Dalet Improves Client Content Management With New Postproduction Facility

Dalet Digital Media Systems is taking on the post-production market with Colortime, a Burbank, CA-based postproduction facility that specializes in feature film and television episodic editorial, dailies, VFX, color correction, and content management services for a global customer base.

Like many post facilities, Colortime is faced with an increasing number of versions to produce while simultaneously reducing the time to deliver those versions to various content channels. Taking a different approach to the traditional work arounds and spreadsheet management tools, industry veteran Moshe Barkat turned to Dalet for its expertise in workflow automation and media asset management (MAM), selecting the open, ready-made Dalet Galaxy platform. The new workflow, which will include Dalet Galaxy MAM and Workflow Engine, Dalet WebSpace and Storyboarder, and Dalet Xtend for Adobe Premiere Pro, aims to maximize efficiency for managing client content and package delivery by connecting post-production and archives as well as managing work orders for file delivery and automating the corresponding transcodes.

Dalet Workflow Engine

“We are managing a massive amount of content for a growing client base and required a solution that would provide both content organization features and automation capabilities with high scalability. We found the Dalet Galaxy platform delivers on all of these needs,” says Moshe Barkat, CEO of Colortime. “For the many clients and brands that we work with, it is critical that the content is organized in a manner that allows both Colortime and the client – or even the client’s client – to efficiently access it and distribute it in any format they require during or after post.”

“Dalet Galaxy will serve as the foundation to efficiently organize and easily retrieve the vast amount of files we store across post-production storage servers and archives. It will also allow us to simplify distribution, by creating automation profiles for the many transcode and package assembly jobs we do at Colortime, saving us quite a bit of time, whether it is a final file delivery or pulling content from the archive in a particular format that a client needs,” says Moshe.

Dalet Galaxy will manage content ingest and metadata indexing onto Colortime storage and archive servers, creating a central content repository for a 360-degree view into assets. Purpose-built applications such as Dalet WebSpace will allow staff to quickly browse the repository and review work in progress or archived content from any laptop or workstation. Dalet Storyboarder will provide simple cuts and assembly capabilities, allowing non-editing staff to storyboard and share concepts. Dalet Xtend for Adobe Premiere will connect editors to the main content pool with bi-directional metadata tracking across all systems, keeping content easily searchable throughout the post process.

“From workgroup to enterprise implementations, Dalet continues to prove that its renowned MAM and media workflow technology – honed over years of project experience – is capable of assisting customers not only in broadcast operations, but also in multi-screen distribution and post-production,” says Simon Adler, general manager, West Coast USA & Canada, Dalet. “Our continued investments in R&D allow our offer to remain flexible and constantly adapt to new market demands. As the chain between content producers and the audiences keeps getting more integrated and faster, post-production and media services facilities have a tremendous new business opportunity to grasp, provided they build their operations on top of the right technology foundation. We see this project as a key reference in this new generation.”

The Dalet Workflow Engine will seamlessly integrate with Colortime’s existing Dalet AmberFin installation, near eliminating the need to manually transcode files and organize final packages. “We will use the Dalet Workflow Engine to automate the many different client file delivery requirements,” says Bill Womack, CTO of Colortime. “Combined with our Dalet AmberFin installation, Dalet will facilitate creation-on-demand for many customer deliverables that require transcoding. And from a top down view, the Workflow Engine will let us define certain governance or rules to manage work orders and orchestrate the creation of packages for each client.”

“The automation process is rules-based and unique to each client, which you don’t typically see in television or broadcast environment, as they’re only developing content for their own proprietary channels. They don’t have the same breadth of workflows or depth of rules that we are working with. Being able to dial into each client and define a profile innovates the way we deliver content and customer service,” says Womack.