Asian Tour Media Adopts EditShare for Live Production and Post
Brings order to the complex demands of golf coverage
Boston, MA, December 11, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, has delivered a shared storage system, with integrated asset management, to Singapore-based Asian Tour Media. The company provides coverage and content distribution for the Asian Golf Tour, the only recognized pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia.
Asian Tour Media had an existing shared storage network, but its operation was severely limited by its lack of practical production asset management functionality. Editors searching for material were using OS searches, which was slow and inconvenient. As well as good asset management, the new storage system also had to provide comprehensive support for 4k Ultra HD, including the ability to move material as proxies when bandwidth was limited.
The Media Village, EditShare’s partner in Singapore, set up a comprehensive demonstration built on EFS storage nodes and FLOW production asset management. The proof of concept also showed that the EditShare architecture provides ample bandwidth for multiple I/O and concurrent users in 4k.
In capturing all the coverage of a professional golf tournament, the production generates a huge amount of content. The new EditShare installation allows media managers to put markers on all the action points afteringest, so editors can instantly access the clips they need. The system is used on the road at tournaments, and also in Asian Tour Media’s headquarters to prepare packages in advance to make the live coverage more engaging.
“We knew that we wanted to replace our aging video servers,” said Peter White, Senior Head of Production,at Asian Tour Media. “We wanted good asset management, and excellent bandwidth for multiple users and remote access. The Media Village arranged a demonstration, and the rest is history.
“At Asian Tour Media, our content and our staff are the assets.” Whitecontinued. “With EditShare we have found a better way of managing and monetizing our content. We are developing new workflows which will allow us to become more efficient. Time saved means more time to be creative – and more work/life balance for the staff.”
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare commented “With our local partner The Media Village we could show Asian Tour Media how they could transform their workflows with EFS and FLOW, and give them the confidence to develop efficient workflows and operational practices they need. That is because the technology is designed for production professionals, making it logical and intuitive to use and absolutely reliable when there is no second chance.”
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
Helping users and administrators get up to speed quickly
Boston, MA, December 7, 2023 – Jigsaw24 Media, a leading UK media systems integrator and EditShare® partner, has developed two online training courses to help users and system administrators get the best out of the technology. The EditShare 101 courses have been developed and are delivered by David Bourke, who has worked at EditShare and brings in-depth knowledge and a unique perspective to the programme.
The courses give a quick start to users of EFS storage and FLOW asset management. The sessions for users and for admins each run for three hours, and are timed to make it practical for delegates in any time zone around the world to join.
“EditShare is a very powerful platform, and it is designed to be intuitive to use and to manage,” said David Skeggs, Technical & Operations Director at Jigsaw24 Media. “But with any new system there is a natural learning curve. What we are doing is taking delegates through that curve, helping them understand the underlying principles so that they will be able to run with all the functionality, tools and tricks that EditShare brings to post.”
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare commented “David has worked as an engineer at EditShare, so he knows what is going on under the hood. This programme is designed as a general introduction and understanding to get users and admins up and running with confidence.
“We know that systems sales around the world often involve application-specific training,” Bacho continued. “Think of this as the starter kit, to get users into the EditShare way of thinking so they can quickly develop their own processes, workflows and structures.”
The first courses offered by Jigsaw will be run in January 2024. For more information see: https://media.jigsaw24.com/editshare-101-training.
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
About Jigsaw24 Media
Jigsaw24 Media is a specialist division of Jigsaw24 and provides services and technology solutions to the media and entertainment, education and corporate sectors. It’s the only UK-based company of its kind that has in-house system integration capabilities. Jigsaw24 Media’s team of industry-recognised experts design, deliver, integrate and support end-to-end solutions for some of the nation’s biggest broadcasters and facilities, underpinned by partnerships with over 30 leading technology vendors including Avid, Adobe, AWS, Nutanix and EditShare. With headquarters in Nottingham, an office and demo space at the heart of London’s post-production community, and a nationwide support team, Jigsaw24 Media provides local services on a national scale. For more information visit https://media.jigsaw24.com/
In my last blog, I introduced the thinking behind our new workflow management layer, EditShare One. If you have not read that yet, you can find it here. In this blog I’ll explain how it is used in a real-world production.
Footage is shot, in a studio or on location. Those files are ingested into the shared storage, along with the metadata. That may include information from a production assistant on set, about good or bad takes and other details.
Depending on the nature of the production, a producer or director may want to make another decision on preferred takes, or an edit assistant will need to build bins making it clear to the editor which is likely to be the best material.
The editor then cuts the scene and hands it on for review. That may lead to rework later, or the scene may be locked ready for final assembly and finishing. In parallel, the sound designer will be mixing and sweetening the audio to match the cut.
The producer will be monitoring progress at all times and will be commenting on scenes as they are cut, giving notes to the editor and sound designer. The final cut will be passed to the colorist, and again the producer and director will make comments on the grade.
There may be other people taking note of the progress too. For marketing, there may be a second editorial team creating trailers and teasers, for example. Where an independent company is making programmes for a broadcaster, the executive producer will want to check progress.
The huge advantage of collaborative file-based workflows is that every stage is non-destructive. You can go back and tweak any stage of the post production until everyone is happy, because all of the material is still available in the shared storage.
EditShare One and the Produce Tool provide access to the material throughout the process. There is a single sign-on to all the content and metadata, but each user has different requirements, and will be presented with different tools, different media and metadata, and different capabilities.
A producer could be alerted to new cuts that need to be reviewed and signed off. The user interface would simply offer the new material, a player, and a text tool for comments. No need to know how the underlying technology works, or even where the content is at that moment: just focus on the job at hand.
More generally, the Produce tool is a simple dashboard that saves time and potential confusion in searching through media spaces and folders. It is completely independent of all the other tools, so users simply see what is relevant to them.
For the editor, the EditShare One intuitive interface appears as a panel within the edit software itself. Editors are, of course, free to choose whichever software package works best for them, but within the Adobe or DaVinci user interface is a panel or integration tool which is linked to EditShare FLOW asset management and its management tools.
Producers can highlight interest points in transcriptions through EditShare One’s web-based UI, which editors can then import using the FLOW panel. Services, like AI speech-to-text transcriptions, can also be seen in the FLOW panel to speed up work even further. This automated process creates rough cuts or integrates selected clips into Adobe Premiere sequences, enhancing overall efficiency in the editing process.
Once the sequence or program is completed, the same simple user interface exports it as new material in the shared storage and drives it to other EditShare One users who need to see it.
The goal is to make it simple to create and expedite collaborative workflows, wherever the individuals are, by offering just the functionality and material each needs, at the time they need it. By simplifying everyone’s working environment, more time is available to concentrate on making great content.
Creative marketing agency works with Tyrell to develop future-ready solution
Boston, MA, November 9, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, has provided a comprehensive storage and asset management platform for creative marketing agency Linney. The system was designed and implemented by UK reseller Tyrell.
Linney, based in Mansfield in central England, is a leading developer of marketing content for commercial clients. Those clients include some of the most well-known global brands, who rely on Linney for innovative approaches to engage customers, including material for social media, in-store displays and out-of-home digital signage.
The company had an existing central storage system which was a proprietary platform, and had reached the end of its supported life. It had a very clear idea of its needs for content storage and management, which included the ability to access material from multiple locations, as well as hosting in-house editing, grading and finishing suites.
Linney worked with specialist reseller and systems integrator Tyrell on defining the requirements, and developing the system. Tyrell in turn specified EditShare storage, and an architecture that includes three 20 TB SSD nodes, two 128 TB EFS-300 online storage servers, and a 300 TB EFS-40NL nearline storage system, together with the software required to manage the content and the flows between devices. The nearline storage node is in a separate building, providing resilience to the installation.
Critical to the success of the Linney installation is the ability to directly connect post-production tools. The facility includes multiple editing, grading and finishing suites running Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve. Producer/directors also access the shared storage from their laptops, over the office network, so can clip up content in preparation for the craft editors. The ability of the EditShare environment to support all these functions is vital for Linney.
“Our business is about creating and delivering exciting content which enhances the brand values of our clients,” said Andy Dawson, Lead Editor at Linney. “We really need our technology platform to just be there and do just what we need, so our people can focus all their energies on telling stories. This is very clearly EditShare’s brand value, and Tyrell showed how we could implement the technology that would serve us well as we continue to develop our business over the coming years.”
Simon Wocka, Account Manager for Cloud and Solution Sales at Tyrell, noted “Our first role in this was to listen to what the customer was really saying. We knew they didn’t need a like-for-life replacement for their old shared storage, and by understanding what Linney’s business goals are, we could propose a solution that puts them in a really good place.
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare, added. “The complete solution is very adaptable and easily configured to the way you want to work. It provides a lot of practical tools, like transcoding on the platform as well as direct access for post production tools. Linney wanted simplicity in operation, efficiency and speed, and this EditShare installation provides all of that and more.”
Linney has appointed Port-P to manage all of its IT services. Tyrell sold the EditShare system to Port-P, who will manage it on Linney’s behalf. The contract includes five years of hardware and software support by Tyrell on behalf of EditShare.
The first phase of the system was installed and handed over in mid-2023. Linney and Tyrell continue to work together to implement additional functionality to meet client demand.
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
About Tyrell
For 24 years Tyrell has been providing video, audio, graphics and storage solutions to the Irish and UK broadcast, post, production, corporate and education markets. In this time, we have become the leading provider of technology and service solutions both on-premise and in the cloud. Tyrell has an excellent understanding of the fast pace and unique pressures facing the media and entertainment industry; developing solutions for complex workflows. Allowing our clients to concentrate on the creative process and business development. From our two locations we offer a comprehensive range of professional services from consultancy to system design and integration, technical support and maintenance. www.tyrellcct.com
Production workflows have become way more complicated than they used to for all sorts of reasons, but there are ways to keep the complexity under control.
The move from film or tape to files has had the incidental effect of massively increasing shooting ratios. It is simply easier to do more takes with more cameras, and keep them all, when they are “just” digital files.
It wasn’t that long ago when holiday-makers had to take one or maybe two rolls of 36-exposure film on a vacation and carefully choose the moments they wanted to capture. Now our cameras and phones get filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures which we later need to sort out. The same has happened for the movie and television industry.
While shooting ratios have gone up, timescales have often been reduced. The goal is to get from set to screen as quickly as possible, especially to start recouping production costs.
More material; less time. We have to find a better way to work.
Many production workflows are still rooted in old, linear methods. Which is understandable: if you are trying to complete a project, then having proven and comfortable practices can be very reassuring. But it is definitely time to rethink the way we work.
The idea of having a central place for all the assets that make up a production is not new. All the material comes into a single server, and everyone who needs to access it can log in. Completed work gets written back to the same server, making the process convenient and streamlined.
This is great. But the challenge is that this “single server” might actually be a distributed set of storage nodes, on location, in a post house, at the production company, or in the cloud. The system that is tracking all the material needs a single database that covers all these locations.
Also, the content might come in different formats: the camera resolution (and there may be more than one camera type); the edit format (perhaps with a proxy for remote editing); and the delivery packages. Metadata needs to track not only formats and resolutions, but also the points at which value judgements are applied: quality control; editorial decisions.
But our main goal is to create the best possible television programme or movie, which means everyone, at every stage, needs to devote their energies on their part of the production without getting bogged down in the complexities of the underlying media management system.
The goal, then, is to have a high functionality, agile storage infrastructure that can handle multiple formats (and converting between them), is geographically diverse, and can manage metadata. That is exactly what EditShare FLOW was designed for.
But on top of that you need a simple, intuitive, role-appropriate user interface, so that each person in the creative team sees the information and content they need: no more; no less.
That is why we have developed EditShare One: the next generation of workflow management. One single sign-on; one place for capture, edit, review and deliver; one platform for production collaboration.
What makes this possible is a single user interface concept that is infinitely customizable. Every user has their own dashboard, showing them just the content and features they need. These dashboards are dynamic, so tasks can be assigned as needed, with all resources available.
We think EditShare One is a transformative leap forward in workflow management. It makes collaborative production environments practical and productive, and leaves creative people free to get on with creative tasks.
In my next blog I’ll look at a typical workflow, using the Produce Tool within EditShare One.
Movie trailers. We see them by the dozens every time we watch a film in a theater. A trailer can provide great entertainment but also serve as an important marketing tool for filmmakers.
We spoke with three editors, all of whom have extensive experience working with movie trailers, to get their perspective on movie trailers today.
We’ll be hearing from:
Ryan Connolly of Film Riot. If you’ve ever looked for a filmmaking or editing tutorial, there’s a good chance you’ve discovered one of Ryan’s videos. In addition to their YouTube channel, Film Riot also has a terrific blog covering helpful topics ranging from pre-production all the way through post-production.
Chris MacDonald of Film Editing Pro. They have a 46-lesson course called The Art of Trailer Editing, which walks students through every aspect of putting together a trailer, including offering sample footage to work with to create your own trailer.
What aspects of a trailer make one great?
Ryan: The music and the pacing are major factors. I think the music is probably one of the biggest factors in that. The music doesn’t have to actually be a needle drop song; [instead] it could be the use of sound design. The use of sound from the film creates the music for the trailer itself and creates the pacing of how the trailer unfolds.
Pacing is paramount as well. I think the mystery is subconsciously asking a question of some kind, planting a seed in the audience’s mind that has this idea that they need to be answered. [Giving them] some sort of mystery that will pull them to the theaters. Because the ultimate job of a trailer is to get butts in seats or get clicks if it’s something on the Internet.
Patrick: At Muse, we have a thing that we call ‘the who gives a shit? meter’ and that’s about looking at any kind of content across mediums and asking yourself how much it’s really pulling you in, making you ask questions and caring in any way.
The number one aspect of a trailer, for us, would be that you have to get your audience’s ‘who gives a shit meter’ going as far off the charts as you can.
Visuals, SFX, soundtrack, and pacing all play into that—but that is more about characters and conflict, and all of it coming together to make your audience care and want to know more. It sounds simpler than it really is—, but when you get that, you have to motivate them enough to plop down $15, drive to a theater, and give 2 hours of their time. You really need to get that “WGAS” meter going.
Chris: A great trailer is one that tells the film’s story quickly and understandably by using the best ingredients the film has to offer.
With comedy, that means you’re telling the story by weaving together the funniest moments in a way that conveys the plot, typically supported by graphic cards and occasionally narration to tie it all together. Action uses the biggest, most exciting moments. Suspense moves you from scare to scare while explaining the plot.
Trailers of all genres will typically save the biggest, funniest, scariest moment for the end, right before the main title lands. The entire arrangement of these moments is made enjoyable to watch and seamless via the heavy use of music and sound to drive the cut forward at a pace that’s faster than the story would typically be told.
When an editor can include all these great moments in a rhythmic and natural-feeling way, you’ve typically got a great trailer on your hands. It also helps if the movie is good.
What recent trailers stand out to you as great?
Ryan: There are a lot of really awesome, more current trailers. Hereditary is a huge one.
That trailer was really brilliant, and its use of sound and the music that they chose was very brilliant.
I think all of Jordan Peele’s trailers are excellent: Us, Get Out, Nope. All of them really ramp up that mystery to get you to want to know what that is. But also, his selection of music is some of the best out there currently.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was a really great one, really great use of song and really great pacing. It got the tone of the trailer across.
Mad Max: Fury Road, I thought, had such an amazing kinetic energy to it that really told you what you were going to get into with the film without giving away too much. It all translated into the trailer. That worked really well.
Patrick: I have a personal policy of shutting off a trailer the moment I know I want to watch a film. They often tend to give away too much and so I usually only watch 15 to 20 seconds, and it tells me enough about whether or not I want to watch the film.
The trailer for Top Gun: Maverick is one of those examples where it’s not traditionally a film I would see; however, within the first 30 seconds, I was hooked, shut it off, and then went to the theater that week to check it out.
Ryan: I thought Inception was an absolutely brilliant trailer. Obviously, that shifted things quite a bit when it came to trailers. A lot of people mimicked how Inception sort of went about its marketing.
And then there’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, [whose] use of music drove the whole piece. You get that quick cutting, hammer driving the nail into your skull, which translated perfectly into what the film actually was without giving away a ton.
Going a little further back, speaking of tonally and the use of sound, I think Little Children is a really excellent trailer. It uses sound as music, and it’s maybe tonally one of the most incredible trailers. Its use of sound is really perfect to drive that growing sense of dread and asks so many questions.
The Shining is a brilliant trailer where it’s just one shot of the elevator, and the blood opens up and it’s just text. It asks a litany of questions that are screaming to be answered.
Patrick: I find it fun to go back to classic trailers, such as the one for Rocky, and you can see the principles of story structure and something like The Hero’s Journey at play inside of that three-minute trailer.
They’re very old school in style and don’t play like a modern trailer at all – they kinda look like film scenes mashed together – but as a way of learning about structure, they’re wild to watch.
Chris: I don’t know if it’s been long enough for this to be a classic yet, but the entire campaign of teasers and trailers for Mad Max: Fury Road was a beautiful and well-executed series of cuts that accomplished everything [I’ve mentioned about trailers].
What are your thoughts on how much should be revealed? Are the best trailers just emotional rides with no insight into the story? Or do great trailers give you a little taste?
Ryan: Some of the trailers that I’ve mentioned don’t really give you that much of a taste of the story but more of the tone of the film. Some give a whole lot of story. I’m not a big fan of giving too much away because you’re then detracting from the actual experience.
The marketing team is just trying to get butts in seats and make back the budget of the film, of course. But I think a perfect trailer has little hints at what the film will be about. But more than anything else, I think the most important thing for me with the trailer as far as what to convey to an audience it’s not necessarily about story plot points but conveying what sort of experience [the audience is] going to be in for.
Conveying that is paramount. Above all else is, “What is the thing that’s going to get them to click?” I think it is an exciting trailer that grabs you but also asks questions and plants little mysteries in your mind that you will feel then feel compelled to solve.
Patrick: I believe that the commercial answer is that you do what you have to do to get somebody to watch the film. But we personally don’t subscribe to the clickbait model where you’re less concerned about whether or not the person who checked out your content actually feels like they got value and had a good experience.
We very much try to set up a strong story with a good deal of intrigue while leaving a lot more for the final film so that we are delivering on that experience.
Chris: There are multiple types of trailers. Each has the same goal of presenting the film in a way that will entice a person to see the film, TV show, doc, etc. All seek to generate an emotional response from a viewer en route to that goal, whether the response is laughter, excitement, fear, nostalgia, or just a feeling of “I want to live in the world of that film for 90-120 minutes”.
Shorter promotional pieces like teasers live up to their name and tease just a bit of the plot while focusing mostly on generating emotion. Often, this is a strategic marketing decision as much as it is a logistical one.
Many times, when a teaser is being created and often even released, much of the movie has yet to be filmed. Occasionally, teasers are largely graphical and use little to no actual footage from the film. The majority of trailers, however, focus on telling a shortened version of the story, highlighting the best parts, whether they’re jokes, scares, or action set-pieces.
A common complaint is that “the trailer spoiled the film.” That’s a subjective statement and one I think is rarely true. If a trailer makes a movie/show look appealing to a viewer and doesn’t reveal a critical plot point, like the main character dying, it’s done its job. Watching a film is about the journey and experience. If a 2-minute and 30-second trailer can ruin that entire experience for a viewer, the movie/show probably didn’t have much to offer and wasn’t worth watching in the first place. That viewer should probably just thank the trailer editor for saving them $15 and 2 hours of their time!
You are also a filmmaker and content creator. What storytelling and editorial tricks/techniques can movie trailers teach us to use in our day-to-day work, whether short/feature films, YouTube videos, or branded/commercial content?
Ryan: The main thing is capturing the audience’s attention. Trailers do such a great job at that. They come in fast, gripping you, and then try to keep you there for the entire runtime of the trailer because it’s trying to sell something to you.
But it’s an emotional journey, you know? That’s what’s going to do it the most. Whether I’m writing the script for a feature or I’m making a short film, that’s always an aspect of the thing that I’m thinking of, keeping every possible moment compelling to some degree. Not saying that the moments are screaming at you, and they’re all loud action moments, but even when it’s a quiet moment between two people talking, what are the under-beds of theme and conflict there? Maybe that’s keeping the scene intensely compelling. And I think trailers do that just unbelievably well.
Patrick: From a storytelling perspective, we very much focus on character and conflict, as in how can we show you a character that you love or that you love to hate, but more so that you want to know more about.
And then how can we constantly bring in conflict, which, from a psychological perspective, creates a question in the viewer’s mind? If you can create a character that the audience feels connected to and a bunch of questions they want the answer to, it’s very much how we can motivate somebody to want to watch our film.
I believe the common mistake is that we vastly underestimate how much conflict is required both in a strong trailer and in a strong feature film.
Chris: I find myself drawing on trailer editing techniques constantly while creating content for our training school Film Editing Pro. Obviously, promotional pieces benefit from trailer-style editing, but even YouTube intros, lesson transitions, and the overall pacing of training videos and tutorials draw on the skills of the trailer world. This is a bit of a “meta” example, but this tutorial on How to Cut a Movie Trailer makes heavy use of trailer-style editing to keep the viewer engaged throughout the lesson.
So what makes a trailer great?
The answer is complicated. Every editor we spoke to gave a different answer, but the main thing that connects all of the answers is that a trailer needs to make you feel something and get you excited.
Ryan and Chris both pointed out Mad Max: Fury Road as a trailer to look at for understanding how to tell a story with tone, sound, and music.
The main takeaway is that if your storytelling hooks an audience, they will likely want to see your movie.
MediaSilo allows for easy management of your media files, seamless collaboration for critical feedback, and out-of-the-box synchronization with your timeline for efficient changes. See how MediaSilo is powering modern post-production workflows with a 14-day free trial.
Brian is a director, producer, and editor based in Los Angeles. He runs a boutique production company called Forge and Discover, which works with brands of all sizes in helping to tell their stories. He’s also one of the trainers at filmeditingpro.com, where he teaches various editing techniques and conducts demonstrations.
My first few weeks as CEO, EditShare’s vision, and the evolving role of AI
Towards the end of the show, a few folks asked me to sum up how it felt to see our team in action so soon after joining the company. The word I chose was “inspired.” I’ve come to appreciate the rich legacy of empowering storytellers that EditShare upholds, and seeing first-hand our team, products, and plan-of-attack coming together at such an important event, it’s hard not to feel wildly optimistic about what the future holds.
Where AI Is Headed
IBC 2023 also brought with it more and more conversation around the most compelling trend in our space today: the emergence of AI. In particular, we noticed an explosion of smaller AI-enabled companies aiming to streamline critical workflows within the content creation processes, from video editing to transcription and beyond. However, there’s a common challenge – harmonizing those workflows within one intuitive interface. I’m proud to say this is an area where EditShare is positioned to shine with the introduction of our new solution, EditShare One, which we unveiled at IBC 2023.
EditShare One, Transcription View
It’s been fun to hear the early feedback from customers and partners who have had a chance to see what EditShare One can do. We heard from more than a few people how useful the AI-integrated Transcription View will be to their producers – and the seamless integration we’ve built through FLOW into Premier Pro and Resolve also stood out at the show.
At EditShare, we’ve already made waves in post-production with innovations like Universal Projects, which lets teams work with whichever editing software they prefer. We’re pushing that idea of openness even further with EditShare One. My commitment to our customers is to keep building products that meet them where they are, and helping them balance the tension that comes with creating exceptional content within tight, demanding timelines. EditShare One is a natural next step in delivering on that promise, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of more of our customers.
A Powerful Combination
As I look at our combined portfolio of products, I’m especially thrilled about the integration of the MediaSilo product into the EditShare ecosystem. We built MediaSilo to bridge the gap between creatives and non-creatives. It provides a platform where content can be effortlessly shared, organized, reviewed, and approved, unsticking collaboration between teams, with the security features such as watermarking and DRM to provide confidence that when media is shared, it is only being shared to the right eyes and ears.
This merger not only bolsters our commitment to providing comprehensive solutions but also opens up new horizons for creative professionals and organizations seeking to streamline their media workflows. It’s an exciting chapter in EditShare’s journey, and one I’m so excited to help shape in my first few months as CEO.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see us at IBC, and looking forward to meeting many more of you before we close out 2023.
Ramu Potarazu
EditShare®, a technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Shift Media, a leading cloud-native video solution provider that helps creators manage, present, and collaborate on their high value projects. The combined business will operate as EditShare, with Shift Media’s well-known products – MediaSilo, Wiredrive, and Screeners.com – folding under the EditShare corporate brand.
Over the past several years, video creation has continued to accelerate in myriad industries globally, including entertainment, advertising, corporate communications, higher education, house of worship, and many more. Corresponding with this increase in content production, an explosion in video technology has occurred, leaving video professionals with an ever-growing, complicated stack of tools and vendors to integrate to get their jobs done effectively. The combination of EditShare and Shift Media will deliver a comprehensive, open solution that enables creative teams and content creators to seamlessly store, edit, collaborate, and share their content, whether they choose to work on-premise, in the cloud, or with a hybrid solution.
EditShare’s high-performance workflow focused product suite includes EFS media optimized shared storage and FLOW intelligent media management. In 2022, the company launched EditShare FLEX built on AWS, ensuring professional production and post companies can build remote and collaborative workflows that suit their creative and commercial needs.
Shift Media’s cloud-native, software-as-a-service solutions include MediaSilo, Wiredrive and Screeners.com. MediaSilo provides a video collaboration HQ, helping the biggest names in media get projects approved faster. Wiredrive helps commercial production companies and agencies quickly and easily create custom pitch materials and showreels. Screeners.com provides the industry standard virtual screening experience for press review and sales opportunities of high value pre-release content.
Ramu Potarazu, Shift Media’s CEO, will lead the combined company under the EditShare banner following the close of the transaction; current EditShare CEO Conrad Clemson will leave the business to pursue other opportunities. “The tireless work of Conrad and the EditShare team has put us in a position of strength for the future,” Potarazu said. “Shift Media was built on the principle that video workflow technology should be completely intuitive and customer friendly. EditShare and Shift Media are highly complementary businesses with market leading products and services and shared commitment to putting the power of video production in the hands of creators. As a combined company, we will create a one-stop shop with a more comprehensive range of products and global network of channel partners, enabling us to better meet our customer needs around the world.”
“Our two companies have very strong businesses and powerful product offerings,” said Stephen Tallamy, CTO of EditShare. “Together, we will be better positioned to deliver a powerful, comprehensive, and intuitive content management and collaboration offering to the broad middle market, which is where most of the industry sits.”
ParkerGale Capital and Marlin Equity Partners, previous backers of EditShare and Shift, respectively, will maintain their positions as primary investors and board members of the combined company. “I’m excited that Marlin Equity Partners and ParkerGale will continue to support the business,” said Potarazu. “Together, we are aligned on delivering cutting edge solutions in response to the stratospheric growth in video production and continued move towards flexible, collaborative on-premise, hybrid, and cloud workflows.”
For more information on all EditShare solutions, please visit the website at www.editshare.com. Information on MediaSilo, Wiredrive, and Screeners.com can be found at www.shiftmedia.io.
MediaSilo allows for easy management of your media files, seamless collaboration for critical feedback, and out-of-the-box synchronization with your timeline for efficient changes. See how MediaSilo is powering modern post-production workflows with a 14-day free trial.
EditShare EFS Swift Link for seamless remote editing and connectivity
Whether you’re in post or finishing, flexibility and remote collaboration have become more critical than ever. Thanks to the pandemic, we have got completely used to the idea of directing a live production or finishing an edit on the kitchen table.
At Editshare, we have always had remote workflows integrated via our AirFLOW application. In fact we won an IBC Innovation Award for this all the way back in 2016. Thanks to continuous development, we have advanced still further the simplification of working from anywhere.
Whether you’re a filmmaker, video editor, or content creator, the ability to work remotely on your favorite craft editor while staying connected to your enterprise shared storage system is truly a game-changer. We want the same creativity whether we are in the facility or working remotely, using whatever tool is best for the job and the team.
This is where EFS Swift Link steps in, revolutionizing the way creative post professionals work. In this blog post, I’ll discuss how one of the latest features of the upcoming EditShare technology release – which includes Swift Link – can enhance any post production workflow, enabling anyone to work from anywhere: simply, with full creative control, and without downloading any media.
The Remote Editing Challenge
Traditionally, post work required everyone to be physically present in the confines of the facility. Today, for a whole host of reasons including tightening deadlines, client demands and the life/work balance expectations of valued staff, remote collaboration is a necessity.
The challenge lies in providing editors and creatives with the same experience they would have in-house, even when they are miles away from the facility. In some instances we have seen editors moving and operating out of different countries.
Enter EFS Swift Link
EFS Swift Link bridges the gap between remote editing and centralized EditShare EFS storage systems – be they on-prem or in the cloud.
Simply and transparently, the EFS client adapts to the network conditions of individual workstations allowing users to maintain a strong connection to the storage network. We’ve been testing this across our offices on different continents, from our homes to the office and even to the cloud and we are impressed by how simple yet powerful it is.
Wherever you are, it gives you access to both proxies and high-resolution media, so you have the resources you need to work efficiently. That depends on understanding the capacity and quality of the data connection between the remote workstation and base, so one of the standout features of EFS Swift Link is its ability to detect network latency automatically.
You don’t need to be a networking expert to optimize the connection: Swift Link does it for you. Performance is consistently good, even on high-latency connections.
And it does this without forcing individual users to change the hardware, the software and the workflows they are used to. No need to invest in new computers or change the way you work, Swift Link seamlessly integrates with your current setup.
How Swift Link Works
The user-friendly interface of EditShare Connect makes it easy to connect to remote EditShare systems. It simplifies the process, eliminating the need for complex configurations. Just get connected to your network and VPN service and the client will do the rest for you.
Once connected, EFS Swift Link uses its automatic latency detection to optimize the connection. Regardless of your location or network conditions, the system adjusts to ensure you experience minimal disruptions and maximum performance.
And of course Swift Link supports multiple locations, so you can design the collaborative workflows you need with team members spread across different locations. Editors can work on the same project simultaneously, review each other’s work, and provide feedback in real time, just as if they were in the same room. All the standard features of EFS are still available, including bin locking, auditing and consistent drive letter naming.
Benefits
Remote collaborative workflows are the goal for many. With EFS Swift Link editors and content creators can work from anywhere, giving them the freedom to choose their working environment, without compromising on functionality, familiarity and collaboration. The result is faster project completion and improved creativity.
It is also the cost-effective solution. Everyone retains their existing equipment and workflows, so there are no costly upgrades, and there is no downtime to learn new tools and workflows, and no resistance to being forced away from the familiar. If an editor is most comfortable in Media Composer (or Adobe Premiere Pro, or Da Vinci Resolve) then use it, embedded in the EditShare Solution.
Performance is boosted. The automatic latency detection ensures that users media transfers are optimized, even on high-latency connections. And security is maintained, thanks to the integrated data protection systems and the permissions structure.
Remote working is fast becoming the new normal, EFS Swift Link is the lifeline for post production professionals.
EditShare adds to AWS expertise after recently joining the AWS ISV Accelerate program
Boston, MA – August 24, 2023– EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, continues to demonstrate the strength of its offering in cloud and hybrid solutions, with large numbers of successful client systems in use. This continuing success has led EditShare to achieve Amazon Web Service (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency status.
EditShare joined the AWS Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program a year ago, which affirmed its success in delivering practical cloud storage solutions. Achieving AWS Media & Entertainment Competency status further solidifies that the company follows architectural and operational best practices, is being actively used by customers in product environments, and customers advocate for the solution.
“This is another great accolade for our technical and applications teams,” said Stephen Tallamy, CTO of EditShare. “What it tells potential users is that we will deliver a solution that meets their operational requirements, makes optimal use of the cloud environment, and will be secure and resilient. With EditShare FLEX, our award-winning cloud technology, has reached a new level of maturity and adoption of media workflows that unlock the benefits of AWS services and applications tailored for media professionals,” Tallamy continued. “Post houses, production companies, broadcasters and creative agencies have realized that, by combining on premises and cloud technology, they can deliver real value to their clients and into their programs, while achieving operational savings through remote working and distributed workflows.
“This additional recognition from AWS means we are at the cutting edge of cloud and hybrid systems architecture. We look forward to continued growth in delivered systems around the world, and an ever-strengthening bond with our colleagues and peers at AWS,” said Tallamy.
The AWS Media & Entertainment Competency designation is the way to differentiate AWS Partners that have engineered their solutions and demonstrated the ability to deploy and operationalize these solutions repeatedly, at scale. Finally, and most importantly, they have a list of customers that have successfully deployed the solution on AWS.
AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify AWS Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.
EditShare will be showcasing it’s FLEX Cloud Solutions at the upcoming IBC Exhibition in Amsterdam, Hall 7, Booth A35 and also on the AWS booth Hall 5, Booth C90.
EditShare is a technology leader that enables collaborative media workflows on-premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid configuration. With customer and partner success at the heart of EditShare’s core values, our open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration and third-party integrations across the entire production chain, ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none. The high-performance software lineup includes media optimized shared storage management, archiving and backup, and media management, all supported with open APIs for extensible integration.
EditShare’s cloud-enabled remote editing and project management technology was recently recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) with a prestigious 2021 Emmy® Award for Technology and Engineering.
