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WFH, cloud editing, thoughts for the future
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[Michael Gissing] “Rupert Murdoch is a classic example of old media fighting to slow the change while he learnt how to catch up to the new tech billionaires”
I think you are using a small example to generalize the whole. When it comes to internet development, you can just as easily point your finger at government-owned telecom agencies who have done much to hinder advanced development worldwide. Then there are the counter-examples of players like Musk, Kapor, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Bezos, etc. Like them or hate them, they all clearly have an interest in advancing the technology.
I think you are placing too much emphasis on terrestrial internet, when clearly future development is in wireless and LEO/MEO satellite fleets. However, if this means everything moves to the cloud, then we are clearly in trouble, as Adobe demonstrated this past Wednesday. Because sometimes the cloud simply isn’t there.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] ” If we truly believe that the majority of post work from now on will be remote, then in the past few years, facility owners have flushed a helluva a lot of money down the drain. That fleet of new Mac Pros? No need for those. That big honking NAS? Nope, should have saved money there. Simply make sure the freelancers you have working from home have adequate set-ups.”
America’s Test Kitchen has been employing a hybrid WFH system since it’s inception 20 years ago, so I might have a different take on things.
Up until the Virus, ATK has been using both an on-site networked post group that handles their voluminous and ever growing social media work, along with handling storage and AE work on broadcast shows. Since the office was closed the social media has gone off-site as well.
Broadcast editing is handled by a group of 3 off-site editors, that have duplicate Raids of material prepared by the AE. Broadcast editors are responsible for final grading and audio work and preparing and posting deliverables. We use Kollaborate as our review platform, we share project files between editors, as well as graphic elements and animation created by outside companies. End of season archives are stored to hard drives ( or lately SSDs) and shipped back to the office via Fed-Ex, everything else is delivered over the internet. We do not use a Proxy workflow even though our material is a combination of HD and 4K.
Off-site editors are not reimbursed for their gear. All 3 of us are happy to trade our equipment costs for the freedom and commuting hours saved from working at home. This works for us because of the volume of work we are getting: each year we are producing 39 half hour shows along with promos, sizzle reels, and spots; I would not be so ready to offer this rate for day work.
I don’t think the post Covid environment will change our workflow very much; there is a value for having an on-site post team available to deal with the immediacy and changes of their social media work, but I can see them staggering the on-site days for their editors, which in effect allows them a larger pool of talent to work with.
Broadcast post changes might occur based on changes in production; both “America’s Test Kitchen” and “Cook’s Country” are shot in studios built into their on-site offices. For this season they are planning a “Cooking From Home” series to be shot by one man crews at the talent’s homes – how this might affect post has yet to be determined. If they find that the quality they are getting is “good enough for Broadcast” while it keeps the costs way down, they might want to integrate some of this workflow into their future plans. Time will tell.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf -
[Herb Sevush] “America’s Test Kitchen has been employing a hybrid WFH system since it’s inception 20 years ago, so I might have a different take on things.”
Cool. Thanks for the insight. Good info.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Bob Zelin] “My great fear (and no offense Mr. Raudonis) is that what will happen now, is what happened when the writers strike happened in LA years ago, and “reality television” was created, just to get something on the air. It was “good enough”. “
Oh BOB… you had to throw down the gauntlet, didn’t you?
All I will say is that you are correct about the writer’s strike, but where are we a decade later? (Pre Covid) Talking about “Peak TV” and the greatest outpouring of AMAZING scripted series ever! So, so much for your ” good enough” theory. The market has increased to the point where there’s room for EVERYTHING. Hi budget, no budget and everything in between.
You can blame reality TV for a lot, many people do. But, you CAN’T say that we’re responsible for the the “good enough” trend. Ultimately, the only arbitrator of “good enough” is the story. If the story is “good enough” then the technology don’t matter.
Evidence: All those “no budget” movies that went on to make millions of dollars, like Blair Witch Project, and the no budget horror genre. Tech marches on, but without a good story, nobody cares.
So there! Mr. Zelin. Now leave me alone and go pick on your usual suspects of cheapskate, techno idiots who get your blood pressure boiling. Nothing to see here!
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[Mark Raudonis] “Evidence: All those “no budget” movies that went on to make millions of dollars, like Blair Witch Project, and the no budget horror genre. Tech marches on, but without a good story, nobody cares.”
Well…. I knew some of the “Blair Witch” guys and the general situation around that production. It’s not a particularly good example to use. It was a fluke that no one repeated as successfully. Maybe the original “Paranormal” came closest.
A more pertinent example is to look at some of the “new media” producers, like iJustine or Rooster Teeth. If you do a bit of research you can quickly see that a) they are quite successful following their formula, and b) their infrastructure is actually based on a significant cap-ex investment.
I think one of the things that will come out of this is that the remote production/Zoom interview approach that was developed as a stop-gap has actually produced a certain style that many viewers find entertaining. I see a lot of that staying around even when it is no longer needed.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] “But consider this. Covid aside. If we truly believe that the majority of post work from now on will be remote, then in the past few years, facility owners have flushed a helluva a lot of money down the drain. That fleet of new Mac Pros? No need for those. That big honking NAS? Nope, should have saved money there. Simply make sure the freelancers you have working from home have adequate set-ups. “
I don’t see why if you work form home you won’t need the same or similar setup at the office. Do you need a 10Gb network at home? Maybe not. Maybe you do, it depends on what you have at home. I know that it is getting easier and easier to keep things in sync over the internet. Depending on your NAS, that capability might simply be built in to the machine. I don’t see a reason for much to go away besides the overall amount of office space. You will still need the speed and power at home if you plan to do the same thing. Maybe you don’t need the biggest raid, but you’re still going to need a raid.
Again, Work From Home is not as efficient or even cheaper, but there are trade offs where it might be better, and yes, it would mean taking a look at the whole process and pipeline, and it is not impossible.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “I don’t see why if you work form home you won’t need the same or similar setup at the office.”
If you have editors working from home, you don’t need as large of a system. Let’s say the “traditional” shop had 10 suites (iMac, iMac Pro, nMac Pro) and shared storage. If the bulk of the editing is done from home, then you may only need 4 suites to cover the work needed to be done on-prem. Less real estate, fewer workstations, possibly a smaller NAS. The rest is done at home.
Meanwhile the editors working from home need adequate (not same) systems to get the work done. IOW, a decent computer, own the same applications and plug-ins, and have the same fonts installed. If you send media home on raw drives, do they own a dock? That sort of thing.
Imagine this alternate scenario. You have 5 editors and you equip them each with a 16″ MBP, loaded with the options and software. They work with these using TB3 drives at home and can use whatever else they own at home.
At the facility you have 3 suites for client review when the editors come back in for final tweaks. These only have displays, audio, and access to the NAS via 10GbE-to-TB3 converters. The editors come in to make tweaks with the client and simply cable their MBP up to the display and other systems in the room. They can then work from the TB3 drives or relink to media on the NAS. Maybe in addition you have two other fully-equipped suites. One for grading and the other for mixing.
It’s that sort of thing that I was talking about.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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[Oliver Peters] “If you have editors working from home, you don’t need as large of a system. Let’s say the “traditional” shop had 10 suites (iMac, iMac Pro, nMac Pro) and shared storage. If the bulk of the editing is done from home, then you may only need 4 suites to cover the work needed to be done on-prem. “
I guess this is where I get lost. How do you go from 10 to 4? Why can’t it be 10 to 10?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “I guess this is where I get lost. How do you go from 10 to 4? Why can’t it be 10 to 10?”
You wouldn’t need all 10 any longer, because you no longer have 10 editors working on-prem. They are working from home. You would still need a few (whether 4 or another number) to accommodate a few sessions done on-prem, as well as support the work do by AEs, grading, etc. You’re obviously not going to have 10 Mac Pros sitting around idle if the editors are not coming into the office to work.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters – oliverpeters.com
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Of course not.
But if you need less in the office and costs go down. Editors take home gear that is otherwise idle.
You’d need to setup a sync system, or a really good proxy system, and I think you’ll need more storage and not less. You may need less office space, but you’ll need more of everything else. I don’t think capex for gear goes downward, necessarily, it’s more lateral, and where you save money in certain areas, you may have to add more in home suites.
For instance, if WFH continues for another year (?), I will know doubt need to upgrade my home internet. It will go from pretty cheap to fairly expensive every month. I am going to need more minutes, I’m going to need a better storage system that would sync with the office system. And I’d still need stuff at the office for when I do need to go in.
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