A solution for collaborative, scalable, and adaptable content editing on AWS
FLOW and EFS provide campus-wide cloud-based media management and open storage for renowned educational institution
Boston, MA – December 3, 2020 – EditShare®, a technology leader that specializes in collaboration, security, and intelligent storage solutions, today announced that the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) is standardizing its post-production, content delivery, and storage operations on EditShare’s EFS open shared storage solution and FLOW media management platform. By replacing its aging shared-storage platform with a mix of on-premise and cloud-based technologies, the prestigious NFTS, one of the world’s leading film, television and games schools, will increase productivity and more efficiently manage and share the content being created by staff and students.
Founded in 1971, and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, the School offers more than 30 post-graduate level courses across the film, television and gaming disciplines, including camera operations, directing, cinematography, sound, script supervision, and production accounting. The school realized it needed to update its current system, while implementing open, logical, and automated methods of file and project management.
NFTS has always taken pride in its earlier reputation as a “slightly anarchical” community of filmmakers, but just as that culture over time settled into a more organized and formalized environment, its technology and production infrastructures needed to follow suit, according to Doug Shannon, head of IT for NFTS.
“When I began here, there was no network,” said Shannon, who brought a professional background in post-production when he joined the School 20 years ago. “Everyone simply passed hard drives around by hand. We needed greater consistency and a more open production environment. Initially we moved to simple, departmental servers. Then, five years ago, we first moved to dedicated shared editing storage, but that system had come to the end of its usable life, with the support contract becoming unsustainably costly. It was time to move on.”
In addition to continually enhancing productivity and efficiency, NFTS is focused on giving its students a diverse educational experience with hands-on access to the latest generation of production tools used by professionals today.
“We aim to emulate real life as much as possible,” Shannon said. “Our students come here already knowing what they want to do, so they work with teams of specialists, much like any professional environment. It’s less about technology and more about helping people work to achieve their best within each role.”
NFTS was looking for an open media management and storage foundation to easily allow the use of multiple creative editorial and finishing tools. The School will use EFS and FLOW to support a range of connected solutions for editing, grading, animation and more.
“Companies have realized they have to be open,” Shannon said. “The proprietary world is gone. For us, openness was both an assumption and a requirement.”
He added that the EFS and FLOW systems help production teams adapt quickly to the different camera systems NFTS uses from Arri, Sony, RED and Blackmagic. “For example, FLOW supports formats in a clever way and doesn’t have to break up RED files into blocks.”
Security and remote collaboration were also key factors, especially with the school and the rest of the world still in some phase of COVID-related lockdown. “We needed something to help us work beyond our physical boundaries and give us the ability to look at rushes when working remotely,” Shannon said, adding the virtualized version of FLOW and AirFLOW are the perfect match for the school’s fast-turnaround production and review cycles. EFS underpins the on-premise and remote production workflow with best practice security file tracking to answer who did what and when.
With the EFS system in place, total shared editing storage at NFTS has increased from 490TB to 2.2PB, more than enough to meet the School’s current and even future requirements.
“Our enrollment is quite small at 500 students per year and we don’t see those numbers growing exponentially, so it’s an easy equation,” he said. “Most of our workspaces are around 10TB and an average film is 5 to 10 TB, with around 120 films in production and post-production at any one time. Also, using the Ark storage software is the easiest way to back-up an entire project. EditShare gives us a complete media production workflow. Everything you need for a film is there.”
“EditShare has worked alongside universities since its inception and understands the unique and highly diverse needs of faculty and students and have purpose built, yet open, solutions that sustain the academic setting while mimicking a real-world situation,” states Robin Adams, vice president EMEA sales, EditShare. “This insight and crafted solution, paired with EditShare’s cloud innovation, will help teachers and students hurdle the unprecedented challenges this year has brought and continue to connect, teach, learn, and create amazing together.”
For more information on EditShare solutions, please visit the website at www.editshare.com
About the National Film and Television School (NFTS)
Variety’s Top UK Film School 2020 and recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema BAFTA, the NFTS is one of the world’s leading film, games and television schools. NFTS alumni have gone on to win 13Oscars and 145 BAFTAs with graduates including: double Oscar winning cinematographer Roger Deakins (1917) creator of global Netflix hit Sex Education Laurie Nunn and BAFTA winning director, Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here). The NFTS is a registered charity (313429). For more information see nfts.co.uk
About EditShare
EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and smart workflow solutions for the production, post-production, new media, sports, and education markets. Whether you need on-prem, cloud, or hybrid solutions, our products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include media optimized high-performance shared storage, archiving and backup software, a suite of media management tools and a robust set of open APIs that enable integration throughout the workflow. Customer and partner success are at the heart of EditShare’s core values ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none.
Press Contact Cat Soroush Zazil Media Group (e) catherine@zazilmediagroup.com (p) +1 (631) 880-9534
DaVinci Resolve’s journey
Just eleven years ago, when DaVinci Resolve was hardware-based and usually found in the plush and rarified grading suites of only the top level post production houses, there were around a hundred installations. It was expensive. But if you could afford it, or sometimes even if you couldn’t, it brought an extraordinary level of capability to its users.
Today, in a world that would have seemed unimaginable back then, DaVinci Resolve has more than 2M users, and has grown into one of the most fully featured applications in post production.
The last decade has changed technology and entertainment far beyond what anyone would have predicted, and on top of that, everyone is currently dealing with the consequences of a global pandemic. We’ve all had to innovate, so much so that new ways of working that might have taken years before have now been planned and implemented in just a few weeks.
In the new COVID world, remote working and collaboration are no longer “nice to have” but completely essential. At the same time, the amount of video content across the planet is showing explosive growth. When you put these factors together, they point inexorably to a need for a solution like FLOW, which is built on scalable distributed technology stack and optimized for media at every level.
DaVinci Resolve is a super-powerful application in itself but it was never designed to sit at the center of a global, interconnected digital media ecosystem. FLOW’s new integration with DaVinci Resolve Studio brings users into a new world of searchable media, remote working, and format flexibility.
Seamless workflow integration with FLOW
The FLOW workflow integration with Resolve 17 enables users to find digital assets fast
Blackmagic Design has cleverly engineered modern versions of DaVinci Resolve Studio to be open to integration with other software, not just through conventional plugins, but through workflows that are completely dynamic and highly functional.
As a result of close collaboration between EditShare and Blackmagic Design, FLOW is now available to DaVinci Resolve Studio users as a workflow integration. It brings all the enterprise power of FLOW’s search and media management right into the heart of the DaVinci Resolve Studio.
For DaVinci Resolve Studio users, it’s business as usual, working inside a familiar environment with nothing to learn except new and good stuff. Resolve creatives will find immediate and dynamic connection to their media on a shared and collaborative storage system. Crucially, DaVinci Resolve Studio users can stay in their comfortable and productive zone within the Resolve user interface. The moment they want to find media – or export it into the FLOW system – they can use the integration to manage that task.
Imagine the difference between having to find media locally based on a complicated and convoluted file structure and, instead, searching within Resolve Studio via the integration with FLOW for media that’s anywhere within the FLOW media management ecosystem.
Demo of FLOW integration with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Remote possibilities, ultra high resolution potential
FLOW doesn’t mind whether you’re working with full resolution media, mezzanine codecs, or proxy-level content. But for remote work, it’s likely that you’ll want to work with media files that are bandwidth-friendly. Also, for ultra high resolution codecs you may find it easier to work in a lightweight proxy to put less strain on your system”.
FLOW doesn’t lock remote workers into any particular format. In fact, if you have already downloaded media, FLOW allows you to toggle between multiple formats – Mezzanine and Proxy for example.
It also allows you to work inside DaVinci Resolve Studio with ultra-efficient formats that were not previously supported, such as H.264/MP4. FLOW’s import manager lets you choose all available formats and resolutions.
And of course, range markers and large amounts of metadata are preserved when material is imported to or exported from DaVinci Resolve Studio via the FLOW integration.
Let FLOW do the heavy lifting
There are many tasks, like rendering, that you can offload from your local DaVinci Resolve Studio workstation to the FLOW ecosystem. It’s like having all the power of the cloud, with the look and feel of your familiar working environment.
Seamless Proxy workflows With FLOW Automation providing the data wrangling service, Resolve users can now choose two different codecs, such as a mezzanine format and the UHD finished version to connect to concurrently. Work on a low powered laptop, cut using the mezzanine format, simply hit toggle to replace with UHD content, all on premise or in the cloud. It eases the burden on DaVinci Resolve Studio users and improves the workflow
The reviews are in: Integrated Review and approval process, directly from the DaVinci Resolve Studio timeline, thanks to AirFLOW
The bidirectional nature of the communication between FLOW and DaVinci Resolve Studio means that it’s a near-perfect tool for having your work reviewed and approved remotely. You’ll be able to grade in Resolve, upload a version for review via AirFLOW, get instant feedback from producers, creatives or directors and then bring it efficiently back into resolve with all remote comments appearing as notes on the resolve timeline, enabling you to fix issues at that exact moment.
As technology gets better, it gets simpler
Underneath the apparent simplicity of the FLOW integration with Resolve Studio, there’s some advanced technology at work. Years of experience, development and feedback from customers have allowed FLOW to evolve into an advanced ecosystem of media management functionality that scales across size and location. Behind the scenes, there’s a plethora of configurable options. On the surface, there’s a sharp, focused, uncluttered, familiar user experience.
Blackmagic Design and EditShare work in different fields, each to a high level of excellence. The openness of Blackmagic Design to this integration project has resulted in a massive increase in functionality for DaVinci Resolve Studio users, and has allowed FLOW to bring the benefits of enterprise-strength media management to right within the DaVinci Resolve Studio user experience.
-Import media from FLOW media management, edit and send for review all within the EditShare workflow integration for DaVinci Resolve -Remote users collaborate online through the AirFLOW web UI with results returned by to the workflow integration -Work with high resolution media or proxies and seamless pull in markers from FLOW asset data
UK’s top-tier post-production company selects EditShare’s automation, security and storage platform to increase future production efficiencies and add new services
Boston, MA – November 12, 2020 – EditShare®, a technology leader that specializes in collaboration, security, and intelligent shared storage solutions, today announced that leading UK post-production house Clear Cut Group, comprising of Clear Cut Pictures, The Edit Store and Clear Cut Nations and Regions, has made the decision to place EditShare’s next generation media storage EFS at the center of their operation with FLOW workflows significantly increasing the services offered to clients. The award-winning post-production team is known for their outstanding creative work on original factual, drama, short form and feature films. Producing content for global broadcasters, multiple co-productions, and OTT, the 24/7 operation boasts more than 120 edit suites on site and, since lockdown, has supported over 400 remote editors, clients and staff. Always noted for their innovative and flexible services, Clear Cut Group is building on its successful technology approach by adopting the high-tech but proven EditShare platform, maintaining its ability to work at the cutting edge of the most demanding distributed post-production workflows. EditShare expands storage and opens doors to new innovative service offerings and efficiencies that immediately benefit clients.
“With EditShare, you are buying a storage solution with so much more,” comments Jess Nottage, Technical Director, Clear Cut Group. “It ticks all of the boxes in terms of reliability, performance and capability, but it’s the extras, designed to enhance the creative process that will make us stand out from our competitors. EditShare’s FLOW, EFS and File Auditing platforms, enable us to expand our service offering with innovative creative solutions that benefit our clients without compromising on security. It’s a media foundation to underpin our business.”
With more high-profile projects produced in 4K, EFS media engineered storage architecture and file auditing capability gives Clear Cut Group the scalable capacity and enterprise-grade security they require. Native OS drivers eliminate data bottlenecks, while comprehensive file tracking provides a complete audit trail for content within the system, providing clear insight into users’ activities, including who accessed content, when they did it and where. With FLOW media management in action across all Clear Cut Group locations, the company has a new level of automation and remote capability that delivers new and innovative services for clients. Clear Cut Group’s Managing Director Rowan Bray explains, “We are only as good as our solutions we offer our clients. Every project is bespoke and thus, we approach each one uniquely. That uniqueness is inherent in EditShare products and people. EditShare is totally focused on creating fit for purpose solutions for its customers and a company where we feel we have a voice. This is more than a purchase, it’s a joint venture.”
Collaborating to #wintogether, the EditShare team worked closely with Clear Cut Group to ensure solutions and services supported the vision for the technical uplift with opportunities for future expansion through EditShare’s open APIs. Jess concludes, “Offering open APIs tells us a lot about the company and its culture. We are not locked in and that is attractive. If you want to do something, EditShare will enable it regardless of the vendor product with a can-do attitude.”
“We work with our customers on every level to ensure EditShare’s open solutions bring the resiliency they require to navigate the constant change in which they live,” states Robin Adams, vice president EMEA sales, EditShare. “It’s a true partnership in which customers are empowered and feedback has a direct impact on product evolution to ensure EditShare delivers the industry’s best performing media management capabilities and open storage platform.”
About Clear Cut Group Clear Cut Group comprises four companies: Clear Cut Pictures, The Edit Store (acquired by Clear Cut Pictures in January 2019), Clear Cut Nations & Regions (providing post production outside the M25), and ClearMotion (for VFX). Established in 1993, the business is renowned for providing highly creative post-production to a wide range of broadcasters and production companies. Offering full end-to-end post-production across four sites in London and across the regions, with location services as needed, Clear Cut offers 4K, HDR and SDR capabilities with bespoke solutions to deliver content to screen. The Group offers over 120 suites across their locations, as well as remote services, most recently exceeding 400 remote users of their edit suites since lockdown.
Contacts for Clear Cut Group:
Rowan Bray Managing Director Clear Cut Group (e) rowan@clearcut.cc (p) 020 7605 1755
Jess Nottage Technical Director Clear Cut Group (e) jess.nottage@clearcut.cc (p) 020 7605 1747
About EditShare
EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and smart workflow solutions for the production, post-production, new media, sports, and education markets. Whether you need on-prem, cloud, or hybrid solutions, our products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include media optimized high-performance shared storage, archiving and backup software, a suite of media management tools and a robust set of open APIs that enable integration throughout the workflow. Customer and partner success are at the heart of EditShare’s core values ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none.
Press Contact Cat Soroush Zazil Media Group (e) catherine@zazilmediagroup.com (p) +1 (631) 880-9534
Boston, U.S. and London, UK – November 10, 2020 –EditShare and Blackbird have joined forces to give media professionals more options when it comes to collaborating and editing video in the cloud. The integrated solution combines EditShare’s EFS scalable storage, FLOW media management, and open APIs with Blackbird’s cloud video editing and publishing platform. Optimized for both speed and mobility, Blackbird and EditShare connect users into the wider media ecosystem, making content of all types located across storage pools accessible in the proper formats for rapid editing and delivery to multiple platforms and channels.
EditShare CEO Conrad Clemson comments: “Cloud-based remote collaboration is no longer merely a “nice to have” but a necessity. Video production teams have rapidly pivoted their workflows to take advantage of the cloud’s scalability, flexibility and mobility. The combination of Blackbird and EditShare delivers added value to customers wanting to incorporate quick turnaround editing into a greater production workflow.”
Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough said: “Our exciting new partnership with EditShare is a great example of industry specialists building interoperable end to end solutions. Media assets stored and managed by EditShare solutions can now be accessed directly through Blackbird’s browser interface where they can be professionally edited and passed back or published.”
The companies will demonstrate their joint solution on Wednesday, 18th November at 9AM and 3PM ET. To register for the webinar please visit:
FLOW is EditShare’s media orchestration layer, with enterprise strength media management and automation. Built on a vertically integrated technology stack, it allows editors access to their media, wherever it is, and in any format. Fully proven in high pressure production environments, FLOW’s open APIs and media-engineered core make it ideal for fast and close integration with other great products.
EFS scalable storage enables media organizations to build extensive collaborative workflows on premise, in the cloud, or in hybrid installations, shielding creative personnel from the underlying technical complexity while equipping administrators and technicians with a comprehensive set of storage management tools. For Blackbird editors, EFS is a fast and flexible collaborative shared video storage solution with best-in-class project sharing.
About Blackbird
Blackbird is a professional grade video editor that functions in a browser even with a low bandwidth connection. It delivers unbeatable speed, scalability and richness of editing features. The Cloud-native platform allows users to rapidly go to market with their content, bringing massive efficiencies across all organizations.
About Blackbird plc
Blackbird operates in the fast-growing SaaS and cloud video market and has created the world’s most advanced suite of cloud-native computing applications for video, all underpinned by its lightning-fast codec. Blackbird’s patented technology allows for frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing and editing in the cloud. Blackbird underpins multiple applications, which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, esports, live events and content owners, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations.
Since it is cloud-native, Blackbird removes the need for costly, high end workstations and can be used from almost anywhere on almost any device. It also allows full visibility on multi-location digital content, improves time to market for live content such as video clips and highlights for social media distribution, and ultimately results in much more effective monetisation.
Blackbird® is a registered trademark of Blackbird plc. www.blackbird.video
EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and smart workflow solutions for the production, post-production, new media, sports, and education markets. Whether you need on-prem, cloud, or hybrid solutions, our products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include media optimized high-performance shared storage, archiving and backup software, a suite of media management tools and a robust set of open APIs that enable integration throughout the workflow. Customer and partner success are at the heart of EditShare’s core values ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none.
