Element Scales Business on EditShare Media Asset Management and Tiered Storage

EditShare, LLC announced that Dublin-based post production facility, Element, has implemented an XStream EFS 300 single-node scale out storage server, Ark archiving solution, Flow media asset management and and AirFlow for remote collaboration applications in order to better manage the growing business workload.

The integrated EditShare solutions provide a scalable single namespace tiered storage environment with integrated  asset management which enables automation of key processes that help Element meet increases their higher volume of media work.

Faced with a surge in content following a new nature-based project with power house production company and creative studio, Blink Productions, Element looked to upgrade its infrastructure to support and better manage the massive pool of assets.

“The nature of a wildlife series is that we’re going to be working with a massive amount of footage. As an international production house, we faced two main concerns. One was how do we house all the footage, and two how do we efficiently share and exchange the footage as we are editing content here in-house and they are shooting all over the world. EditShare was the answer to those concerns” says Diarmuid Kelly, head of post production, Element.

The documentary style series features different creatures and their respective habitats from all over the world. Working on a series such as this presents its own challenges in terms of storage space, supported formats and aptly storing assets to locate expert opinion commentary on such varied and niche subject matter.

Needing more than just straight storage, Element implemented EditShare to manage assets en mass, connecting potential collaborators and contributors from around the world.

Kelly continues: “Obviously, there are quite a lot of different systems out there. What really caught our eye with EditShare was the Airflow system- the benefits were huge for us. It allowed people anywhere with a standard Internet connection to browse footage securely and actually start putting in markers and comments: and that metadata would then be instantly available to our editors and loggers in our office. This was critical for us as we needed to have off site experts on animal behavior weigh in on certain aspects of wildlife nature.“

Production teams use AirFlow to upload rushes, which are automatically ingested via Flow to the EditShare XStream EFS system, then transcoded to the required post production format. With each new batch of rushes that comes in, Element leverages Flow to selectively move footage off the EFS 300 system onto Ark and then retrieve it when needed.

“Providing an integrated approach for post production agencies ensures that the clients needs are thought of every step of the way, from remote logging, tagging, intelligent shared storage right through to archiving,” says James Richings, MD, EMEA, EditShare.

Kelly concludes: “The reason we chose EditShare was it was the added bonuses that we get for it at a competitive price point. For the same amount of storage as a competing system, we also got AirFlow and Flow media asset management. EditShare solutions have allowed Element Post to take on jobs in a cost effective and reliable manner that we would have once considered too unruly to manage.“