It’s been a challenging year for many in the broadcast and media industry as economic pressures and global uncertainty have continued unabated. This is driving media companies to seek out new ways of working to improve efficiency and save costs. The need to do more for less is stronger than ever, and this means working smarter, automating where it makes sense, and using the best media processing technologies.
However, given the many different software, hardware and cloud systems typically involved in post production, this is easier said than done. Changing entire ways of working is usually a complex, painful and bumpy process. One approach that can help media companies produce content more efficiently, without the pain of re-architecting their entire way of working, is to focus instead on bridging gaps in existing workflows. This means integrating tools and processes, ensuring compatibility and simplifying the entire process.
Integrating tools and processes
To move raw footage from cameras to post production, and through to delivery, content moves through many different processes, starting with ingest and including proxy file creation, metadata logging, storage, QC, insert edits for video and audio, timecode restriping, captioning, file trimming and transcoding. If the tools and processes used to carry out these tasks aren’t seamlessly integrated into the workflow, time consuming transfers and conversions will cause bottlenecks. This is precisely what media companies need to avoid if they want to create a seamless process from start to finish. For an efficient workflow, content needs to be able to flow through each stage smoothly, without delays.
Ensuring compatibility
A typical media-processing workflow uses technology from different vendors, so compatibility is another key factor when it comes to improving efficiency. If solutions are not fully interoperable, it’s impossible to create a comprehensive and cohesive workflow. When choosing solutions, it’s also important that they can work seamlessly with the different software, hardware and cloud systems involved in the post process. This gives media companies flexibility to add in additional technology or switch solutions if needed.
Simplifying the process
There’s also a need to simplify the process as much as possible by reducing and expediating the steps involved between capturing raw footage and delivery of the final product. This begins at the point of ingest. If media operators can batch process files, preparing assets for post production by trimming video files, removing snippets and instantly updating metadata, files can be moved directly from camera to MAM, saving post operator time. Time-consuming tasks, such as QC and transcoding files into various formats, should also be automated as much as possible to allow operators to focus more on creative, value-adding activities. By simplifying the process and expediating every step, media companies can ensure a smoother workflow and quicker time-to-market.
Bridging the gaps
Post teams are dealing with ever-tighter schedules, so speed and efficiency are critically important. Whether working in a database or moving content to Amazon S3, with the right approach, media companies can bridge gaps in existing workflows without the need to re-architect their entire infrastructure or fully change processes. By focusing on integrating processes, ensuring compatibility across systems, and automating and simplifying, media organizations can create an efficient, streamlined workflow without the pain of a complete system overhaul.
James Cranfield is Global VP Sales and Partnerships for Cinedeck (https://cinedeck.com). Cinedeck's expertise lies in encoding for edit-ready formats, ensuring a seamless camera-to-post workflow, and facilitating file delivery with patented insert-edit technology.