POST-PRODUCTION
What hemeant was that online security is a constant balance between risk and reward; there’s no single answer that fits all of us, nor every project, or even different stages of the same project. We can nomore blindly trust our assets to the cloud than avoid it entirely. Always bear inmind, however, that ‘the cloud’ is a marketing term that simplymeans a server located somewhere other than on your own property that is storing your data and controlled by someone other than you. Often, though, filmmakers operate in small groups, without active IT or security support. To help them there is an excellent resource in the UK in the Digital Production Partnership (DPP). They created a Committed to Security Programme specifically designed for media creators and suppliers, which saw themworking with broadcaster and supplier security experts to develop the work into a self-assessment format designed to enable suppliers to demonstrate their commitment to achieving security best practice. These self- assessments were then tested with selected member companies alongside DPPMember and quality assurance expert, Eurofins Digital Testing, to formalise the work into an official programme. Your assets can be stolen, lost or hacked if you store themon the cloud, but it’s not likely. As Pierson says, it’s about managing risks. However, many production activities “It’s possible tomove many production activities to the cloud with limited risks”
More information DPP: www.digitalproductionpartnership. co.uk HighTail: https://www.hightail.com Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/h StudioBinder: https://www.studiobinder.com Adobe TeamProjects: https://www.adobe. com/creativecloud/team-projects.html procedures. Ask specifically how any cloud vendor you plan to use will keep your assets safe. Change passwords frequently. Ensure the user list is up to date. And don’t paste your user name and password on a sticky note attached to your monitor. requires a long-termcommitment. You don’t want to be spendingmoney when the project is over. And be wary of any service that is totally free. They aremaking their money somewhere, just be sure it isn’t on the back of your data. It’s worth emphasising that security is not ‘lock the door and don’t worry about it.’ Rather, it’s an active process that we all need to follow to keep our assets safe. Perfect security is unobtainable; just as any building can be broken into given enough resources and dedication, any asset can be hacked. The trick is tomake sure that hacking ismore work than it’s worth. “If you don’t have an IT department, it’s about being aware,” Pierson says. “Slowing down and saying, ‘this looks strange. Let me go run it down.’ So is that a certain number of hours per week? Not necessarily. Might it bemore hours one week than next? Certainly. Deadlines are always looming, but security is kind of the underpinning of the internet, something that’s vitally important, so you need to invest the time when you identify it’s necessary.” Keep a close eye on your security
can bemoved to the cloud with limited risk. One problemwith the cloud, however, is that it’s too slow. A typical 4K shoot generates up to a terabyte of data a day. My Internet connection is too slow for me to upload a terabyte of data – it would still be uploading the next day when I needed to uploadnewassets. If I need to share media, I find it faster and safer to ship hard disks between the set and editorial; always making sure I have backups stored locally – just in case. But that doesn’t meanwe should avoid the cloud. It’s excellent for collaboration, for example, even if not so excellent for sharingmedia. For example, StudioBinder has an excellent production planning and project management tool which is cloud based. Google Docs is well known as a collaborative writing tool, though I prefer the security inherent in shared Apple Pages files. Meanwhile teamprojects inside Adobe Premiere are a great way for editors to collaborate while still storing all assets locally. None of these require putting our media online, yet all of themenable us to collaborate as a team. If you need to send files between team members but not store themonline then Dropbox and HighTail are both excellent programs. While I use Dropbox personally, easily half the files people sendme are on Hightail. I have not had any problems with either service. There are also cloud-based collaboration tools for conversation (Slack), project management (StudioBinder or ProWorkflow) and video review (Wipster or Screenlight), as well as countless business collaboration tools. When picking a web service, keep in mind that most productions are limited in duration, so don’t select a vendor that
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SUMMER 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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