FACTUAL


the PMW-EX3s enable APs and producer/directors to go off and shoot their own on-site footage and manage their own media – downloading from memory cards to hard drives.


The drives with EX3 rushes are then sent to Envy Post Production for offline on Avid Media Composer, with the PDW-700 footage arriving separately as Professional Discs complete with full HD 4:2:2 media and proxy video files.


But now the decision has been taken to phase out tape-based acquisition in favour of a strategy built entirely around the Sony PDW-700 XDCAM camcorder, which records to high capacity dual layer professional discs at 50 Mb/s. The production is also using the smaller Sony PMW-EX3, which records to SxS Pro memory cards. The PDW-700s are used by camera operators on major shooting days when presenter Kevin McCloud visits the building sites for updates on progress, while


FASTER WORKFLOW Says Envy head of technical operations Daniel Sassen: “The EX3 rushes are transcoded to produce offline media on our Avid Unity ISIS storage system at Foley Street. We also utilise the low resolution proxy files on the Pro Discs, which can be ingested directly onto the ISIS – which helps to speed up the workflow.” The Avid systems also provide back up, with offline material mirrored on the ISIS – online material is held on raid protected storage at Envy.


One of the big benefits of the file-based workflow is that all low resolution offline media can then be loaded rapidly onto portable hard drives for the show’s directors to log, sync and begin to put together sequences in preparation for the online. Sassen adds: “Allowing


directors to edit low res footage on laptops using Avid Media Composer is especially useful on a show such as Grand Designs,


where the filming period of an episode could be years. The ability to log footage on a laptop gives them the flexibility to manage their time much more efficiently and work on the material during down time on other jobs.”The offline content is then copied back to the ISIS at Envy and re-linked to the original media. “Everything springs up in the offline and our editors are ready to go,” explains Sassen. Conformed on Avid


Symphony, all the EX3 media instantly re-links to online resolution files, while the XDCAM HD rushes are conformed at online resolution using the original files, with the Pro Discs providing instant clip access.


DELIVERING THE BEST “It’s much faster than working with tape because no shuttling backwards and forwards is required with file-based media,” says Sassen. When the sequences are ready for grade they are sent to Baselight to be graded by Envy’s Vicki Matich and Paul Fallon. The other big benefit is that Envy is able to work in Avid Symphony using uncompressed media at online. “We use Avid Media Composer and Symphony to ensure that a complex tapeless project such as Grand Designs goes smoothly from offline to online. Avid enables us to make sure we can deliver the best quality to our clients, something which we are very proud about at Envy.”


BUILDING THE DREAM WORKFLOW


Envy head of technical operations chief Daniel Sassen explains how Avid has helped realise much more efficient workflows on Talkback’s Channel 4 flagship series Grand Designs


UNITY ISIS


The foundation of collab- orative media production Avid ISIS combines high performance media asset storage and managment. For more information see www.avid.com/US/prod- ucts/family/ISIS


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16