and software supplier Again THF and JDC contacts crucial Value Map for Distributor case:

Business Experiments in GRID 22 FilmGrid Business Plan Competition: –Digital Vision may be looking into distributed systems –DVS Spycer provides a distributed content (asset) management. It does not provide functionality such as workflow information, resource versioning and adequate security. It also does not provide uniform view and access to the distributed resources. –Ascent Media is expected to be another main competitor as it is looking to go into the Grid market. So far they have made no great impact in the UK market. –The Bones data management system from the Thompson group appears to satisfy certain data management requirements from the motion picture post-production. However it does not appear to satisfy many features desired by numerous post-production houses. Our key competitive advantage is the close involvement and expertise of our end-user partners

Conclusions

Business Experiments in GRID 24 Recap BEinGRID fosters the uptake of Grid technologies by European businesses –Key goal of the Commission strategy Three main, parallel instruments: –18+7 Business Experiments, each with its business model –A repository of high-level services, motivated by the BEs –Technical and Business Cross Activities, supporting the BEs and filling the repository The project has a keen focus on Business aspects FilmGrid is producing a software tool to encapsulate movie post- production workflows and revolutionise data-management in the sector –Grid provides components and mentality –FilmGrid to benefit from the business support offered by the project