Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1062194
www.postmagazine.com 36 POST DECEMBER 2018 OUTLOOK TOOLS O ver the past decade, the media value chain has been complete- ly transformed. Technology advances have fueled new consump- tion patterns and new business models, opening up a truly global marketplace to anyone with a compel- ling story to tell. These changes have led to increasingly intense competition for viewers, which has profoundly affected the post production industry upstream of distribution. Post produc- tion teams must now create more compelling content at higher levels of technical quality with more complex delivery requirements. Worse yet, they must do all of this within the con- straints of compressed schedules and lower budgets. To thrive in this new landscape, post production teams need better tools. OTT content distributors like Netflix, unencumbered by the limitations of legacy infrastructure, continue to raise the bar with respect to technical qual- ity standards. In 2019, tools vendors will respond with new capabilities that make it easier to deliver shows in 4K HDR with immersive audio. And as content customization and versioning becomes increasingly complex, we will also see broader adoption of stan- dards like the Interoperable Mastering Format (IMF). While better tools will help, new advancements are emerging to help automate mundane tasks, so creatives can spend more time being creative. In 2019, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transition from a buzzword to a main- stream technology in post production. In reality TV workflows, for example, AI can index the massive troves of source material captured by myriad cameras, enabling fast searching for producers and editors. Interns no longer need to transcribe dailies so they can be searched — AI bots can automatical- ly index all the raw content for you, converting speech to phonemes, so creatives can easily find the material that best tells the story. AI can also accelerate creative editorial, compar- ing the text in scripts to bins of dailies so editors can easily visualize their coverage for each scene and instantly audition alternate takes. Beyond adopting new creative tools and technologies, post production teams are always looking for ways to advance their workflows. In the past, post production workflows were highly sequential — each step in the process would need to be completed before the next step could begin, leading to inefficiency and inflexibility. To cope with the pressure of today's budgets and schedules, post production teams need to collaborate, working in parallel, not series. Solutions like shared storage have become essential, enabling real- time access to all collaborators simul- taneously. media asset management (MAM) systems, once prevalent only in broadcast environments, have now been adopted by post teams to enable all creative stakeholders to access, browse and search content from anywhere, as well as perform basic logging, review and shot selection tasks. And, as we head into 2019, cloud deployment pat- terns will be implemented more broadly by post teams, providing secure central- ized infrastructure with a pay-as-you-go business model that maps well to post projects. In past years, the rapid evolution of the media value chain caused concern and uncertainty for the post industry. But as new business models have matured, content distributors are now commissioning more original content, sparking new growth opportunities for post professionals. Fortunately, new tools, techniques and technologies are enabling creatives to meet the growing demand for compelling, high-quality content. What an exciting time to be involved in post production! BY TIM CLAMAN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER AVID BURLINGTON, MA WWW.AVID.COM A YEAR FOR AI, COLLABORATION & PARALLEL WORKFLOWS Vendors will offer new tools to ensure easier delivery of shows in 4K HDR.