When you say “metadata” do you mean pre-post, asset management or distribution metadata?

The present and future of post production business and technology by Philip Hodgetts

What is metadata. Well, largely it depends on where you are in the production-to-distribution pipeline. We use metadata to solve problems in production, asset management and distribution. Let’s consider each of these problem and how it was solved before the digital era, and where metadata fits into the modern workflow.

How do we prepare for the editor’s creative input with the minimum amount of time spent on that preparation?

Pre digital we relied on labels on tapes and, if we were lucky, a field log, leaving a lot of work logging and transcribing before any editing work can start.

In my vision for the future, more of this information – now known as metadata – will be automatically generated, although until then we’ll get better metadata tracked from the source using easier tools. This is my area of particular interest. We are going to see a transition to smarter tools using metadata and smart computer programs to take a lot of the drudgery out of post production, without losing the need for a skilled human to bring their value to the project. This frees editors for more time to be creative.

How do we find shots, edits, clearances, etc one, two, three or more years down the track?

Tape libraries and production bibles formed our asset management in the past. Depending on how sophisticated the library management was, finding a shot would rely on index cards, tape logs, a folder or even a hand-crafted database.read more...