Our 2018 Year in Review. A Faster, Smarter, Sleeker Frame.io

Introduction

2018 may be coming to a close but Frame.io is just getting started. This amazing rocket ship of a journey is thanks to everyone who has believed in our vision and supported us along the way.

In 2018, the filmmaking industry voted with their dollars and the message was clear: video collaboration and workflow management are an essential part of the toolkit to build your business and do your very best work. Frame.io has been the workbench that has enabled nearly 2/3 of a million creatives to realize their vision and get their projects over the finish line. Let’s take a look back at everything we shipped in 2018.

Code Overhaul

Sometimes the biggest changes in a software platform go unnoticed. Like a great visual effect, they draw you in and improve your experience without drawing attention to themselves. The same can be said for Frame.io in 2018.

We overhauled everything under the hood…and I’m talking everything. Code quality matters and while it’s not the most marketable, it makes everything you do in Frame.io better. Our entire backend and API was re-written from scratch in the Elixir programming language and our database was migrated to PostgreSQL. We re-wrote the frontend in the open source framework React.js.

We also re-wrote all the of real-time infrastructure so you can see when someone is uploading, when a new comment comes in, when you have a new notification, and even when someone is actively watching a video. That means you’re never viewing stale data.

New Features

Code quality is all well and good, but even during this massive infrastructure investment year, we were able to ship a ton of new features…

macOS menu bar app with watch folders

We heard from customers all over the world who wanted a better way to handle very large uploads. Our macOS companion app offers the fastest and most resilient way to upload on the web, period.

Frame.io for Final Cut Pro X

After more than a year of close collaboration with Apple, 2018 saw the launch of our Frame.io Workflow Extension for Final Cut Pro. This is a first of its kind extension that brings all the collaboration capabilities of Frame.io, directly inside Final Cut Pro.

All new media review enhancements

2018 brought a slew of enhancements to improve the review experience for creators, clients, and collaborators. These include: 4k video playback, GIF support, and high-res image review on web and iOS.

Brand new design

At Frame.io we have a deep-rooted belief in the power of great design. It’s what led to our Apple Design award for our iOS app. But, we’re not content with resting on our laurels, so we created the Frame.io Vapor Design System.

Inspired by world-class endeavors like Google’s Material Design system, and Apple’s Human Interface guidelines, our Vapor Design System is sleek as all hell, but it also sets a solid foundation for our design and engineering teams to move much faster. We’re always trying to push the boundaries of web design with aesthetics and ease of use, and what you see in the app today is a result of our Vapor Design System.

A complete list of product enhancements and updates

All of this work took several months and it was no small feat, but the impact was huge. (If you’re so inspired, follow the adventures of our engineering team on Medium.)

Frame.io Workflow Guide

We already bring you some of the most in-depth, practical, and tactical education and insights about post-production right here on our blog. But we didn’t stop there.

We wrote the book on post-production workflow…literally. We spent several months and collaborated with the world’s most brilliant post-production minds to create this massive online resource. With contributions from RED, Adobe, Defacto Sound, Lumaforge, and many more world-class professionals, the Frame.io Workflow Guide contains over 100,000 words on everything you need to know, from capture to delivery.  It is arguably the most comprehensive resource of its kind on the internet.

Security & Compliance

We overhauled security. This isn’t the sexy work but it’s the essential work. With a multi-million dollar investment in security infrastructure, Frame.io has become the secure platform to work on even the most sensitive pre-release theatrical content. We went deep on compliance and achieved SOC 2 Type 1 compliance along with TPN compliance, the new global standard in content security.

2018 by the Numbers

  • We grew from 50 employees to 85
  • 275,000 new creators signed up
  • 12.4M assets uploaded (5.6 Petabytes of storage)
  • 8.8 million comments exchanged
  • Half a million videos approved
  • 3 billion API requests
  • 1.3 million transcode tasks
  • 530 bugs resolved
  • 421 code deploys
  • According to Google, Frame.io grew twice as fast as our next closest competitor

We have a vision for the future of post-production. With our new foundations in place, we’re looking forward to crushing 2019. Hope to see you all there.

Emery Wells
CEO, Frame.io

Emery Wells

Emery Wells is the Co-Founder & VP, Digital Products, Frame.io

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