WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME HOW TO COLLABORATE ON GREAT M&E CONTENT IN THE NEW NORMAL

A SOHONET EBOOK SOHONET EBOOK: 2 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

INTRODUCTION: WORKING YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected Despite the obvious challenges this will Remote collaboration has already gone To help M&E teams make home-working every part of our personal and working bring, we all have to figure out how to through two phases of evolution since a success, in this Ebook we identify lives. In the Media & Entertainment collaborate safely while we continue to the pandemic started. The first phase was four key issues you need to address for (M&E) industry, the crisis brought create great content. characterised by immediate (almost panic) collaboration in the new normal: buying, as a wide range of solutions were many productions to a temporary halt. Productions will have fewer people һ Connectivity for remote creativity deployed in the industry. Some worked As restrictions are partially eased, we allowed on set for TV and film. Ad well. Some failed. Some were insecure. һ Security for remote content can expect that, for at least the next productions will likely require agencies Some could not scale. 12-18 months, our industry will be and brand managers to participate from һ Control for remote workflows working in a ‘hybrid’ state. While some a distance. Phase 2 in the C19 era is about building һ Sharing for remote delivery professionals will begin returning to scalable, repeatable, secure, and Critical review sessions will be required for studios, offices, editing suites, colouring cost‑effective solutions to support all of We also give advice on how to effectively some workflows in colouring/editing suites suites, and screening rooms, for many your workflows – whether your production reimagine familiar workflows for the new and screening rooms, but social distancing this will not be full-time – and many is creating a feature, an episodic series or reality – with solutions that are scalable will reduce the physical room capacity. others will remain working from home an ad spot. and cost effective for your business, in a (WFH) for the long haul. range of typical working scenarios. SOHONET EBOOK: 3 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME OVERVIEW: SUPPORTING REMOTE CREATIVITY IN THE NEW NORMAL

Nearly everyone who has remained repeatable and cost-effective solutions. desktop infrastructure or VDI). In the other engaged in the M&E content creation As we’ve discussed, these need to support approach, the hardware is ‘virtualised’ process in 2020 has been forced to workflows in a hybrid situation where using compute power from a cloud work from home. However, not every some creatives are in their normal work provider (often called ‘virtual workstation’). setting, while others are still participating setup for working from home (WFH) Whatever your particular creative from home – or a combination of both. was built to be sustainable for the next contribution, the chosen approach has 12-18 months. The first decisions for these teams downstream impacts into how work is revolve around how to create a remote performed, how real-time collaboration Many of our industry colleagues have had working environment that bridges both occurs (especially with critical review to just get something working – using worlds. There are two main approaches to output), and how end deliverables are anything that met their immediate creative supporting these remote workflows: In one shared with other workflows. The most needs. More recently, faced with our approach, the creative hardware resides important issues to take into account are new reality, technology support teams in your facilities and is accessed remotely considered on the next page. across the industry have been working via a device at home (often called virtual to build longer-term secure, scalable, SOHONET EBOOK: 4 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME OVERVIEW: SUPPORTING REMOTE CREATIVITY IN THE NEW NORMAL

Virtual desktop suite, colour grading suite, screening democratised for cloud usage, but room) as well as those working remotely. editing and colour grading tools still infrastructure (VDI) have constraints on which Cloud Service һ Quality output: Offers ‘critical review’ Options for remotely controlling the Provider can be used. workstation are likely to force your quality video for real-time remote technology decisions towards a Microsoft collaboration. һ Critical review: the problem of achieving high-quality real-time output is still not Windows operating system, as the remote- Virtual workstation control capabilities for creative tools built solved. The most common solution is to With no need for expensive on-site on the Apple Mac OS are limited. Teradici integrate it with the VDI world, where the hardware, this cloud-based option and HP RGS are the most popular choices “client ready” review material is moved initially looks like a nirvana for our in the M&E industry. back to an environment supporting in- creative industry. However, there are facility and remote reviews. The VDI approach is ideal for those with still meaningful problems to be solved existing hardware and infrastructure in for widespread adoption: their facilities, as it provides: һ Licensing: Some of the most һ Cost-efficiency: Leverages your existing popular creative tools have limited hardware capex. licensing options and creatives are forced to buy an annual license. һ Ease of integration: Works well with those working in the facilities (editing һ Constrained partner environments: The VFX tools have been largely SOHONET EBOOK: 5 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

RISE OF THE FREELANCERS

Even before the pandemic, freelancers A 25% growth in freelancing over the have been playing an increasingly past 10 years means there are now freelancers important role in the M&E industry, an estimated 800,000 freelance video 800K with a major impact on the nature professionals in North America and powering the TV, film & ad of content production teams in Western Europe. In M&E content industry’s production & post the advertising, post and editorial production, freelancers make up 35% of communities. Now, in a new era valuing the US workforce, and around 50% in flexible and remote working, freelancers the UK. Sohonet’s studio-grade remote are even better positioned to dominate collaboration solutions are ideally placed 320K freelance M&E the landscape across the industry. to level the field of play for creative professionals in the UK alone freelancers – as well as startup ‘virtual shops’ for VFX and post. 25% increase in freelancing over the last 10 years SOHONET EBOOK: 6 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIOS FOR M&E REMOTE WORKING

Remote creative participation in production OVER THE FOLLOWING PAGES, WE EXPLORE A RANGE OF TYPICAL SCENARIOS WHERE Over the shoulder Remote VFX shot review SPECIALIST REMOTE COLLABORATION PERFECT FOR: TECHNOLOGIES CAN SUPPORT CREATIVE Remote editing with gear in the office All industry professionals PROFESSIONALS WORKING FROM HOME OR WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING. Remote editing with gear at home VFX Supervisor

Remote colour grading Editors

Remote sound production Colourist

Remote creative exec real-time review Audio Editors

Remote creative exec same-day review Director, Producers and Creative Execs

Remote finishing and screening Look out for your colour on the following pages. Safe in-person collaboration and review SOHONET EBOOK: 7 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE PARTICIPATION IN PRODUCTION

Production dropped to near-zero almost who can be on-set for any production. To The solution: ClearView Flex . stick to critical timelines and budgets, the overnight when the pandemic hit. As & Moxion Immediates a result, production locations almost result will be an increase in parallel filming everywhere came to a complete halt. With units and off-lot locations for smaller Sohonet has synchronous collaboration no new content being created – aside creative teams. covered with Clearview Flex, enabling instant real-time review live from set. And from a surge in home-recorded footage The biggest challenge productions will for COVID-related advertising – it meant for those times when getting the right face is enabling the seamless and secure players together for a live review session can the entire industry’s creative process for coordination and collaboration between all new content went the same way. prove challenging, Sohonet has partnered sites — whether connecting remote units with Moxion, whose accelerated dailies tool or facilitating off-set creative participation. As productions across the world resume, - Immediates - gives creatives the space to The way forward is one that relies on crews will have to adapt to a number of review content near or offset in near real digital collaboration and a lot of careful changes, facing stringent new working and time or whenever they choose. Moxion also pre-planning. safety conditions that will become the new provides offline capability on the iPad App norm for the next 12-18 months. These and remote review in HDR & Dolby Vision measures will limit the number of people great for VFX shots, edits and colour grading. SOHONET EBOOK: 8 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE PARTICIPATION IN PRODUCTION

In Action: ClearView Flex (at least 20Mbps upload for the best experience), It is also possible to use Flex Real-time remote review – from split unit while on location, with a suitable mobile monitoring to off-set creative participation, data connection. Flex connects productions of every shape and size. 4. Set up a Flex session. The Presenter (likely an assistant producer back in the office with the normal 1. Ship a ClearView Flexbox or at home) initiates the Flex session through complement of on-set gear (cameras, video the web-based session management app. assist, and so on) to the soundstage or location. 5. Present the session. Once everyone’s joined (with one click from the secure invite 2. Connect the Flexbox to the video assist email), the session host can start the live – or loop out via SDI from one of equipment video stream from set. the video village monitors. 3. Connect the Flexbox to the internet. Ideally use an Ethernet connection to the SOHONET EBOOK: 9 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE PARTICIPATION IN PRODUCTION

In Action: Moxion Immediates 3. The Moxion users receive a notification Near-real-time review – like dailies but a of new footage. Typically the footage is day earlier. From Hollywood blockbusters to available in Moxion within 5 minutes of the independent features, Moxion Immediates cameras stopping record. has enabled productions to view what is shot 4. The users can review the footage on on set in near real time. a variety of platforms. Playback can be 1. Connect the on-set video assist on iPhones, iPads, AppleTV, browsers and to Moxion. The QTAKE video assist is desktop applications for MacOS connected directly to Moxion via and Windows. API integration. 5. The footage can be downloaded. 2. Upload footage to Moxion. As soon as With the correct permission, the user can the camera finishes recording a clip, QTAKE download the original uploaded footage for Server starts to upload the footage, plus ingest into various post production tools.. camera and video assist metadata, to Moxion.

ClearView Flex and Moxion Immediates SOHONET EBOOK: 10 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: OVER THE SHOULDER REMOTE VFX SHOT REVIEW

Visual effects shot reviews require ClearView Pivot Lite, as outlined later in our the best possible quality output when remote colour grading scenario, can help streaming in real-time, to ensure that you minimise some of the bandwidth needed don’t lose a pixel of your artist’s work in for your highest quality review sessions. translation. Ideally you’d use a product Alternatively, many of our customers find like ClearView Pivot to get projection that for first and second pass reviews, quality on a 35-foot screen at 4:4:4 ClearView Flex provides sufficient quality, colour chroma and 12-bit colour depth particularly at the higher bit-rate settings, to for all VFX reviews. However, there are get the job done. many instances where time, equipment/ For VFX review you also have the added room availability and bandwidth limit complication of having a greater number of the options. In particular, those working stream viewers – as VFX artists are often at home are unlikely to have enough working on one small piece of a larger puzzle bandwidth for this kind of quality review. in large distributed teams. Flex can handle 20+ viewers concurrently within a session. SOHONET EBOOK: 11 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REAL-TIME REMOTE VFX SHOT REVIEW

In action: Remote VFX shot 4. The producer creates a Flex session and invites the client to view the session, with review with ClearView Flex a modern conferencing solution (such as The most common ‘customer shot review’ Zoom, Teams or BlueJeans) to support their setup looks something like this: real-time feedback.

1. The artists are working remotely from 5. The client creatives are often viewing the home, with either a cloud-based virtual content via Apple TV on a large consumer TV workstation, or remote connectivity into a that represents colour well. We recommend virtual desktop infrastructure at the office. an LG C9 or CX model, which are very colour 2. They are protecting the session with a accurate out of the box. VPN and are typically controlling the remote creative workstation with Teradici or HP RGS.

3. The artists typically move the content that is to be reviewed with the customer to a workstation in the office, connected to a Flexbox. Remote VFX Shot Review SOHONET EBOOK: 12 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: NEAR-REAL-TIME REMOTE VFX SHOT REVIEW

Offline remote Moxion HDR Moxion remote review in action 3.Individuals or teams are invited to review the footage. If they are given download 1.The VFX, cut or colour footage is uploaded and Dolby Vision VFX, Cut and permissions, they can download the original to a Moxion Folder. Colour review uploaded file for ingest into the post With Sohonet’s partner Moxion, entire teams 2.Both HDR and SDR versions of a shot can production tools. can, in their own time, remotely review and be uploaded at the same time, for Moxion 4.Users can comment and annotate on the feedback with comments and annotations on to combine into a single playable asset. footage, with frame accurate feedback, for HDR/Dolby Vision 4K UHD footage. The version played will depend on the the VFX, edit, or colour teams. capability of the user’s device and adaptive streaming will ensure the best possible playback experience in HDR wherever you are.. If required, an uploaded HDR clip can be transformed into a SDR version using a standard or supplied LUT. SOHONET EBOOK: 13 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE EDITING WITH GEAR IN THE OFFICE

Most of the industry made a decision The ‘confidence monitor’ typically found in in the early days of the pandemic to the editing suite is replaced in the home by build remote workflows to support their an Apple TV, iPad or second laptop, with collaborative editing. Typically, this ClearView Flex streaming the output of their involves having the Avid / Adobe creative editing session from the office workstation workstation in a machine room at the to the home. office, and accessing this remotely When the creative is ready for a through Teradici or HP RGS. collaborative session with other members of the team, they invite them to view the live In this scenario, the editor needs 25-50 output session, and those creatives join as Mbps of consistent download bandwidth viewers of the stream. to their home, while the network-intensive requirements of pushing real-time frame- Using a modern conferencing tool (such as accurate video to remote viewers is left to Zoom, Teams or BlueJeans), they can discuss the office connectivity. changes and guide the session. The viewers are able to join from the viewing device of The creative working from home is their choice – phone or tablet if they are on typically connected via VPN to the creative the go, laptop or desktop if they are working workstation located at the office. They are from home. For high-quality sessions, Remote Editing with Virtual desktop infrastructure using a primary screen (laptop / desktop) to viewers can use Apple TV with a colour- do the creative work, manage the timeline, calibrated LG series C9/CX model TV. bin, and so on. SOHONET EBOOK: 14 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE EDITING WITH GEAR AT HOME

Some productions and post teams have The at-home user will require a setup akin to So the experience will be optimal, whether decided to put the workstation at the what they are used to in the office, with two your team members are also located at home editor’s home. In this scenario, the editor screens – one for the main edit, colour or or working in the office. VFX software and a monitor for the output needs 20 Mbps of consistent upstream The web app used to manage the Flex coming from the local workstation at home. bandwidth to their ISP, so they can session invites can be run on any Mac, PC present real-time views of their stream to To share a session with other members of or Chromebook with a modern browser. their colleagues working elsewhere. their team, they can use ClearView Flex to This can be at any location and does not invite multiple viewers to the session via a have to be run on the creative workstation The creative can continue to work from their web browser for laptops, desktop PCs or – allowing a secure air-gap to be maintained. Mac workstation, and can leverage the office Android devices, an iOS app for iPhone/iPad It’s even better if this is controlled by one of setup of a desktop screen and a confidence users, or via the tvOS app for Apple the viewers (e.g. assistant editor, assistant monitor directly out of the home. TV users. producer) at an external location, as this Security is a different challenge. When will lessen the strain on the editor’s home For viewers, ClearView Flex has no special content is stored locally (even if being internet connection, already being used to hardware requirements, no firewall synchronised with the office or cloud), a stream the session out to external parties. constraints and minimal bandwidth needs – professional firewall segregating the creative between 1-8 Mbps dependent on the quality environment from the rest of the house is a setting required for the session. requirement. SOHONET EBOOK: 15 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE EDITING WITH GEAR AT HOME

Whilst this approach to supporting the To address this, the home-based creative The creative creative WFH has advantages over remotely can install either a second consumer-grade workstation does not connecting to the office setup, it does connection dedicated to the home office, need to be connected to require a more structured approach to or a business-grade connection – either the internet when using managing both connectivity and security in of which can be protected by Sohonet for Clearview Flex, which makes it compliant the home. a small monthly fee with a professionally with studio security air- managed firewall. Getting consistent bandwidth while gapped requirements. presenting content in real-time can be challenging at home – with family members competing for access, and consumer-grade providers over-contending their bandwidth. SOHONET EBOOK: 16 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE COLOUR GRADING

Remote colour grading has always been in the home does need to be protected. Sohonet will soon launch ClearView Flex remote colour suites and screening a difficult technical challenge because of A professional-grade firewall is highly Glow – a new set of capabilities for the rooms. In this setup, the colour workstation the large bandwidth required to leverage recommended to segregate the home ClearView Flex ecosystem, providing critical at the office is connected to a ClearView ‘critical review’ quality video throughout environment from the creative environment review output (4:2:2, 10-bit colour). The Pivot unit, which streams a compressed the workflow process. – and protect content from cyber criminals. higher bit-depth, colour chroma and support version to a Pivot Lite unit in the home. of Rec 2020 HDR means more bandwidth is While 2K workflows can be conducted at Bandwidth is a bigger challenge for these As a consequence, most of the industry has required to view the Flex session. This means extremely high quality (4:4:4 12-bit) and 4K creatives. The most common workflow deployed creatives at home with remote the creative’s home needs 75 Mbps down workflows can also be conducted at critical for real-time collaboration is to connect access to Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci (to support their colour workstation stream review output (4:2:2 10-bit), the bandwidth a ClearView Flexbox to the colourist Resolve or FilmLight’s Baselight products. and the ‘confidence stream’), to ensure they required to facilitate this workflow is workstation at the office, allowing high- Typically, there is some content that has understand exactly what the other viewers 100-200 Mbps down to the home. quality reviews to be pushed to other been synchronised to the workstation at are seeing. viewers. home, allowing creatives to see changes that Some colourists must work in J2K, or need they deploy in real-time on the monitors in Most creatives at home want to ‘see’ the 4:4:4 colour chroma, or the highest possible front of them. same video stream that their colleagues are quality that their bandwidth will allow. As also seeing during the session – so they are While these machines are typically a result, Sohonet has also launched a new often viewing the session themselves via connected via VPN back to the office (where option for colourists working from home that ClearView Flex on Apple TV with an LG C9/ the synchronisation occurs), local content supports higher quality critical reviews with CX TV. SOHONET EBOOK: 17 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE COLOUR GRADING

If the schedule doesn’t permit, or the home bandwidth. Alternatively, a second Colourist working bandwidth is insufficient to conduct a consumer-grade connection, on a different from home, with real-time ‘over-the-shoulder’ colour review ISP to the creative’s home, can be used. remote‑controlled via ClearView Flex or ClearView Pivot Lite, workstation and Now the creative has the ability to view their then a strong alternative is the Moxion Cuts ClearView Pivot Lite own content in a JPEG2000 codec at the workflow. The final ‘cut’ of the feature or highest quality possible, and can also present episode can be uploaded into the Moxion sessions on the ClearView Pivot network platform and streamed (with buffering) to an to other colour suites and screening rooms Apple TV or iPad Pro, allowing for the review around the world. session to take place remotely. Coming soon is the ability to remotely control the playback of the Moxion Cuts session, to allow the Colourist working presenter (likely the colourist) to pause and from home, with play the content while others are viewing. local workstation and This enables a scene-by-scene review, ClearView Flex with appropriate pauses for discussion and notetaking.

Sohonet can connect the creative at home directly to the Sohonet Media Network, providing business-grade symmetrical SOHONET EBOOK: 18 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE SOUND PRODUCTION

Audio production for film and video While working from home, audio creatives visual action for a perfectly synchronised This summer, we are also adding 5.1 audio takes a range of forms, including sound can share and collaborate on provisional real-time audio-visual experience. Simply to Flex, to be delivered via Apple TV, so that mixing, music composing, dubbing and edits and mixes with Sohonet’s easy-to- connect your computer running software creatives can perform full surround sound ADR. Working remotely in the audio use browser-based file-transfer solution, such as ProTools via HDMI to the Flexbox. audio reviews at home. FileRunner. This makes it easy to export field became common even before the You can also use a video conferencing Your final deliverables will depend on what high-quality recorded files over to your pandemic. Composers, for example, often application (such as Zoom or Teams) the specs are for your project. Typically, collaborators for critical editing and mixing. work on multiple projects and require alongside Flex to recreate that over-the- they might be a stereo and 5.1 surround remote collaboration to be efficient. ADR Once you receive initial feedback, you shoulder studio experience. This approach mix, music and effects (M&E) mix, and happens in post-production, when actors can then perform real-time reviews with lets people provide an instant response to stem mixes. You can deliver all these via hired for principal photography may be collaborators and clients remotely using what they hear, while seeing one another’s FileRunner, so your remote collaborator or on to their next project, and may need ClearView Flex. Your reviewers just need a faces during the session. Reading a smile or a client can download them and perform the to participate from a remote studio. basic internet connection and any internet- shake of the head can give the creative a lot final layback. While on location, a Director may want connected device (tablet, phone, PC/MAC or of valuable insights. to discuss creative sound elements and via Apple TV) and they can join a high-quality If a higher-spec surround sound review is conduct spotting sessions for a project review session securely and quickly from required, we currently recommend ClearView with teams remotely. anywhere in the world. Pivot or Pivot Lite. These solutions carry up Flex is ideal for audio creatives and to 16-channels of audio, allowing support collaborators working remotely, as it for 5.1 and 7.1 setups (Dolby Atmos support combines high-quality stereo sound with the coming soon). SOHONET EBOOK: 19 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE EXEC REAL-TIME REVIEW

Our industry tends to gloss over the at home where light is controlled, 5.1 or 7.1 reliable setup. As outlined previously, we are accurate right out of the box and only need thousands of creative executives who sound capabilities are deployed, and the able to help you with managed and flexible minor menu changes (no motion smoothing, have a hand in guiding the output of video is either projected with professional- solutions to facilitate this kind of bandwidth 24 fps) to be purpose fit for reviews. In this the creative process. While no longer grade equipment or a large-format monitor, in the home. scenario, the creative only needs about 75 we recommend ClearView Pivot Lite. Mbps of downstream bandwidth. employing their Wacom tablets, these For those mere mortals with only a home executives often have strong creative In a home screening room, the projector office to conduct their creative reviews, roots in our industry, and have the same is typically connected using quad 3G SDI we recommend an Apple TV for viewing high fidelity requirements for colour and inputs directly from the Pivotbox. If the ClearView Flex Glow sessions. We suggest video quality to be effective in their roles viewing device is a large TV, then HDMI the Apple TV is set up specifically for content as those editing, colouring, and creating is used to connect the Pivotbox. Both review (24 frames, matching colour space — the images along the way. solutions will carry up to 16-channels of see our FAQs for detailed instructions) and is audio, allowing support for 5.1 and 7.1 connected to a high-grade consumer device We recommend two different options for setups (Dolby Atmos support coming soon). like the LG C9 or CX series of TVs. While the creative executive working from home, However, making image quality at this level many of our customers colour calibrate depending on their physical setup. For those work well in real-time requires download the monitors before sending them to the rare executives who have a screening room bandwidth of 150-200 Mbps for an effective, exec’s home, they are typically 95%+ colour SOHONET EBOOK: 20 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE EXEC REAL-TIME REVIEW

Executive reviews with ClearView Flex Executive Reviews with ClearView Pivot SOHONET EBOOK: 21 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE CREATIVE EXEC SAME-DAY REVIEW

In recent years, the concept of ‘dailies’ Real-time collaboration footage pushed through the video village is includes not only the high-resolution securely sent to Moxion in near-real-time, Most of the management of multiple sound transcoded proxies that get pushed into providing low- and hi-res proxies for those stages occurs in the’ video village’ – but dozens of workflows for post and visual on-lot via their iPad – and those off-lot with fewer creatives allowed on-lot, real- effects requirements – but also a low around the world reviewing from their Apple time access to video feeds to appropriate resolution proxy available via an iPad to TV or laptop. In addition each unit can also creatives is a critical requirement. ClearView the many creative executives on- and reference the other unit’s footage to help Flex gives off-lot creatives the on-lot video off-set who want to see how the shoot is with continuity. Editorial and visual effects village experience anywhere in the world. progressing. staff can download hi-res proxies for input Near-real-time creative input into their workflows. With a requirement to manage parallel Even without the pandemic influence, when Weeks or even months later in the post shooting units in today’s pandemic-aware on-set, the director, producers, post and process, the footage remains available creative world, creatives on- and off-lot visual effects supervisors can find it difficult and additional assets can be uploaded to need to be able to see what is happening to be across all the live camera feeds at drive a Moxion Cuts, Colour or VFX review, across the filming infrastructure. They once. Waiting hours or even overnight only allowing controlled playback of assets in full need to react to changes in real-time, to extends the problem, requiring remote HDR, providing for synchronised viewing in continue to collapse the shooting schedule, camera units to book another day while multiple locations. without compromising the artistic integrity shots are reviewed for completeness. of the director, DP, the camera operators Moxion Immediates can enable you to or the actors. We can help creative execs deliver a rapid review workflow, where participate here in two key areas: SOHONET EBOOK: 22 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE FINISHING AND SCREENING

With production and post teams planning But even the largest of studio theatres can of creatives can watch the content from their return to studio campuses and post- only support a handful of viewers with separate screening rooms across campus, production offices around the world, we appropriate social distancing. With new best around town or even in different countries. have to adjust the way we finish features. practice concepts, where teams of creatives The editor can play and pause the content never come in physical contact with each at will, with every screening room seeing Previously, when the final version of the other to prevent wholescale team infection, exactly the same frame at the same time. feature or episodic had finally come together, we have to design a new way to review Firing up your preferred conferencing tool the key parties would gather in a darkened together while being physically separate. (such as Zoom, Teams or BlueJeans) allows screening room. This would typically include everyone to comment (and take notes) when Taking advantage of ClearView Pivot’s one- the director, cinematographer, post and the content is paused, but move quickly back to-many real-time streaming architecture, visual effects supervisors, colourist, editor, to professional immersion once playback your post production supervisor can work executive producers and other creative is resumed. with the studio post team to establish a executives from the distribution studio. multiple screening room approach. In this They would review the content, pausing to scenario, two or three different teams give notes, comments and directives. SOHONET EBOOK: 23 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: REMOTE FINISHING AND SCREENING

Incorporating creatives who cannot make Similar to the use case above, the easiest it to a screening room is also possible. By way to support audio communication for all splitting the video output from the creative parties is to leverage a modern conferencing workstation to both the ClearView Pivot platform where the editor mutes all parties and ClearView Flex infrastructure, frame before hitting play, and then unmutes the and colour-accurate playback can be shared parties after hitting pause on the content. in real-time, not only to multiple screening The review coordinator initiates the Pivot rooms, but also to creatives reviewing from ‘calls’ from the sending creative workstation the safety of their home office on an Apple to the receiving screening rooms and invites TV and a colour-calibrated consumer TV Flex viewers via email to participate in the (such as the LG C9 or CX models). same session. Once the sessions start, the playback management across both systems should be seamless.

Remote Finishing Review SOHONET EBOOK: 24 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SCENARIO: SAFE IN-PERSON COLLABORATION AND REVIEW

LIST OF SOHONET CREATIVE WORKSPACE PARTNERS Not everything can be done from the NEW YORK home. While we have the technology to Company 3 Atlantic Studios Company 3 Deluxe enable the editor, the colourist, the VFX Deluxe Company 3 Deluxe Sim Digital Digital Vortechs Deluxe Derwent artist and even the creative executive Fotokem Goldcrest DMR Film to perform their role from home, there Harbor Picture Company Harbor Picture Company DNEG Deluxe are times when getting a small number Lantana Mad Old Nut ENVY Post DNEG of people into a room together (with Lot 5 Media Montague Goldcrest Finale Post Production Mad Old Nut RK Studios Harbor Picture Company Sim Digital social distancing and masks) is just Picture Shop Sim Digital Hireworks Ltd more effective. Pivotal Post Works Molinare ANZ Serendipity Labs Spring Studios Regus Soho Square Arc Edit– & Melbourne Sohonet’s connected partners worldwide can Sim Digital Technicolor - Post Works Soho Works Cutting Edge–Sydney & Brisbane offer purpose-built creative work spaces for Soho Works Spring Studios Images–Auckland Spring Place Technicolor editing, colouring, finishing reviews and even Toybox–Auckland Syracuse Studios AIP Studios screenings, all of which can be connected to Technicolor Company 3 MANCHESTER creatives working from home. The Foundation Wyatt Studios Flix Facilities Tribeca West WeWork Santa Monica SANTA FE Stagecoach Foundation SOHONET EBOOK: 25 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

CREATING YOUR WFH ENVIRONMENT

Now that we’ve considered a range of specific working scenarios, on the Connectivity Control following pages we’ll examine four key elements need for creative collaboration for remote creativity for remote workflows from home in the new normal... When you cannot be in the same room Whether using VDI or cloud-based virtual with your creative collaborators, you need workstations, you need to maintain full network connectivity to make your remote visibility and control over your remote workflow successful. access workflows. Security Sharing for remote content for remote delivery While our industry continues to adapt to You need to apply best practices for new working environments and workflows, remotely sharing content and IP data you need to create, collaborate on and share files – source media, work in progress, captivating content – securely. and resulting deliverables. SOHONET EBOOK: 26 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

PRIMER ON SETTING UP YOUR WFH ENVIRONMENT

Comprehensive M&E connectivity Distribution studios: Every major with Sohonet distribution studio is already connected in some way to the Sohonet Media Network. We have a wide array of options to TORONTO GLASGOW MANCHESTER LEEDS support your content creation needs in VANCOUVER BOSTON BELFAST Post and VFX houses: Hundreds of post every situation or location: and VFX houses around the world are DETROIT SEATTLE DUBLIN MADRID SAN ST LOUIS NEW YORK MUMBAI connected to our network. FRANCISCO COLUMBUS 50+ production MAN CARDIFF Production studios: SANTA ATLANTA CLARA LONDON MAN studio partners around the world with DENVER BERLIN Creative work spaces: We offer 50+ HAWAII AMSTERDAM great connectivity options to the internet MIAMI collaboration locations and purpose-built DALLAS LUXEMBOURG MUNICH and the Sohonet Media Network, that can production offices around the world. AUSTIN LOS ANGELES be turned up quickly. MAN We help creatives and WARSAW Home working: PARIS MAN BRISBANE MEXICO CITY Off-lot productions: Our field services executives to work effectively and securely PRAGUE BARCELONA teams can get your production teams from home with studio-grade VPN AUCKLAND leveraging a warehouse or corporate office protection and other solutions. MELBOURNE WELLINGTON space for their production office or team collaboration needs – just about anywhere SYDNEY MAN CANBERRA in the US or UK, in just 3-5 business days. Remote locations. Leveraging bonded 4G mobile data, fixed wireless and (coming Sohonet Media Network: specialist M&E connectivity, everywhere you need us soon) SpaceX Starlink satellite connectivity. SOHONET EBOOK: 27 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

CONNECTIVITY FOR REMOTE CREATIVITY

Getting high-grade home connectivity is Of course, a business-grade connection Whatever your workflow requirements, no longer the exclusive domain of studio (with symmetrical bandwidth up and down if you cannot be in the same room with bosses with private screening rooms. to the internet) is always more reliable your collaborators, you need network It is now becoming commonplace for and effective, but can take longer to get connectivity to make your remote colourists, editors and visual effect artists installed and is more expensive. workflow successful. – as well as creative executives in the Regardless of your budget and home Sohonet is the M&E industry’s connectivity review process. challenges, security should also be at the partner of choice. As well as studios and Recently, many M&E professionals have forefront of your planning. Sohonet can workplaces, we have been connecting elected to install an additional consumer- provide professionally managed firewall the homes of highly influential directors, grade internet connection to their home solutions for the creative professional creatives and producers directly to the office. This means they can have their working from home, which makes sense if Sohonet Media Network for years. Now work connection separated away from there is valuable creative content stored in the pandemic has created a stronger ‘data their family’s countless Zoom calls and the home. gravity’ in the home than ever before. Fortnite sessions. SOHONET EBOOK: 28 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

CONNECTIVITY FOR REMOTE CREATIVITY

Sohonet Media Network: specialist M&E Home Connectivity Options connectivity, everywhere you need us. Business Grade Existing Home ISP Separate / 2nd ISP Connection

Upload Speeds ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Bandwidth Quality ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Security Options ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Cost $ $ $ $ $ $

Install Lead Time none 5-30 days 30-90 days

Minimum Term none 6-12 months 12 months SOHONET EBOOK: 29 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SECURITY FOR REMOTE CONTENT

remains unwavering, with families at home һ Domestic-grade networking and security Home networks need to be treated like The rise of the pandemic triggered consuming more hours under lockdown. – How hardened is that cable router? a ‘guest wi-fi’ in a production facility. You a rapid exodus from our industry’s So, while our industry continues to Did you change the wi-fi password from don’t allow visitors to your facility on your studios, facilities, offices and other adapt to new working environments and the factory default? Do you even have a secure production network. The same now carefully secured environments. workflows, the requirement to create, firewall? applies to working at home. You need to Some creatives left expecting just collaborate on and share captivating ensure proper security for your software, a few weeks of remote work. Others һ All kinds of connected data-gathering content securely is ever present. hardware, network – and the wider home prepared for the long haul, taking devices – home assistants, security environment. their workstations home with them. While IT and security professionals cameras, smart TVs, and even robot have worked hard over many years to vacuum cleaners – on the same network The usual bastions of protection for successfully secure the office and studio as pre-release content. valuable content and Intellectual Property landscape, the home environment presents (IP) –security gates, cameras, RFID badges, һ Well-meaning family members on social a unique set of challenges for M&E studio-grade firewalls and air gapped media – “Stuck at home but look at the industry workers, such as: networks – were left behind. new baby alien that Mom is working on...” һ Family members, friends and even Despite production initially grinding neighbours using your wi-fi – offering to a near-halt, the demand for content hackers a route into your home network. SOHONET EBOOK: 30 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SECURITY FOR REMOTE CONTENT

Obviously having a full replication of an Alongside the advanced technology, it While there is no panacea to solve the new inherently more secure. However, policies office environment at home isn’t practical might also be worth investing in some security challenges we face, there are a lot and controls will need to be adapted and – but at Sohonet we have developed a more physical aspects of security – such of things you can do today to secure the evolved to accommodate new ways of range of solutions that can help protect as putting a lock on the home office door, WFH environment for all users. Protection working securely. your home-workers and your content. installing blackout blinds, and so on. is improving as apps become Whether it’s for production staff, tech teams, editors, VFX artists or colourists, Security for Sohonet has solutions scaled to fit each remote content of your use cases and security challenges, such as:

Secure VPN access solutions

Centralised Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions

Secure file transfer

Secure remote collaboration solutions SOHONET EBOOK: 31 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

CONTROL FOR REMOTE WORKFLOWS

As many of our industry colleagues have Here are our recommendations to support When the pandemic hit, our industry 3. Try a hybrid approach. Long before the discovered, these cloud solutions have these cloud workflows: was forced to find new ways to enable pandemic, many VFX artists using cloud some challenges in achieving the high- creatives to accomplish their workflows 1. Get the licensing right. Many of the workflows had figured out a workaround quality video streams needed for real-time while working from home. Many in our cloud-based tool providers cannot offer for review sessions. By keeping a few critical review. The solutions available to industry decided to harness the existing a license for the tool, which must be remotely-controlled physical machines facilitate live review sessions are not yet infrastructure at the office by deploying purchased separately, directly from the in the office, which are connected to able to provide scalable and consistent remote access workflows with virtual tool creator. ClearView Flex or Pivot, VFX artists can real-time, frame-accurate output with high desktop infrastructure (VDI). move the content for review to a location colour fidelity, though we believe these 2. Remember that egress is expensive. where they can easily conduct critical However, many visual effects artists and problems will be solved in the near future. Design the creative workflow to stay review sessions – such as live-streaming some editors chose to deploy cloud-based within your cloud service provider (CSP) to review suites, screening rooms, and solutions to support their creative needs – as long as possible – to reduce the egress executives WFH all over the world. using virtual workstations for tools such as costs triggered by bringing large amounts Avid, Adobe, Maya and Nuke. of data bandwidth out of the CSP. SOHONET EBOOK: 32 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

CONTROL FOR REMOTE WORKFLOWS

4. Keep up with new developments. Network Device Interface (NDI) is an evolving software standard to support real- time broadcast-quality video in distributed production environments. Many players in the industry are trying to force NDI to work beyond the office to support home-based workers, But NDI does not perform well over consumer-grade networks, suffering congestion, packet loss and jitter – resulting in a choppy frame rate experience for viewers. It can also introduce colour and compression artifacts into the video stream. As an alternative, Sohonet is working hard with our industry colleagues to build an open source API approach to support critical review quality output directly from cloud-based creative Remote Editing with Virtual desktop infrastructure tools like Avid, Baselight and Resolve, although this is likely to take several months to deliver – watch this space. SOHONET EBOOK: 33 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SHARING FOR REMOTE DELIVERY

creation. An advertising production might supplement this with a sync at the FileRunner makes the best use of the In any M&E creative role, sharing company may need to retrieve archived end of the workday, which can continue bandwidth available to it, with accelerated deliverables while working from footage from a previous campaign to re- through the night if needed. multi-threaded parallel uploads. It’s home can be a challenge. Most of the work. optimised for sending media file formats, workflow advice in this Ebook is focused File transfer made simple which are usually either small in data size on sharing the frame-accurate output You need to think through the concept of Sohonet’s file transfer tool FileRunner and large in volume (frame sequences) or from creative tools in real-time. But how to share deliverables both internally is ideal for home-working usage. It’s single large files (completed video assets). what are the best practices for actually with your team members and to external extremely easy to use, and works in This makes it ideal for delivering files from sharing source media, work in progress, parties. For internal file sharing, you may any modern web browser, with no one creative to another throughout the and resulting deliverables as files? consider synchronising your tools – so special plugins, server setups or desktop production pipeline. files are automatically shared and updated A better approach to M&E file applications to manage. You’ve no need across your team’s workstations. This to bother your already overstretched IT Using TCP as the underlying transfer sharing works great in the office – when you department to get your whole team up and technology, FileRunner is much more Creatives in our industry do not work in have tons of bandwidth for sending and running. If you do encounter any issues, friendly to other network traffic than a vacuum. You might work your personal receiving. But most home-based solutions Sohonet’s customer success team is ready UDP-based solutions, which tend to stomp bit of the magic alone, but ultimately you are going to have an asymmetrical to help, 24/7. over other users of the connection. This need to deliver the result into some other connection, where the upload speed is will make you much more popular with workflow by sending it somewhere. For significantly slower than the download the other people you share your home or example, an editor may be sending EDLs speed. In this scenario, sending the workspace with. to the colourist, sound designers or VFX deliverable output file only when needed teams. The studio marketing department is a better approach than constantly may be sharing film stills for movie poster synchronising all your source files. You SOHONET EBOOK: 34 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME

SHARING FOR REMOTE DELIVERY

Gbps network fabric (connected to the Essentially, if you have huge data volumes, Low-cost cloud file storage Sohonet Media Network) to ensure data then performing the initial longhaul data and sharing replication is immediate. move will be one of your biggest concerns. For those managing the delivery of large This can be avoided by using FileStore+ Many productions now create hundreds data sets across geographic regions, geo-sync – and you can then just move of terabytes of camera RAW data, which Sohonet’s FileStore+ cloud file storage is a files more locally, focusing on smaller data needs to be moved from the production secure and low-cost solution. sets for those working at home. location through to post-production Files can be loaded directly via local on- – which may be located on an entirely With no data egress fees, FileStore+ ramps at speeds of 1 Gbps or higher into different continent. In such cases, unlocks the ability to push and pull data the secure cloud object storage platform. FileStore+ eliminates any concern about to the cloud and across worldwide regions A second and third copy of that file are connectivity or tools for file transfer. You for delivery purposes at will – which is replicated to other regions immediately then only need to think about the local otherwise financially unviable with other – giving your workflow partners in other distribution of files within the region, from major cloud service providers. regions local access to the same data your main office location to those working within minutes of it landing in your local from home – which can be accessed on a region. Sohonet’s storage partner RStor more ad-hoc basis. uses their RWave product and their 100 WORK YOUR MAGIC FROM HOME WITH SOHONET Our solutions for film, TV, and ad production can help your creatives work magic from home – or anywhere in the world. Get in touch to learn more.

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