INDUS TRY. PART 1: EDITING IN THE CLOUD
I f there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past year, it’s that the cloud is a fantastic tool for post-production. Teams need to make creative decisions using a central location for media, where everyone can see updates and give time- stamped feedback. Cloud computing allows people to stay connected remotely, see and hear content at the same time to discuss creative changes… but this is where it can get a bit dicey. We talk to industry leaders about the future of collaborative post-production and question: is the cloud enough? Why is the cloud a great tool for teams working in post-production? MICHAEL CIONI: Most people remember the days waiting in line for a new album at Tower Records, concert tickets at the grocery store, or even setting up the VCR to record TGIF while you were at dinner. Today, cloud has not only completely redefined music consumption, ticket purchases and video on demand, it’s dramatically improved them. The convenience, quality and experience of centralised, interactive assets has changed the expectations of how consumers interact with media, as well as the formats “The biggest eye-opener we hear is unforeseen costs and complexities. Many cloud vendors did not understand media workflows”
in which they are deployed. The same can be said of work behind the scenes in the media and entertainment industry; at its core, the concept of cloud is to centralise assets across teams, regardless of their location or discipline. Just as the cloud has redefined the landscape of consumer behaviours, so shall it redefine how professionals create. Centralisation, whether it’s your personal music library, private banking or feature film, brings more control to each person with the least amount of delay. Jeff Bezos says “one of the most important questions about the future now is what will change in ten years, rather what will remain the same”. We know that, a decade from now, people will want things faster, with better quality and on the go. This means investments in technology and techniques that expedite content are likely to be appetising to consumers. The cloud is the cornerstone to making all this possible. ALEX GROSSMAN: The cloud is the next, natural step towards complete collaboration. Creative processes were greatly enhanced when shared storage first came into post-production. Early pioneers in digital workflows realised that not only was it a faster way to get work done, but people also had extra time to produce better results. As more workflow components were added, the effect just increased. The cloud allows people to work together and share access to tools and processes they otherwise might not have. And it can all be done remotely – it’s really a huge step forward. JAMIE ALLAN: A cloud platform – be it a global CSP, regional provider or in-house
service – allows post-production teams to be flexible on their compute usage and the type of compute they need for specific tasks. The traditional model of buying set specifications for entire teams or companies means you leave a lot of resources on the table, resulting in an underutilised investment. Being able to correctly size virtual computing resources for smaller groups, or even individual users, vastly reduces the amount of overinvestment. Also, as you are costing the resources as an operational expense, rather than capital, the investment in compute resources can be better associated with overall job costs, allowing for better cash flow management and job scoping. That said, there are – and will continue to be – circumstances where the cloud is not great for particular cases. Very high- end workloads, which run all the time, can rack up significant bills and may be better suited to on-premises workstations or rackmount solutions. This flexibility extends beyond economic advantages into having staff operating remotely with ease, connecting to the same system and data wherever they are. Being able to replicate systems and workloads is a huge advantage for broadcast projects deployed on-site at a large event. However, this can have drawbacks for bandwidth- constrained users, or outside-broadcast operations in remote areas. To meet the needs of these situations, we’re very
MICHAEL CIONI Global SVP of innovation, Frame.io
ALEX GROSSMAN CPO, Symply
JAMIE ALLAN Media, entertainment & broadcast industry lead, EMEA , Nvidia
Cioni, one of the most prominent production and post-workflow experts, joined Frame.io in 2019 from Panavision, where, in a similar role, he spearheaded the 8K Millennium DXL camera.
A 20+ year veteran of the storage industry, Grossman was former VP of M&E at Quantum before founding Symply. He holds, and has contributed to, several patents associated with content management and storage technology.
Having spent his career with a focus on end-to- end technology and workflows, Allan now helps Nvidia customers define use cases, solutions and deployments of GPU accelerated systems.
30. DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
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