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Editing Through The Internet |
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Sequences and Dailies Can Now Be Delivered Over a Wire |
by Jeff Burman
NAB2000 threw a spotlight on the rapidly emerging technology of digital video transmission. The promise of cutting virtually anywhere, and sending sequences through a network for approvals, is both appealing and potentially risky. Appealing, because it implies the creative freedom to cut when you want and where you want. Risky, because it points to the emergence of a third leg to the familiar 24/7 business model: work any hour, any day, any place. This might become: work every hour, every day, and every place.
The first use of this technology has been in advertising and broadcast news since their shows are shorter and their deadlines even less forgiving than ours. With our longer programs, the process can be very slow. Most of the materials transmitted fall into two groups: dailies and ‘approvals’.
Avid’s ‘Send and Review’
The Avid booth at NAB featured their new web-based, streaming video feature called ‘Send and Review.’ It allows an editor to send a scene to a server that can then be viewed and annotated with notes by others via the web. The process is slow and requires a high-speed internet connection. ‘Send and Review’ isn’t yet available, but it promises to offer us capabilities that we’ve never had before.
Telestream’s ClipExpress
Telestream’s ClipExpress is a media delivery system designed to compete with overnight courier services via a VCR-like compression device. It offers a range of compression options – from MPEG1 at 384 Kilobits per second (Kbps) to MPEG2 at 8 Megabits per second (Mbps), then transmits over conventional modems, ISDN, DSL/cable lines, or through Ethernet connections. Video and single-track audio are stored on an internal hard drive and then sent to the receiving unit. The device weighs 8 pounds and goes for about $4,500.
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The system has been used on New Line’s The Cell to review visual effects. Editor Paul Rubell, visual effects coordinator Leslie McMinn and assistant Ken Blackwell have been very pleased with the results. The effects work was done in Toronto at Toy Box and sent to LA via a T1 line. "When we did the director’s cut," said Blackwell, "we Telestreamed the visual effects shots. There are several sequences where every shot is an effects shot. We recorded it into the Avid Symphony, uncompressed, then brought our sequence over to the assembly and output to a long-playing Beta SX tape which was used to project the Director’s cut [for a modified HD projection]. It worked really well for us."
For more, see www.telestream.net
Global Networks
To increase their reach, Telestream has joined Ednet, Inc. to form a global service network of commercial and post-production video facilities, linking 18 cities in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Last May, Media.net, Inc. announced plans to build a wideband fiber-optic network to include Hollywood, New York and 23 other cities around the world by the end of 2001. They are working closely with Avid Technology, LaserPacific Media Corp. and other prominent post-production groups.
According to Leon Silverman, Executive Vice President of LaserPacific, his company is currently testing the electronic delivery of dailies to Avids and producers’ offices. The system can move an hour of Avid AVR6 material in about 15 minutes over a fiber-optic line. They expect to offer this service for TV series next season. Compression is either via Avid or MPEG and quality can exceed that of a DVD. Pricing has not been set.
For more, see www.ednet.net or www.media.net
WamNet’s Purple Box and ROD
WamNet is a digital media delivery service that offers a secure transmission path in the form of an Internet-based ‘virtual private network’ and guaranteed bandwidth. Clients can send and access archived digital and audio files from multiple locations around the world using a network access device called Purple Box. The service offers media delivery via MPEG1 or MPEG2, with compression rates of 50 megabits per second.
If you need to render animation, the company offers a Render On Demand (ROD) service that provides additional CPUs over a wide-area network on a pay-as-you go basis. It promises to substantially improve typical rendering speeds.
For more, see www.wamnet.com
Vsoft’s VideoClick
VideoClick lets an editor send MPEG-encoded video to a PC by way of a T1 line and allows users to attach verbal, graphic, or text notes to individual frames. The system has been used on the syndicated television show 'Motown Live'. "It’s an enormous time saver," said editor Barnaby Levy. "Since the notes are attached to the video, I don’t have to guess what they refer to or look up timecodes. So by the time a production executive calls me an hour later, I’ve already made all the changes."
The picture is loaded in real time through the Vsoft encoder and is viewed live at the receiving end with a 2 second delay. The quality level is about the same as Avid AVR4.
For more, see www.vsoft.com
MetaWire’s Wireless Service
The next breakthrough in network transmission technology will be wireless networks. MetaWire began to send video, sound and data files over the air in 1997 and will offer the service to the general public by the end of 2000. CEO Byron Wagner describes the service as symmetrical, meaning that it can send and receive at the same speed. It can transmit uncompressed material at up to full film resolution, and offers a variety of compression algorithms, as well. Real-time transmission quality can be better than DirecTV. Access is via local microwave system and users are provided with a high-speed connection to a microwave tower in order to use it.
For more, see www.metawire.com
The Politics of Decentralization
Transmission technology will inevitably get faster and cheaper. This will make it easier to cut just about anywhere and our workplaces are likely going to become more decentralized as a result. This may give
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It’s also possible that these technologies will allow producers to job out post-production to the cheapest non-union facilities around the world. Producers and directors still need to work in close proximity to their editors, and this may prevent abuses, but as the technology evolves we may see it become easier to effectively collaborate over long distances.
Security, often a concern on high-profile projects, has so far been deemed "acceptable." But things change quickly on the web and if cut sequences from high-profile pictures start getting pirated as a result of internet transmission, the interest in this technology could change rapidly.
Assistants may be affected indirectly by digital transmission, because it will mean that more facilities will be digitizing dailies in-house. This will change the work for assistants and it will mean that producers who see assistants as ‘digitizers’ will believe that they have nothing left to do. Of course, assistants know that their jobs consist of much more than this, but the idea of the assistant as ‘digitizer’ is still prevalent in some circles. On the other hand, as prices for editing systems come down we’ll hopefully see more assistants in television armed with complete editing systems. That will mean that they’ll be able to do more without sharing an Avid or working long hours to get access to equipment.
The jury is still out, but one thing seems certain. Over the next few years we’re going to see more and more of our media being delivered to us over wires, or even through thin air. Stay tuned.
Jeff Burman is an assistant editor and Guild board member.
He can be reached via email
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine
Vol. 21, No. 3 - MayJune 2000
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