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Media Production Company Consolidating Frame.io and Wasabi
Company Situation
The company operates within the media production industry, managing both on-set shoots and post-production workflows. Their team includes staff producers who oversee shoots directly, often in smaller company-driven projects without dedicated digital imaging technicians (DITs) or specialized media management personnel. They handle a broad range of responsibilities, including media storage and post-production asset management.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company relies heavily on Frame.io for both active and archival storage, managing approximately 8 terabytes of archived media on the platform. They also maintain physical backups on hard drives stored securely. Media transfers up to several hundred gigabytes are handled manually through Frame.io uploads and downloads. While they have some experience with Camera to Cloud workflows, the company primarily uploads footage manually, often challenged by variable and limited internet connectivity at shoot locations. Editors download files locally to work on them, and the team uses Frame.io for review and approval processes.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
Heavy reliance on downloading and local storage creates inefficiencies and delays in the editorial process.
Manual uploads and downloads, especially in locations with poor internet, cause bottlenecks in getting footage from set to editors quickly.
Storage costs increase continuously due to the accumulation of archived media on Frame.io.
Limited automation around metadata tagging and asset organization makes searching for specific content cumbersome.
Current tools lack integrated AI capabilities to aid in content description, transcription, and facial recognition, requiring significant manual effort.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a cloud NAS architecture that allows editors to mount a virtual drive, streaming media directly from cloud storage without the need for full downloads. This significantly accelerates editorial access to footage and reduces local storage requirements. Shade integrates AI-powered metadata tagging, transcription, and facial recognition, automating much of the manual organization work and enabling powerful search capabilities across all assets. Review and approval features are robust and built-in, supporting timestamped, range-based, and annotated comments. Shade’s storage is backed by Wasabi’s cost-effective S3-compatible cloud infrastructure, potentially reducing ongoing storage expenses. By effectively “gluing” the strengths of existing tools like Frame.io and LucidLink, Shade streamlines the company’s end-to-end media workflow from set to post.
Benefits
- Editors can work directly from streamed media, eliminating lengthy downloads and saving local storage space.
- AI-driven metadata and transcription improve asset searchability and reduce manual tagging workload.
- Integrated review tools enhance collaboration with precise commenting and approval workflows.
- Reduced storage costs through Wasabi-backed cloud infrastructure.
- Increased speed and reliability in transferring and accessing media, even in challenging internet environments.
- Simplifies the workflow for teams without dedicated DITs, making media management more efficient and scalable.