Hollywood’s Digital Future
Streaming dailies have also improved ImageWorks’ own internal workflow — and that has translated into an increased creative advantage. Digital dailies are created from CG graphics that are rendered overnight on hundreds of dedicated SGI processors. The dailies are then forwarded and made available for streaming on any of 16 kiosks (dedicated workstations) located throughout the facility.
| Tinsel Town's New Caterers Digital media delivery services for the Hollywood set are becoming big business.Here's a look at some of the key players, and their technologies and benefits ...
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ImageWorks’ system employs some technical efficiencies similar to the content delivery network practice of edge caching. With media files pre-loaded on the kiosks, the only files that must travel the network are EDLs (edit decision lists) generated by an in-Sync Speed Razor nonlinear editing system. By streaming only the EDLs, which control how the stored media is put together, visual-effects artists can try many more iterations of their work. And instead of screening only the shot they’re working on, they can put together whole sequences to view their work in context. "We used to be creating individual shots that didn’t necessarily flow from piece to piece or scene to scene," saysDon Levy, vice president of marketing for Sony Digital Entertainment. "We’re creating performances now."
That shift has had a significant impact on company morale, according to Anthony Ceccomancini, technical manager at ImageWorks. "ImageWorks used to be a filmmakers’ effects house. I think we’ve turned into an effects house filled with filmmakers," he says. "The artists now feel, ‘I’m not just doing the explosion. I’m not just doing a spaceship composite. I’m making the movie.’" He adds, "This is the most cohesive the company has ever felt because so many people are playing a key role in developing the imagery that you see on screen."
Bill Villerreal, vice president of technical operations at ImageWorks, justifies the expense of streaming with a more visible bottom line. "The return on investment for us is measured in the quality of the effects that end up on the screen," he says.
Agent of Efficiency
Streaming’s value proposition in Hollywood doesn’t stop with delivery of the completed film. The Creative Artists Agency, a literary and talent agency in Beverly Hills, uses Windows Media to enhance its ability to service its high-profile clients. For example, if a recording artist wants to explore new opportunities in film or TV, CAA posts on-demand audio streams of the artist’s work on its high-speed intranet. "We used to send out cassette tapes, then offered MP3 downloads," says Chief Information Officer Michael Keithley. "But they were vulnerable to piracy, and we risked ripping off our own clients. We switched to streaming Windows Media."
It is customary for TV agents to call their clients in the morning and tell them how wonderful they were in the previous evening’s shows. But the reality is that no agent has time to watch every show that features one of his or her clients. Until now, agents have had to fast-forward through VHS cassettes to find their clients on camera. But in a streaming application soon to be deployed at CAA, agents will log on to a Web page and request that shows be digitally recorded. Early the next morning, agents-to-be in the mailroom will view the streams and place markers whenever a client appears. Agents will receive an e-mail with links to each show, and will be able to jump right to the points where their clients appear. Keithley says, "The limitation now is that we need a tuner for every channel and a lot of storage."
The monthly company-wide staff meetings at CAA are also videotaped and encoded; agents who miss meetings receive passwords for access to the on-demand streams. "It’s very confidential stuff, and we don’t want to create cassette tapes," Keithley notes.
In addition to the efficiencies that streaming brings to the CAA workflow, the quality of the new Windows Media 8 codec has impressed a demanding audience. "Agents love it. A lot of them want to dump their TVs and stereo systems and make their computers into their audio and video center," says Keithley. "With Windows Media 8, the bar has been raised to the point where the quality is just stunning." CAA delivers Windows Media 8 streams encoded at 1.2Mbps.
Driven by technical advancements and an accelerated education of the film and TV production markets, by this time next year, the number of VHS cassettes shuttling between studios and production facilities will have declined dramatically. New hardware and software applications will introduce even more efficiencies. And digital media delivery in Hollywood will no longer be an exotic experiment.