Press release from Video-8
The recent Kodak ACS Student Cinematography Masterclass, held at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), was groundbreaking for several reasons, one of which was the involvement of media asset management specialists Video-8 Media who used its cloud-based Media Asset Management (MAM) service – utilising Dalet Enterprise Edition – for data wrangling, storage and editing of the film and video footage of the event.
Video-8 Group Sales Manager Sean Glasson said, “Kodak, in conjunction with their post partner Deluxe, the ACS and the AFTRS, ran a three day masterclass with moderators including Academy Award nominee Peter James ACS ASC and Academy Award winners John Seale ACS ASC and Russell Boyd ACS ASC. Over 80 participants were treated to three days of intense tutoring on the use of film and the latest post techniques with some of Australia’s top DOPs also giving the inside scoop on how they achieve their winning looks. There were two types of shooting covered in the class, a film section shooting on Panavision Millennium, ARRIFLEX 435, Aaton Penelope and ARRIFLEX 416 and a video section which concentrated on the recording of the masterclass itself using Panasonic 502 cameras, with the main idea behind the masterclass to fully explore the film section. Then all the footage was transferred onto the Video-8 MAM system and edited using Final Cut Pro. When complete all the digital assets will be made available to all ACS members from a desktop PC at their new HQ with a few simple clicks of a mouse.”
Dalet Enterprise Edition is a SOA-based MAM solution with specialised production tools fully integrated within the MAM framework. Video-8 has deployed the Dalet solution across high-end data centres located in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. As a result, customers anywhere in the world can ingest, prepare, QC, store, distribute and archive their content using Dalet production tools and MAM framework hosted in the cloud.
Video-8 MD Gareth Collins said, “This is first in Australia. The Kodak ACS Student Cinematography Masterclass project is an excellent example of Video-8 Media presenting a high-end MAM solution to a high profile and well-respected industry client. In simple terms we have provided the ACS with an instantly accessible and efficient file-based MAM workflow where the digital assets created can be accessed, viewed and used by any member of the society from any desktop PC. We have also delivered enterprise media production workflow benefits at a fraction of the cost of a client-based in-house solution. This is cloud computing at its best.”
Dalet’s open platform provides support for a diverse range of 3rd-party products and formats allowing Video-8 to service a wide-range of customer workflows and projects including sports, entertainment, government and corporate.
Mark Johns, General Manager, Dalet Australia said, “Video-8 has a clever business model for bringing enterprise MAM capabilities to everyone. They provide tremendous value for their customers by offering advanced media management tools very cost effectively.”
The extensive Dalet workflow features Dalet Web Space for remote access via a standard Windows®, Mac or Linux client. The intuitive interface allows Video-8 customers to step into and begin working within the enterprise MAM environment quickly. Production tools for ingest, logging and fast editing are coupled with search, QC and distribution tools, integrating the entire workflow under one simple-to-use application. The underlying MAM framework and workflow engine tracks metadata and manages complex media conversions, supporting the full range of production workflows.
ACS National President Ron Johanson ACS said, “The ACS is excited at the possibilities offered by the Video-8 MAM solution and look forward to exploring these fully in the near future.”