workflow – BROADFIELD NEWS

Remote Production is Here to Stay!

Jamie G — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 21:30:00 +0000

Remote working has become the new normal due to Covid-19 and it seems like it will be here for a while. The enforced self distancing has made an positive impact on creative industries and are predicted to do so in the future.

Filmmaker Hasraf Dulull (The Beyond) says “It’s taken a pandemic to open the eyes of those not convinced about remote working. Our collective experience will change way we work forever.”

The use of cloud bases and IP workflows are preparing companies for a more remote work lifestyle. The pandemic has been opening up the possibilities to remote work through VPN and cloud remote workflows.

According to research by UK VFX reseller Escape Technology more than half of the VFX industry have had success with remote work and can foresee themselves continuing to have success in the future.

Remote work in the production industry has even reduced production cost, since most of the budget is spent on traveling. It is also allowing producers to find talent anywhere in the world. The cloud is allowing production teams to realize that you don’t need a huge studio space to get the work done.

“There is a global pool of talent that can help a production work around the clock if required, or bring an entirely different element of creativity born from rich local cultures,” says Stephen Tallamy, CTO, EditShare. “Technology plays a key role in making that a reality, to make it seamless to share content between remote locations, avoiding conflicts in editing, to providing low latency streaming experiences that allow creatives just allow their work to flow naturally.”

The pandemic has prepared companies with the new normal of remote work. As the world is slowly transitioning back into society, companies are still enforcing a more permanent remote work schedule, which employees are more than prepared for.

Check out the full article HERE

Learn more about live streaming HERE

BLOG WORKFLOW: THE REAL MACHINE BEHIND PROJECT PROFITS

Jim Bask — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 21:32:15 +0000

From G-Technology

In his early twenties, this writer bought his first car from his father. With no money and no credit, it was a total deal. Just take over the payments. Easy!

In the first three months of ownership, that car racked up over $2,000 in repair bills. Lesson learned: The cheapest, easiest route often costs much more in the end.

And yet, studios and producers often take this exact approach when selecting their gear, especially when it comes to storage.

We get it. Cameras are sexy; storage is not. Most creatives would rather discuss international lending policies than storage. But storage is not what we should be talking about. Hang with us a second, and let’s see if we can sexy the subject up a bit, at least where it matters most: the bottom line.

“Storage” is about drives, and a drive is some media in a little box that needs data and power connections. Of course, there are different kinds of drives and different quality levels, but the discussion rarely gets that far. In the vast majority of considerations, drives are about capacity and price. “We’re shooting a big project. Go buy lots of terabytes for the lowest cost.” It’s like taking over the payments on a lame car. Easy…read more

Behind the Scenes | The Creative Workflow of La Cumbre

Jim Bask — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 15:25:41 +0000

Go behind the scenes with Stept Studios and see how the G-Technology Evolution series helped maximize their RED workflow. From the G-Drive ATC Thunderbolt to the G-Speed Shuttle XL ev, G-Tech makes their workflows possible even in extreme conditions.

About La Cumbre: La Cumbre unveils the reality of what it means to live as an amputee in the developing world. In partnership with the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) we join world class mountaineer and wounded warrior Chad Jukes on an heartfelt journey to shed light on a public health issue affecting amputees worldwide.

About ROMP: ROMP is a non-profit, for-impact healthcare organization dedicated to providing prosthetic and orthotic care to those without access to these services.

Avid Cloud-based Workflow Revolutionizes Post-Production Services of Israeli Production Company Ha-Mitcham

Jim Bask — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:28:26 +0000

From Avid

Israeli production and post-production facility Ha-Mitcham is serious about collaborative editing. In fact it has just built its entire business around it. When they decided to build a brand new facility, they started looking at solutions from various manufacturers, setting high standards for quality, flexibility, ease of use, long-term value for money and – crucially – the capacity to work remotely via the cloud.

After an extensive search, Ha-Mitcham, the largest independent post house in Israel, chose Avid to help revolutionize its facility to a new level of efficiency and collaboration. The Avid workflow allows Ha-Mitcham clients to compete successfully with larger organizations in the production of creative, high-quality content. With the industry’s best, most comprehensive individual tools integrated on the Avid MediaCentral Platform, the workflow – the first of its kind in Israel – incorporates cloud technology to facilitate a cost-effective, collaborative and future-proof creative environment. The Avid workflow at Ha-Mitcham – the first of its kind in Israel – incorporates cloud technology to facilitate a cost-effective, collaborative and future-proof creative environment.

“We wanted to create a unique environment – the perfect ‘playground’ for content creators to produce great quality television. Our vision was to offer comfortable, creative production and post suites equipped with the best available technology, all under one roof. We wanted to enable people to come in with an idea and leave with a movie or a series to broadcast.”
—Efraim Halevy Sela, CEO, Ha-Mitcham

By deploying the Avid MediaCentral Platform, the industry’s most open, tightly integrated and efficient platform designed for media, Ha-Mitcham has created a unique environment for TV production in the Middle East. The leading facility prides itself on its ability to make remote editing and technology available to every production company in the region, whatever the size.

Click here to read the full article on Avid Blogs

Making the Virtual a Reality (Here’s What a VR Project Entails)

Jim Bask — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 20:06:59 +0000

By Jamie Field

Securing a 360 camera rig (for 360 VR)

Just like with VR headsets, some camera rigs are fairly basic while others come fully loaded, ready for serious enthusiasts to drool over.

From the entry level Samsung Gear 360 (two cameras with an 180-degree view) to the GoPro Omni (8K, waterproof, six cameras), you’re looking at spending anywhere from £350 to £3,500 to get the rig of your dreams.

If you’re anything like me you’ll find yourself drawn to the high end of the scale, but if the bells and whistles aren’t absolutely necessary then there’s no point in blowing your budget.

What’s your perspective?

In VR there are two kinds of filming: monoscopic and stereoscopic. With monoscopic filming, you splice the images together so that both eyes see the same 360 picture. Stereoscopic filming, on the other hand, is somewhat more complex than that.

It involves mapping two cameras to each field of view, simulating human eyesight and depth perception to a greater extent. It’s also, predictably, a lot more expensive than its monoscopic counterpart.

You can ‘supersize’ (purists would say convert) your monoscopic video to stereoscopic, but you can’t do the reverse.

If you’re keen on movement in your video, then keep in mind that additional equipment (drones, dollies, etc.) will also be required.

Click here to read the full article from ProductionHUB

How To Use Avid NEXIS | PRO With axle Starter Media Management

Jim Bask — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 15:42:38 +0000

Tutorial: Avid NEXIS | PRO With axle Starter Media Management

By Steve Hullfish

Art of the Cut author Steve Hullfish demos how to use axle Starter for media management and metadata-enhanced proxy screening with Avid NEXIS | PRO.

While producing this tutorial I’ve been on location editing with Avid Media Composer and an Avid NEXIS | PRO set up in a trailer on the set. And I’ve editing from my apartment near set with multiple Media Composer systems set up, which means I can be editing while the other systems are handling assistant editor work and things like ingest and transcoding. Since the system doesn’t require a lot of IT or infrastructure, I’ve able to handle moving it from place to place and set up myself, and I’m not a technical guy.

Getting Started With axle Starter

This tutorial is about a new partner for Avid called axle. axle is a very cool media management workflow company that has created a powerful and simple new system that is currently being shipped with Avid NEXIS | PRO . The system that you get included with Nexis is called Axle Starter. You can upgrade or purchase their bigger, more robust, and full-featured systems, but I’m really impressed with what this one can do.

Here’s the way it works. Let’s say you want a client, or a producer, or an assistant to have remote access to the media inside your Avid NEXIS | PRO or actually on any drive to be able to view files, manage them, add metadata to them, and communicate with you about that footage.

That’s what axle Starter does. People could even use a smartphone or an iPad to be able to screen proxy media on your NEXIS | PRO, and add metadata to the proxies. The more powerful versions of axle even allow you to do downloads and uploads of media over the system from remote locations. All of this client-side interaction is done through a simple browser interface. These remote users do not have direct access to the media on the Nexis. They’re looking at proxies on the axle server, so your original media is safe. We’re going to focus on Avid NEXIS | PRO in this video, but Axle can catalog and provide previews of all kinds of media, random photos, video, audio.

The axle Starter UI

It’s got a very simple UI. It allows you to completely customize metadata, whatever you want, however you want to have something be searchable. Once that metadata is in, your users can search that media basically as if you were using Google on the internet–a very flexible and powerful elastic search capability that gives both a quick, simple search or a very detailed complex set of search parameters. Basically, axle indexes a media file location, like the workspaces in Avid NEXIS | PRO , and turns them into searchable catalogs that you can navigate through a web browser. There’s no client-side software. How does this work? First, you need a Quad-Core Mac with at least 8 gigs of RAM, and Yosemite or better is the OS.

This is great because you’ve probably upgraded one of your old editing systems, and you might have one of these old cheese-grater Macs lying around anyway. If not, you can pick them up pretty cheap. axle will even run on a Mac mini. This will be your axle server. You really don’t want anything else being done on this axle server. The axle server needs to be connected to your Avid NEXIS | PRO , and also to the internet so it can connect to outside users. It’s best if this is a hardware connection instead of WiFi. The software you need is on this cute, little USB thumb drive from axle. Just pop it on the computer you want to use as a server. You’ll have to download and run Java from Oracle’s website first, just on the server.

Then run the installer for axle. It’ll require a restart. When you reboot, there’ll be a little A logo on your desktop. Double-click that, and on your initial install, it’ll ask you to create a user name and a password. It’ll provide you with a Mac address of your computer, which you use to send to axle to get the individualized license for your system. You’ll also be prompted to enter the path to the drive you want to start using as your first catalog. Being in Safari is helpful because it allows you to drag and drop locations from the finder into the text window for the file path name to automatically enter it.

Power users can also get the path name from terminal, but that’s a little bit above my pay grade. As I said, I’m not that technical. Once you’ve created your first catalog, and by catalog think drive location. A catalog can be made from any folder, or any drive, and it allows you to see, and manage, and have access to all of the media at that location.

Accessing the Media

Once it’s created, once you’ve pointed to the location, axle immediately begins cataloging the footage and media at that location. This will start populating immediately, but it will take a while. For video, it’s creating scrubbable H.264 proxies of every piece of media.

This is one of the reasons you want the computer doing this to be doing little else but axle. When the proxies are made, you can access them from the server computer, or any computer, or even a smart phone that has a web browser. Just enter the IP address of the server and backslash axle web into a browser, and you’ll connect. Then enter the user and password and you’ll be seeing the contents of a volume, Nexis, or folder anywhere with the ability to approve shots, comment on them, and add metadata. Another really cool thing is that even people without access to axle can easily see files by sending them an email link that connects straight to the axle server, so you don’t have to upload videos to Dropbox, or Vimeo, or YouTube for clients to look at shots.

Archiving Abilities

The link looks just like the axle interface and there’s no exporting, or converting, or uploading necessary. To me, that’s killer. Another feature I really like is the archiving abilities. Right from the Axle UI, you can archive specific shots or entire groups of shots to a pre-determined location, another drive, an LTO backup, the Cloud, whatever. Then delete the local media, but Axle will still maintain the proxies and metadata as if it was live, giving you this little icon to show that it’s really offline. With the click of a button, you can restore that media back because Axle remembers where it was stored and brings the file back.

Some of this remote access stuff made me a little bit nervous, but there are clear settings that allowed the administrator to limit user access to specific functions, so your media is always safe. In today’s media environment, small shops have to compete with the big boys and try to get more done with less. Nexis and Axle are a great step in that direction, delivering high-end functionality for a small-shop price. I never thought Nexis would be a solution that my company could use. It’s really affordable. With its wealth of functions, I can’t imagine life without it.

Click here for more info and pricing on the Avid NEXIS | Pro and the new Avid Team Bundles

Bluefish444 Announces New Fluid IngeSTore Software At IBC 2016

Jim Bask — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 17:02:08 +0000

From BroadcastBeat

Bluefish444, manufacturer of the industry’s highest-quality uncompressed 4K/2K/HD/SD SDI video cards, announces Fluid IngeSTore version 1.1, obtainable free from the Bluefish444 website. IngeSTore v1.1 will be available shortly after IBC 2016.

IngeSTore is Bluefish444’s free multi-channel capture software compatible with all Bluefish444 video cards. It captures multiple simultaneous channels of SD/HD/3G SDI to popular media files for archive, edit, encoding or analysis. IngeSTore drives efficiency in the digitization workflow by enabling multiple simultaneous recordings from VTR’s, cameras and any other SDI source.

This free update to IngeSTore software adds important new functionality including additional CODEC upgrade options and “Edit-While-Record” functionality…[continue reading]

Dealer News and Info from Bluefish444

Jim Bask — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 19:08:59 +0000

Bluefish444 Fluid ingeSTore is a multi-channel ingest tool that enables Bluefish444 hardware to capture multiple independent format SDI sources simultaneously. Fluid ingeSTore can be used with Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro to provide a simultaneous capture and output solution. In addition, Fluid IngeSTore can be used to encode uncompressed SDI to Avid compliant OP-Atom DNxHD media.

Watch Craige Mott talks through Bluefish444’s multi-channel ingest tool, Ingestore, at AVID Connect 2016. Ingestore is bundled FREE with every Bluefish444 card. [Watch Video Here]

AlphaDogs Reduces Ingest Time with Bluefish444 IngeSTore

“We looked at a variety of products, but the bundled Bluefish444 IngeSTore software and hardware combination was the only reasonably-priced solution for multiple streams of capture that fit our needs. It can record simultaneously while editing in Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro, which is very useful for multi-tasking. And the company has been responsive to any communications we have had.” [..Read the Case Study]

Get Bluefish444 Epoch | 4K Neutron with Fluid IngeSTore
for just MSRP: $2,495

Deliver the highest-quality video workflows with Epoch | 4K Neutron! Featuring 12-bit processing and 12/10/8-bit SDI I/O, Epoch | 4K Neutron comes standard with a full-height shield and connectivity for AES/EBU digital audio, analog audio and RS422 machine control. With the bundled Fluid IngeSTore software and included DNxHD encoding licenses, you can simultaneously capture up to 3 independent format SDI sources and encode uncompressed SDI to Avid compliant OP-Atom DNxHD media.

MSRP: $2,495.00

For more information contact your Broadfield Rep at 800-634-5178

AlphaDogs Digital Service Station Ingests with Bluefish444

Jim Bask — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 16:50:17 +0000

(Burbank, California–June 7, 2016) AlphaDogs is a Burbank-based post production facility and design studio offering a full suite of creative services for television, cinema and new media. Although it works in a variety of areas, the bulk of Alpha Dogs projects are in Reality TV and Independent Features, offering such services as post production consultation, video finishing, color correction, motion graphics, visual effects, audio post, media services, and rental suites.

Terence Curren, Founder of AlphaDogs, saw the technological trends in post-production and their effects on the traditional business model, that with the falling costs of equipment and opportunity for producers to invest in their own post production systems, talent would be the deciding factor in the longevity of post-production service in the years to come. Hence, he and a team of like-minded individuals founded the company almost 15 years ago.

Since its founding, AlphaDogs has investigated & implemented new editing methods that give clients a quality finished product quickly and inexpensively. In 2003 the company introduced its Editors’ Lounge series, a hands-on seminar for industry professionals. Each month, professionals in the production and post-production industries come together and exchange ideas, discuss trends and learn about new technologies.

In 2004, AlphaDogs introduced a Digital Service Station(tm) division. Digital Service Station (DSS) gives independent producers a one-stop solution to importing and exporting material from tape to hard drive and back to tape – a competitive alternative to renting expensive decks or hiring assistants, and which has expanded to different cities since its introduction.

Terence states, “The Digital Service Station acts as a self-serve ingest and output opportunity for editors with NLEs and no access to videotape machines. As a consequence, they can do a lot of capturing from videotape. The Bluefish444 IngeSTore software and Epoch | 4K Supernova S+ card utilized in the system allows us to capture multiple streams of video at the same time, which reduces the ingest time on large multi-tape jobs. We use the card for mass tape capture jobs. One recently involved capturing hundreds of hours of Gulf War footage from HDCam tapes.”

IngeSTore is Bluefish444’s free multi channel ingest software compatible with all Bluefish444 video cards. It captures multiple simultaneous channels of uncompressed SD/HD SDI to uncompressed or OP-ATOM compliant DNxHD media for archive, edit, encoding or analysis. IngeSTore drives efficiency in the digitization workflow by enabling multiple simultaneous recordings from VTR’s, camera’s and other SDI sources.

Terence continues, “We looked at a variety of products, but the bundled Bluefish444 IngeSTore software and hardware combination was the only reasonably priced solution for multiple streams of capture that fit our needs. It can record simultaneously whilst editing in Adobe and Avid NLEs, which is very useful for multi tasking. And the company has been responsive to any communications we had and were extremely helpful in setting up the product initially.”

Having successfully conquered the transition to HD, the AlphaDogs team continues to research the latest innovations and develop practical workflows, including the emerging tapeless and 4K workflows.

FireFly Cinema Accelerates Innovation in Digital Cinema Color Workflows

Jim Bask — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 19:28:12 +0000

Paris, France – May 27, 2016 — The FireFly Cinema team is excited to join their customers and partners at the 2016 Cine Gear Expo at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California. The Expo attracts 16,000 artists and technicians from all over the world. FireFly Cinema will be showcasing powerful new workflows enabled by their suite of creative color grading software solutions. The FireFly Suite now offers a comprehensive film set to finishing suite workflow for colorists encompassing FirePlay (for playback), FireDay (for digital dailies) and FirePost (for color finishing). Digital cinema professionals can visit the MelroseMAC booth (S311 Stage 32) on the Paramount studio back lot to see a demonstration of the FireFly end-to-end workflow showing native playback of digital camera media, digital dailies management, live grading on-set, post color grading, and comprehensive version rendering and metadata management.

FireFly Cinema will be demonstrating some powerful new capabilities at the Expo:

Support for a host of new RAW camera formats, ensuring compatibility with the latest production setups:
- MXF/ARRIRAW file format used by the ARRI ALEXA Mini.
- Arri ALEXA 65 and ALEXA Mini mini, Arri Open Gate
- Panasonic VariCam MXF,
- Canon C300 Mark II XF-AVC
- RED EPIC Dragon
Support for the latest in color standards: the ACES open color standard
HDR support by enabling the SMPTE ST 2084 transfer function
Support for the new Teradek COLR LUT Box for live color grading previews

CEO Philippe Reinaudo enthused: “FireFly Cinema is excited to bring these new capabilities to market and make it even easier for digital cinema professionals to achieve creative color results even in the most complex and demanding film production environments.”

Company Info

FireFly Cinema creates digital color management solutions. With 35 years of combined experience on hundreds of feature films at Europe’s largest digital laboratory, they strive to remain at the forefront in the digital cinema age and offer a suite of software solutions that complete the workflow for color professionals everywhere. Based in France, the birthplace of cinema, FireFly Cinema tools are widely used across European film productions.

Learn more at www.fireflycinema.com or sales@fireflycinema.com or (323) 317 7627

FireFly Cinema products are available through dealers affiliated with Broadfield Distributing, Inc.

Learn more at www.broadfield.com or 1-800-634-5178