Direct Connections: How Technology Can Take Media Post-Production to New Heights

Media post-production has undergone many transformations in its storied processes. In an industry where latency, resolution, and massive file size are factors, technology has to keep the pace. But how can workflows improve to reduce time but not quality? Direct Connections host Daniel Litwin welcomed Jim Pace, Owner of Audio Intervisual Design, an AV reseller providing tools for the creative community, to discuss the topic on the premiere episode.

“The industry has gone from analog to digitization to a video audio platform,” Pace said. “The concept that you could share storage became the changeover to machine rooms. In addition to sharing storage, these post-production spaces began to share processing power, as well.

Post-production spaces have to be specific and advanced, so managing distributed networks were no longer a necessity. “In post-production, you sell time in a space. Once it passes, it’s no longer sellable,” Pace added.

Post-production facilities moved to multiple rooms that could work as a pod. “Localization is a good example,” Pace said. “For a film distributed in 32 languages, you need multiple rooms with the same lock picture. With the advent of streaming sources, it’s a very specific opportunity for shared resources to expand capabilities.”

During the pandemic, there has been a shift to remote work in the industry. That kept things moving as consumers were hungry for content. It also made security a lesser priority. “If feature films can extend security, it can be as much as 50% of the box office. It’s not as tightly managed, but it likely will again if something catastrophic occurs,” Pace explained.

Pace also shared that a systematic approach is necessary for making post-production spaces both productive and reliable. “Everything’s going to break; it’s about how fast you can recover. Anticipate it in design and planning.”