By Igor Boshoer
Cloud technology is set to revolutionize film production. That is if studios can be convinced. But since this century-old industry is reluctant to change, these new technologies and promising innovation trends are integrating at a slower pace.
Tried-and-true production methods are steadily becoming outdated. Bringing innovation, a cloud platform offers accessibility to both small and large studios. In the not-so-distant future, what may now be merely a competitive edge will become industry standard practices. But until then, some studios are apprehensive. And the reasons are mostly myth.
The Need for Transition
Core video production applications, computing, storage and other IT services are moving to the cloud at a rapid pace. A variety of industries and businesses — not just film — are being challenged by new customer expectations, which are heavily influenced by consumer applications powered by the cloud.
In visual effects, film and XR, application vendors such as Autodesk, Avere and Aspera are all updating their software to support these cloud workflows. Studios are recognizing that more focus should be placed on creating high-quality content, and far less on in-house software development and infrastructure maintenance. But to grow the topline and stand apart from the competition, it’s imperative for our industry to be proactive and re-imagine the workflow. Cloud providers offer a much faster pace with this innovation than what a studio can internally provide.
In the grand scheme of things, the industry wants to make studio operations more efficient, cost-effective and quantifiable to better serve their customers. And by taking advantage of cloud-based services, studios can increase agility, while decreasing their cost and risk.
Common Misconceptions of the Cloud
Many believe the cloud to be insecure. But there are many very successful and striving startups, even in the finance and healthcare industries. Our industry’s MPAA regulations are much less stringently regulated than their industry’s HIPPA compliance. To the contrary, the cloud providers offer vastly stronger securities than a studio’s very own internal security measures.
Some studios are reluctant because the transfer of mass amounts of data into a cloud platform can prove challenging. But there are still ways to speed up these transfers, including the use of caching and custom UDP-based transport protocols. While this reluctance is valid, it’s still entirely manageable.
Studios also assume that cloud technology is expensive. It is… however, when you truly break down the costs to maintain infrastructure — adding internal storage, hardware setup, multi-year equipment leases, not to mention the ongoing support team — it, in fact, proves more expensive. While the cloud appears costly, it actually saves money and lets you quantify the cost of production. Moreover, studios can scale resources as production demands fluctuate, instead of relying on the typical static, in-house model.
How the Cloud Better Serves Customers
While some are still apprehensive of cloud-based integration, studios that have shifted production pipelines to cloud-based platforms — and embraced it — are finding positive results and success. The cloud can serve customers in a variety of ways. It can deliver a richer, more consistent and personalized experience for a studio’s content creators, as well as offer a collaborative community.
The latest digital technologies are guaranteed to reshape economics, production, and distribution of the entertainment industry. But to be on their game and remain competitive, studios must adapt to these new Internet and computer technologies.
If our industry is willing to push itself through these myths and preconceived assumptions, cloud technology can indeed revolutionize film production. When that begins to happen, more and more studios will adopt this competitive edge, and it will make for an exciting shift.
Igor Boshoer is a media technologist with feature film VFX credits, including The Revenant and The Wolf of Wall Street. His experience building studio technology inspired his company, Linc, a studio platform as a service. He also hosts the monthly media technology meetup Filmologic in the Bay Area.
