NAB 2022 was a big deal for Frame.io. We got the chance to once again meet with thousands of video professionals—from sports broadcasters to news-gathering teams to YouTubers—to demonstrate that the Frame.io platform has something that literally every video creator can use right now to improve the way they work.
Next week, we’ll be at the Cine Gear Expo in L.A. to showcase our end-to-end workflow for Hollywood storytellers. We’ve developed an ecosystem built on best-in-class security, industry-leading review and approval, and a native 4K HDR experience across web, iOS, and Apple TV to provide the most collaborative, advanced, intelligent, and intuitive workflow in the history of media creation—and we can’t wait to share it with you.
I can’t even count how many people have told us that this new way of working has made their lives easier, how they can’t imagine how they worked before it, and that they’ll never go back. But it’s the kind of thing that you need to see to fully comprehend. One of my favorite things about demoing this workflow is watching people have that “Aha!” moment when they realize just how much this changes everything.
If you’ve seen any of our recent videos, you know that we use Frame.io every day to create cinema-quality content. That’s why we’re bringing our in-house production squad of directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers, along with some of the brilliant engineers and workflow architects who develop our product, to show you what they’ve learned from first-hand experience, and how easy it is to start working faster, better, and more creatively.
Tools that work for you
The idea behind the Frame.io workflow is simple. You need to shoot something. You need to share it with your collaborators quickly, efficiently, and securely. You need to edit it and get feedback and approvals. And you need to master and deliver it.
From the beginning, Frame.io was designed to make the process of producing video content simpler and more collaborative so that storytellers could focus on the creative. But we also recognized that the best creative tools are invisible to the user—they help you work without making more work for you.
The best creative tools are invisible to the user—they help you work without making more work for you.
When we introduced Camera to Cloud last year, the early adopters immediately understood the value of being able to reduce the time and effort it took to get what they shot to the people who needed it—their on-set crew, off-set collaborators, and their editors. We started out with two hardware partners, Teradek and Sound Devices, who made it possible to connect record buttons on cameras or sound recorders to editors or executives instantly and automatically.
Since then, we’ve built new partnerships and grown the entire Frame.io ecosystem to include virtually all cameras and numerous sound recorders. We have integrations with all the major NLEs and many of the most popular filmmaking applications you use on set. And now, we’ve improved the viewing experience so that you can see your work in a way that conveys the director’s creative intent from dailies through delivery.
The best part is that it all happens automatically in the background. There’s nothing that you have to do once it’s set up. Whatever you capture is instantly uploaded and organized so that your assets are available for distribution to the people who need them, no matter where they are.
Whether they’re on set and want to watch on their smartphones or iPads, or across the world and want to view or work with them from their offices or living rooms, it’s all there. You don’t have to crowd around video village, or ship drives, or wait for dailies.
So what does that mean functionally? It means that your director can work with your editor to see if what they’re shooting is cutting together the way it’s supposed to—while they’re shooting it. It means that your production designers, gaffers, and makeup people can work with your DP to see if they need to make adjustments while you’re there on set. It means that your producers can be off set and know that everyone’s on track. It means that everyone can be sure that they’re doing their best work while they’re doing it.
And it means that whatever way you want to work is now possible. That’s the point. No two shoots are exactly the same, and now you don’t need to work around the tools. The tools work for you.
Enterprise-level workflows
If you’re using a cinema-quality camera, you want to be able to view your footage at the highest possible quality. Now we have a way to enable that from capture through delivery.
It starts with the new Teradek Serv 4K, which delivers timecode-accurate 10-bit, 4K HDR proxies for instant review through our web app or in our iOS and iPad apps. But now, for Enterprise users like studios and agencies, our new Frame.io app for Apple TV 4K lets you view dailies in an even bigger, higher-quality format.
Your assets are automatically uploaded to a secure Enterprise Inbox that can be easily shared with your key stakeholders, and they can see them in 10-bit HDR on large-screen TVs connected to Apple TV 4K devices.
And it’s not just for dailies. With our newest native integration in Baselight, the crucial step of collaborating remotely for final grading has also become accessible through Frame.io.
Final grading for high-end television and motion picture projects is one of the places where having ideal viewing conditions and the ability to easily collaborate with the colorist are essential. But, as we’ve learned over the last two years, it’s not always possible for people to be in the same room together at the same time. Combined with the Apple TV app, we provide a better solution to being virtually in two places at once.
It also means that you can experience what someone who’s invested in a high-quality home viewing setup is going to see—before it’s released. Whether you’re a director, DP, producer, or executive, now you can see what that final product will look like in the place where it’s intended to be consumed.
We’ve also introduced new Enterprise security features so you don’t have to worry about pre-release content getting into the wrong hands. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a multiple encryption method that prevents unauthorized viewing and piracy by allowing only encrypted files to be viewable in the Frame.io web app, iPhone app, Apple TV, and integrations.
Plus, there’s a new layer of security with Two-Factor Authentication—and that’s all in addition to our Watermark ID feature, which puts a customizable visible watermark on your video, in real time.
From record buttons to editors
Another advantage of the Camera to Cloud workflow is that it’s now possible to have your editor working right alongside you while you’re still shooting—even if they’re not physically there—because those same files that are instantly available in Frame.io can be used for editing.
Camera to Cloud proxies can either have LUTs applied or can be immediately graded through our Colorfront, Pomfort, or DaVinci Resolve integrations. If you’re an Adobe Premiere Pro user you can collaborate in Frame.io with your existing Creative Cloud account and Adobe ID. Or if you’re working in Avid, you can easily transcode to DNx codecs using high-quality proxies. They’re timecode accurate and contain clipnames so it’s also easy to relink to hero dailies or to original camera files if you need to.
I’ve worked this way with my editors and cinematographers for the past year, and it’s truly life changing to know at the end of our day we’re never going to need pickups, or that a complicated sequence cuts together just the way we planned. It’s also helped me sleep a lot better when I go home at night.
Seeing is believing
Since we first showed Camera to Cloud as a proof of concept at the HPA in early 2020, we’ve helped more than 3,000 productions get started with Frame.io, and worked with our customers to discover new and novel use cases. And now we want to show you the full workflow, and how it helps filmmakers and studios deliver shows faster and work more creatively with better collaboration for everyone.
We’re there to show and tell, but also to listen and learn. We want you to kick the tires and look under the hood.
We’ll be at Cine Gear from June 9-11 and we’re incredibly excited to be able to talk to people (in person!) again. We’re there to show and tell, but also to listen and learn. We want you to kick the tires and look under the hood. Our team uses Frame.io every day, and we’re still discovering new ways to use it. Let’s continue this journey together!
So register now and come see us at booth #329. If you’d like, you can book a meeting with us and we’ll address all your questions. Or, if you can’t make it in person, you can even book a virtual meeting with our team so you can still see all the features we’re showcasing.
