Telestream’s new digital media workflow automation application, FlipFactory HD, performed a behind-the-scenes role in the production of the 78th Academy Awards ceremony held Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, writes Fergal Ringrose.
FlipFactory HD was selected by ProQue to automatically receive, convert and move a combination of high definition and standard definition movie clips destined for on-stage display at the Academy Awards presentation.
“FlipFactory gave us the ability to ingest new material without slowing down or impeding the production workflow itself,” said ProQue Partner Jonathan Aroesty. “We were able to receive both HD and SD files, rather than videotape, and ingest was done automatically in the background while we were rehearsing.”
Movies clips were converted to high definition for delivery to an HD Profile for playout on a unique Marquee that spanned the width of the stage and included graphical elements such as the winners’ names. Telestream’s Motion Resolve up-conversion technology ensured pristine HD picture quality.
FlipFactory HD was also used to transcode and deliver files to SD Profiles for playout on SD projection and plasma displays which were used as differing set pieces throughout the presentation. The dozens of movie clips used during the production were received as digital files from post production and graphics studios on FireWire drives. FlipFactory HD automatically picked up the files and transcoded them to specified HD and SD formats for delivery to the Profile servers. Importantly, these tasks were performed in the background without tying up any of the Profile channels that were being used for playout.
