INDUS TRY. PART 1: EDITING IN THE CLOUD
AG: If you asked me that question a year ago, I would have said no, with the assumption that many people would retreat to a more traditional pipeline. Now, I think we’ll see a lot more work being delivered from the cloud – not a pure cloud model, but the majority amount of post work will be cloud-based. JA: We’ll land on a hybrid approach. Creating internal private systems, fully managed and costed out internally, like with a public cloud, but with the ability to scale up quickly. This will provide a lot more control over business-critical systems and the ability to use best- in-class options when needed, versus going all-in with one provider, which can cause a lock-in issue. A company will always have a base layer of compute requirement for its regular operations, so it becomes uneconomical to rent this long term. You’ll also, hopefully, always have times that are busier than usual, so a platform that can easily and quickly scale on a purely operational expenditure gives a huge dynamic capability. Remote collaboration will inherently be built into these systems because of their accessibility. As long as companies consider the networking and security layer, and enable the right access with ease, it should be straightforward. We are now seeing integration of collaboration tools as standard in video editing and VFX packages, such as DaVinci Resolve’s multi-user workflows. Nvidia’s GPUs and Accelerated Networking technologies are used widely, both in-house by post- production companies and by major cloud providers. The hybrid approach provides the same user experience and application acceleration you would be used to with the traditional, physical model. ST: The future will be about creating more ways to collaborate. There will be more agility to deal with rapidly changing circumstances. Creative activities will always benefit from in-person, social interactions, but having the flexibility to work from anywhere can lead to new and different forms of creativity. We call this ‘Create Amazing Anywhere’. To realise this vision, there will be an optimised hybrid of technologies. PML: It’s hybrid, from now on. Producers understand they have a choice to go on-premises, remote, or both. They can switch modes for each production (even during production). We’re living in a free world, as opposed to being forced to work remotely because no one can make it to the office or vice versa. Hedge Postlab is one solution to collaborating remotely, by
extending a facility’s on-premises storage into the cloud. It’s secure, stable and provides all the same features an editor would have in their edit bay, at home. EF: With the development of vGPU- based platforms such as Nvidia RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) and Nvidia Omniverse – a multi GPU real-time simulation platform, specifically designed for virtual collaboration across a variety of creative workflows – global workforce collaboration and communication is easier than ever, and will continue to develop. Because of this, I see post houses taking the hybrid approach, with scalability and investment happening from there. Don’t miss Part 2 of this round table in our next issue
“There is such a big technology shift, that the need for developer talent is the biggest bottleneck. Without people to work, there’s no advancement” be for different industries, professions or processes. The foundation of the fastest-growing technological market on earth is known as the internet of things (IoT). Some of the most successful cloud technologies take rudimentary objects and inject the internet into them to create an entirely new market segment. For example, a doorbell coupled with the internet created Ring. Or a thermostat coupled with the internet created Nest. Likewise, a camera coupled with the internet is creating Frame.io C2C. Market adoption on these technologies undergoes a technological adoption curve – that is early adopters (about 15% of the market) jump right in, and the late adopters (also about 15%) wait until it’s a total standard. The centre 70% is made up of conservatives and pragmatists that are willing to try new things, but not first. The total reliance of cloud will depend on where people and brands fit into this technology adoption curve. For example, shooting actors on a set will be a local experience, but in the future, virtually every technology that contributes to a working set – even on location – will be cloud aware. Different companies, however, will adopt these IoT solutions at different rates. Lighting set-ups, original camera files, audio files, script notes, wardrobe databases, colour corrections, director notes, lens mapping, art department, props, even hair and makeup will use cloud photography, videography and metadata to trace, track and share work. With IoT, centralisation means collaboration happens faster, and is activated with more density. This lets collaborators from any downstream department leverage assets, with fewer steps and more automation. As each department and technology develops IoT solutions, the ‘old way’ will be harder to keep up, creating a domino effect in which more tools will get on board. By the end of the decade, the minority late adopters will transition all their workflows to IoT solutions, as every manufacturer will have either updated with IoT tech, or no longer be in business.
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