Digital Media Production and Distribution Automation

I hear that there is a large number of companies, who are not involved in the media production business, that are simply bombarded with the growing amounts of audio and video content that they must manage. How are these folks (typically marketers) linking the studio to the broadcast booth? Are they even managing the process?

I'm both afraid and amazed.

Last week my daughter Megan told me about her day at school.

"We podcasted our favorite memories of the school year," she said. "Mrs. Hancock had us draw pictures and write about what we remembered most."  Then they recorded what they wrote into a 'big heavy' microphone. "After, we picked music we wanted - one for the beginning and one for the end." When the class was finished recording they returned to the lab and checked their 'timeline' on Garageband and saved the files for loading on the web. She's been hitting refresh all weekend , but still nothing.

My daughter is a second grader (4 more days and counting).

To be sure, it's become exponentially simpler to produce digital media.

Above you'll find that the basic form adequately describes the general process that media production teams perform over and over: Script, Capture, Edit, Broadcast. Simple enough.

But the growing trend for companies, who previously have not, by 'trade', produced digital media directly, are in dire need of rapidly producing high-end media. From flash animation for the website and adspots to broadcast quality commercial spots outsourced to third party production houses.  How are these folks managing the digital media production process?

Arguably, the media production process is managing them. Digital Media Workflow Automation was an obvious highlight at this years HS-DAM show in NYC. With shoot-outs and panels debating their wares, one thing seemed lost in the discourse...the need for a complete system that links contributors, editors, and consumers. From tripod to ipod. A complete system that automates production of EVERY digital media asset. For me, transparency is key. Just there, just works technology, regardless of who or where in the process we are. Where all four principle steps are supported independently, yet moving in concert to fruition. The place where the content is magically guided through the production process until it lands favorably on the web. It digitally moves through the process without a hitch. This is the promise of DAM. The one stop shop for todays veracious  content production and distribution.

Several systems dominate the market, but tend to focus (well) on a single type or narrow group of media types. Even the systems that provide broad support remain shallow in their functional capabilities for modern media production. Focus on the medias assembly and transport. Who and how will people access the content through subsequent phases of collaboration, approval, and sndication.

Ride the service bus: The Enterprise Service Bus can provide the means to develop a coordinated architecture across several systems, resulting in a best-of-breed integration to solve todays create-manage-distribute media production problems.

You can break the problem down and solve each part with different technologies sharing a common architecture, but the risks are high and it will surely take a lot longer than you think to connect the dots. What is desireable is an integrated 'best of breed' approach to satisfying each of the personas in the digital media production process: keep the creatives creating, the managers managing and the consumers consuming. And keep the content coming.

If you can, break the tasks into component systems that share a common architecture (or maybe you're requirements and budget allows you to acquire one Enterprise DAM), take the variables out of the equation one by one. What remains are those things constant that can typically be fully automated with a high degee of confidence (e.g. cookie-cutter). For example, if its widely known what formats you'll distribute your media on (ala jpeg and flash), incorporate an engine that knows very well how to produce those formats...over and over. When your content reaches it's production phase, the distribution files are factory produced each and every time.

But where do you get started? Where can you find a system that is so easy a second grader can use it? Bueler?

Comments

[Neal Page]

I agree with the thoughts in the blog, however I believe there are two distinct needs. The first is for businesses, enterprise, content producers, or other professionals, many/most of whom have business OTHER than preparing content for delivery. I address some of these issues on our blog at Inlet (http://www.inlethd.com/blog/). The second need is clearly for the casual user publishing content to the web periodically. For this group, production time is less of a concern than simplicity. For the business/professional, time is money. Efficiency and speed is paramount, and both automation and simplicity comes into play for these applications.