4K - Bane or blessing?

Digital Studio

Shooting in 4K has recently become fashionable but it can be costly and impractical in post.

http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-718-4k--bane-or-blessing/

The Third Dimension

Digital Studio

Live and recorded 3D stereoscopic productions are on the rise fuelling consumer interest in 3D screens capable of viewing them.

http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-674-the-third-dimension/

Stars on the field

Digital Studio

Advances in sports production technology tend to congregate around major international events when broadcasters are prepared to pay a premium for innovations that give them an edge over the opposition.

http://www.digitalproductionme.com/article-502-stars-on-the-field/

Regional focus: Northern Ireland

Broadcast 

New initiatives to bring network commissions to Northern Ireland could finally help local indies fulfil their broadcasting potential.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/regional-focus-northern-ireland/911822.article

Northern Irish indies are more ebullient now than at any time in the past decade as efforts to boost the region's share of network output appear tantalisingly close.

Armed with Ofcom figures which reveal that PSB productions from Northern Ireland in 2006 accounted for only 0.2% of programming or 14 hours, the region's producers are confident that their persistent calls for proactive investment will finally be met. By contrast, according to Ofcom in 2006, Wales landed 1.10% broadcast hours, Scotland 1.7% and London 65.10%.

“Previously all our complaints might have been assumed to be griping but Ofcom's figures have demonstrated the extent of the problem,” says David Strachan, the managing director of Tern TV, which operates production offices in Belfast and Glasgow. “For the first time we have an evidence-based argument that the way commissioning has been handled is part of the problem.”

The argument is not that commissioners are overtly prejudiced, more that the London-centric nature of the process has hindered the building of vital informal relationships with indies across the regions. “There has to be an institutional response to assist in building relationships which commissioners can be confident in,” asserts Strachan.

These feelings are unanimously and passionately held across the community in Northern Ireland.

“Living here doesn't make me any less creative but it's wrong to ignore the fact that our geographic location has affected us,” says Hot Shot Films managing director Brendan Byrne. “We lack commissions and commissioners lack confidence in us because we haven't been producing on a regular basis.”

“Northern Ireland has not been getting its fair share,” contends Wild Rover managing director Philip Morrow. “The problems run a little bit deeper than simple meritocracy. The low perception of the sector and its talent has meant that it's been allowed to dwindle. In order to get ourselves back on a level track we need serious focus.”
This is a crucial period for the region as it awaits the results of the network supply review from the BBC. And C4 director of nations and regions Stuart Cosgrove has chaired a task force inviting the input of local indies which is feeding into C4's review of its public service remit.

Handily timed to coincide with these reviews is a new political initiative in which leading NI indies are seeking to emulate the success of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission (SBC) in getting political representation for independent production in Scotland.

“Our aim is not to form a local body like the SBC but to seek a formal linkage between the SBC and the NI government so that the under-representation of the nations and regions as a whole is on the political agenda,” explains Double Band Films managing director Dermot Lavery. “The issue must be seen as one that affects the whole region not just the narrow televisual sector.”

Political pressure
Among signatories to the lobby group is Tern TV, with its Irish and Scottish bases. “SBC acts as a forum for issues to be aired in public which in turn creates political pressure,” says Strachan. “We think politics can deliver results.”

There are calls for the BBC to ringfence 3% of its commitment to spend 17% of its budget on network commissions from the nations and regions for Northern Ireland. In 2006 NI produced 0.2% of the corporation's output.

“We would expect 3%, which would completely transform the landscape,” says Morrow. Sustained investment at 3% over a few years would, it's argued, make the region “network competitive” by building the skills base and forging tight links with commissioners.

“We do have a unique problem in terms of attracting long-term talent to the region when there's so much uncertainty,” insists Byrne. “There's no way the industry can grow unless networks take their commitments seriously and home in on genres, slots and channels.”

Scale is such a key issue - without a super-indie there's a perception that the region lacks the critical mass to take on a large scale commission. “That's a pretty pointless argument,” declares Wild Rover's Morrow. “There's obviously not the infrastructure here waiting for a commission. Infrastructure follows commissions. The talent here is beyond question.”

One project that has not waited for a network commission is Lifeboat Luke, a 52 x 5-minute CG animation due for completion in April. The series was set up as a co-production between Holywood-based LTL Productions and Dublin-based Kavaleer Productions in order to access funding both north and south of the border.

LTL carried out pre and post-production while Kavaleer was responsible for animation and the series is in the process of being sold to a number of broadcasters including Irish broadcaster RTE. According to LTL Productions director Alastair McIlwain, the company has its ambitions set not just on network commissions but on projects such as Lifeboat Luke that will sell internationally.

Building trust
Elsewhere, there's no denying the track record of some of the region's producers. Waddell Media, Wild Rover and Green Inc are led by executives who have produced or commissioned at network level.

Waddell currently has development funding for a BBC network Saturday night show as well as development deals with Fremantle and Discovery US for which it's to make Future Weapons.

“Getting access to UK commissioners isn't a problem, getting them to buy into NI indies is,” believes the producer's head of programmes, Jannine Waddell. “Partly that's because most of the companies here are too small to compete nationally and commissioners like to deal with what they feel are reliable suppliers.”

Already the largest Belfast indie, Waddell Media acquired animation producer Flickerpix last month “as part of our strategy to make more of an impact”, says Waddell. “One of the ways for indies to expand is for indigenous companies to merge.”

Stephen Stewart, managing director of Green Inc, directed Chris Evans projects including Don't Forget Your Toothbrush and is awaiting a decision on a pilot Saturday night entertainment show Green Inc produced for ITV. “We want to be seen as individual companies not as one mass or treated as a special case,” he maintains. “We simply have to be better than London indies to get a commission.”

DoubleBand's Lavery agrees: “We don't want the investment to create some sort of centre of excellence because that can be a shackling process. It's important that any network targets are applied across different genres. Clearly that's achievable since indies here have expertise across genres.”

Local producers like these have the ear of BBC NI head of programmes Ailsa Orr. She is widely credited with bringing a much needed focus to the needs of the community. At her post for less than a year, Orr has slashed the number of local suppliers from over 200 to seven and created a new programme strategy which launches in April, expressly to encourage network ambitions.

“Traditionally our network target [40% of the broadcaster's output is externally sourced] has been for drama and current affairs but that doesn't take into account the diversity of talent - much of which has migrated back to Northern Ireland,” Orr says. “We wanted to expand our network remit to include a wider genre base [in factual, comedy and daytime] which would play to the strengths of our indigenous talent base and ultimately help us to reach our [anticipated new] network targets,” says Orr.

Focused investment
More money, she says, is being invested in fewer projects to fit consistent, regular programme slots.

“Positioned correctly, these programmes are designed to have maximum impact, with strong BBC branding and values and major marketing, radio and online opportunities, as well as co-production potential,” she declares.

These include a Landmark Factual slot on Monday nights for which DoubleBand and Tern are seen as key suppliers.

“These are the programmes we want to put our key investment into in terms of branding and online opportunities - so they've got to count,” she insists. “We want suppliers to raise their sights, think more broadly and increase the ambition of their programme-making.”

The 35 annual factual slots have to have both local and network resonance and are granted£80,000 to£120,000 budgets - relatively high by local standards.

Orr cites examples including a BBC NI/BBC2 factual drama about George Best, a film about the notorious Irish priest Father Cleary for BBC4/RTE, as well as a film with Darlow Smithson about suicide pacts.

Entertainment and comedy are scheduled for Fridays (Wild Rover and Waddell Media will be core suppliers) with a low budget Innovation berth available later that night where the emphasis is on risk and “trying something new”.

Orr says, “It's designed for young film-makers, self-shooters and editors who can turn stuff around really quickly and are not afraid to try out bizarre ideas. Anything that works well here could potentially migrate into a more mainstream slot.”

The unofficial ringfencing of work does not, she says, preclude pitches from outside the seven main suppliers: “This is a small place so we need to get together and co-ordinate to achieve network objectives.”

As far as drama is concerned the BBC can point to the recent presence of Fairy Tales and to the fifth series of Messiah from Great Meadow. Both were deliberately diverted to shoot in the region, thereby accessing Northern Ireland Screen funds. Orr, who produced Super Volcano and Pompeii The Last Day for the BBC, is keen to develop a slate of factual drama. “We have leaders in both drama and factual so this is exactly the strength we should be playing to,” she says.

With renewed BBC NI support and moves to put the commissioning issue on the political agenda gaining momentum, producers are optimistic that the tide is turning. Dublin's Tyrone Productions, producer of Riverdance the Show, has read the runes and is opening a Belfast office “primarily to deliver network commissions”, says chief executive John McHugh.

“We've come a long way in the past 10 years but we feel we get painted as an irritant,” says Hot Shot Films' Byrne. “We can't be relentlessly positive in the wake of all the statistics but we can at last envisage a sea change in the principles that have underpinned production in the nations and regions.”

NI's second cityDerry - the forgotten production base?If Belfast producers sometimes feel they're an afterthought for London broadcasters, spare a thought for those in Northern Ireland's second city, Derry.

Situated at the opposite end of the province with a population of 100,000, the town contains a handful of producers, among them Westway Film Production, Ambient Light, Northland and Besom Productions.

“Derry has a reputation for whining about being a hard-done-by, poor relation of Belfast and there's an element of truth in that,” admits Westway's Joe Mahon. “It's a four-hour round trip by car to Belfast which is sometimes a disadvantage when it comes to editing.”

He adds: “We've survived well enough on local commissions by making programming which has a strong affinity to the city and its rural hinterland, such as UTV's long-running current affairs series Lesser Spotted Ulster.”

Derry doesn't have the critical mass to sustain a post-production business, although multimedia training group The Nerve Centre offers offline facilities. “I don't think we struggle to get work commissioned,” says Vinny Cunningham, who runs Open Reel Productions, the production arm of crewing outfit Northland. “If an idea's good, it's good.”

Future uncertainty
Is Irish Language funding drying up?The government-backed Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF) is widely credited with re-energising local production. It had£12m in guaranteed funding to allocate through Northern Ireland Screen until 2009 but concern is being raised about whether the pot will be replenished.

“It's been a big boost,” says Maeve McAdam, creative director, Ikandi. “Having a minority language helps enhance our application for EU Media funds. But the ILBF isn't infinite and we need to know what happens beyond next year.”

Intended as a one-off payment as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the fund has created a thriving new market. “I don't think anybody's clear about what, if anything, will replace it,” says Westway producer Joe Mahon. “The DCAL [Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure] isn't in a position to invest further. We should be lobbying politicians to find another source for it. Over the past four years the fund has provided training for new directors and camera crew and boosted post-production. Audience demand has been considerable. All that is now in jeopardy.”

The idea that the fund will disappear completely is not seriously entertained but there's some twitchiness while uncertainty prevails.

“The ILBF still has a year to go,” says Jannine Waddell, noting that Waddell Media opened a new Irish language development unit. “I can't believe a political commitment won't be made [to safeguard its future].”

Worldwide post

Broadcast 

As almost a fifth of post producers tell Broadcast they plan to outsource work abroad this year, Indian businesses are eyeing up Soho facilities to lure work back home.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/worldwide-post/867910.article

A growing number of UK post producers are set to export their business models abroad in the coming year as the internationalisation of the sector gathers pace. Nearly a fifth of respondents to a Broadcast survey plan to outsource portions of work offshore, while Soho's finest are being eyed by foreign investors as they swap ownership in the manner of Premier League football teams.

Setting up shop in the US has become de rigueur among top commercials houses. The Mill led the way into New York in 2002 (it now has 100 staff and an LA arm), followed by Smoke & Mirrors and Framestore CFC. Final Cut runs NY and LA wings and Absolute opened New York suites last summer. The strong pound means Manhattan real estate is very attractive to facilities used to shelling out for W1 rents.

“We have no plan for global domin-ation,” says Absolute owner Dave Smith, who hired a Flame for ad hoc work in New York and plans to double its two Flames to take on larger projects. “It was a safe way to grow business because there were -clients asking us to be there,” he says.

For commercials houses that aim to service executives' every whim, it makes sense to locate to agency hubs. They also trade on the brand values of British talent - seen as superior to their US counterparts.

The first broadcast facility to move across the pond has done so for largely the same reasons. “A number of our clients have set up in the US [Leopard, Tiger Aspect and Lion Productions among them], either to pitch to US networks or to produce versions of their own properties,” says Evolutions managing director Simon Kanjee. “There's a hunger for British creativity and producers were telling us it would be nice to work with us over there and have the same level of service they receive from Evolutions London.”

Evolutions' Broadway office was first hired to post Tiger Aspect's Make Me a Supermodel but Kanjee says the move is permanent. “Soho offers very proactive client management, which doesn't happen to the same degree in the States,” he says. “We operate a runner system. They don't. We know all our clients' first names. They don't. There's a clock-watching mentality in some sections of US post, which isn't how we work. British operators have a reputation for craft skills, whereas US talent can be harder to find.”

The big difference between satellites servicing commercials and those catering for broadcast is in the value to be had from shuttling work between offices. Because the work requires specialist compositing or CG, commercials houses can zip mater-ial to and fro, maximise overlaps in time zones and produce round the clock. Excess work can be soaked up by other sites.

But where commercials houses can set up outposts around one suite and a star oper-ator, the economics of broadcast require a greater investment in space and kit.

“Very little editing, audio mixing or grading can be done without the client in attendance, especially on quick turn-around broadcast projects,” says Kanjee. “Moving work further afield is inappropriate when producers need to be hands-on.”

For this reason, he doubts whether there's any gain to be made from working regularly with Indian companies. “They wouldn't make any money from broadcast,” he says. Darlow Smithson head of production Ulla Streib adds: “We wouldn't outsource most post processes because it still depends on someone attending a grade or mix. But we would farm out music composition and CGI and are actively looking for facilities in Singapore [where DSP has a new office].”

The economics of taking mechanical aspects such as matting and wire removal abroad stack up. Feature film VFX and animation (and TV animation) have been outsourced to eastern Europe, Ireland and India for decades. Tiger Aspect's Robin Hood is partly posted in Romania for example. What's new is that Indian facilities wielding hefty purses are courting every facility in town with the aim of setting up London shop fronts to entice work back home, where overheads can be over 70% less.

Kanjee, who recently went on a government-organised UK trade mission to Mumbai, notes the huge market for Indian firms to tap into in the West: “Their sole objective is to get work back to India, where they can make 50% margins.”

Prime Focus London regularly farms VFX shots to India. Mumbai-based Pixion, a subsidiary of Century Communication, India's largest facility, bought VFX boutique Men from Mars with the same aim and is scouting for further acquisitions.

Skillset facilities manager Triston Wallace also went on the Mumbai trip. Blogging during the visit, he said: “Indian corporations look for ‘trophies' to demonstrate wealth and power - a Soho facility would give them the required cachet.”

The main obstacle to working with Indian facilities is a lack of project management and professional training. Smith and Shenfield have been deterred from outsourcing work to the subcon-tinent unless client confidence can be guaranteed. “There are huge quality -control issues,” says Shenfield.

Indian firms know this. A key reason for owning a London or US base is to project-manage work outsourced from there.

The US and India aren't the only outlets for UK post. Twelve respondents to Broadcast's survey plan to open overseas in 2008, in locations as diverse as Dubai, Toronto and Poland. The Mill is “in active research mode”, says Shenfield, while Smoke & Mirrors may follow Golden Square into Shanghai.

“We knew [Shanghai] would be tough, but it has been even more difficult than we thought,” says Golden Square managing director Philippa Gillies.

“The market is immature and we're mostly posting content for mobile or web. But the nearest professional post facilities are Hong Kong or Australia so the opportunity remains a good one.”

Production: File-based workflow

Broadcast

The days of linear workflows are already numbered at the BBC and multiplatform content means many more are making the leap into file-based working. http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/production-file-based-workflow/817529.article

A quiet revolution is sweeping the broadcast industry, radically altering the way in which programmes are made, worked on, stored and retrieved. The impetus behind the workflow revolution is twofold. First, there is the growing demand for delivering multiple versions of the same content for distribution to different platforms. And, second, at the other end of the production process, there is the growing range and sophistication of tapeless acquisition formats. The result is the demise of traditional linear workflow patterns. Individual craft workstations have already been replaced in post-production facilities by workflows centered around shared storage.

This model is expanding to encompass file-based capture at the start of the production process and file-based delivery at the end. As this transition occurs - and it will be many years yet before end-to-end tapeless workflows become widespread - the previously segmented boundaries between production and post blur.

Nowhere is the file-based workflow revolution more in evidence than at the BBC. The broadcaster's goal has been to migrate to fully tapeless and HD production by 2010. That ambitious target has now been reset as aspirational but nonetheless remains core to a massive internal project branded Digital Media Initiative (DMI) due to get underway from October this year. By removing tape from the workflow the DMI aims to break through the BBC's content divisional boundaries and create a single “digital repository” of information and content for use on multiple platforms.

“DMI encompasses a number of things but it is essentially about transforming the skills, processes and technology to enable end-to-end file-based production and delivery of our content to meet the needs of an on-demand world,” explains BBC Vision Studios technology controller Jon Attard.

BBC news, the BBC's radio production and Glasgow's Pacific Quay have already embarked on a digital overhaul to replace tape and enable collaborative multiplatform production. Next it's the turn of departments within BBC Vision, journalism, audio and music and information and archives.

Beginning with the Natural History Unit, children's and sport, the first£81m phase will begin this autumn in conjunction with technology partner Siemens.

“We will begin with those genres that are driving toward multiplatform and those starting to bank HD content,” explains Attard. “Phase two will extend DMI to other genres and regional sites. During this period we will assess key technical challenges such as how to roll out DMI in a way that meets the needs of Media City at Salford and the needs of external post-production and production suppliers.” A third phase will take the project to completion by 2012.

One key characteristic of the DMI initiative is that only new material will be automatically stored in digital form. There's simply not enough money to digitise the bulk of the 1.4 million hours of BBC back catalogue.

There are broadly three stages to the proposed DMI workflow initiative. In the first, all material is ingested into an online server, comprehensively logged and made available to producers collaborating across genres and across media. In the second, rough cuts are finished on craft stations and packaged for multiplatform delivery whether to HD master, encoding for mobile or distribution to playout partner Red Bee. In the third, copies of all final content are stored in a digital archive.

So how will the DMI initiative improve workflow efficiencies at the BBC? “Previously offline and craft edit suites were run separately and followed from each other in the production chain,” explains Attard. “Now that workflow will be more closely integrated.” In addition, before the introduction of DMI, the only way to share media was to dub out to tape and re-ingest. In future any producer can activate content on ingest.

Attard is keen to stress that DMI will be phased in rather than imposed with a big bang. “It's a very pragmatic approach,” he says. “We've asked each department what its editorial drivers and business needs are and worked back from that.”

Where previous step changes in production technology have been installed in discrete areas, DMI is an attempt to fundamentally overhaul root and branch processes so that every asset the BBC produces is accessible for reuse both internally and by the public. That ambition involves improving the BBC's ability to locate content. At present the corporation's blogging site Backstage admits that “our audiences can access our content faster than we can”.

Says Attard: “It becomes imperative to add clear descriptors whenever changes are made to content. One of the challenges for the production and craft community will be to pay close attention to new metadata (content description) guidelines. “They need to appreciate the impact that the information they add has on the production process and audience further down the chain,” he continues. “There might be a tendency under pressure to forget about metadata. That won't be okay in the future. Accurate and detailed metadata is critical in order that BBC content can be found by our audiences.”

Instead of a simple textual search mechanism the aim is to build a data model which will enable rich, intelligent searches across all content held in the digital archive. The ultimate goal is that content should be accessible whether a user is in Bristol, Glasgow or Manchester.

“Content from a factual production, for example, could be immediately sucked in and made available to news or entertainment. This opens up exciting opportunities for collaboration and creativity across divisional boundaries,” says Attard.

Producers, he says, will get used to the idea that other producers or members of a different team “may look at your hard- fought-for rushes at the same time as you. An online team is going to see material the moment you bring it back to base. The industry is competitive so this development represents a genuine cultural challenge.”

While the BBC's DMI initiative is the biggest example of how tapeless is revolutionising workflow, the move to tapeless is also affecting the workflow and workplace culture of smaller broadcasters and the post industry.

MTV Europe is upgrading its Camden HQ to accommodate a high-speed digital network that will distribute media to and from its US parent and European offices. According to MTV Europe vice-president, technology Dave Colfer: “The biggest issue is change management. How do you change to deal with files? What processes change? How does it alter roles and responsibilities? Any producer moving to file-based delivery faces a hefty task in terms of managing and accommodating cultural change.”

The introduction of tapeless camera formats is also finally beginning to affect post producers. “People are dabbling in tapeless formats often as a second camera for additional footage,” reports Evolutions operations director Owen Tyler.

Tiger Aspect took both Paul Merton-fronted documentaries (Paul Merton in China/India) to Evolutions after shooting on Panasonic's tapeless P2 camera. But, according to Envy chief engineer Daniel Sassen, producers must consider whether tapeless is right for their programme.

“The wrong choice could have major implications. The whole tapeless workflow fits the unscripted ‘reality television' model precisely, but it may not be quite so appropriate for drama or other scripted programming. Producers need to decide how important their rushes are to them once the show has been completed.”

Sassen adds: “Bearing in mind that a memory card is considerably more expensive (around£450 each for Sony's 16GB card) than its tape equivalent - based on 60 minutes' recording time - you would not hold a memory card ‘library' in the same way as you would hold a conventional tape library. The picture data needs to be copied from the memory cards to a hard disk for long-term storage or archive.”

Similar issues are being encountered by 3SixtyMedia as it begins to phase in tapeless production of 250 annual episodes of Coronation Street. “We still have the comfort blanket of tape as back-up but our biggest concern is how we decide on the life-cycle of media,” says head of post David Boyle. “Storing media on onsite archives (where it is readily accessible) is expensive so how long does it exist before we delete it and store in a deep (off-site) archive? Asset protection is perhaps the key. It means ensuring the data has been named accurately so we can track it.”

Lime Pictures has been recording the bulk of Hollyoaks direct to hard disk since 2001. Its new HD production will also record location-based material to the optical disk-based XDCAM HD to speed up the transfer of rushes into Lime's server.

“You should make the technology fit how you want to work and not let it dictate to you,” says Lime Pictures production server manager John Robertson. “It's perhaps easier [for us] posting just one production and using only a single file format whereas an external facility has to be able to handle multiple formats.”

The investment in disk storage and the fibre-optics that connect them is not inconsiderable. “We produce a high enough volume to justify the outlay,” says Boyle. “We know the work will keep coming for long enough for us to write off the cost.”

By recording feeds directly to a server the demarcation between production and post is even less apparent. “Since in theory we could edit rushes as soon as they're shot, at what point do we begin editing?” asks Boyle. “Do we create a special post media manager with responsibility for pressing the record button? These are some of the cultural issues we're having to address.”

High-def Hollyoaks

Lime Pictures is overhauling its in-house post facilities to accommodate the HD production of Hollyoaks for C4. Its HD facilities, which will be operational by June, centre on a 102 TB storage area network (SAN) to accommodate 650GB of material per episode. An additional 27TB of near online storage will retain material until transmission and then delete it. “We'll be acquiring four times the amount of data compared with SD but maintaining the same tapeless workflow,” says production server manager John Robertson. “Moving data won't be a problem once it's on the SAN.”


Corrie goes tapeless

Facility 3SixtyMedia is installing an Avid Isis central storage system that will eventually result in a fully tapeless workflow for ITV flagship Coronation Street. The soap is shot on DigiBeta but future productions may shoot studio material direct to disk and location work to file-based formats.

“The overriding factor is efficiency and economy,” says head of post David Boyle. “We currently ingest and go back out to tape four to five times in post. A tapeless workflow would eliminate that. Craft editing time remains the same. The chief savings of up to three days per episode comes in conform, online, grade and dubbing since media will remain on the server for everyone to access.”

The new infrastructure could also be used on stablemate ITV productions. “There is a bigger picture to this,” says Boyle. “We have an engineer dedicated to assessing whether this same system could be scaled to post Emmerdale.

“Beyond that we can see real benefits in the technology for distributing media to desktops for all ITV productions so everyone from researchers to producer-directors and execs can obtain ready access to material.”


Iron Maiden on the road

For Iron Maiden's current Somewhere Back In Time World Tour, restrictions on flight cargo meant the band's videographer Johnny Burke had to revise his normal production plans.

“Typically I would take as many flight cases as I wanted, including up to 12 cameras and hundreds of tapes, but since we're packing everything including 70 crew and all the stage set into a Boeing 757 I needed a much lighter set-up.”

Burke opted to experiment with the Sony EX1, a new camcorder that records to memory cards, hooked to a laptop running Final Cut Pro (FCP).

Burke produces packages on location for use by local broadcasters and also produces content for Maiden's official website.

“The big advantage is speed,” he claims. “I can take the cards straight from the camera into FCP and begin editing footage in HD within minutes.

I can do that on a plane or in a hotel room and have it ready for MTV when they want it.

“I was reluctant to use a new system on a new tour but if this works in the field, I'm not going back to tape.”

The top cameras and kit for 2008

Broadcast 

As file-based and hi-def acquisition becomes a reality, we look at 10 of the latest cameras and accessories which are likely to be among the most in-demand this year.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/the-top-cameras-and-kit-for-2008/756693.article

Camera operators have previously been saddled with heavy and power-draining tungsten, halogen or fluorescent tube equipment but the low-cost, low-heat, lightweight and low-power consumption benefits of LED arrays and panels have led to a surge in demand.

A single LED diode is likely to last until you retire, but it doesn't offer much in terms of light output. Most manufacturers, such as Hollywood-based Litepanels, mount hundreds of LEDs into a tray then add a reflector. Its Ringlite Mini (pictured) slots over a camera lens distributing light evenly and directly at a subject.

“LEDs give amazing power efficiency and are a significant help for battery life in ENG situations or if you're running HD cameras (which drain more power than cameras in SD mode),” says Earls.

Japan's IDX, better known as a battery vendor, offers the X3 which outputs the equivalent of a 35W halogen bulb at ‘daylight' colour temperatures and only requires 11W of power, while German firm Bebob Broadcast markets the Lux-Led range for use as a freestanding, handheld or camera light (distributed by Holdan in the UK).

Red one
After recalling its initial batch and subsequently delaying release, Red Digital Cinema's hugely hyped Red One 4k camera is finally shipping. Promising high-resolution digital cinematography on a low budget, the $17,500 (£8,975) camera (body only, lenses extra) could prove irresistible to film-makers or those interested in experimenting in 3D cinematography.

“Despite the late delivery and all the other issues with the camera we are convinced that it will have a dramatic effect on the market from production through rental and through the post workflow,” argues Paul Carter, managing director of hire firm Axis Films, which will stock two models. “There will be a lot of opportunities not least for rental companies and the accessory manufacturers to provide a service for Red owners.”

Until the camera is proven to be roadworthy, however, Axis will insist that an in-house technician, familiar with all the quirks of the camera, attends the shoot. “We envisage that this person would also be responsible for the data-capture side of the operation,” says Carter.

“Anyone who has read the hype will be eager to see what this camera can do,” he adds. “Some producers and DoPs want to be able to say that they are among the vanguard to have shot on Red.”

Panasonic AVC-Intra Compression
Whatever the digital format there's a trade-off between file size and image quality: the smaller the file size, the easier it is to move around but the poorer the quality is.

Panasonic is pushing a new compression technology called AVC-Intra in its latest P2 cameras which enables the recording of HD data as smaller files on a P2 card or alternatively offers much higher quality content at conventional DVCPRO HD bit rates.

AVC-Intra, accessed from the menu of P2 cameras AJHPX 2100 and AJHPX 3000 can be set at 100 Mbps for 1920 x 1080 10-bit 4:2:2 recording or 50 Mbps for DVCPRO HD quality at half the bit rate, but double the record time on a P2 card.

Panasonic claims AVC-Intra, which uses intraframe compression, is twice as efficient as the interframe-based MPEG-2 long-GOP scheme used by Sony in its XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX systems. Sony says AVC-Intra does this by throwing away half the original picture information during recording, so it's really half-def quality.

“It's a very interesting development,” says Prime TV's Earl. “Not only is it good for capturing high end material at lower bit rates for drama but also for the news and documentary markets.”

Polecam
When extreme sports cameraman Steffan Hewitt was directing a series of windsurfing kit commercials in Hawaii eight years ago he found it impossible using conventional equipment to get a shot at speed, shot from the front with a wide angle lens. He experimented with a minicam fitted to the end of a boom pole and got the shots he needed.

Hewitt designed and built a prototype rigged from lightweight carbon-fibre tubes and began selling it. Polecam now has more than 200 customers across the world, including 30 in the UK. “Most are hired by freelance cameramen who then become owner-operators,” says Polecam's Mel Noonan. “It is an extremely simple concept but incredibly useful for achieving creative, out of the way shots.”

Users can even accessorise this accessory with a number of camera heads including Fish Face, a submersible pan and tilt unit, and DiveBag, a latex glove that fits over a mini-cam also for underwater shots.

Iconix Mini HD cameras
There are a number of compact HD cameras on the market but the Iconix, from Iconix Video, has a lot of supporters.

“Because we service a need for small, high quality cameras to function with Polecam we're constantly searching for new models,” says Mel Noonan, marketing director, Polecam. “The one that seems most flexible is the Iconix. It offers interlace and progressive image scanning and can be switched to SD - useful if you want 16 x 9 SD. You can even switch it to dual link mode for component HD recording.”

Polecam has sold more than 60 of the£9,500 units, which weighs less than four pounds, but now also offers the cheaper Toshiba IK-HD1, although this only records 1080i. “The Toshiba is more useful for live events and outside broadcast,” notes Noonan. “The Iconix has been used just about everywhere from motorsport to natural history to reality shows and demand continues to grow.”

Other claimants to the title “world's smallest HD camera” include Bradley Engineering's €5,000 remote head BE-HD10, a new two-megapixel camera which captures HD (1080i or 720p 50/60), and TV Skyline's HD 1100 unit which records 1,100 lines (compared with the 900-line resolution of the Iconix).

XDCAM HD 422
Although Sony has been pushing its disk-based recording system XDCAM HD as a workhorse for broadcast work, few producers have so far adopted it. That may change with the introduction of a higher-spec model due for release this spring.

The PDW-700 XDCAM HD 422 camcorder features a 2/3 inch chipset compared with the existing XDCAM HD model's half-inch CCDs, to record full 1920 x 1080 4:2:2.

What's more, Sony is outfitting all its XDCAM HD range with new 50GB dual-layer disk media which doubles the storage and recording capacities of the original single layer version making it ideal for applications that require long continuous recording.

“A camera like this might finally twist people's arms to go tapeless,” suggests Video Europe general manager Matt Marner who plans to purchase multiple units. “One thing that has put people off moving to file-based systems has been the image quality available from half-inch sensors. That barrier is removed with this release which should deliver quality on a par with HDCAM. That, combined with greatly increased record capacity, should prove very attractive to a wide range of producers.”

Movietube Lens Adapter System
The Movietube from Germany's Kinomatik allows fixed lens camcorders like the Z1 to achieve the same depth of field, imaging characteristics, and viewing angle as 35mm film. Its lens adapter is compatible with Panasonic's DVX100 and HVX200, as well as Sony's Z1U and FX1.

“We've had increased demand for this product in recent months from cinematographers who haven't the budget to shoot 16mm or full scale HD,” says Danny Howarth, facility manager, Provision. “It's a great product that can put 35mm lenses in front of a standard HDV camera to achieve incredible depth of field and a far better picture.”

The system accepts all film lenses in Arri PL or Panavision mount, as well as 35mm still lenses from Canon, Minolta or Leica or Nikon - optics which many camera operators may own, thus saving themselves the cost of hiring a box of primes.

Analogue to digital conversion
Despite the HD revolution, hundreds of thousands of legacy analogue users still exist - and so does their content. As a “missing link” solution, Shining Technology's Beetle bridges the analogue-digital divide by offering a simple and efficient mechanism for working with content digitally even when captured on Betacams.

The small Beetle DV 1850 device will convert and store analogue video to a hard drive in DV, DVCPro50 and MPEG-2 formats and could also export edited digital video to an analogue VTR or display. The catch? It's still being tested but could be launched in April at NAB.

“Even though our industry is undergoing a massive shift to HD, we can't forget that a significant sector of the market still uses analogue equipment,” notes Shining marketing manager Chris Wang. “By bridging the gap to help these users convert their content to digital formats rather than losing it altogether, we're making their HD transformation a bit easier.”

Solid state camcorders
Producers reticent about shooting HD with a tapeless workflow may have their concerns alleviated by Sony's new entry-level HD camcorder which records full 1920 x 1080 HD onto memory-based cards.

“The biggest restriction to the take-up of solid-state production until now has been limited record times,” says Mitcorp business development manager Dennis Lennie. “The PMW-EX1 enables operators to shoot up to 70 minutes of HD at 25Mbps or 50 minutes at 35Mbps per 16GB ExpressCard.” That's equivalent to a single HDV tape recorded by a Z1 - the staple format for factual productions.

Mitcorp has already sold 50 of the£4,000 (approx price) EX1s, including units to Special Treats Productions to shoot behind-the-scenes material for forthcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace and for Raw Cut's Sky One documentary Road Wars.

Film-maker Phil Grabsky, who owns Seventh Art Productions, has his eye on the EX1. “The workflow needs to be thought through, but if you think that 15 years ago people weren't comfortable with email, 10 years ago with an Avid or five years ago with an iPod the concept of disk or solid-state based recording will soon be very familiar.”

Interchangeable Lens HDV
Sony's next generation of HDV technology, the HVR-Z7E and HVR-S270E, feature interchangeable lens systems allowing a far greater choice of lens for producers working in this format.

“These are ideal for budget independent productions, corporate video or videographers,” notes John Preston of dealer H Preston which purchased 100 of each model. “A lot of customers have wanted to upgrade but have felt unable to do so until now. Now they can have their choice of HD, prime, stills and wide-angle lenses.

“The S270E is also the first shoulder-mounted HD camera available at a reasonable price,” he adds. “Some operators prefer not to use tripods in order to be as unobtrusive as possible and they can now stabilise shudder.”

The S270E uses larger tapes for more than four hours of continuous recording - practical for filming live events. “You no longer have to swap tapes at crucial moments,” Preston says.

Additionally, both camcorders feature hybrid solid-state recording of HDV1080i, DVCAM, or DV to a compact flash card while simultaneously recording to tape.

“That offers a great introduction to file-based workflows without any of the worry some users have about shooting without tape,” adds Mitcorp's Lennie.

BBC Trust backs£81m tapeless move

Broadcast 

The BBC Trust has approved funding of£81m to kickstart the corporation's move into multiplatform production and tapeless workflow.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/bbc-trust-backs81m-tapeless-move/706181.article

The Trust has greenlit the first phase of the Digital Media Initiative (DMI), the corporation-wide overhaul of infrastructure and work processes intended to enable collaborative multi-platform production.

In an email sent to all BBC staff, future media and technology director Ashley Highfield said moving from work conducted predominantly on tape to shooting content on HD cameras straight onto memory cards would open up a “world of possibilities”. The plan is to make archived content available on the desktop of any member of BBC staff in any BBC office in any part of the world.

“It is the single most important initiative we are working on,” Highfield said. “Without DMI, we simply can't deliver many of our planned exciting new on-demand services.”

A five-year, staggered roll-out of new technology will start this autumn in conjunction with technology partner Siemens. It will begin with the natural history unit, children's and sport.

BBC news, radio production and Glasgow's Pacific Quay have begun a digital overhaul and will be linked into DMI later.

“We will begin with those genres that are driving toward multi-platform and those starting to bank HD content,” said BBC Vision Studios technology controller Jon Attard.

“In phase two, DMI will extend to other genres and regional sites. Key technical challenges to meet the needs of Media City at Salford and external post-production and production suppliers will be assessed.”

A third phase will take the project to completion in 2012. The results of phase one will be presented to the Trust for its approval for funding of further phases of the project. All aspects of production will be unified by a common search tool which will allow richer and speedier access to content for internal producers and eventually to members of the public.

Lime overhauls post unit for Hollyoaks HD

Broadcast

Lime Pictures is upgrading its in-house post facilities to accommodate the HD production of Hollyoaks later this year.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/lime-overhauls-post-unit-for-hollyoaks-hd/585196.article

The Channel 4 series, which runs five episodes a week, is currently being simulcast on C4 HD.

The Liverpool producer's new HD facilities, which will be operational by June, centre on a 102TB storage area network (SAN) supplied by Data Direct Networks.

This will accommodate the 650GB of material per episode that an HD production requires. All post will be in HD, although the choice of editing system has not been finalised. Currently, Lightworks systems are used.

“We'll be acquiring four times more data than SD,” said PSC manager John Robertson. “It's a major investment and overhaul of our facilities but we'll be maintaining the same tapeless workflow.

“Moving data around won't be a problem once it's on the SAN. What's more of an issue is having enough time in the day to perform back-up and archiving of the sheer volume of data.”

Lime Pictures is something of a tapeless production pioneer. Since 2001 the producer has been recording the bulk of its studio footage direct to hard disk although location material is still captured on tape.

The new production set-up will see location-based material recorded to the optical disk-based Sony XDCAM HD to speed up the transfer of rushes into the SAN. The Hollyoaks studio cameras will be Sony HDC1500s.

Data management software is provided by Quantum StorNext with a Quantum i2000 tape library used to back up and retrieve content.

Production: Why TV is playing away

Broadcast 

Technological pressures mean big broadcasters are outsourcing the last link before transmission to external companies.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/production-why-tv-is-playing-away/558351.article

Traditionally, playout has been a defining feature of what it is to be a broadcaster. It's the final link before transmission where programming is synchronised with graphics, branding, subtitling, channel interstitials or commercials and played out from tapes by an automated system according to a predefined schedule.

Demands for greater flexibility and the ability to deliver digital files to multiple channels and multiple platforms (across multiple territories) have added vast complexities to the operation.

As these developments hit home, the UK's terrestrial broadcasters have entrusted this vital task to external organisations. The BBC outsources its playout operations to Red Bee Media; Technicolor Network Services (TNS) handles ITV; Ascent Media Network Services has managed Five since the channel's launch while Channel 4 is the latest to transfer its broadcast and post-production, also to Red Bee.

“It's increasingly difficult to divorce traditional playout from the many other ways of distributing a signal,” notes Roger Henderson, Ascent Media Network Services managing director. “Any content provider moving to tapeless technology and trying to react to an increasingly uncertain and ever-changing market faces huge pressure on its resources when it should be concentrating on its core creative business of programme-making.”

An outsource provider, the argument goes, can harness economies of scale to tool up for any delivery platform the market comes up with - be it IPTV, open internet downloads or streaming, distribution to mobile handsets or VoD - at only an incremental cost to the client while shouldering all the risks of expensive technology investment.

“The traditional point-to-multipoint model of broadcast television has been largely replaced by a new point-to-point approach where content providers target their services at individual consumers,” notes TNS senior vice-president Maurizio Cimelli. “As a result, broadcasters no longer wish to be encumbered with the additional responsibility of being the infrastructure provider, upgrader or even operator. Media companies are turning in ever greater numbers to service providers which can help them navigate this period of rapid change and turn pressures on their businesses into opportunities.”

Tapeless transmission and the reduced cost of kit mean that new facilities can undercut the running costs of older, in-house TX facilities, particularly those based on cumbersome automation systems which tend to be heavy on staff and maintenance.

C4 claims its move will create annual savings of 15%. “Making our content available across new digital platforms is placing considerable financial and technological demands on the channel,” confirms group finance director Anne Bulford. “Outsourcing these functions will allow us to tap into the considerable and flexible resources of a big, specialist provider and help us stay competitive in the face of rapid technological change.”

It may even be anachronistic to use the term “playout” at all. Adrian Scott, chief marketing officer for technology vendor Pro-Bel, prefers the term “delivery” since playout “conveys the impression of a fixed schedule of events played out in sequence when the reality is that playout now encompasses a wide variety of processes from ingest to transcoding and media management, metadata production, scheduling and billing.

“The technology, workflow, staff skills, audience demographics and the way audiences consume media has radically altered what was a relatively straightforward bolt-on function,” he adds.

The types of services broadcasters need vary widely. Some want help managing the distribution and transmission of their content. Others require assistance with subtitling, reversioning material or its digitisation and long-term archiving. Some providers manage the post-production of promo material or create it themselves.

Broadcasters increasingly want the flexibility to alternate between an automated schedule and live transmission; to alter the schedule according to audience requests (received by SMS for example) or rapidly adjust the length or content of a commercial break according to unpredictable live events (in cricket for example when a wicket falls).

“The distinguishing feature of outsourced transmission is a convergence of IT and broadcasting,” notes Carl Petch, content management facilities manager for Globecast's Grays Inn Road facility. “We've already seen this happen in post-production and it's only logical that it should be applied to channel delivery too. It's not just a technology change, the skillsets of the personnel are new too.”

“Five years ago, servers for playout came within the realm of broadcast technology,” confirms Arqiva director of broadcast sales, satellite media John Bozza. “Now they're based on IT systems. The people operating them have to be retrained and if a company isn't outsourcing then its costs increase because it may have several sites to staff and upgrade. For any broadcaster to have that skillset and experience in-house is extremely rare.”

The playout division
Mark Errington, chief executive of technology vendor On-Air Systems, suggests there's something of a divide in the level of activity in the UK playout market. “For large broadcasters whose focus is on programme content and advertising opportunities, playout is seen as non-core, particularly when their brand is just extended by adding more channels,” he says. “The focus of smaller broadcasters is still on controlling the entire workflow chain including playout, as they feel they need to have control over the broadcast and any changes to it. Many start-up channels start by using playout services and then invest in their own facilities. It all comes down to whether there are significant capital costs.”

Portland TV, the production arm of Northern & Shell, built its own TX facilities three years ago in a bid to cut outsourced playout costs for 16 channels including Television X and Red Hot TV. It built a 32-channel all-digital centre for£1m, digitised a 5,000-hour library and has since attracted several external channels including X League TV and US channel Mav TV in preparation for a planned£200m flotation later this year.

“While outsourcing we were ingesting loads of Digi Beta tapes every day, making three copies of each tape,” says head of engineering Jon Anthony. “It was a lot of work and quite expensive. We realised we could do this ourselves at far less cost and retain total control over programming.”

MTV Networks Europe recently conducted a review of its own playout operation, opting to build on its existing Camden headquarters, the European hub for 42 Viacom channels.

“Before we embarked on the review, we took a step back and analysed whether it made sense to get out of this part of the business altogether, or relocate out of London at a greenfield site or have playout managed in Camden by a third party or - the cheapest option - take it to Budapest,” explains vice-president, technology Dave Colfer. “We decided to stay in Camden largely for business culture reasons. Transmission is an integral part of our business and it's good for the production teams to be able to follow the route of their product out of the door. MTV is a very reactive and fast-moving organisation and we need the interface between our creative and playout teams to be completely transparent.”

The facility is being retooled for a completely tapeless operation, increased to 60-channel capacity and linked to its US parent and European offices by a new high-speed digital network.

“There are a lot of benefits to using the big outsource providers but we felt that the only ones with a clear understanding of our own workflow were ourselves,” Colfer says. “We can be very demanding of playout and felt it was best to keep it closer to home.”

Two years ago Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) Europe swapped its 24-strong European channels including CNN, TCM and Nuts TV from Ascent Media to playout in-house across Europe from its London base for largely the same reasons.

“It's about control and the management of assets,” says Steve Fish, vice-president, engineering. “If you're broadcasting a few channels then the overheads in terms of technology and support staff are high and it can make sense to outsource. Above that number and the economics start to reverse. A significant share of our library is owned by the group and the rest acquired under licence, so it makes sense to want to control all aspects of its production, repurposing and delivery under one roof.”

Platform TV's Anthony suggests there's a potential downside to keeping TX in-house. “When you go out of house you get accountability. Schedulers need to be able to feel comfortable making demands of playout and the problem with working with an internal department is that it is not treated as a client.”

Discovery Networks Europe operates a hybrid of in-house/externally contracted playout by tasking Ascent Media with transmission of its 45 channels on site at the company's European headquarters in Chiswick Park. Yet Ascent and Discovery share the same parent in Liberty Media.

The notable exception, domestically, to the current outsourcing activity is BSkyB. It has retained control of and invested heavily in its own playout facilities and satellite uplinks, a decision that some observers believe has contributed to its success.

“Technology is an area on which UK terrestrial channels should be putting a premium rather than losing,” remarked former C4 executive David Brook to the Guardian. “Is this really an area to outsource? If it's not important, why does Sky take it so seriously?”

Responding to the criticism, C4's Bulford replies: “Sky has the scale of resource that we simply do not. We are a comparatively small player and having access to the breadth of resources of Red Bee helps us stay competitive.”

The London hub
It's no coincidence that the current flux of activity in the playout sector centres on London. Largely for cultural and language reasons the capital has been the traditional gateway to Europe for foreign broadcasters.

Ascent's Henderson has noticed “substantial growth in playout business targeting, in particular, central and eastern Europe from US and UK clients”. He points to a recent report which suggests there will be 2,000 thematic channels broadcast across Europe by 2015, many transmitted from London - a 50% increase on current levels. “Brands want to reach the new developing consumer markets across the continent.”

London's benefits include access to a high-quality skills base and to all the key vendors. “It's the biggest post centre outside LA and offers rapid, robust connectivity via a vast telecoms infrastructure,” explains Red Bee head of business development Dave Adey. “Service providers based here can add value to big US brands which want to make sure they extend their content as far as possible. If you want to get to a remote place in Europe, a broadcaster is more likely to do so from London than anywhere else.”

There may be a more prosaic reason: the strength of the pound and now the euro against the dollar is attractive to any US company wishing to tap into local advertising revenue.

Playout technology
The playout, master control and automation operation is one of the last areas of broadcasting to be overtaken by the IT revolution. These hardware-driven playout functions are being replaced by software-based content management and delivery systems including Pro-Bel's Morpheus, often used in conjunction with Omneon servers; On Air's combined server/automation system Play Kast; and Omnibus Systems' iTX. The latter is a new product which replaces the functionality of a playout chain in software running on standard PC-based servers.

The key technology is metadata - information about content that travels in digital form alongside the content at all times.

“Without metadata there is no content,” says Scott. “You simply won't be able to find it, let alone exploit it.”

Unfortunately there's no globally accepted standard for metadata, which can make content exchange problematic. “In fact there are so many companies working autonomously to define new standards for everything from encoding and distributing to storing and protecting video that the word standard is becoming meaningless in this context,” states Jon Folland, who runs consultancy Nativ.

A real asset
A service provider will typically ingest content once and store it digitally. An asset management system (either off-the-shelf or proprietary such as with Ascent's Viia service) will read the metadata attached to each item and make it available throughout the playout centre from compliance (trimming length, removing ad breaks) to creative editing (trails, programme links) or straight to air. The transfer of media by tape is commonplace, but playout systems that can handle multiple-format files are important to reduce the need for transcoding materials.

Red Bee's operation for Virgin and Channel 4 makes low-res images available for desktop browsing at Virgin and C4's London offices with playout managed at Red Bee's Broadcast Centre.

“We're looking to provide 99.99% reliability,” says Adey. “Not many industries come close to that and it's down to the right combination of technology and people.”