News Stories

ETC’s Adaptive Production Project Subcommittees

3.8.2019

The Adaptive Production project directed by Seth Levenson at ETC formed subcommittee-style working groups for specialized focuses within the field of adaptive production. Testing implementation and feasibility of specialized projects, these groups, who meet regularly, are comprised of ETC’s current member companies and industry leaders.

The Blockchain working group, co-chaired by Randy Zhang, senior solutions architect at Cisco, investigates potential applications of blockchain in M&E. Specific deliverables include where blockchain is applicable, where blockchain may be applicable with new technology, and where it is not applicable at all. Upcoming projects include crew/contractor identity, “two-factor timecards” (using blockchain for on set/location crew), and supply chain auditing.

Co-chaired by SVP of Archiving at Paramount Pictures, Andrea Kalas, the Archiving working group researches new technologies in the realm of improving long-term storage of M&E assets. This working group will develop the best practices for cloud preservation through defining “fixity” in the cloud, studying self-healing (dealing with a failed health check), and providing transparency to users by requiring reporting from cloud providers. Future projects will look at  DNA/Glass storage as well as best practices for what should be archived.

The Cloud Platforms group has created the VFX Standards Subcommittee, which is chaired by Horst Sarubin, director of production technology at Universal Pictures.  This subcommittee is working on the best practices and delivery standards for VFX including: file naming conventions, asset interoperability, I/O standards, metadata fidelity, and verbal buy-in from the industry. The parent working group explores the next generation of cloud implementations for production and distribution. Future projects include metadata across the production workflow (AI for data normalization), cloud service abstraction (with a focus on storage and file management), and single-source file access (using URLs rather than files as part of the production workflow).

SCA Students Speak on the Future of Entertainment

2.6.2019

The ETC welcomed a panel of nine undergraduate students from the USC School of Cinematic Art to give their own insights on the trajectory of interactive media at the December 13, 2018 All Members Meeting hosted by Fox Studios.

The hour-long forum that covered topics from social media habits to storytelling strategy was condensed into a six-minute highlight reel on our YouTube channel below. The ETC is looking to produce these student panels on a quarterly basis this year — twice at our Executive Board Meetings and twice at our All Members Meetings. We highly encourage our member companies to attend and join the conversation at these upcoming sessions.

Panel:

  • Sydney Sanchez, Cinema & Media Studies / Political Science
  • Chandler Toffa, Film & TV Production / Chinese
  • Samantha Sadoff, Film & TV Production / Gender Studies
  • Anissa Santos, Media Arts & Practice / History
  • Joshua Masters, Digital Arts & Animation
  • Brenda Chen, Digital Arts & Animation / Video Game Design
  • Justine Sophia, Film & TV Production / Documentary
  • Rom Lotan, Peter Stark Producing Program
  • Roahith Raj, Interactive Media and Games
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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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