Avid Technology Case Studies Leveraging IoT for Efficient Media Production: A Case Study on Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways Documentary

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	Leveraging IoT for Efficient Media Production: A Case Study on Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways Documentary Avid Technology

Leveraging IoT for Efficient Media Production: A Case Study on Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways Documentary

Avid Technology

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms Sensors - Acoustic Sensors
Applicable Industries	Cities & Municipalities Equipment & Machinery
Use Cases	Intrusion Detection Systems Time Sensitive Networking
Services	Hardware Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	The challenge was to deliver an eight-part documentary for HBO under a tight deadline while managing a vast amount of footage. The documentary, Foo Fighters Sonic Highways, was a recording odyssey around iconic US music studios, directed by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. The series saw the band travel to legendary studios in cities across the USA to write and record their latest album, Sonic Highways. Each episode featured interviews with influential artists, producers, and studio owners. The production team had to handle 400 hours of footage per episode and cope with increasingly tight timescales. The team comprised of six video editors, a sound mixer, a dialog editor, a sound effects editor, and a team of post assistants. Read More
About Customer	The customer in this case study is the production team of the Foo Fighters Sonic Highways documentary series, which was aired on HBO. The team was led by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who directed the series. The team included six video editors—Brian Lazarte, Scott Hanson, Grant MacDowell, Kristin McCasey, Lenny Mesina, and Meg Ramsay—who each took the lead on one or two episodes. Sound mixer Jeff Fuller headed up an audio team that also comprised of a dialog editor and sound effects editor. A team of post assistants supported the operation. The team was tasked with producing an eight-part series, each episode featuring interviews with influential artists, producers, and studio owners, and a music video of the song the band had been recording in that show. Read More
Solution	The solution was the Avid MediaCentral platform, which provided a complete and flexible end-to-end workflow, enhancing collaboration and ensuring that creativity could flourish unhindered. The platform was able to handle the vast amount of footage and tight deadlines. The editing and sound teams used the Avid Artist Suite’s Media Composer \| Ultimate software and Avid Pro Tools software to establish a collaborative post-production environment. As the editors finished their episodes, they helped out on others, sharing sequences and footage. The editors also collaborated closely with Grohl, and writer Mark Monroe. The platform's media management capabilities were crucial in handling the 70TBs of Avid Media, consisting of 1300 hours of archival footage and 1900 hours of shot footage. The Multi-Camera Mode in Media Composer was particularly useful when filming the band in the studio with multiple cameras. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Sensors - Acoustic Sensors

Applicable Industries

Cities & Municipalities

Equipment & Machinery

Use Cases

Intrusion Detection Systems

Time Sensitive Networking

Services

Hardware Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

The challenge was to deliver an eight-part documentary for HBO under a tight deadline while managing a vast amount of footage. The documentary, Foo Fighters Sonic Highways, was a recording odyssey around iconic US music studios, directed by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. The series saw the band travel to legendary studios in cities across the USA to write and record their latest album, Sonic Highways. Each episode featured interviews with influential artists, producers, and studio owners. The production team had to handle 400 hours of footage per episode and cope with increasingly tight timescales. The team comprised of six video editors, a sound mixer, a dialog editor, a sound effects editor, and a team of post assistants.

About Customer

The customer in this case study is the production team of the Foo Fighters Sonic Highways documentary series, which was aired on HBO. The team was led by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who directed the series. The team included six video editors—Brian Lazarte, Scott Hanson, Grant MacDowell, Kristin McCasey, Lenny Mesina, and Meg Ramsay—who each took the lead on one or two episodes. Sound mixer Jeff Fuller headed up an audio team that also comprised of a dialog editor and sound effects editor. A team of post assistants supported the operation. The team was tasked with producing an eight-part series, each episode featuring interviews with influential artists, producers, and studio owners, and a music video of the song the band had been recording in that show.

Solution

The solution was the Avid MediaCentral platform, which provided a complete and flexible end-to-end workflow, enhancing collaboration and ensuring that creativity could flourish unhindered. The platform was able to handle the vast amount of footage and tight deadlines. The editing and sound teams used the Avid Artist Suite’s Media Composer | Ultimate software and Avid Pro Tools software to establish a collaborative post-production environment. As the editors finished their episodes, they helped out on others, sharing sequences and footage. The editors also collaborated closely with Grohl, and writer Mark Monroe. The platform's media management capabilities were crucial in handling the 70TBs of Avid Media, consisting of 1300 hours of archival footage and 1900 hours of shot footage. The Multi-Camera Mode in Media Composer was particularly useful when filming the band in the studio with multiple cameras.

Impact #1	The Avid MediaCentral platform provided a robust and efficient solution for the production team. It enhanced collaboration among the team members, allowing them to share sequences and footage, and work together to meet the tight deadlines. The platform's media management capabilities were crucial in handling the vast amount of footage, ensuring that the media was always where it was supposed to be. The Multi-Camera Mode in Media Composer was particularly useful when filming the band in the studio with multiple cameras, allowing the editors to watch all the cameras at once to better pick the proper moments. The platform also integrated seamlessly with Pro Tools, smoothing up the mixing process and enabling the team to manipulate everything about the sound. Overall, the platform ensured that the production process was smooth and efficient, allowing the team to focus on their creativity.

Impact #1

The Avid MediaCentral platform provided a robust and efficient solution for the production team. It enhanced collaboration among the team members, allowing them to share sequences and footage, and work together to meet the tight deadlines. The platform's media management capabilities were crucial in handling the vast amount of footage, ensuring that the media was always where it was supposed to be. The Multi-Camera Mode in Media Composer was particularly useful when filming the band in the studio with multiple cameras, allowing the editors to watch all the cameras at once to better pick the proper moments. The platform also integrated seamlessly with Pro Tools, smoothing up the mixing process and enabling the team to manipulate everything about the sound. Overall, the platform ensured that the production process was smooth and efficient, allowing the team to focus on their creativity.

Benefit #1	Managed to handle 400 hours of footage per episode
Benefit #2	Successfully dealt with 70TBs of Avid Media, consisting of 1300 hours of archival footage and 1900 hours of shot footage
Benefit #3	Enabled collaboration among a large team of editors and sound crew

Benefit #1

Managed to handle 400 hours of footage per episode

Benefit #2

Successfully dealt with 70TBs of Avid Media, consisting of 1300 hours of archival footage and 1900 hours of shot footage

Benefit #3

Enabled collaboration among a large team of editors and sound crew

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Overview

Leveraging IoT for Efficient Media Production: A Case Study on Foo Fighters' Sonic Highways Documentary

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit