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Philippe Boyon, Active Circle: The challenges of file management in a video production project

July 2015 by Philippe Boyon, Directeur Marketing Active Circle

The video production cycle is undoubtedly a multifaceted process. It can involve a small team or a large one with extensive collaborative work; it can be as short as a 30-second ad or as long as a feature film; it can require limited post-production or involve lengthy special effects sequences; it can be used online as a small-sized file uploaded to YouTube or shown in movie theatres in high resolution.

No matter the level of complexity and the variety of such video projects, they always involve managing large volumes of files. From the rushes stage to the final edit (and beyond), video production teams need to be able to use, access, modify and archive videos in a simple way, not to mention at reasonable costs. Moreover, all videos need to be protected against accidental or malicious deletion. This will matter all along the life of the project, making it extremely important to safeguard and backup the shoots at all times.
Rushes: the challenge of handling large files
Most video projects involve filming a lot more footage than what is strictly necessary to the final video. It aims at avoiding reshoots or pick-ups (minor shots filmed after the main filming itself in order to solve continuity or quality issues identified during the editing process). It also gives the director and video editor a lot of different options for editing the project.

There are several challenges with handling rushes:
? From the very moment when they are filmed, rushes must be downloaded from cameras or cards and protected right away. Such an immediate backup is contractually required for insurance companies to cover the production.
? Some projects happen in such a short time frame that rushes need to be transferred to the editing team shortly after having been filmed.
? Rushes must be easily viewable: before any editing, the video editor has to grade the rushes. In other words, they watch them all and select the footage that will be part of the final edit. The videos need to be accessible and easy to browse.
The editor needs to be able to index sequences by tagging them, defining timecode In and Out, etc.

The editing: a collaborative process

The editing stage has its own challenges. Most of the time, it requires many file transfers and modifications from the rough cut to the final edit. Videos are shared between several production trades: the director, the editing team, the sound designer, the 3D animator, etc. They need to be able to:
? Upload footage in a secure and fast way: early edits are highly confidential since a leak could potentially ruin the project’s viability.
? Download and/or watch footage. Depending on the work involved, it can either require a high resolution version of the video or a much smaller version used for viewing and approval purposes only.
? Keep track of the edits through an advanced versioning system: at any time, the team may need to get back to an early edit should they realize a change was not needed. Traceability should also be ensured at all times.
Final cut: sharing and delivering the final video
Once everyone agrees on a final edit, the video reaches a new stage where it needs to be prepared for sharing.

It involves readying the files according to the requirements of each country and medium: some require ProRes, MXF, XDCAM, DCP, IMF, JPEG2000 or other formats; others need a trailer to promote a longer video; the aspect ratio may vary, just like the frame rate. For example, the frame rate standard in Europe is 24 frames per second while it is 29.97 fps in North America and Japan. Sometimes, extra sequences have to be added to the video (such as a test pattern or a black screen, etc).

Moreover, watching a video no longer involves one single screen or one single method. In a non-linear approach, watching a video becomes an interactive experience through links, related information or extra multimedia content. You have live programs, VOD, catch-up TV, etc. You have TV screens, tablets, smartphones, making the experience multichannel.
Tests may also be performed on the video before any broadcast: for example, the PSE Test (formerly called the “Harding test”) aims at preventing photosensitive epilepsy during television broadcasts.

Sending such videos is a challenge in its own right:
? Confidentiality matters more than ever. USB sticks or hard drives sent by traditional mail are clearly not an option.
? Express delivery services such as FedEx, UPS or DHL do offer more guarantees in terms of security. However, you can’t avoid occasional losses of packages, delayed deliveries because of strikes, adverse weather or other uncontrollable events. Moreover, such fast shipping services are expensive, not to mention the cost of the hard drives themselves.
? Videos files are heavy. They can easily reach several hundred gigabytes of data. It means they exceed by far the limits of famous file sharing websites (which are not secured enough anyway!).
Coming up next: archiving large volumes of files
Once the project is set and done, what happens to all the footage stemming from the whole production cycle? What about rushes and successive edits? What about the final edit and its string of different formats?

The production company often keeps a backup of such files for a limited time. The client can either get them back or allow them to be deleted. But the company may also need to archive the files on a long-term basis, for future uses or legal purposes. It implies two different challenges:
  First, file resolution has improved drastically over the past few years with the rise of HD and 4K resolutions, making files larger and larger.
  Then there is a cumulative effect: the quantity of archived files tends to grow over time. It can reach volumes as large as hundreds of terabytes.

At that stage, it is as much a matter of organizing the files as a matter of cost management.

Archiving such large volumes of files is expensive. Moreover, the volume itself is constantly changing. Each project brings a fresh load of files. Every day, files are deleted, modified or added in a way that makes it impossible to predict the archiving resources needed.

You also need to find the right solution to properly index the files. Archiving is one challenge, but finding the files back is another.

3 technologies that can solve your media file problems

Archiving your media files
How to handle volumes that easily exceed dozens of terabytes? First, when you’re looking for the right storage solution, it is essential to choose the right unit and consider the cost per terabyte (more accurate than the cost per gigabyte in such an environment). “Active Archive” systems are particularly adapted to such uses. First, they allow the clients to recover their data in full autonomy, at any time and in a standard format (reversibility). Then, such systems find the right balance of two different types of storage:
  Primary storage: fast, low-latency storage that provides instant access to the files. This type of storage, usually in the form of high-speed disk arrays, is expensive and limited in capacity. An active archive system will typically use 10 to 20 percent of primary storage for the most recent or mostly accessed data.
  Secondary storage (sometimes called “Cold storage”): this storage offers high capacity at low cost. The latency is slightly higher but such a downside does not hinder your activity since it is about archiving lesser-used files. Secondary storage is traditionally available as tape libraries, capacity disk arrays or some Cloud offerings.

Indexing your files
There are Media Asset Management systems designed specifically for archiving. They allow you to index the contents by adding various types of metadata (text, keywords, tags, etc). One key requirement is interoperability: making sure the database can easily be exported or coupled to another system. It is also essential to ensure the durability of the format over time.

Sharing your files
Cloud solutions offer many options to share large files in a very secure way. They include additional features allowing you to take notes and manage approval workflows with a high traceability. When it comes to media files, consumer offerings or free clouds are not suitable since they don’t provide a sufficient level of security. On the contrary, some professional cloud solutions now offer strong security features such as encryption, advanced authentication and more.


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