A Nativ Whitepaper/ www.nativ.tv Workflow and Collaboration: Working smarter, cheaper and faster The Muddle in the Middle Series
Jun 28, 2015
A Nativ Whitepaper/ www.nativ.tv
Workflow and Collaboration: Working smarter, cheaper and faster
The Muddle in the Middle Series
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In the new world of multi-platform TV and film, harnessing content and cost-effectively managing its production and delivery offers huge opportunities for content owners and brands. Whether it is branded content or feature length films, it has never been more important to reach new and existing consumers any place, any time.
Despite this, many media companies have a difficult time exploiting that opportunity. As demand for
high quality content increases so too do the file sizes and the complexity of managing and delivering
it to a myriad of platforms.
Fortunately, new technological advances like file-based workflow and the cloud are revolutionising
the way production, post-production and distribution companies manage, repurpose and deliver
content. Although these advances by no means solve every problem, new platforms are maturing
and stepping up to meet the challenge.
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1. The switch from tape to file – Improvements in video compression, cheaper storage and greater
bandwidth have enabled the transition to multi-platform viewing. Although this transition has been
gradual, these technology advances have revolutionised the TV viewing experience and in recent years
we’ve seen an explosion of cross platform VOD and OTT services. As these same technical advances
mature, they are also offering huge advantages further up the supply chain and disrupting the old ways
of working in production, post-production and distribution.
Despite the hype though, not every element of production and distribution can be switched from tape
to digital file overnight. As file sizes continue to grow, tapes and drives are often the only option for
delivery and long term archiving, so physical media will be around for some time to come. However,
many aspects of the content supply chain are now managed entirely through file-based workflows
and there are options for seamlessly integrating tape-based and file-based workflows until the move
towards tapeless is complete.
A couple of long term technical trends have enabled the emergence of file based workflow in TV and film.
2. The switch from hardware to software – Many tools for manipulating video and audio content that
previously ran on expensive specialist hardware have now been transitioned to more cost-effective
software, which runs on commodity hardware. This has been an important transition as video server
software, which used to be cabled into a company’s specialist infrastructure, can now be run on site
or in offsite datacentres, with support for “service orientated” software integration.
The combination of the switch from tape to file and the emergence of commodity IT over specialist
infrastructure has meant that the world of video management is now open to thousands of software
developers globally. Specialist video functions can now be integrated into wider business systems and
can reside within commodity IT enterprises either offsite or onsite.
Laying the Groundwork for File Based Workflow
What is Workflow Anyway?
In the convergent world of digital production and Internet technologies, workflow is increasingly hyped
but often poorly defined. Workflow is not a new concept and in its most abstract sense simply refers to
a sequence of tasks carried out in a specific order. In terms of video it means the flow of content
through well-known stages - ingest, editing, approval, transcoding, and so on.
Effective workflow orchestration should ensure a sequence of steps is accurately followed to avoid
confusion, remove errors and ensure that critical business processes can be tracked and optimised over
time. In the world of TV and film, a meaningful workflow must seamlessly orchestrate the interactions
between enterprise resources (storage, transcoding, network etc.) and groups of people. One without
the other offers advantages in terms of operational efficiency but tracking people and resources
together is critical to enjoying operational efficiencies, cost-control and ultimately savings.
During the time of tape and specialist physical infrastructure,
workflow could be mapped by tracking a tape number or by
the sight of people walking between different departments
transferring content on tape and “metadata” on print-outs. In a
digital world these workflow steps can be carried out automatically
using software which removes the greater cost of manual labour,
increases throughput and improves time to market.
A number of factors make file-based workflows more
important than ever:
Economics – There is less money around, so companies
need to avoid overspend on media management and
workflow. This can only be brought about by replacing
expensive hardware and manual labour with automation
software running on commodity infrastructure.
Change – The video ecosystem is going through rapid
change. Not only are viewing habits changing but standards
and formats are changing. From file formats and metadata
to delivery mechanisms and video platforms - being able
to adapt workflows quickly and easily is the key to survival.
The holy grail of filed based workflow is a process that is
automated as much as possible and orchestrates seamlessly
between software and people. Tasks that were previously
carried out manually, such as file transfer and encoding, should
be fully automated and reference content and metadata in
tandem to ensure that each workflow step has context and
meaning. Once a workflow has been designed it can be run
and refined completely automatically, thus offering lower
operating cost, reducing the number of people required and
increasing throughput. In the ideal world highly skilled people
work on specialist, creative tasks and everything else is carried
out by automated software.
When implemented correctly, automated filed-based workflows
lower the cost and complexity of handling greater volumes of
content. They increase visibility, lower cost and improve time
to market. They remove spikes in human resource and replace
them with scalable software running on commodity hardware.
This leaves more money for the creation of great content
rather than the management and delivery of it. Such cost
savings in the area of post production and distribution mean
content owners can be more agile and benefit from smaller
deal opportunities where previously high post production and
distribution costs prevented them.
Implementing file-based workflow automation should be
a no brainer, but the “cost-barrier” for entry and the risk of
implementation is often extremely high. Integrating workflow and
asset management software into an organization often requires
purchasing various specialist software components and then
paying an integrator to do the work. Such a task can cost 100s
of 1000s of dollars and roll on for months, if not, years. Also
the risk of failure is extremely high as the market moves quickly
and standards are not always adhered to. So although many
companies want to benefit from file based workflow automation
in order to cut costs and handle more scale, the upfront
investment required is often unviable.
In many ways cloud represents both hype and a brave new world.
Although the name seems new the concept relies on a number
of technologies that have been quietly evolving and maturing
over a long period:
IaaS and SaaS – Technology shifts in the video domain
have come at a time where data centre technologies have
also advanced rapidly from hardware to virtual infrastructure.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service
(SaaS) paradigms are springing up everywhere and bring with
them interesting opportunities around managing video content
workflows in the cloud.
Virtualisation technologies – These enable users to deploy
software to data centres without worrying about physical
location, hardware costs or network technologies. Investment
in an expensive specialist solution is no longer the only option.
Elastic computing – These models offer interesting options
to the world of video management. Some workflow elements
can be processor intensive and long running but may only occur
sporadically. So why have lots of expensive hardware hanging
around for that once-a-year spike? Being able to ramp up on
demand and then immediately ramp down is the way to go. This
is the real Holy Grail: pay for the automated workflow processing
on commodity infrastructure and only when you need it.
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Why is File Based Workflow So Important?
It’s a No-brainer, So Why Does it Seem so Hard?
The Dawn of Cloud: Marketing Hype or a Brave New World?
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Cloud and Collaboration: The Future of Media Management and Workflow Operations
What’s clear is that at the same time cloud technologies are
taking off, the world is becoming an increasingly flat place. In a
global marketplace, work often goes to the territory where skills
are readily available and it can be done most cheaply. Many
workflows span several organisations – production companies,
post production houses, freelancers – and because of this,
distance working is now a must. It’s necessary to have a solution
that can in some sense be owned by a single company but
accessible by many different people from other organisations
and geographical locations.
A connected world means that people can use the internet to
collaborate in near real time and different people in different
offices can work together using web-based platforms. With
this in mind media management solutions require more than
just asset management and workflow, they need to offer
collaboration – the ability to communicate, share and connect
through a single “hub”.
Using cloud based media management and workflow services
that are accessed through a web browser and reside in the
cloud is clearly the way to go and in many circumstances offer
a multiplying effect. Where people are involved they can interact
from anywhere in the world, whether that be Hollywood or
Hyderabad. This offers huge cost savings by removing manual
labour, automating workflow and scaling to meet demand.
Leveraging a workforce that spans different time zones also
offers huge advantages in terms of time to market.
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Making Cloud Work in the World of TV and Film
With all the benefits offered by software based workflow
and cloud computing, why isn’t the entire TV and film supply
chain running in the cloud? Many industries already benefit
from cloud based computing but not so much TV and film.
These industries are perhaps furthest behind in capitalising
on cloud and there is good reason for this. The reality is that
today this opportunity is hindered by a number of significant
factors that need to be overcome:
File Size – As one moves up the supply chain from consumer
video playback to film and TV production, the files get bigger –
in fact enormous. Often the cost and time constraints for moving
media files from local storage into the cloud are so huge that
it makes no business sense at all. Until network connectivity
and costs improve, elements of the supply chain will be out of
bounds to cloud services. Also, many media operations that work
on large files require vast amounts of I/O and local connectivity.
Many commodity cloud services simply can’t offer this amount
of throughput within their own infrastructure.
Software – There are many discrete software components
(from transcoding and storage to simple editing and shot
logging) in the cloud that offer benefits to video content owners.
These components, although extremely valuable, are hard to
harness as they represent mere ‘islands’ of functionality that
are hard to reach when considering intergrated workflow and
advanced media management. In addition, to benefit from true
economies of scale when it comes to SaaS licensing models,
video software needs to be inherently multi-tenanted and
support on-boarding of many customers. Many legacy video
software solutions are not cloud-ready and simply installing
them in the cloud results in non-scalable, incoherent solutions.
Billing – Many assume that the cloud means low cost
computing. In fact cloud means you pay for what you use.
If you use a lot of network processing and storage, you’ll
pay a lot of money. Many organisations don’t like nasty
shocks when it comes to billing so favour owning their own
infrastructure rather than the unpredictable cost of cloud.
Collaboration – Few existing video software solutions
support the notion of collaboration through a single hub.
There are plenty of cloud collaboration solutions around
but not many are truly video-centric.
One-size fits all solutions – Some existing cloud media
platforms have limitations as they are somewhat hardwired
applications. They offer “one size fits all” solutions that
lack the configuration options to make them truly beneficial
for every content owner, large or small. Platform as a
Service (PaaS) is really in its infancy within the worlds
of production and distribution.
Fortunately, new technologies are removing some of these
barriers and opening up opportunities for SaaS-based
models in TV and film.
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Taking Control: The Need for a Single Software Platform
Building workflow and MAM systems in house is expensive
and risky. At the same time islands of functionality in the
cloud are often difficult to embrace. Media management and
workflow platforms, designed from the ground up to live in
the cloud, have been developed to overcome these challenges.
The answer is a platform that is completely configurable,
where new applications and processes can be tailored within
a generic platform and offer:
• Integrated remote ingest and delivery
• Enterprise asset management
• Social and collaboration features
• Workflow design and orchestration
• Content repurposing and distribution
• Frame-accurate, web-based logging
• Advanced VoD and OTT packaging and delivery
These aren’t mere “islands of functionality” but sophisticated
end to end platforms that can be accessed from anywhere,
any time. They enable media companies to capitalise on file
based workflow automation and enjoy the costs savings of
a more scalable operation.
The customer can effectively start with a blank canvas and
configure the platform to control access and roles; workflow
design and task allocation; resource access (from transcode
and QC to storage and network protocols); metadata structure
and hierarchies; and events and reporting.
Conclusion
It is clear that advances in technology are offering huge
opportunities for content owners, post production companies
and distributors to lower costs and respond more rapidly.
However attaining these goals is being held back by limited
network connectivity and the lack of mature cloud based
media management. Luckily, in both cases, things are
improving and opportunities to work smarter, quicker and
more cost effectively in the cloud are now emerging.
www.nativ.tv
Contact us to take back control of your content
t: +44 207 580 9488e: [email protected] : @NativLtd