Post Magazine

July 2014

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www.postmagazine.com 25 POST JULY 2014 ccording to a confused 30-some- thing husband in Sex Tape, one of this summer's comedy features, "Nobody understands the cloud. It's a mystery!" The cloud may be a mystery to many, but the real-world solutions it off ers are already being implemented in workfl ows across a number of industries. Enter- tainment media are discovering how the cloud can link globally-dispersed teams and multiple facilities for realtime collabo- ration in production and post as it accepts and delivers content from and to various partners and clients. This cloud-based or distributed workfl ow is making inroads with television networks, the major stu- dios and creative shops of all sizes. DIGITALFILM TREE DigitalFilm Tree (www.digitalfi lmtree. com), a post production, consulting, creative services and software develop- ment company in Los Angeles, has been heavily involved in cloud-based post for over two years. "We leverage our software eff ort to create production and post workfl ows and workfl ow automation," says CEO Ramy Katrib. "A wave of data is coming at us every day. Imaging devices are on all the time, and we work on shows that are very ambitious in terms of the amount of footage shot. The answer to storing all that data and making it more effi cient and useful than ever before is the cloud." Katrib notes that when DigitalFilm Tree opened 15 years ago, it was an early adopter of fi le-based technology. "The cloud, for us, is an evolution of that," he says. "The next decade and beyond is premised on cloud-based workfl ows. What has changed is the introduction of some very powerful open-source tech- nologies like OpenStack, which was born at Rackspace Hosting and NASA." OpenStack is highly-scalable software for building and managing public and private clouds. DigitalFilm Tree's soft- ware products include Critique, which utilizes OpenStack for storage, compute and networking resources. Critique is cli- ent-facing software that enables groups and individuals to collaborate over media and access metadata. ProStack, which also utilizes OpenStack, is their software for building high-density media oriented cloud storage. The ABC series, Mistresses, and TNT's Perception both have 100TB ProStack cloud storage built by DigitalFilm Tree. "Everything they shoot goes on ProS- tack, all their original camera negatives," says Katrib. "Although it sounds simple, it's very uncommon. Shows usually shoot then back up that data on LTO tape or drives — you get a lot of diff er- ent data islands with no access to all the material. But if you're on the cloud, anybody can grab what they want and share it: It's like a Dropbox for TV and fi lm production." In addition to servicing show clients, DigitalFilm Tree designs internal as- set-sharing workfl ows for the studios. "Vetted individuals in certain depart- ments, like the promo department, get a pathway to the fi les," Katrib explains. "Critique allows them to view assets, make notes and collaborate with others. Outside vendors — such as VFX houses, post facilities, titling — can have access too. You generate one fi le and 20 people around the world have access to it. Everybody really digs that the process saves a lot of time. Critique also notifi es users as diff erent versions are made so everyone is always on the same page." Right now he sees slow Internet speed and limited bandwidth as the major drawbacks to widespread use of the cloud in media and entertainment. "But bandwidth is coming down in cost; already using the cloud costs a fraction of what it did two years ago." Lack of education about the cloud must also be overcome before usage can grow. "When fi le-based workfl ows were introduced it took time to explain them to people," Katrib recalls. "Today, some folks are fatigued by 10 years of fi guring out fi le-based workfl ows and now having to deal with the cloud. There are also some negative opinions of open-source technology. But some of the greatest innovations in technology today are coming from open-source communities." Katrib and DigitalFilm Tree CTO Guillaume Au- buchon have been getting the word out about the benefi ts of the cloud by speaking at seminars and conferences worldwide, including OpenStack sum- mits, SMPTE events and the University of Southern California's Entertainment BY CHRISTINE BUNISH A TNT's Perception makes use of DigitalFilm Tree's ProStack cloud storage. DigitalFilm Tree's edit bay 2... and LA machine room. CEO Ramy Katrib...

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