EditShare Introduces FLOW Panel for DaVinci Resolve Studio, Connects With Clear Cut Group
EditShare has announced its FLOW Panel for DaVinci Resolve Studio, connecting thousands of users into the wider media ecosystem. In addition, UK postproduction house Clear Cut Group, comprising of Clear Cut Pictures, The Edit Storem and Clear Cut Nations and Regions, has made the decision to place EditShare’s next generation media storage EFS at the center of their operation with FLOW workflows significantly increasing the services offered to clients.
FLOW Panel
Designed to simplify storytelling, FLOW manages media assets and workflows across on-premise and cloud-based tiered storage environments. The integrated FLOW panel, which was developed with FLOW’s open API, provides DaVinci Resolve users a media gateway to assets and associated metadata. Easy-to-use production tools facilitate advanced remote workflows including seamless proxy editing and review and approvals.
“Our collective customers need freedom and flexibility when it comes to the tools they work with and the same applies to the workflows they need to run their production and business. EditShare and Blackmagic Design have a common goal of aligning customer needs at the forefront of our development and delivering innovative technology to enable the very best storytelling experience,” comments Sunil Mudholkar, vice president of product management, EditShare. “Many of our customers rely on DaVinci Resolve’s incredible creative toolset day in day out. With the new FLOW panel, our collective customers now have a seamless and secure interface to all the production assets from ingest to delivery, with smart tools that enable them to find content easily and work collaboratively with other team members, regardless of location.”
The FLOW Panel for DaVinci Resolve Studio lets editors, colorists, VFX artists and sound mixers move beyond their locally connected storage and search, browse, and access proxy and high resolutions versions of video and audio assets across multiple storage pools and archives. FLOW’s fast production tools can be used to quickly organize assets into folders and cuts-only sequences. With one click, users can import assets into DaVinci Resolve Studio, including clips, sub clips, and sequence markers. FLOW delivers the rich metadata and content directly into the DaVinci Resolve Studio bin and onto the timeline. Users can also upload assets from DaVinci Resolve Studio back into FLOW with one click, facilitating review and approval across the operation.
“EditShare’s focus on developing open platforms and remote collaboration workflows is helping production and post-production businesses adapt to new remote business models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” said Jacob Groshek, PhD, research manager, Digital Experience Management for IDC. “They are continuing to evaluate the content supply chain and seek out innovative ways to enhance the user experience that help optimize the return on investment for customers.”
Support for Remote Proxy Editing
Ideal for working in any remote scenario, the FLOW Panel for DaVinci Resolve Studio lets users edit with proxies – whether downloaded, streamed over a VPN, or played from central shared storage. This nimble proxy workflow benefits from the lightweight characteristics of highly efficient codecs like H.264/MP4. FLOW generates the proxies and tracks the relationship between high and low-resolution files. A menu toggle in DaVinci Resolve Studio lets users switch seamlessly between original and proxy versions, allowing them to check the original shots any time during editing. With both sets of files always available and accessible to DaVinci Resolve Studio, color grading, effect creation and conforming are greatly streamlined.
The FLOW Panel for DaVinci Resolve Studio will be generally available with FLOW 2021.
Clear Cut Group
The postproduction team is known for their outstanding creative work on original factual, drama, short form and feature films. Producing content for global broadcasters, multiple co-productions, and OTT, the 24/7 operation boasts more than 120 edit suites on site and, since lockdown, has supported over 400 remote editors, clients and staff. Always noted for their innovative and flexible services, Clear Cut Group is building on its successful technology approach by adopting the high-tech but proven EditShare platform, maintaining its ability to work at the cutting edge of the most demanding distributed post-production workflows. EditShare expands storage and opens doors to new innovative service offerings and efficiencies that immediately benefit clients.
“With EditShare, you are buying a storage solution with so much more,” comments Jess Nottage, Technical Director, Clear Cut Group. “It ticks all of the boxes in terms of reliability, performance and capability, but it’s the extras, designed to enhance the creative process that will make us stand out from our competitors. EditShare’s FLOW, EFS and File Auditing platforms, enable us to expand our service offering with innovative creative solutions that benefit our clients without compromising on security. It’s a media foundation to underpin our business.”
With more high-profile projects produced in 4K, EFS media engineered storage architecture and file auditing capability gives Clear Cut Group the scalable capacity and enterprise-grade security they require. Native OS drivers eliminate data bottlenecks, while comprehensive file tracking provides a complete audit trail for content within the system, providing clear insight into users’ activities, including who accessed content, when they did it and where. With FLOW media management in action across all Clear Cut Group locations, the company has a new level of automation and remote capability that delivers new and innovative services for clients. Clear Cut Group’s Managing Director Rowan Bray explains, “We are only as good as our solutions we offer our clients. Every project is bespoke and thus, we approach each one uniquely. That uniqueness is inherent in EditShare products and people. EditShare is totally focused on creating fit for purpose solutions for its customers and a company where we feel we have a voice. This is more than a purchase, it’s a joint venture.”
Collaborating to #wintogether, the EditShare team worked closely with Clear Cut Group to ensure solutions and services supported the vision for the technical uplift with opportunities for future expansion through EditShare’s open APIs. Jess concludes, “Offering open APIs tells us a lot about the company and its culture. We are not locked in and that is attractive. If you want to do something, EditShare will enable it regardless of the vendor product with a can-do attitude.”
“We work with our customers on every level to ensure EditShare’s open solutions bring the resiliency they require to navigate the constant change in which they live,” states Robin Adams, vice president EMEA sales, EditShare. “It’s a true partnership in which customers are empowered and feedback has a direct impact on product evolution to ensure EditShare delivers the industry’s best performing media management capabilities and open storage platform.”