Pixcom Productions is without doubt one of the longest working manufacturing entities in Montreal. In enterprise since 1987, they’ve at all times targeted on discovering revolutionary methods to remain forward of their opponents in relation to expertise and workflow, and have grown to develop into one of many largest producers of broadcast content material in Montreal.
With 24 Avid edit suites, 10 story-edit stations, three DaVinci Resolve shade grading suites, and two compositing and graphics stations, they end up award-winning programming starting from documentaries to drama for networks like Discovery Canada and the CBC. And from dailies to supply, Body.io is an integral a part of their workflow.
We spoke with Pixcom’s technical director, Charles Laflamme, to learn the way they’ve created an ecosystem that’s optimized for productiveness, pace, reliability, and safety.
Whether or not Pixcom is taking pictures in Canada or Tunisia, Body.io is the hub for his or her dailies.
Usually, as quickly because the day’s shoot wraps, media playing cards are despatched over to their facility in Montreal. There, the information (normally 6K RedCodeRaw for fiction work and Canon C300 or Sony FS7 footage for documentaries) are transcoded to DNx36 in Avid ingest stations. LUTs are utilized as a result of the information are both uncooked or shot in log, and audio is synced so that everybody can view the transcoded information with approximate shade correction and clear audio. Dailies are then transcoded to MOV proxies utilizing their Vantage encoder.
The native information are saved domestically of their recently-installed 420TB XStream EFS shared storage cluster, and on their 800TB of EFS 40NL near-line storage nodes. This large quantity of storage is managed with the Movement media asset administration system.
However the transcoded information are uploaded to Body.io on the finish of the day or in a single day in order that the editorial crew, as Charles says, “can view the day before today’s footage whereas having fun with their morning espresso.”
As a result of they’re working with the proxies, Pixcom is ready to preserve all of the dailies for all their reveals on Body.io. They do that with all media all through the complete manufacturing and submit course of, which might vary from 90 hours for a fiction program to a number of lots of of hours for the biggest Discovery Canada documentaries. As soon as they lock the cuts, they re-link to the native information for shade grading in DaVinci Resolve, and remaining supply in no matter decision is specified.
[Related: 3 Real-world Examples of a Remote Dailies Workflow]
There are a selection of how by which Body.io streamlines the manufacturing, editorial, and approval processes. First, the on-set crew can view dailies on a laptop computer or on their cell phones. “Everyone on the crew can ensure they’re coated,” Charles says. “From the director to the set designer—generally it’s as many as 30 folks—they’ll see in the event that they want reshoots, inserts, or pickups very simply.”
Subsequent, it’s widespread for reveals to have a couple of editor—there may be as many as 10 folks engaged on a number of the bigger reveals on the identical time. They’ll create a folder for every day’s shoot with all of the proxies in Body.io, so each editor has quick access to no matter they want and to the feedback from different key manufacturing members on the work that’s already been performed.
Then there are the varied different stakeholders, together with producers and broadcasters, a few of whom could also be neither on the set nor at Pixcom’s facility. Body.io makes it potential for them to watch what’s happening in the course of the shoot and to speak any issues or requests with out having to go away their workplace.
Editorial usually begins whereas taking pictures continues, which is yet one more manner that Body.io helps streamline Pixcom’s workflow. Body.io permits the editorial workers to shortly entry the day before today’s footage, whereas enabling them to share essentially the most up to date cuts with the director (and anybody else) whereas they’re on the set, holding each departments transferring ahead—regardless of variations in areas or time zones.
“We additionally use Body.io to speak with the music designers and results departments,” Charles says. It’s an environment friendly option to preserve all of the work on observe, from wherever contributors could also be positioned, and to maintain everybody in sync.
Earlier than Pixcom carried out Body.io, they used to need to e mail h.264 information to stakeholders, which resulted in painfully crowded servers. With 3TB of storage in Body.io, they’ll now add no matter must go to anybody with out worrying—which is critical when you think about that they’re coping with packages that run from 30 to 60 minutes in length (and even longer) and have almost 30 initiatives working concurrently.
[Also check out: Deliver 8K Dailies in Minutes with this New Workflow from LumaForge]
And if you additional understand that as a result of they’re doing collection work there could also be anyplace from eight episodes per season for a fiction present to as many as 26 for a documentary, it’s so much to maintain organized and accessible.
As a result of Body.io helps all widespread file codecs and resolutions, when reveals are accomplished, Pixcom often makes use of Body.io to indicate finals to the broadcasters for approval.
“Principally, Body.io helps us entry media shortly, get it to key folks, and get tremendous speedy suggestions,” Charles says. “We apply it to nearly all of our initiatives.”
One other facet of Body.io that Pixcom appreciates is the convenience of use for individuals who might not have a technical background. “If, for instance, we’re engaged on a present that has delicate content material, we generally want non-industry contributors to undergo the footage so we are able to redact sure issues for safety and privateness causes,” Charles says.
“We set them up with Body.io and so they’re in a position to view every little thing and mark up precisely what we have to take away or blur. It hardly takes them any time to start out utilizing it and makes the method very easy for everybody concerned.”
Past the dailies and editorial course of, Pixcom has found that the gross sales group finds Body.io to be an particularly helpful gross sales software.
“Earlier than Body.io, our gross sales group needed to carry laptops and arduous drives to consumer shows, commerce reveals, and festivals,” Charles says. “However now, all we’ve to do is preserve a bit in Body.io for remaining reveals, and our group simply takes their cell phones. No extra cumbersome {hardware} is critical, they simply want an web connection and so they can present absolutely anything to potential clients. This additionally permits them to be extra spontaneous and current different content material in the event that they suppose it’ll assist the consumer visualize one thing they didn’t initially plan to current. They actually love utilizing it.”
[Related: Check out how Frame.io saves Vice Media over 100 days a year in legal review.]
Many individuals assume that well-established manufacturing/post-production firms settle right into a “don’t repair it if it’s not damaged” method to expertise. If a workflow is functioning reliably, why threat introducing a brand new utility or platform that might doubtlessly interrupt operations?
“We tackle giant and sophisticated initiatives that depend on quick turnaround and communications—like masking the Olympics for a number of the European broadcasters—and we at all times wish to be innovators,” Charles says.
After greater than 30 years in enterprise, Pixcom Productions continues to embrace expertise that may enhance their workflows. And, in response to Charles,“Body.io is a giant a part of what provides us a technical edge.”
