January 2014 www.tvbeurope.com


Collecting media that has ended up in several different places and putting it back in one archive, knowing editors can come back to it at a later date, is a time-consuming task


required,” says Brett. “We were first introduced to Marquis’ Project Parking about a year ago and this sparked my interest that there could be a real solution to managing our edit storage and projects more efficiently. During that time Marquis developed Project Parking further and when version 3 became available earlier this year, we felt it really could match our needs.” Project Parking version 3


analyses all the projects and media on the edit storage by size, project, location, age, duplicated or orphaned files, and then archives files to second tier storage, or deletes unused media at the touch of a button, takes snapshots of versions of projects, or moves files from one location to another, while still maintaining a usable and easily accessible format for future use. “It has enabled us to improve


the efficient use of our high- value edit storage and by copying Avid projects to near-


orphaned media not associated with a project. The bin archive functionality in Project Parking then allows individual bins or folders of bins to be included or excluded in order to move media to second tier storage. Stalled projects can then be taken offline to free up space. Archived projects can be


moved through the cloud and around the world. A project is transferred with all its media to any storage so that it can be restored to a new facility, workstation or laptop and edited immediately. Retrieval is also straight forward and can be easily achieved by restoring whole projects or just the required bins of an archived project for re-editing. “Project Parking can now be used to archive promos, plus National Geographic long form content, in the Operations Department which handles every UK transmission for Fox and National Geographic,” confirms Brett. “We will also be


“We were looking for a complete storage and project analysis tool which would help us delete the clutter and archive projects and all their media elsewhere Simon Brett, Fox


line, offline efficient IT storage or removable storage,” continues Brett. “The solution has improved the reliability and speed of archiving by allowing the movement of complete Avid projects easily from one site to another, so users have the certain knowledge that projects will be in exactly the same state as when archived. This has enabled our editors to manage projects more efficiently. Work can also be protected by creating snapshots of projects before major edit changes, interruptions to production, or for simply handing over to other editors.” Project Parking works by


analysing all projects and media across all workspaces and allows them to be viewed in a user- friendly way. This enables the user to rank projects appropriately. This may be in order of total file size, number of files associated with a project, which workspaces the media is on, and whether media is offline. The solution also identifies the location of any duplicate files and any


using the solution for managing long form content too. In the UK, we re-version National Geographic content, often from the US, to make it suitable for a British audience. This may mean re-voicing or adding or taking out material. Similarly our operations department processes every transmission of Fox and National Geographic to get it to a UK specification. “Project Parking will now


allow us to archive off complete Avid projects rather than need to re-build them from different sources. In the future, if another region would like to re-use an edit we have created, it will be no problem,” continues Brett. “We can simply hand over all the elements of the project that they need, ready to go straight into Avid. We anticipate this improved archiving of content, more efficient management of orphaned files and generally better housekeeping will all save our team a significant amount of time.” www.marquismediapartners.com


TVBEurope 47 The Workflow


Attenborough and Colossus team up again for a 3D Museum


By Adrian Pennington and Holly Ashford


DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D marks the latest 4K and 3D documentary project produced for Sky by Colossus Productions, a joint venture between Atlantic Productions and Sky 3D. It also marks the presenter’s sixth 3D project for Sky/Atlantic/ Colossus, with previous films including Flying Monsters 3D, The Penguin King, Kingdom of Plants, Galapagos 3D and Micro Monsters 3D. While the first in the series,


Flying Monsters, was shot on Red One cameras, Natural History Museum was shot using Epics at 5K mounted on a 3Ality Atom rig. The larger frame provided wriggle room for geometry changes and horizontal image translation in post. Timelapse photography was by DP Rob Hollingworth using Nikon D800 stills cameras. Each one of the pair of Red


cameras generated 400GB of data an hour, making nearly 1TB per hour combined. “So on location you can very easily rack up in the region of 40+ TB of storage, which becomes a major data management and cost issue,” explains Richard Mills, CTO, Onsight. “We always try to have some kind


of on-set or near-set quality control, and production generally demands near-set editorial as well, so it’s a considerable challenge to get all that data backed up in two or three copies on set plus edit deliverables.”


TV, cinema and IMAX As with previous Colossus shows, Natural History Museum Live 3D was designed to cover for a TV deliverable, a cinema feature and a giant 16x9 screen release, which required that a number of versions of each shot were taken with different framings. The show was heavily CGI


reliant, with creatures supplied by Milk, Prime Focus, Framestore and Zoo. All the animation was delivered at 4K, rather than the usual 2K resolution, to ensure the quality of the image when projected on an IMAX screen. In post, Onsight set aside 40TB


of online storage using a combination of Dot Hill and StorNext SANs. With the added CGI conforms, the project would have racked up about 60TB.


David Attenborough in London’s Natural History Museum mammals hall


Offline was on Avid in DNxHD 36 and in stereo 3D, online was in Mistika. Monitoring was by way of Sony Trimaster PVM-X300 and a domestic 4K TV for reference. A theatrical 4K DCP test was also made.


Behind the scenes at the Museum David Attenborough and Anthony Geffen revealed more about the production at a preview screening last month. Attenborough explained how talks with Sky began last February, with the programme ready for output just 10 months later — an “astonishing” speed. Despite having worked together on a number of occasions, the pair admitted the shooting times were a challenge, beginning at 7pm and not finishing until 6am the following morning, with one filming period lasting 15 consecutive nights. “I personally found it quite tough,” admitted Attenborough. The CGI itself also proved challenging. Having been used to working with animals in his earlier television work, the upcoming production required Attenborough to interact with specimens added in post production. However, he commented on how impressed he was with the CGI creations — the “quirks” such as eyelid blinks and small unexpected movements “which make them into real personalities”. The duo also revealed that an app will be available to


accompany Natural History Museum Alive 3D, so that “anyone with a mobile phone or tablet will be able to go into the Museum on 1 January and go to any one of these creatures…and on a screen will see that thing suddenly flop off the wall and swim around it, just as I would do if I was sitting there. And we’ll do that with every one of those creatures,” explains Attenborough. The aim of the app, added Geffen, was to provide “an extension [to the TV show], having built all these amazing creatures, for people to go on learning about them afterwards”.


2014: Looking ahead The 65-minute show was broadcast on Sky 3D and in 2D on Sky 1 HD on New Year’s Day. Geffen and Attenborough concluded the preview screening by showing a clip of another collaboration between the naturalist and Colossus, Conquest of the Skies 3D, a two-part series set to premiere in 2014. The ability to get close to birds was a major factor in the decision for this next 3D production. As Attenborough explained: “It is not possible to use long lenses in 3D. You are stuck with a lens of about 50-60mm focal length. Lots of subjects are unavailable to you. I thought that flight would be a wonderful subject,” said Attenborough, “and the evolution of flight is a thrilling one.” www.onsight.co.uk www.milk-vfx.com


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