Master Metadata for Post-Production – 2 Mar 2011, 11:00 AM EST #webinar http://t.co/NXv0XvZ
It’s repeated during the day.
Category: Metadata
Can A Computer Do Your Job? http://tinyurl.com/4nt5kf8
The examples in the article are surprisingly “high end”, pitting humans choosing potential University entrants against a simple algorith, and the algorithm wins.
Could a computer do your job as a ‘creative’ individual? An editor, writer or producer?
What’s going to happen in 2011? http://tinyurl.com/48f979s
Our longest show ever!
In this episode Terence and Philip, with Greg Huson from Secret HQ, look forward to what we can expect in 2011.  You might want to pace yourself on this one as we’ve set a new record for show length.
What will the Microsoft Kinect be used for? Who’ll be releasing new software this year – will we see new versions of Media Composer, Final Cut Pro or Adobe Creative Suite? Will Avid open up to 3rd party hardware? What will be in those releases? Is this the year Metadata (finally) takes off?
How many movies have to not make money from 3D before the fad is over? Or will 3D TV spark 3D production? Will we see RED Epic this year and will it be a success? What will develop with large sensor cameras?
How will the collapse of State Governments affect production subsidies? Will runaway production come back to LA?
When will the tipping point come when distribution breaks out of broadcast and cable channel models? Is ivi going to be ruled legal? What’s the future of Netflix? Is a social network a replacement for channel guides?
What do we wish we could predit for this year? More use of metadata for production automation and where it comes from? What if we didn’t do a first string-out manually? This leads to a discussion of the philosophy of editing.
What will be this year’s surprise? Another DSLR? Another daVinci/Smoke on Mac?
What will happen in distribution? What’s the future of DVD Extras?
What isn’t going to happen that needs to happen?
RT @zbutcher: Join MediaSilo & Oasis for FREE event in LA http://eepurl.com/cdZ4T
Metadata is crucial in today’s ever-changing, competitive post production environment. New, exciting tools continue to emerge. Trying to sort through it all? Join us for a special event in LA onJanuary 27 @ 6:30.
There were a lot of features I saw in OS X Lion and particularly in iMovie 11, that I would love to see inside Final Cut Pro. Things like QuickView I already mentioned in my “What should Apple do with Final Cut Pro” article from September.
But today I saw some things I really want in the next version of Final Cut Pro. Like scalable waveforms that change color according to their level! Scalable waveforms (as Media Composer already has and I think PPro CS5) has been a feature request for Final Cut Pro as far back as I can remember. And now the technology is there in the Apple technology basket. We’ll take that, thanks.
Trailers – semi-automatic completion of a trailer – and Themes, fit comfortably with my concept of Templatorization: the use of templates to speed up production. I first mentioned the concept in a blog post of April 2005 titled “Can a computer replace an editor?“. It’s still a good read and remember, that was long before we started actually building that future with our First Cuts/Finisher products. Templatorization is already in the Final Cut Studio with Master Templates from Motion used and adapted (with custom images and text) inside Final Cut Pro.
The concept here is similar. We’ll see more Templatorization over time, even if they are custom templates for a project, like custom Master Templates.
Plus, as my friend Rob Birnholz tweeted during the presentation when some were complaining that Templatorization would drive hourly rates down even further:
I can now sell CUSTOM Professional video design! (vs. template based ‘insta-video’)
But the one piece of technology I most want to see in the next version of Final Cut Pro is People Finder because it automates the generation of so much metadata, that combined with Source metadata is going to really open up Assisted Editing to take away a lot of the dull work of finding footage and a story. (And Shane you can hate me now, but more efficient production is always going to be the driver, but we can automate the drudgery, not the creativity.)
By analyzing your video for faces, People Finder identifies the parts with people in them and tells you how many are in each scene. It also finds the close-ups, medium shots, or wide angles so it’s easy to grab video clips as you need them.
We get shot type metadata – CU, M, Wide and we get identification of the number of people in the shot. That’s powerful metadata. I suspect we won’t get it in the next version of Final Cut Pro because they’ve got enough to do and can’t do everything at once, but I’d love to see this level of automated metadata generation. Remember too, that as well as the facial recognition technology already shipping in iPhoto and now iMovie, it was announced back in September that they had purchased another facial recognition company to improve the accuracy.
The holy grail, from my perspective, of facial recognition would be if the software (Final Cut Pro please) recognized all faces in the footage, and grouped the same face together (like Faces in iPhoto). You’d still have to identify the person once, but from there on basic Lower Thirds (person and location) could be automatically generated (location eventually coming from GPS in the camera – we’re not there yet).
It’s a pity Apple don’t have or license speech recognition technology. Licensing Nexidia’s speech search would be ok (it’s what powers Get and ScriptSync) but it doesn’t derive metadata like speech analysis does. Once you have speech as metadata is makes things like prEdit possible; and ultimately the automatic derivation of keywords.
And it seems like my five year old ruminations might have been on to something.
I probably have mentioned that we’re working on a documentary about Bob Muravez/Floyd Lippencotte Jnr in part because we wanted demo footage we “owned” (so we could make tutorials available down the line) but also because I wanted to try it in action on a practical job.
I start work in prEdit shortly – nearly started today, so it looks like Friday now – but already we discovered some ideas that have now been implemented in the 1.1. release.
Along the way I’ve learnt a lot about how well (or not) Adobe’s Speech Analysis works. (Short answer: it can be very, very good, or it can be pretty disappointing.) As prEdit is really designed to be used with transcriptions I also tested the Adobe Story > OnLocation > Premiere method, which always worked.
Well, from that workflow it became obvious that speakers (Interviewer, Subject) were correctly identified so wouldn’t it be nice if prEdit automatically subclipped on speaker changes. And now it does.
If multiple speakers have been identified in a text transcript, prEdit will create a new subclip on import at each change of speaker
It also became obvious as I was planning my workflow that we needed a way to add new material to an existing prEdit project, and to be able to access the work from historic projects to add to a new one.
New Copy Clips… button so you can copy clips from one prEdit project to another open project
Now that I’m dealing with longer interviews than when we tested, I needed search in the Transcript view.
Search popup menu added to Transcript View.
That led to one problem: adding metadata to multiple subclips at a time. Previously I’d advocated adding common metadata to the clip before subclipping in prEdit (by simply adding returns to the transcript) but if it comes in already split into speakers, that wasn’t going to work!
Logging Information and Comments can be added for multiple selected subclips if the field doesn’t already have an entry for any of the selected subclips
Because you never, ever want to run the risk of over-writing work ready done.
And some nice enhancements:
Faster creation of thumbnails
Bugfix for Good checkbox in Story View
prEdit 1.1 is now available. Check for updates from within the App itself. And if you work in documentary, you should have checked it out already.
‘Interoperable Master Format’ Aims to Take Industry Into a File-based World http://bit.ly/bvF6Vk
A group working under the guidance of the Entertainment Technology Center at USC is trying to create specifications for an interoperable set of master files and associated metadata. This will help interchange and automate downstream distribution based on metadata carried in the file. The first draft of the specification is now done based on (no surprises) the MXF wrapper. (Not good for FCP fans, as Apple has no native support for MXF, without third party help).
Main new items: dynamic metadata for hinting pan-scan downstream and “Output Profile List”:
“The IMF is the source if you will, and the OPL would be an XML script that would tell a transcoder or any other downstream device how to set up for what an output is on the other side,†Lukk explained.
The intention is to bring this draft spec to SMPTE, but first, ETC@ USC is urging the industry to get involved. “We need industry feedback and input on the work that the group has done thus far,†said ETC CEO and executive director David Wertheimer. “Anyone who has interest in this topic should download the draft specification and provide feedback to the group.â€
The Future of Picture Editing http://bit.ly/aNRLVA
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Zak Ray when I travelled to Boston. I like people who have an original take on things and Zak’s approach to picture editing – and his tying it to existing technologies (that may ned improvement) – is an interesting one.
And yet, despite such modern wonders as Avid Media Access and the Mercury Playback Engine, modern NLEs remain fundamentally unchanged from their decades-old origins. You find your clip in a browser, trim it to the desired length, and edit it into a timeline, all with a combination of keys and mouse (or, if you prefer, a pen tablet). But is this process really as physically intuitive as it could be? Is it really an integrable body part in the mind’s eye, allowing the editor to work the way he thinks? Though I can only speak for myself, with my limited years of editing experience, I believe the answer is a resounding “noâ€. In his now famous lecture-turned-essay In the Blink of an Eye, Walter Murch postulates that in a far-flung future, filmmakers might have the ability to “think†their movies into existence: a “black box†that reads one’s brainwaves and generates the resulting photo-realistic film. I think the science community agrees that such a technology is a long way off. But what untilthen? What I intend to outline here is my thoughts on just that; a delineation of my own ideal picture-editing tools, based on technologies that either currently exist, or are on the drawing board, and which could be implemented in the manner I’d like them to be. Of course, the industry didn’t get from the one-task, one-purpose Moviola to the 2,000 page user manual for Final Cut Pro for no reason. What I’m proposing is not a replacement for these applications as a whole, just the basic cutting process; a chance for the editor to work with the simplicity and natural intuitiveness that film editors once knew, and with the efficiency and potential that modern technology offers.
It’s a good article and a good read. Raises the question though – if Apple (or Adobe/Avid) really innovated the interface would people “hate it” because it was “different”?
Powerful new transcript workflow tool – paper cuts without the pain – from Intelligent Assistance (my day job). http://bit.ly/9nQv07
We just launched prEdit, our pre-editing tool for developing paper cuts (a.k.a. radio cut) from transcripts. prEdit:
- Lets producers or editors cut transcripts into selects in seconds
- Adds and updates log notes with auto-complete logging fields
- Previews the video for any clip, subclip, paper cut or section of paper cut
- Exports to Excel spreadsheets and Final Cut Pro, or Premiere Pro Sequences
“prEdit marks a new generation of postproduction tools,† say I. “Video editing by text is a whole new way of working that will take weeks out of developing a paper cut.â€
prEdit is available now from AssistedEditing.com and carries an MSRP of $395, discounted for an introductory special to $295 until August 31st. The prEdit workflow is described at http://assistedediting.com/prEdit/workflow.html and a video overview is available at http://assistedediting.com/prEdit. The first 80 seconds provide an overview.
The video is now available at YouTube  http://youtu.be/3fV388QsVVA?a
Thanks to an upcoming piece of software we’re working on I’ve been spending a lot of time within the CS5 workflow environment, particularly looking at metadata and the Story workflow, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve been so blinded by the Mercury Engine’s performance that we might not have seen where they’re heading. And I like what I see.
Most readers will likely be aware of the Transcription ability introduced with CS4 and updated in CS5. Either in Soudbooth, or in Adobe Media Encoder (AME) via Premiere Pro for batches, the technology Adobe builds on from Autonomy will transcribe the spoken word into text. Our initial testing wasn’t that promising, but we’ve realized we weren’t sending it any sort of fair test. With good quality audio the results are pretty good: not perfect but close, depending on the source, of course.
We first explored this early in the year when we built and released Transcriptize, to port that transcription metadata from the Adobe world across to Apple’s. That’s what set us down our current path to the unreleased software, but more of that in a later post.
Now we’re back in that world, it’s a pretty amazing “story”. There’s three ways they get it that I see:
- Good metadata tracking at the file level
- Flexible metadata handling
- Metadata-based workflows built into the CS applications (and beyond).
Balancing that is the serious miss of not showing source metadata from non-tape media that doesn’t fit into pre-defined schema. At least that seems to be the case: I can’t find a Metadata Panel that shows the Source Metadata from P2, AVCCAM/AVCHD, or RED to display. Some of the source metadata is displayed in existing fields, but they are only the fields that Adobe has built into Premiere Pro, which miss a lot of information from the source. For example, none of the exposure metadata from RED footage is displayed, nor Latitude and Longitude from P2 and AVCCAM footage.
That’s the downside. To be fair, Final Cut Pro doesn’t display any of the Source Metadata either (although you can access it via the XML file.) Â Media Composer can show all the Source if desired.
Good Metadata Tracking at the file level
Apple added QuickTime Metadata to Final Cut Pro 5.1.2 where they retain and track any Source Metadata from files imported via Log and Transfer. This is a flexible schema but definitely under supported. Adobe’s alternative is XMP metadata. (Both XMP and QuickTime metadata can co-exist in most media file formats.)
XMP metadata is file based, meaning it is stored in, and read from, the file. There are seven built-in categories, plus Speech Analysis, which is XMP metadata stored in the file (for most formats) but considered as a different category in the Premiere Pro CS5 interface. I believe that the Source metadata should show in the XMP category because it is file-based even if its not XMP.
On the other plus side XMP metadata is very flexible. You don’t need third party applications to write to the XMP metadata. Inside Premiere Pro CS5 you simply set up the schema you want and the data is written to the file transparently. If the data is in a file when it’s added to a project, it’s read into the project and immediately accessible.
This metadata travels with the file to any and all projects. This provide a great way of sending custom metadata between applications. Speed Analysis metadata is also carried in the file, so it can be read by any Adobe application (and an upcoming one from us, see intro paragraph) direct from the file.
Flexible Metadata Handling
Not only is the XMP file-based metadata incredibly flexible, but you can also apply any metadata scheme to a clip within a Premiere Pro project, right into Clip metadata. For an example of how this is useful, let’s consider what we had to do in Final Cut Pro for First Cuts. Since Final Cut Pro doesn’t have a flexible metadata format, we had to co-opt Master Comments 1-4 and Comment A to carry our metadata. In Premiere Pro CS5 we could simply create new Clip-based fields for Story Keywords, Name, Place, Event or Theme and B-roll search keywords.
(Unfortunately this level of customization in Premiere Pro CS5 does not extend to Final Cut Pro XML import or export.)
An infinitely flexible metadata scheme for clips and for media files (independently) is exactly what I’d want an application to do.
Metadata-based Workflows in the CS5 Applications
To my chagrin I only recently discovered how deeply metadata-based workflows have become embedded in the Adobe workflow. (Thanks to Jacob Rosenberg’s demonstration at the June Editor’s Lounge for turning me on to this.) Adobe have crafted a great workflow for scripted productions that goes like this:
- Collaboratively write your script in Adobe Story, or import a script from most formats, including Final Draft. (Story is a web application.)
- Adobe Story parses the script into Scenes and Shots automatically.
- Export from Adobe Story to a desktop file that is imported into OnLocation during shooting.
- In OnLocation you have access to all the clips generated out of the Adobe Story file. Clips can be duplicated for multiple takes.
- Clips are named after Scene/Shot/Take.
- During shooting you do not need to have a connection to the camera because some genius at Adobe realized that metadata could solve that problem. All that needs to be done during shooting of any given shot/take is for a time stamp to be marked against the Clip:
- i.e. this clips was being taken “now”.
- Marking a time stamp is a simple button press with the clip selected.
- After footage has been shot, the OnLocation project is “pointed” to the media where it automatically matches the shot with the appropriate media file, based on the time stamp metadata in the media file with the time mark in the OnLocation Clip.
- The media file is renamed to match the clip. Ready for import to Premiere Pro CS5.
Now here’s the genius part in my opinion (other than using the time stamp to link clips). The script from Adobe Story has been embedded in those OnLocation clips, and is now in the clip. Once Speech Analysis is complete for each clip, the script is laid-up against the analyzed media file so each word is time stamped. The advantage of this workflow over using a guide script directly imported is that the original formatting is used when the script comes via Story.
All that needs to be done is to build the sequence based on the script, with the advantage that every clip is now searchable by word. Almost close to, but not quite, Avid’s ScriptSync based on an entirely different technology (Nexidia).
It’s a great use of script and Speech Analysis and a great use of time-stamp metadata to reduce clip naming, linking and script embedding. A hint of the future of metadata-based workflows.
All we need now, Adobe, is access to all the Source Metadata.