With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, many industries were forced to adopt remote working and work from home models to continue operating, as social distancing and lockdown measures restricted physical interaction.
While remote work gained considerable traction among many businesses and industries across the globe, some sectors were left behind. One industry that was affected profoundly by the pandemic was the global film industry, which saw many cinemas and movie theatres having to close, festivals being cancelled or postponed, and film releases delayed, while many major film productions simply ground to a halt.
Traditionally, production crews, actors and support staff would be flown to the location where filming was to take place, with little scope for remote work to be introduced when the pandemic struck.
However, modern technology is changing this, with remote video editing and collaboration made easy by tools such as Avid NEXIS Edge, a leading shared storage tool for media professionals, enabling collaborative workflows across every type of production environment – from growing post-production teams to the largest broadcasters.
JSE-listed company Jasco has partnered with Avid Technology for many years as the US-based software company’s local technology integrator in South Africa.
Same media access
“Avid NEXIS Edge enables editors to work from anywhere with the same media access, workflow and user experience as if they were editing at the same location. Additionally, with the Avid NEXIS Edge web client, team members can find, organise, storyboard, edit and review content from any location, extending the limits of what’s possible,” says Andre Schoeman, Head of Product Management and Intelligent Solutions at Jasco.
“This obviously solves the remote working dilemma for may film editors, as Avid NEXIS Edge enables them to edit remotely by leveraging their known and trusted resources remotely and get the same experience as editing in-house.”
This software solution enables film editors to change location without changing their workflow—even when disconnected from the Internet, as well as browse, search, organise, log, share, play, edit and review content, using just a web browser, while expanding collaboration to their extended team.
“In addition, film makers can now expand their distributed workforce worldwide to bring in the talent they want, regardless of where they live or how they prefer to work, with collaborative remote video editing workflows. As projects ramp up or down, film makers can scale their team quickly and easily as needed, without constraint or physical boundaries,” Schoeman notes.
Unlimited access to talent
“Not only does this mean that film makers now have access to an almost unlimited talent pool from anywhere in the world, Avid NEXIS Edge also makes the filming and production process a lot more cost effective, as only key crew members now need to be flow to a filming location.”
For those who are already familiar with Avid Technology’s products, there is nothing new to learn with Avid NEXIS Edge, as it works with Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid NEXIS storage, allowing users to stay focused and in their creative groove. Users are able to share bins and projects and collaborate with the comfort and familiarity there are accustomed to – regardless of location –to complete projects faster together.
With Avid NEXIS Edge’s cutting-edge zero-relink workflow, users can quickly switch from working on proxy to high-res media – or vice-versa – with a simple selection. They can move from editing to finishing and review with less stress and also go from working at the office to working at home without any hassles.
Schoeman explains that Avid NEXIS Edge also opens up the gig economy to film editors who wish to work remotely and on a freelance basis, enabling them to take on project anywhere in the world, regardless of their location.
“This software allows film editors to pick and choose the projects they want to work on, with location and distance no longer a factor. Editors no longer have to be on set or at a central location to collaborate and work with the rest of the crew. They can now do so from anywhere, which means that their choice of potential projects has been widely expanded,” he says.
The Avid NEXIS Edge line of engines is the culmination of more than 20 years of Avid designing and delivering innovative shared storage solutions for media professionals. With legacy Avid Unity storage and Media Composer editing software, Avid invented the collaborative shared storage workflows in use by thousands of organisations today, ranging from small editing teams to the largest post and broadcast facilities.
Ends//