Storytelling, technology and workflow

Jan 18, 2006 3:59 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Ideally, the melding of technology and creativity will forge something that cannot be created otherwise. That is, technology should allow new forms of creative expression and streamlined, time efficient execution of all phases of production. Using business process modeling and analysis techniques can help in harmonizing production and technology. A white paper by Ultimus provides an exhaustive explanation on the value of modeling your business process.

See this referenced article for more information. Where thoughts become content and inspiration becomes visual effects, the creative phase is the aspect of production that involves artistic talent and will ultimately create brand image and differentiation. This differentiation will drive business models and gather an audience that can be transformed into rating points and new multiplatform distribution and ad revenue streams. There is a fundamental difference between the creative process and the technology that supports it. Creation and consumption of content is subjective. Technology is objective.

Take any conceptual story concept and ask a production team to create a TV drama. Most likely you will have as many different treatments of it as there are teams. Yet each will feel it has done the best interpretation of the basic storyline. The visual approach, effects, sound and dialogue will undoubtedly be different in each instance.

If we were then to test this TV drama on an audience, their responses would be a bell curve distribution. The majority would enjoy it. Maybe 10 percent would love it and 5 percent would think it was the greatest story written since Shakespeare. On the other hand, 10 percent may not like it at all and another 5 percent might hate it! No matter how good the content is, audience reaction will follow this pattern, and some people do hate Shakespeare.

With digital technology, it is generally an all or nothing proposition. Equipment does not subjectively analyze a bit stream. Loss of data can result in a slight, imperceptible impairment or total destruction of content. If it affects an application or an operating system, there can be a crash and unpredictable non-functionality of a resource. The point is that both the creative process and the technology that supports it offer particular challenges that make it hard to get everything "right." The difference being with storytelling you have some leeway, with technology there is none.

We’ve got to live together

In this multiplatform age the creative community and technologists must peacefully coexist. Creative types should no longer view technologists with contempt. Technology must be elevated to have equivalent input in creative and business planning at the earliest conceptual, brainstorming stages. Organizations that continue to treat technology as a given, and view their engineering departments as a commodity, are doomed for failure in the dawning multiplatform distribution era.

Conversely, engineering personnel must be sensitized to the creative temperament. Perfection is asymptotically attainable. Hence, an artist will feverishly work up to the last possible second improving their creation. Even though it will never be perfect!

The creative phase of the media lifecycle requires the integration of creative inspiration, business models and emerging technology. Each drives the other. A business model drives creative element and technology, i.e. repurposing content for a cell phone requires visual editing of a program for a 2.5in LCD and using technology to convert to the proper transmission format. Creative drives technology and business, such as HD animation rendering requiring more powerful technology. More efficient production allows more sophisticated GFX effects to be used on a larger amount of programming. And technology drives new business models and creative techniques and workflows, e.g. targeted advertising and iTV.

No man is an island

Up until a few years ago, most broadcast equipment was able to stand on its own, using SDI or other real-time methods for essence distribution. The LAN connection on PC equipment was limited in its functionality. With the migration to file-based content creation and editing systems, the network has now become the primary means of essence distribution. This marriage of broadcast engineering and information technology has given birth to a new media engineering discipline, where all resources are interconnected and interdependent.

The big picture matters. Brute force deployment will be significantly more expensive, in dollars and time, compared to an intelligently and efficiently engineered infrastructure that is harmonized with the production process.

Workflow and infrastructure

Maximizing the ROI on creative tools and minimizing the time spent in each portion of the creative process will allow production teams to meet the increasing demands of multiplatform distribution and consumption. Yet many a broadcaster has upgraded to digital resources but still has maintained their analog technology-based workflows.

What is workflow? Surfacing in the 1990s, and today most notably utilized in attaining an ISO9000 certification, workflow process mapping is the documentation of steps in any task. The ultimate goal is to identify an area that can be improved and make the entire process more efficient in terms of productivity. A nine-step process to build a workflow map that can be used to help you analyze your processes is described here.

There’s a nother structured approach to workflow analysis. It’s called Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process. More than you’ll ever need to know is available at this site.

In the content creation process, it is important to integrate technology with the workflow. For example, an investment in a graphics media asset management (MAM) system may require a $50K purchase. Management may not see the benefit of installing a GFX MAM. They feel that graphics designers can continue as they are currently do, and navigate a loosely structured directory tree to find a needed graphics element.

However, a workflow analysis may reveal that graphics personnel spend between 10 minutes and four hours searching for archived content. This could be on a PC, over network resources or for physical media located on someone’s desk. Let’s say the average is two hours. Not only does this impact production time, but two hours of a $52K per year designer’s time is a $50 expense. If this designer makes 100 searches in a year and you have 10 designers, that’s $50K a year of time spent in searching for graphics content. The MAM pays for itself in one year.

In addition, the two-hour average search time is reduced to five minutes. This has resulted in reduction of the production process by nearly two hours on average. This time can be used to create graphics for more shows or more complicated graphics. In a multiplatform environment, this time can be used to optimally format GFX content to its delivery methodology and consumption device.

It’s all in the storytelling

Storytelling is what most of the creative process and media business is about. News shows consist of segments made up of stories. Sporting events are unscripted dramas. Even a game show tells a story.

Creativity is no longer limited by technology. With CG GFXs and animation applications anything is possible. The same is true for audio. But we cannot lose sight of our storytelling mission. Do the GFXs and sound contribute to the narrative? Do the graphics convey the right amount of relevant information that is easily understood? We often hear criticism about implementing technology for technology's sake, to have the latest and the greatest gadgets. A similar argument can be made about GFX, visual and audio effects for creativity’s sake.

Care must be exercised to use all the new creative tools to create aesthetically pleasing and informatively interesting content. The technological media revolution offers creative opportunity in many production processes:

• Audio: 5.1, stereo, cross platform, micing techniques, sound effects
• Studio sets: multimedia extravaganzas, DMX 512 and show control, virtual sets
• Graphics: automation assembly, animation and render farms, HD computer platform performance
• Sources: formats, feeds, remotes and backhauls, Internet, phone cameras, 1080p, HDV, citizen journalists
• iTV and eTV: storyboarding, technical preparation

No stone has been left unturned. Every aspect of the content creation process has been profoundly impacted by the explosion in content produced for multiplatform distribution and consumption. Harmonization of technology, workflow and storytelling will result in compelling content, efficient production and a minimally stressed work environment.

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Nominations sought for 2006 Women in Technology Award

Jan 22, 2006 11:52 AM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT), the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE), and Communications Technology magazine have announced that nominations are now being accepted for the 2006 Women in Technology Award.

Created in 1995 to recognize and honor leading women technology professionals, the annual Women in Technology Award acknowledges the achievements of one woman who has demonstrated outstanding personal and professional growth, and significantly contributed to the cable telecommunications industry.

Last year’s winner, Charlotte Field, SVP, National Communications Engineering, Comcast Cable, will present the 2006 Women in Technology Award during the Annual Awards Luncheon, Wed., June 21, at SCTE’s Cable-Tec Expo 2006. The event takes place place June 20–23 in Denver. The 2006 Women in Technology Award recipient also will be the subject of an upcoming Communications Technology magazine cover story.

The deadline for nominations is Fri., March 3.

To submit a nomination, go to http://www.wict.org/WICT/Foundation/Awards/WIT.

For more information about SCTE, visit www.scte.org.

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Brian L. Roberts, Ivan Seidenberg to keynote the 2006 Media Summit New York

Jan 19, 2006 12:12 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Brian L. Roberts, Comcast's chairman and CEO, and Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon Communications' chairman and CEO, are keynote speakers for the 3rd Annual Media Summit New York, Feb. 8-9.

This event will take place at the McGraw-Hill Building, 49th St. and Ave. of the Americas in New York. More than 1000 of the nation's media, entertainment and technology leaders are expected to attend.

The 2006, Media Summit New York is an International Conference on television, motion pictures, cable and satellite, broadband, wireless, publishing, radio, magazines, news and print media, advertising and marketing.

Registration is available online at www.media-summit.com.

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NAB Education Foundation calls for entries for 2006 Service to America Awards

Jan 19, 2006 12:21 PM, Audio Technology Update e-newsletter

The NAB Education Foundation (NABEF) announced today that entries are being sought for the 2006 Service to America Awards. Finalists and winners will be honored at the Service to America Awards Gala, which will take place Mon., June 12, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Service to America Awards Celebration recognizes outstanding community service by local broadcasters. The awards are sponsored and produced by NABEF with support from Bonneville International and the NAB. In recent years, First Lady Laura Bush, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Carter, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan have been recognized at the event.

The NAB Education Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the public interest in supporting and advocating: education and training programs, strategies to increase diversity, initiatives stressing the importance of the First Amendment, community service, philanthropy and other timely broadcasting issues.

The 2006 Service to America Call for Entries is available at www.nabef.org. The entry deadline is Feb.13.

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Cable Television industry supports OCAP and two-way digital cable-ready product deployments

Jan 19, 2006 1:39 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Executives of the nation's largest cable television and consumer electronics companies discussed elements of their pending plans for system preparation and early trials of advanced-interactive digital video technologies during a news conference organized by CableLabs held in conjunction with the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show this month.

The discussion focused on the OCAP and two-way OpenCable (digital cable-ready) devices. OCAP is the middleware software specification that CableLabs has established to enable application writers to create new interactive services that will run on a broad range of advanced digital set tops and cable-ready TVs.

Beginning in 2006, Time Warner Cable plans to deploy OCAP capabilities in headends of cable systems serving five markets: New York City; Milwaukee; Green Bay; Lincoln, NE; and Waco, TX.

Comcast also plans to deploy OCAP in 2006 in Philadelphia; Denver; Union, NJ; and Boston. Advance/Newhouse will enable OCAP devices in Indianapolis. Charter Communications will deploy OCAP in select Charter markets beginning in 2006. Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems have announced similar plans.

LG, Panasonic, and Samsung, as well as Digeo, and other consumer electronics companies, have signed the CableLabs CableCARD Host Interface Licensing Agreement (CHILA), which defines the two-way host profiles that use OCAP, so that they can build two-way digital cable-ready products.

In November 2005, cable operators reported progress made on a new downloadable conditional access system that would replace systems based on removable security cards called CableCARD.

For more information, visit www.cablelabs.com.

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Belden introduces Brilliance Low Cap OFHC speaker cables

Jan 19, 2006 1:47 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Belden's Brilliance Low Cap OFHC Speaker cables

Belden CDT Electronics Division has announced a new addition to its Brilliance line of professional quality audio cables.

Brilliance Low Cap OFHC Speaker cables use high-conductivity, oxygen-free, copper conductors that are inherently free of impurities. The cables use low-capacitance polyolefin dielectric to ensure a high frequency response, even over extended distance cable runs. The new speakers are available with 10-, 12-, 14-, or 16 AWG bare copper conductors and feature round, brightly colored and satin-finished PVC jackets.

For installers, Belden Brilliance Low Cap OFHC Speaker cables offer benefits, as well. Their highly stranded conductors and PVC jackets provide optimal flexibility for faster, easier installation. Colored jackets, with ascending/descending sequential markings at 2ft intervals and print legends incorporate location information, and also facilitate accurate, streamlined installation.

For more information, visit www.belden.com.

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365 Media awards expansion project to Pebble Beach

Jan 19, 2006 2:00 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

365 Media has added three new channels to its existing Pebble Beach Neptune system for the transmission of Sirkus, a teenage channel, NFS news channel, which went live in the autumn of 2005. The channel will soon be followed by a children’s channel.

The Neptune system has been handling the playout of PoppTiVi, the company’s interactive music channel since September 2004. The new facility uses server technology allowing for improved workflows and efficiencies. The Neptune system controls an Omneon server, VTRs, Screen Subtitling subtitler, Pixel Power Clarity character generator and two Network Electronics routing switchers.

For more information, visit www.pebble.tv.

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Vizrt to acquire asset management company Ardendo

Jan 19, 2006 2:04 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Vizrt has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Ardendo, a software developer that provides media asset management solutions for broadcasters. Based in Stockholm, Ardendo offers a range of software solutions for digital archiving, ingest, transcoding, browsing, and system integration media management for stations moving to IT-based production and archiving.

Under terms of the deal, Vizrt will acquire all outstanding shares of Ardendo. The deal is expected to close in April and is subject to due diligence and board approval of both companies.

Incorporating Ardendo’s range of media asset management solutions will extend Vizrt’s offering of graphics-specific products to a full broadcast production system that targets the entire workflow from ingest to visualization.

Ardendo’s ingest, media management and archive solutions include ARDOME for media management and archiving; the DART ingest scheduler; the ARDCAP ingest station and play-out control; the ARDENC transcoder; and ARDEON, an entry-level archive solution. The company’s customer base represents those in news, general program production, playout services and postproduction.

For further information, visit Back to the top

Snell & Wilcox launches new 3-D DVE option for Kahuna SD/HD production switcher

Jan 19, 2006 2:08 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

To minimize setup time, Kahuna IMPAKT comes in ready-made models that allow operators to quickly and easily create compelling, dynamic transitions.

Snell & Wilcox is now offering a 3-D digital video effects (DVE) option for its multiformat SD/HD Kahuna switcher. The new Kahuna IMPAKT DVE gives users of the Kahuna up to four twin-channel 3-D DVEs that they can apply in SD, HD, or both.

The DVE can work in source-based or bus-based modes, allowing both background and fill-and-key manipulation. Kahuna IMPAKT provides a variety of effects including spheres, slabs, zooms, warps, tiling, ripples, rolls and peels, fragmentation, lighting effects and corner pinning.

All these options are housed in the Kahuna’s 11RU mainframe and require no additional connections or extra rack space. Kahuna’s networked architecture offers users the option of controlling the switcher’s DVEs directly from the main Kahuna control surface or from a separate 1-M/E Kahuna control panel for productions requiring a separate DVE operator. These DVEs can also be timelined, allowing for full key-frameable control, easy editing and pausing, and play/store recalls.

To minimize setup time, Kahuna IMPAKT comes with ready-made models that allow operators to quickly and easily create compelling, dynamic transitions.

For further information, visit www.snellwilcox.com.

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East coast broadcasters purchase FOR-A color correctors

Jan 19, 2006 2:12 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

The For-A DCC-70HS color correction system is ideal for facilities that use both HD and SD signals and is fully upgradeable.

ESPN, based in Bristol, CT, recently received 12 DCC-70HS color correctors and 12 DCC-OU remote control units for the DCC-70HS. ABC Network in New York installed five DCC-70HS color correction systems and two DCC-OU remote control units. The NBC Network in New York chose four DCC-70HS. Disney’s Times Square Studios recently purchased 12 DCC-70HS color correction systems for its new HD studio in New York City. Additionally, MSNBC, based in Secaucus, NJ, purchased two DCC-700 serial digital color correctors.

The DCC-70HS is the latest addition to For-A’s color corrector family. It’s ideal for facilities that use both HD and SD signals and is fully upgradeable.

The DCC-700 is a digital I/O system, providing balanced, differential, or sepia color enhancement of all types of video signals. It offers 32-bit, 4:4:4 component processing for balanced, differential or sepia color correction.

For more information, visit www.for-a.com.

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ScheduALL, Ardendo standardize WBU-ISOG metadata

Jan 19, 2006 2:20 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Ardendo’s Ardome system

ScheduALL presented its interface to Ardendo’s Ardome system at the World Broadcasting Unions’ (WBU) International Satellite Operations Group (ISOG) conference hosted by the BBC in London last November.

This presentation displayed a working prototype integrating the WBU-ISOG’s exchange metadata set for international broadcast contribution — also adopted by the EBU as part of its P/META v1.3 specification — with a program exchange between Ardendo’s media asset management system and ScheduALL’s transmission scheduling system, ScheduLINK.

Ardome assigned metadata to a stored video, which was then set for transmission. This automatically created a transmission order in the ScheduALL database. The order was then populated with the specific metadata information that originated in the Ardome system. The ScheduALL order also allows the user to view a proxy version of the video asset.

ScheduLINK can also be integrated to network or satellite management systems for real-time automated connection, transmission and feedback. ScheduALL technology also allows for direct communication with ingest, production, and playout systems. This enables real-time tracking and control of content workflow.

For information on the WBU, visit www.worldbroadcastingunions.org.

For more information about ScheduALL, visit www.scheduall.com.

Visit Ardendo on the web at www.ardendo.com.

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Consolidated Communications deploys Entone’s Hydra IP Video Gateway

Jan 19, 2006 2:34 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

The Hydra IP video gateway eliminates set-top boxes.

The Hydra IP video gateway eliminates set-top boxes and can deliver up to three independent television channels to any combination of up to six television sets. Hydra typically resides with the primary television or home entertainment center, providing coax, composite, S-video and component video interfaces.

In addition to Entone’s Hydra IP video gateway, Consolidated Communications is also using Entone’s StreamLiner network video recorder based on HP’s server hardware to support its VOD services. The company's IPTV deployment also includes headend equipment from Tut Systems, Myrio middleware from Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment solutions, and content protection from Verimatrix.

The Entone Hydra is a multi-television IP video gateway that supports up to three simultaneous television streams and broadband Internet access over existing residential coaxial cabling.

For more information on Consolidated Communications, visit www.consolidated.com.

For more information about Entone Technologies, go to www.entone.com.

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Grass Valley to sell SGL FlashNet

Jan 19, 2006 2:39 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Grass Valley will sell SGL's FlashNet software as part of an archive system package.

The agreement principally addresses large profile media platform installations and customers using the Grass Valley NewsBrowse browsing and editing system.

With SGL FlashNet software as an integral part of the archive system package, Profile customers have the ability to extend the storage of their system to tens of thousands of hours of storage. NewsBrowse customers will be able to save footage for decades, and leverage archive-specific features such as the ability to browse archive footage at a low resolution and restore only the portion of the footage needed for editing.

As part of the agreement, the system will be available to Grass Valley customers in North America and will cover both sales and after market support.

More information can be found at www.sgluk.com.

For information about Grass Valley, visit www.thomsongrassvalley.com.

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Turner Latin America transmission launches on Omneon Spectrum

Jan 19, 2006 2:41 PM, Transition to Digital e-newsletter

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) has launched origination of its Latin American networks — TNT, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and TCM — from newly installed Omneon Spectrum media server systems. Fourteen distinct multilingual feeds are being played out from the Spectrum system to bring these four networks to Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, and Latin America via pan-regional feeds.

The media server system manages the complex set of language options typical of multichannel broadcasting. Its open architecture interfaces with Turner's Pro-Bel automation system, StorageTek automated data storage libraries, and Apple Final Cut Pro nonlinear editing workstations to enable transmission, media management, archiving, and production.

For TNT, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and TCM programming, any given video clip can be associated with up to 20 different language tracks. During ingest, operators apply names to all language tracks linked to specific content. The Omneon system then accesses the appropriate language track for playout, automatically routing the right clip on the right channel.

The new installation was completed and put through an operational test phase prior to the launch of on-air operations, which commenced Nov. 14, 2005.

More information about the Omneon Spectrum media server system is available online at www.omneon.com.

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